Our local CAMC Centre are hosting a rally in August not far from Alton Towers. I thought it would be nice if our 15 year old grandson came along as maybe he would like to go to Alton Towers.
I checked the entrance price and was totally gobsmacked as it was £44 for each person! Not sure if that includes rides, but even if it did that would be very expensive for us as neither of us could probably go on a ride anyway due to mobility issues. Even if we were fit and able that is still a lot of money for any family!
Yes, it does include rides, and actually seems quite reasonable compared with some other places like that. You may also be able to get some offers, 2 for 1 etc, though it does make it very expensive if you're not likely to go on the rides.
It's a far cry from when we used to go to Alton Towers on our annual Sunday School outing - then it was a country house with gardens and a lake with rowing boats, with a small, walled fairground with a handful of attractions, including a carousel with dobby horses (my favourite!). Mind you, that was over 50 years ago!
Quote: Originally posted by bofs on 12/1/2023
Yes, it does include rides, and actually seems quite reasonable compared with some other places like that. You may also be able to get some offers, 2 for 1 etc, though it does make it very expensive if you're not likely to go on the rides.
It's a far cry from when we used to go to Alton Towers on our annual Sunday School outing - then it was a country house with gardens and a lake with rowing boats, with a small, walled fairground with a handful of attractions, including a carousel with dobby horses (my favourite!). Mind you, that was over 50 years ago!
Thanks for the info regarding rides as the website does not make that clear. My understanding is if he goes in as a carer, then only I have to pay and he goes in free. Someone has mentioned that queues can be horrendous especially in August.
Quote: Originally posted by iank01 on 12/1/2023
Our local CAMC Centre are hosting a rally in August not far from Alton Towers. I thought it would be nice if our 15 year old grandson came along as maybe he would like to go to Alton Towers.
I checked the entrance price and was totally gobsmacked as it was £44 for each person! Not sure if that includes rides, but even if it did that would be very expensive for us as neither of us could probably go on a ride anyway due to mobility issues. Even if we were fit and able that is still a lot of money for any family!
WOW is that for a one week pass! The prices are becoming ridiculous. Drayton Manor Park is just round the corner from me and the prices have become silly over the last few years. Its cheaper to go abroad than visit a local Amusement park these days. (Granted slight over exaggeration but you get the point)!
It's a long very time since I considered a day out at the likes of Alton Towers, but even though times were tough (I'd been made redundant), could still afford to take the family back then.
It's not just Adventure Parks that have become extortionately expensive, one of my passions is vintage (WW1/WW2/Cold War) aircraft displays, these days a great many shows are at least £45-£65 a ticket (double what they were only a few years back), some like Duxford also charge £5 car parking on top (that was also included in admission a few years back!), most are advance ticket sales only, no on the gate tickets available.
A show is usually 4-5 hours of flying, tickets are non-refundable, and shows going ahead are HEAVILY dependent on weather conditions, a great many vintage planes can't/won't fly in bad weather even if at the airfield already, many planes fly in from distant airfields and can't/won't transit in bad weather, so on a particularly windy/wet/low cloud day there can be virtually nothing to see in the air! And believe me, few places are as miserable as an airfield in driving rain, they have a magnitude of miserableness all of their own, often no shelter, just suffer it!
Most of the shows are 2 or 3 hours drive from me, so there is also the cost of fuel to account for, so in all a show can hit £100 in total cost (excluding any over priced food/drink purchased from show vendors!), now to me as an OAP, £100 is quite a lot of money to spend for potentially very little to see on a bad weather day! When tickets were 'on the gate' sales, I'd judge the weather on the day and decide if it was worth going or not, these days I have to gamble on a ticket purchased often months in advance (they sell out if not bought in good time). I'm not a gambler by nature, and have attended too many shows absolutely ruined or cut short by bad weather in the past, so a great many airshows have been dropped from my potential interest list, and I'm only left with 1 or 2 in a year that I'm likely to attend, instead of the 5 or 6 (or more) in the past.
Some shows run over 2-3 days, and VERY basic camping facilities (portaloo/showers, a standpipe for water and NO EHU) are sometimes available, but often at £30-£40/night for a pitch (minimum 2 nights as well), and that doesn't include admission fee, again advance booking only. A bad weather spell can make for a VERY expensive washed out 'non-show' indeed! Airfields tend to be remote, so you can't even treat it as a base for visiting other points of interest in the area whilst you're there if the air show is scrapped!
All that said, there do seem to be people that can afford to throw away hundreds of pounds on a family booking to see very little in return, whilst that happens it seems those of us with more frugal budgets stand no chance of seeing more affordable ticket prices or better terms of purchase!
Well said Monty15. prices are getting ridiculous which is why we no longer bother with visiting stately houses and castles like we did a few years ago.
AS OAPs our treat was to have lunch on a Saturday at a pub washed down with maximum 2 beers. Cost for everything was under £30 last year, but now the same meal and same drinks, you are looking closer to £40!
Unfortunately our pension does not increase as fast!
Amazing family weekend with old steam engines, classic car displays, market stalls, and full catering and bar. And camping on site - Save £25 by booking in advance.
Topic: Big ouch! Alton Towers entrance fee
via mobile 12/1/2023 at 3:24pm
