Another year, another collection of theme parks visited, rides experienced and more.
With the sheer number of times I’ve visited Alton Towers there’s always been one single issue that has bothered me and that’s queuing.
On those mid-season days you can go down and every ride in the park is a walk-on. Life is good.
Another time you visit for peak events such as Scarefest or the fireworks and those wait times soar.
I remember last year the queue for Wicker Man being over 3 hours long for a night ride.
As good as that coaster is (especially at night time), a 3 hour wait just isn’t something I’m interested in.
If you want to go to a theme park you want to experience it, you want to ride all the rides, soak up the atmosphere and not have to plan your day around queuing sessions.
This applies ten-fold if you live miles away from the park or have even travelled from overseas to visit the park.
You don’t want to arrive at the park (especially if it’s your first ever time visiting) to just stand around all day and do nothing. Absolutely not!
This is where the Fastrack option becomes a dream come true.
I’ve been on both ends of the spectrum, stuck in queue after queue only managing 3-4 rides in a day and I’ve had the Fastrack experience.
Out of the two, I certainly know which one I prefer.
As incredible as the Wicker Man queue views are of the ride I’d much prefer to hop on down that Fastrack queue line and be on board the ride rather than watching everyone else have a great time that’s for sure.
So without further ado here is my review of the overall Fastrack experience and why you should consider it when you next visit Alton Towers.
Alton Towers Fastrack Review
There are currently four Fastrack options that Alton Towers offer to be purchased in advance.
There are also options to purchase Fastracks at the park but be warned, during peak events these sell out quickly. In addition to that, the queues for Fastracks and upgrades at guest services during these times are painful.
Only last year I was waiting for two hours just to change a maze-slot ticket.
The whole idea of this experience is to avoid queuing as much as possible so for that reason alone, book online!
Alton Towers also offer one-shot tickets allowing you to pay to Fastrack one ride only.
Prices vary but these can be found at the Fastrack kiosks dotted around the park.
Single-Rider queues also make it possible to jump the long queues. If you’re not bothered about sitting next to your friends and just want to get on a ride or if you’re on your own, you can’t go wrong with single riders.
Even better, single-riders has its own queue line and it’s free! It’s a free Fastrack if you’re a lone-ranger but only a few rides have this option. Thankfully, The Smiler is one of them!
The Four Tiers
Bronze Fastrack
Firstly the bronze pass, the cheapest of the 4 allows you one Fastrack for the rides listed. Once you’ve been on that particular ride you must rejoin the main queue line for future rides.
The tiers are all budget specific depending on what you can afford but we still feel this tier isn’t good value for money. There are 8 rides you MUST ride when visiting Alton Towers.
The bronze pass only allows you to ride 4 of the main 8 and the rest involves queuing and thus time wasted from your experience.
Silver Fastrack
Whilst the Silver pass throws in a few more rides to experience it excludes Wicker Man.
The brand new ride at the park that you MUST experience has been cleverly missed off the Silver pass list.
Other more tame rides in the park are also excluded but if you’ve been on Wicker Man before or if it’s not your cup of tea then a Silver pass would be perfect for you.
Gold Fastrack
Here’s where things get interesting. You get access to EVERY ride in the park, once.
The full experience is on offer here with the gold Fastrack and whilst you may want to ride them again once you’ve climbed off you will at least have the full park at your mercy.
Using a gold pass in 2018 we were able to do every single ride in Alton Towers in just under 90 minutes.
This was during Scarefest one of the busiest peak periods of the calendar year.
Platinum Fastrack
If money is no option or you want one hell of a theme park experience to remember the platinum pass is the ultimate experience.
Unlimited rides all day on every single ride in the park. It’s nothing short of spectacular.
You come off The Smiler, you turn to your friends, the adrenaline is still flowing through your veins and you want to ride again.
With any other pass, you’d have to join the main queue, your adrenaline will drop as you wait a good 30-60 minutes (on average during peak times) for the next ride.
With platinum, you head straight back down that Fastrack queue and hop back on in 5-10 minutes or less.
During Scarefest this year we were given platinum wristbands.
We had done the entire park in 4 hours and had around 20 rides on coasters in that time and completed all the scare mazes.
That was including a long dinner break. There was no stress, no rushing, no pre-planning we walked past a coaster spur of the moment, jumped on, came off and if we wanted to, went straight back on it again.
