You will not ride everything. Pick a job for the day.
This index lists 43 Alton Towers attractions. A first visit should not try to clear that list. The park is a resort site with gardens, woodland and long walks between Forbidden Valley, Dark Forest and X-Sector. Choose one job: inversions, the valley coaster, or a mixed-height day.
- Inversions and intensity: The Smiler, then Oblivion, both in X-Sector.
- The ride that is Alton Towers: Nemesis Reborn in Forbidden Valley.
- Mixed heights: Wicker Man and TH13TEEN at 120 cm, with Runaway Mine Train if you need 90 cm.
The five rides worth planning around
These are the listings with published specs and on-ride video on this site. Open the ride page for the POV before you commit a queue to any of them.
| Ride | Why it is on a first-visit list | Published specs |
|---|---|---|
| The Smiler | Record inversion count in X-Sector. The Marmite coaster — watch the POV. | 85 km/h / 53 mph · 33 m / 108 ft · 14 inversions · 140 cm / 55 in min |
| Nemesis Reborn | Inverted B&M in a rocky trench. The park’s signature ride after the 2024 rebuild. | 80 km/h / 50 mph · 13 m / 43 ft · 4 inversions · 140 cm / 55 in min |
| Wicker Man | Wooden coaster through the figure in Dark Forest. Lowest major-coaster height band at 120 cm. | 71 km/h / 44 mph · 22 m / 72 ft · 120 cm / 47 in min |
| Oblivion | The drop, not a long layout. Sit next to The Smiler in X-Sector so you are not walking it twice. | 110 km/h / 68 mph · 55 m / 180 ft · 140 cm / 55 in min |
| Rita | Hydraulic launch in Dark Forest. Short. Do it while you are already in that land. | 100 km/h / 62 mph · 21 m / 69 ft · 140 cm / 55 in min |
A walking order that does not waste the site
Alton Towers punishes a random order. Forbidden Valley, Dark Forest and X-Sector are separate corners. Do each block once.
- Open: Forbidden Valley. Nemesis Reborn first while the queue is moving. Galactica is the same land if you meet 140 cm and want a flying coaster.
- Late morning: Dark Forest. Wicker Man, then TH13TEEN, then Rita. That is a wooden coaster, a drop-track, and a launch without recrossing the park.
- Afternoon: X-Sector. Oblivion then The Smiler, or the reverse if Smiler’s queue is already the longest board in the park.
- If energy is gone: stop. The gardens and the house grounds are the point of a resort park, not a failure to “finish” the coaster list.
Start here: Nemesis Reborn Put this order into the trip planner
What a first visit can skip without regret
The Smiler is skippable if inversions make you uneasy — it is not the ride that defines the park, even though it is the one people argue about. Rita is skippable if queues are long; the launch is over quickly. Galactica is skippable on a first visit if Forbidden Valley time is already spent on Nemesis.
What is harder to skip: Nemesis Reborn, because nothing else in the park does that trench, and Wicker Man if anyone in the group is on the 120 cm band.