Alton Towers part 2 - let's explore a bit more

Like I said in the previous post my boys are becoming little thrill seekers.  Alton Towers is a lot stricter then Legoland height wise and we found that rides of 0.9m minimum at  Legoland were 1.1m at Alton Towers.

The biggest of these differences being the Spinning Spider (legoland) and the Marauder's Mayham (Alton Towers).  As far as we could tell these rides are in theory identical - you sit in a barrel and spin round, turn the wheel and you go faster.  Noah was soo excited but as we got closer we found he was too small.

Don't get me wrong I appreciate the map does very helpfully have the restrictions on it so I'm not saying we shouldn't have checked that first but you expect identical rides operated by the same chain (Merlin) to have the same restrictions.




So off we set to find something a bit less strenuous .... The Runaway Mine Train anyone??

Don't be silly, if a 3 year old is too small to spin in a barrel he'll never be allowed on the Runaway Mine train right........... WRONG!  This is only a minimum of 0.9 (which I was wary about as it goes pretty fast at speed and I was clinging onto Noah for dear life as I had visions of loosing him under the bar.  What shocked me about this ride was that NO-ONE checked his height.  He's only just 0.9 and even then a lot of people are shocked he hits the mark.    We all loved it tho and the boys would have happily gone on again (but i wasn't spending another hour queueing, this was by far the longest queue all day).

Ben had specifically requested to go on the Driving School and was over the moon to pass his test as he announced "I'm going to buy a car next week because I'm allowed to drive it now" ... I had to explain the difference between a real license and an Alton Towers one.  It's a clever ride as the kids are told to collect their licenses after at a cost of £10 .... ermm no Ben - I have photo software, I'll make you one.

Noah was too small for this one but had spotted the Carousel with the "green horse".  This is another ride that is soo different to the laid back attitude of Legoland.  At Legoland you are allowed on a horse as an adult (it states under 1.1. have to be accompanied, but they class being on a horse next to them as accompanied).  Not so at Alton Towers.  You are not allowed to sit on the horse with them and have to stand and hold them for the duration  (you can imagine how please Noah was with this!), even tho they have a safety belt around them.  I even got as lecture about making sure he didn't hit is head on the horses' ears "because they are quite sharp".  Hold on a flipping minute - if they are dangerous WHY are they on a kids ride and b) I'm holding him, I can't leave his side I'm pretty sure I wouldn't let him impale himself.

The man with us had also had his parenting questioned and was as impressed as me!

  With us all being a little chocolate obsessed we had to pay a visit to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  The factory tour itself was a boat ride that was a bit .... well.. naff.  The queue was positively dangerous once you get inside as it was pitch black (we couldn't see the children at the ends of our hands) However leave and get into the Great Glass Elevator and that is the most amazing experience.  Noah really believed he was flying.

The next stop was Heave Ho.  Which was not only the kids but MY first time in a pirate ship.  And I must admit it was really good fun.

Image from Alton Towers as I didn't manage to get one.

Ben and Daddy wanted to go on the Flume ride before we left so whilst the 2 of them went and queued up

(Noah was once again too small, and hubby advised later on he thought the restrictions should be higher as he was scared Ben was going to fall out) we went to the Sharkbait Reef

Noah loves sealife centres and ran to and from each tank ohh'ing and ahh'ing at the pretty colours. His favourite was the weird spiky one.

There was sooooo much more we wanted to see, Ice Age 4D, a look around the castle and grounds, the Pirate show and the Battle Galleons to name a few.

We can't wait to go back in the Summer............