During the May half-term break, we spent a few days staying at one of the UK’s favourite theme parks, the Alton Towers Resort in Staffordshire. Our accommodation was on a bed and breakfast basis (we stayed at the CBeebies Land Hotel, read our review of that here) so at dinner time on our first night, we decided to visit the Roller Coaster Restaurant in the Forbidden Valley zone of the park. This unique restaurant brings a whole new meaning to the phrase fast food as it is the UK’s first rollercoaster restaurant meaning that your food is delivered to your table on a vast rollercoaster track!
If you are planning to eat here, make sure you book a table well in advance as it is very popular and is open outside of the theme park opening hours, you don’t even need a theme park ticket to eat here as there is a separate entrance to the theme park from the car park near the extraordinary golf. You will also need to make sure that you have a smartphone with you as you will need to scan the QR code to view the menu and order your food and drinks.
When you enter this fantastic family restaurant, you will be in awe of the huge steel track that snakes around the ceiling with a tornado spiral going down to each group of tables. It’s almost got a final destination vibe about it but it is definitely a not to be missed dining experience. In the centre of our large circular tables is a large lazy Susan with plates, condiments, serviettes and even a bottle opener as sealed drinks are delivered by rollercoaster. There are human waiters on hand to talk you through it all and to bring unsealed drinks like glasses of wine or draught drinks.
Once you have looked through the menu and placed your order (you will need to pay when you order) you just sit back, relax and take in the atmosphere. The food comes down the rollercoaster to the end of the track where you can then turn the base to reach the dish. Food comes in metal dishes with a plastic lid on top that is held in the rollercoaster car by a bungee. You can’t remove the car from the track, you just have to keep turning the base until the car drops off the end of the track into a collection bin.
The Food
We each ordered starters to share although the children both wanted their own garlic bread from the children’s menu to start. For our main course, the children both picked the tomato pasta with garlic bread and hubby and I both went for burgers, fries and a side. The burgers, fries and sides all came in their own rollercoaster cars which meant the table got cluttered very quickly but the staff were quick to clear the empty delivery dishes. We were very impressed by the portion sizes and the quality of the tasty food, this was certainly a step up from your usual fast food burger and chips. Next time we would either skip the starters or the sides as there was a lot of food, the metal delivery containers are deceptively roomy.
For those with food allergies or other dietary requirements, the menu was incredibly easy to navigate and staff asked as soon as they were seating you if anyone had any allergies. Across the whole resort, it was clear to see that staff in the food outlets had clearly had training on food allergies and were ready to point out which foods were safe for people with dietary needs.
You can view the Alton Towers Resort Rollercoaster Restaurant menu here.
Accessibility
At the base of each spiral, there are three tables with not much room between them which means you’ll be quite close to your neighbouring group. The restaurant is also quite dark as you can tell from my photos so it may be a little difficult to navigate if you have any sight loss. It’s also difficult to get around in a wheelchair, we had to leave the Dinosaur’s buggy/wheelchair outside with the mobility scooters and pushchairs. Luckily it was a dry day when we went as there is not adequate cover outside to keep these things dry. It’s also fortunate that the Dinosaur is able to get out of his wheelchair as I don’t think we would have been able to get his chair to our table near the back of the restaurant. Wheelchair users would likely be ok if they were seated nearer the front of the restaurant. Another thing I want to add on accessibility is the noise, for anyone who is noise sensitive, I would recommend noise cancelling ear defenders as it can get quite loud. If anyone orders a birthday bear, birthday music is played loudly throughout the restaurant and this happened about 8 times while we were there.
Our Verdict
I would say that the food and in particular the drinks were quite pricey (£9.50 for a 250ml glass of wine and £6.60 for a bottle of Corona) for what it was but then you are paying more for the gimmick of having your meal delivered by rollercoaster. I’m glad we went and experienced the rollercoaster restaurant but I think we are unlikely to go again unless it is for a special occasion like one of the children’s birthdays.
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