This question is asked quite frequently so please keep all related discussion to this topic.

Thought it was about time to make this topic,if you are going to Alton towers and want to know what you expected queue times are,then post it here and the collective TT brain will probably be able to help you out.
  Here is a little guide to help you out.

February half term

Possibly the quietest time of the year,because only two of the main rides are open (nemesis and air) so if you want some nemmy whoring then this is possibly the right time to go.

Expect a queue time of 0-10 minutes tops.


term time

Term time will normally be quiet,for obvious reasons,but queues may still be long due to reduced capacity so watch out for that. Mondays and Fridays will be busier than Tuesdays,Wednesdays and Thursdays, with Wednesdays often being quietest,but then Wednesdays sometimes have the most reduced capacity.

Queue times can range from 5-60 minutes depending on capacity.

half term/end of term

Can be busy,can be quiet depending on weather but half terms are busier the term time.Rides will probably be on full capacity unless something is wrong with a ride,probably expect long queues between 30-70 minutes long.

summer holidays

for the first week or so,this is possibly a good time to visit as it is normally very quiet,from a visit last year,queues where only up to 30 minutes,and that was for Rita.Later in the holidays,it gets rammed,sometimes close to capacity so it would be a good idea to avoid then.
late holidays:expect queues between 50-90 minutes.

July

July can be a very busy time because of school trips expect queues up to about 80 minutes.

scarefest

First day of scare fest is often a quiet day so that might be a good day to go on but the scare mazes are always very busy,especially TOTT,a few days into the fest,it can get to capacity and queues can get up to over 100 minutes.

fireworks

As there are only 3 or 4 days of this,every day is packed expect very long queues.

General

with sw7 coming this year,it will often have big queues,most people will therefore run to that ride first,causing bilvvy and sw7 to probably have big queues early in the day,so it may be a good idea to wait until later when the queues have died down to go to the X-sector.

How busy do you think it will be in May half-term? I really want to 'get corrected'.

JaykeAT wrote:

July

July can be a very busy time because of school trips expect queues up to about 80 minutes.

More specifically usually early in July, as this is when Exams have just finished, and schools usually do it as a 'celebration trip'.

So if the park is open from the 16th of March, how busy is it likely to be between then and easter, given that easter is early enough this year. I was thinking of a short pre-Orlando (!) coaster trip and was hoping to go on the new ride if I can before April. Are the schools off early for easter or should I be ok to go around the 19th/20th/21st March?

ZozMeakizz wrote:

JaykeAT wrote:

July

July can be a very busy time because of school trips expect queues up to about 80 minutes.

More specifically usually early in July, as this is when Exams have just finished, and schools usually do it as a 'celebration trip'.

You see,I've found it to be the opposite,last year I went July 1st and 18th and the latter was busier by a lot

23Skidoo wrote:

So if the park is open from the 16th of March, how busy is it likely to be between then and easter, given that easter is early enough this year. I was thinking of a short pre-Orlando (!) coaster trip and was hoping to go on the new ride if I can before April. Are the schools off early for easter or should I be ok to go around the 19th/20th/21st March?

Hit and miss really,could be packed,could be empty,once you've chosen a date and it's closer the time,ask again and it might be a bit clearer what you should expect

DONT_LOOK_DOWN! wrote:

How busy do you think it will be in May half-term? I really want to 'get corrected'.

last year,Monday and Tuesday where quiet and it got progressively busier all week,so if you go early in the week,it shouldn't* be to bad

legal disclaimer,don't hold me to it,it might be busier with a new ride this year.

I'm going to take my daughter and her friends on opening weekend 16th or 17th March. what do you think the crowds/wait times will be? Would one day be better than the other? I'm thinking of staying at Splash Landings,
Thanks in advance x

When are we expecting the travellers this year.....i will avoid it like the plague.

Easter is later this year so how do we all think that will effect queues, I went last year on Good Friday 4th I think, and it was pretty quiet went to Thorpe the day after and that wasn't too bad either. Maybe people will wait for The Smiler.

We're going 10th. 11th and 12th of June and in theory it should be quiet, start of term after may half term but the universities have finished on the whole. based on last year queues of between 10-20 mins for all the main attractions and prob about an hour for The Smiler (gonna get in the queue for it early I think)

The Easter holidays are all over the place this year.. (Are they usually?!  )
But does that mean that the first week of mine (25-31 March) is likely to be quite quiet still?
Thinking of going on the 26th.. But I usually avoid holidays like the plague!

Hi, going tomorrow, how busy was/is it today and how busy do people think it will be tomorrow?

Talk about spontaneous, just booked a last minute room for tonight heading over this afternoon for a day in the park tomorrow Thanks Wifey

I when on opening day and it was very quiet indeed the longest queue was rita for 30 mins everything else walked on it straight away really ,

it would of been a better day if I had a woman with me thou

How busy this Monday coming do you think ?? X

Going on 25,26 and 27th March, any ideas what the queues will be like?

To both of the above... you'll both be in the first week of school Easter holidays, I would expect it to be busy, but it depends on the weather.

England break up 28/3 and wales break up 22/3, going 25-27th march, what will the queues be like?

Boz wrote:

To both of the above... you'll both be in the first week of school Easter holidays, I would expect it to be busy, but it depends on the weather.

I was a bit worried about going next week, but actually it appears to be a minority of English schools that have their holidays that week. Most seem to start around Thursday 28th, and have two weeks after Easter because of how early it is this year, so I'm hoping that it won't be anywhere near as busy as the week after.
Even though my Uni holidays are that week..Great for those with kids 

redpiggy wrote:

Boz wrote:

To both of the above... you'll both be in the first week of school Easter holidays, I would expect it to be busy, but it depends on the weather.

I was a bit worried about going next week, but actually it appears to be a minority of English schools that have their holidays that week. Most seem to start around Thursday 28th, and have two weeks after Easter because of how early it is this year, so I'm hoping that it won't be anywhere near as busy as the week after.
Even though my Uni holidays are that week..Great for those with kids 

This is correct. Did a bit of work. Here are the councils which break up early, i.e. 22nd, this friday:

England:
leicester
leicestershire
warwickshire
barnsley
east riding
hull
bolton
bury
salford city
stockport
wigan
wirral
sunderland
south gloucestershire
swindon
wiltshire
bath & north east somerset
bristol city
north somerset
gloucestershire county

Wales:
anglesey
gwynedd
conwy
denbigshire
flintshire
wrexham
cardiff
rhondda cynon taff
merthyr tydfil
vale of glamorgan
carphilly
blaenau gwent
monmouth
newport
torfaen

Scotland:
east lothian
edinburgh

That works out at about 13.5% of the population. Probs worth noting this includes Leicester though.

And yes, I was procrastinating on my actual work.