Alton Towers wait times

What the big number means

We look at every ride that’s open right now and has a posted wait, and compare today’s waits with what those same rides usually showed at this time of day. +30% means waits are about a third longer than usual for this hour; −20% means a fifth shorter.

What “usually” means

• Past 7 days (the default): the last seven days, checked every 15 minutes within half an hour of the current time.
• Same weekday: the same day of the week in each of the last four weeks, for example the last four Tuesdays. Weekends and weekdays can be very different, so this is often a fairer comparison.

We use the middle value rather than the average of those days, so one unusually busy or quiet day doesn’t throw the number off.

Keeping it fair

Only rides that were open both now and then are compared, so a ride that’s closed today doesn’t make the park look quieter. We need at least 10 rides and 3 days of history before showing a number; until then you’ll see “Comparison unavailable”.

Each ride’s percentage

Compares that ride’s posted wait now with its own usual wait around this time. A dash means there isn’t enough history, the ride has no posted wait right now, or it usually has no wait at all.

Best time

Looks at the rest of today, before the park closes, and shows the 15-minute slot when that ride has usually had its shortest wait over the past week. It only appears when that’s at least 5 minutes shorter than the wait now.

Good to know

• These are the park’s posted waits, which can differ from how long you actually wait.
• Numbers refresh every 5 minutes while this page is open.
• This is a short-term comparison: it doesn’t know about holidays, events or seasons.