I turned 24 on 14th May and to celebrate I went to Blackpool and Alton Towers. We drove up most of the way on Thursday night then travelled to Blackpool Friday morning and spent the day there. Growing up we visited theme parks since quite an early age and still enjoy them now. If you enjoy theme parks I definitely recommend Blackpool Pleasure Beach. Compared with Alton Towers / Thorpe Park, it is a bit more of a family friendly environment and can seem quite dated but the rides there are alot of fun and do not get boring.
We spent a few hours in Blackpool Pleasure Beach – the queues were very short and we managed to go on all the rides that we were interested in quite quickly. We decided to walk down the promenade towards the Blackpool Tower, on our way we passed the SEA LIFE centre. We have Merlin Annual passes and this was included so we decided to go in and have a look. I absolutely loved the floor to ceiling glass aquarium – as you can see below.
Once finished in here we carried on towards Blackpool Tower, the entry cost was included in our Merlin annual pass. When you enter the tower you walk up a few flights of stairs to the entrance. Before proceeding to the top there is a short 4D film that you watch then you are taken to the lifts. To reach the top in the lift it takes about 60 seconds and you are able to see outside as you go up. When you exit the lift you can see right out across the seafront, in front of these windows there is a SkyWalk – each floor panel in front of the windows is glass and you can see all the way down. It took me a little while to do it – I couldn’t look down though!
To get back to the Pleasure Beach we got on the tram, there are several stops along the promenade and its very easy to use you can buy your ticket on board. We then drove to our second hotel which was much closer to Alton Towers.
We arrived at Alton Towers the next morning just before their opening time, because we have premium Merlin Annual passes they allow you to go in early – a good bonus when it is busy as you can join a queue before the majority of others get there, ensuring a short queue time. Apart from waiting about 45minutes to go on The Smiler, all the other queues were fairly short. We went on Oblivion, Rita, TH13TEEN, Air & Nemesis.
I want to visit again once Air has reopened their re-theme with VR and especially once their new ride opens next year – currently branded as Secret Weapon 8, the ride will be Alton Towers first rollercoaster constructed of wood. Have you visited Blackpool Pleasure Beach or Alton Towers? What is your favourite theme park in the UK? What is your favourite ride? Leave a comment below!
[DISCLAIMER: I am not affiliated with any of the companies mentioned // This post is not sponsored]
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