That freedom of the park is an experience you will never forget. It’s hard going back to a normal queuing routine when you’ve experienced such luxury.
Who Would Benefit from a Fastrack Experience?
From fans travelling from afar to coaster nuts who just want multiple rides, the possibilities are endless.
The experience doesn’t limit itself there thou, the Fastrack option could appeal to people like myself who aren’t fond of queues.
Whether this is personal preference, medical (someone who can’t stand up for too long) or other it doesn’t matter.
The option is there and that’s all that matters.
Like I keep saying, if you want the full theme park experience it’s the logical choice.
Unless your theme park experience consists of being in at least one queue, you strange little coaster nut you.
Downsides of the Alton Towers Fastrack
I had to think long and hard about this one. There aren’t any main downsides to purchasing one but if I had to be picky (and I mean really picky) here are my small niggles with the pass.
Firstly, it’s not even the pass that provides the niggle it’s the queue-lines at Alton Towers.
Rita
The Rita Fastrack queue is always a pain, it’s easily the longest queue you’ll be in all day because of the fastback queue layout.
You’ll be lined up next to the main queue and the throughput is never quick which is ridiculous for a ride that only takes 25 seconds from start to finish but the queues are just that long for it.
Be prepared to wait a little longer than expected for a ride that is certainly one of the worst coasters in the park.
That’s by no means me saying it’s a terrible coaster, it’s just not a coaster you’d want to be queuing up too long for.
It’s a launch coaster over within a matter of seconds after such a long queue.
Wicker Man
There’s only one other time where the Fastrack becomes a niggle and that’s Wicker Man at Scarefest at nighttime.
The queues soar for the best looking ride in the park at night.
The flames burn bright and the queues get so big that even the ride queue time clock can’t process the numbers involved.
This year we had a 25-minute wait on Fastrack for the ride which was reasonable.
Back in 2018, we had a 60-minute wait on Fastrack! It’s still worth it thou, what a coaster that is at nighttime!
Judgement
Purely from observation, you’ll notice that all of the Fastrack queues run alongside the main queues.
As a result, you will be walking past people in the normal queue with no one in front of you.
Walking past people who have been standing in queues for a while is a strange experience. It certainly comes with mixed emotions internally.
Whilst I walk past I feel almost guilty that I’m jumping the queue.
At the same time, I feel as thou if they’d brought a pass they’d have this privilege too. Conflict occurs again when I start questioning that not everyone can afford the passes etc and I get stuck in a loop.
Just something to think about.
Family Experience
As it stands the fast pass prices are per person and are not negotiable dependent on age.
For me, this becomes an issue especially with families with children.
Those children would be charged at adult prices for the Fastrack experience and that doesn’t seem fair.
It would be nice to see a structured family Fastrack system which is priced accordingly.
Paying £400 for a family of four, for example, is ludicrous.
Charging adults and children separate prices for a family pass seems more logical.
Alton Towers 2020 Fastrack
I can’t imagine that Alton Towers will change up their Fastrack services. It’s a system that has worked year on year and with the addition of the David Walliams ride, it may (just may) have a Fastback of its own.
Highly doubtful but depending on the attraction it just may.
As mentioned in our previous article about the new experience we’re certainly placing our bets on the fact that this is a dark ride.
Dark rides (especially children’s dark rides) have big queues, so a Fastrack option would make perfect sense.
Should this upcoming experience NOT have a Fastrack option there’s no need to worry.
You’ll have been on every single coaster in the park already!
You will have more than enough time spare to indulge in a little queue for a brand new attraction.
Overall
Being able to jump on any ride in the park at will is something every coaster enthusiast should experience at least once.
Regardless of what you pay for your pass, I think you’ll feel its money well spent. I’ve now had over 10+ Fastrack experiences and every single one of them was the same.
Effortless, easy and the perfect way to get the most out of your Alton Towers experience.
If you notice, this entire article has photos from our Platinum day experience.
There are no pictures of queues on here or footage from rides in a queue line.
Myself and a friend were having the best day at the best theme park in the country.
I think that says it all.
Should you wish to look at the various Fastrack options at Alton Towers then head on over to https://www.altontowers.com/theme-park/extras/fastrack/
