There has been a lot of discourse about the Alton Ride Access Pass (RAP) in the past six months due to the changes that were brought in, and then very swiftly abolished. The whole idea behind the RAP is that it is supposed to make the park more accessible for those with accessibility issues, and this has historically included people living with neurodiversity. There is guidance for how to apply for a RAP on the Alton Towers website, but we were able to apply for one on behalf of each of the twins fairly easily a few years ago, because they both have Access Cards.
How it works
Back in February 2026, we were booked in for a day and a night at Alton Towers (very kindly through the Family Fund charity) and I did some googling beforehand to work out how the RAP actually works in reality. Despite all the changes going on at the time (which have now been revoked), both of my twins still qualified to use the RAP. I was confident that it would be simple to use and that it would make our day a little bit easier to manage with two profoundly disabled children. I downloaded the special app, had a little look before our visit, and thought we were good to go. From what I could tell, we simply needed to ‘check in’ to the ride we wanted to go on with the app, which would then put us in a virtual queue and let us know when it was time to go and enjoy the ride.
In reality, it wasn’t quite this simple. On the day of our visit, we made our way to Cbeebies Land which was absolutely heaving, and found a ride we thought the twins would enjoy. I was able to check in to the ride using the app, and was then presented with a countdown timer. I assumed this was the time we needed to wait until we could go on the chosen ride. I spent a few minutes checking the app to see if my assumption was correct, but it wasn’t particularly clear and there wasn’t anyone around to ask in person.
Our queue time was over 50 minutes so we decided to try and keep the twins happy and occupied around the park while we waited. This is where we found the park really isn’t set up well for either neurodiversity or disability. My daughter needed to be in her mobility buggy, which caused the first issue. We headed to the playground, but the entrance and exit were so narrow and clogged with other people, that we actually found it inaccessible for a mobility aid to get in and out of. I don’t think a wheelchair user would have managed to get into the playground. Once we finally managed to navigate our way in, we found that the park was so busy, there wasn’t really space for either of the children to safely play. All of the equipment was in use with people absolutely everywhere and no real room to maneuver around. Both of my children became quickly distressed at the situation and we decided to move on and see what else we could do to kill time.
We headed to the area where the live shows happen, but there was no live show scheduled at that time, and every bench and seating area was already occupied and there were many other families setting up camp on the floor.
Next, we decided to have a wander around and try and find a bench where we could sit and dig into our snacks. We were able to find a bench and stop for a little bit, but we were soon ready to move on.
We very quickly discovered that there wasn’t much to do while we waited. We have visited Cbeebies Land a few years prior to this trip, and we didn’t have nearly so much of an issue as there weren’t so many people and the twins were very happy to roam and wander about. On this visit, however, there were far too many people to be able to let them safely run around.
As our timer on the RAP ticked down, the twins became more and more agitated with so many people and so little to keep them occupied around the park. For us, agitation can quickly lead to dysregulation which in turn often leads to violent meltdowns.
It was at this point that we had to make a very difficult call. Did we continue with our day out and accept that long queue times (even though we were queuing virtually) were quite possibly going to lead to some violent meltdowns, or did we throw in the towel and de-escalate the situation before we risked reaching a potential crisis point?
Unfortunately, we felt like the most sensible and safest option for our family was to leave the park. This was honestly a huge disappointment as we had been looking forward to the day for a long time, but trying to power on through the day when there was a very real risk of the children becoming violent and seriously self harming simply wasn’t worth it.
Begrudgingly, we headed for the exit, and even though it was fairly early in the day, there were a number of other families who were also leaving the park at this time, telling the staff on the exit gates that it was just too busy.
Looking back at how the RAP works, it was only after we left the park that I discovered that you can actually ‘check in’ to a ride and then enjoy that ride straight away. I definitely don’t think this was made clear enough, but I don’t think it would have impacted our overall decision to leave the park.
Our main issues
I appreciate that many families would have been able to cope absolutely fine with the crowds of people, but for us, it made things very difficult. During the February half term it seems that Cbeebies Land and the pirate themed areas are the only parts of Alton Towers that are actually open to the public. This meant that almost everyone visiting the park at the same time as us, was going to the same part of the park as us. While we have previously found that Cbeebies Land has enough to offer for half a day’s entertainment, it really isn’t that big. This caused the whole experience to feel very claustrophobic. Of course, the number of people visiting this area will have also pushed up the wait times for the rides as well, meaning everyone hoping to go on a ride was waiting an exceptionally long time, RAP or not.
Our other main issue was a lack of things to do while we waited for our turn to visit rides. At other times of the year, we would be able to go for a walk through the Alton Towers grounds, which are beautiful. Due to most of the park being closed off during the February half term, we felt very limited with our options. It is worth noting that there is a sensory area which is available to visit for guests with sensory needs, but this was actually very busy when we went past, and would not have helped in our situation. The most obvious places to kill a bit of time are the playground, and the live show area, but as explained, both of these were so busy that they were not suitable places for us to be able to visit.
What could be better
As a family, we have previously visited Alton Towers and Cbeebies Land at another time of year when it was half as busy, and we had a wonderful time. It strikes me as a bad decision to open the park to such an enormous number of people when only two areas are open to the public. I wonder if perhaps ticket numbers should be limited when the park is not fully open. Another option that I haven’t seen offered by Alton Towers (although I may have missed it) is to offer specific times or days with SEN sessions. It would be wonderful to visit for a couple of hours with significantly reduced numbers of people, and a quieter atmosphere. I would happily pay double the ticket price to be able to access an experience like this.
Another thing that I would really like to see improved is the accessibility of the playground for wheelchair and mobility aid users. This is something that I really don’t think would take much effort on the part of the park, and it would benefit a huge number of young people wanting to enjoy the space!
Will we go back?
I’m really not sure if we will bother returning to Alton Towers. My issue isn’t really with the RAP, but instead with the current systems in place that just aren’t very disability friendly. While my children love Cbeebies characters and would love to explore Cbeebies Land on a quiet day, I get the impression that quiet days at the park are rare. There are other theme parks with slightly different accessibility protocols that work better for us, and with fewer visitors on any given day – I think in future we will prioritise these parks!
