Alton Towers has reduced its opening hours slightly, closing half an hour earlier at 5pm for much of May.
On Saturdays from 18 May, the park’s ride queues will close at 5:30pm, but all other days – including Bank Holidays – will see 5pm closures.
Term-time weekdays were previously 5pm queue closures, but weekends were 5:30pm.
Today, hundreds of people remained in the sunshine adjacent to the park’s entrance, occupying the Towers Street and lawn areas for more than an hour after ride queues closed.
This website understands that visitor numbers so far this year at the park are significantly short of targets, due to the delayed opening of The Smiler rollercoaster.