Alton Towers Lightopia returns with stunning light trail plus Christmas Market, Santa’s Grotto & family rides

It’s the most wonderful time of the year and families looking for something to entertain the kids this Christmas won’t go wrong with a trip to Alton Towers Resort. The theme park has kicked off its festive celebrations with the return of Lightopia, an enchanting Christmas Market and its famous Santa Sleepovers.

On selected dates from November 25, 2022 until January 2, 2023 families can enjoy a stunning light trail around the park, family rides and attractions as well as the traditional Christmas Market set on Towers Street. Entry to the Christmas Market is free and there are ticket options for those who want to enjoy Lightopia on its own or want to enjoy some rides as well.

For those who want the whole package including an overnight stay, Santa Sleepovers are back and they include breakfast, an evening meal and a visit to Santa’s Grotto. You’ll also have a 1-day ticket to the Waterpark, extraordinary golf, Lightopia, select family rides and attractions, plus the Christmas Market.

A Santa Sleepover will cost you from £120 per person and there are rooms available on the Alton Towers website if you’d still like to book a stay for your family. You’ll need to reserve your dinner and breakfast timeslots, as well as timeslots for Santa’s Grotto and entry to the Waterpark.

If you’re staying for a Santa Sleepover as part of your experience then you get free parking at the Alton Towers hotel and will be able to hop on a shuttle bus to the park. For those who’re on a day trip you’ll be parking your car on the main car parks for £6 or free if you’re a Gold, Platinum or Premium Merlin Passholder.

Not one to miss an opportunity to listen to Christmas songs while flying round a rollercoaster, I set off on a magical adventure with my partner and our 8-year-old nephew and niece. We live roughly a 40 minute drive away from the theme park and are quite used to having to queue through the winding country lanes from time to time as we make our way to our destination but this time the roads were pretty quiet and there was plenty of parking once we got to the park.

Alton Towers Christmas Market

Once you get to the entrance of the park you’re met with a Christmassy view of Towers Street lit up brightly and a constant soundtrack of festive tunes. Everyone is free to walk around the Christmas Market which has gift stalls, firepits to toast marshmallows and loads of places to eat and drink - and you can sit in a shed while your enjoy your purchases if you so wish.

While you shop until you drop you can enjoy live entertainment from the bandstand stage, which is set in the middle of the Market. There are also entertainers dotted around as you peruse the various stalls and our nephew was particularly impressed by a juggler who was happy to chat to him and others as he performed.

Foodies have loads of options to choose from including the traditional Bratwurst, pick and mix stalls and, my personal favourite, crepes with Nutella. We had a freshly made crepe with Nutella each and it was divine, I may have to drive back over to get another one before the Market ends. Not too pricey either considering it was a giant crepe - can’t recommend enough.

Alton Towers Lightopia

The star of the show, Lightopia is worth every penny and more. Starting at 4pm until 8pm, the light trail themed around ‘Christmas Wonder’ is packed full of giant lanterns and immersive projection light shows. The stunning scenes include the Gate of Wonder, Candy Land, mystic animals, Land of Diamonds and Fire Dragons, plus a brand-new grand water show finale.

It took us roughly 45 minutes to walk around the trail but we walked around it relatively fast. You pass through Katanga Canyon, Haunted Hollow and the Towers Gardens as both sides are lined with light features and yes the Christmas music continues to be your soundtrack as you walk - good luck stopping your head from bobbing along as you walk!

There are also interactive experiences dotted around the Seasonal Wonderland which let guests control the magic. We spent quite a while playing on the drums towards the end of the trail which kept the kids very entertained.

I’d recommend wearing some shoes you don’t mind getting a tad muddy, especially if the weather takes a turn and of course, you’re walking round once its gone dark so it can get chilly! We went on a particularly mild day and it only started spitting rain when we got to the end of the evening but still, take a coat as its all outdoors.

Lightopia is suitable for adults and families so well worth buying a ticket to see it and its accessible for wheelchairs and pushchairs. It’ll cost you from £15 per person and you can book on the Alton Towers website in advance.

Alton Towers rides

From Towers Street can head over to the rides if you’ve got a wristband which comes with the Festive Day Out ticket. This will cost you from £30 per person and includes CBeebies Land, The World of David Walliams with Gangsta Granny: The Ride and Mutiny Bay to name just a few.

I would really recommend the Festive Day Out ticket if you’ve got kids in your party, that will kill a lot of time while you wait for Lightopia to open and there’s a nice mix of rides that are suitable for different ages. For adult-only parties you may want to give this a miss as the biggest rollercoaster is Spinball Whizzer which is decent but not quite £30 each worthy in my opinion.

For us though, it was very worth it as the twins got all their energy out in Hey Duggee’s play area and squealed their way around the Octonauts Rollercoaster Adventure. I also managed to persuade them to go on Spinball Whizzer which one of them loved (the other wasn’t quite so keen) - its suitable for kids over 1.2m and for us big kids too who like to get their adrenaline running!

Over in Mutiny Bay you’ve got the Sharkbait Reef by SEA LIFE as well as Marauder’s Mayhem. Those of you over a certain age will remember this used to be the teacup ride and it’s the same gist but has been themed around pirates and barrels for the last few years.

Full list of Alton Towers rides and attractions you can enjoy over Christmas

• Gangsta Granny: The Ride
• Peter Rabbit Hippity Hop
• Octonauts Rollercoaster Adventure
• Go Jetters Vroomster Zoom Ride
• Sharkbait Reef by SEA LIFE
• Spinball Whizzer
• Bugbie-Go-Round
• Postman Pat Parcel Post
• In The Night Garden Magical Boat Ride
• Justin’s House Pie-O-Matic Factory
• Marauders Mayhem
• Heave Ho
• Hex - The Legend of the Towers
• Cuckoo Cars Driving School
• The Royal Carousel
• Raj’s Bouncy Bottom Burp
• Flavio’s Fabulous Fandango

How to book Alton Towers Christmas tickets

• Christmas Market - free entry, car parking charge only.
• Lightopia and Christmas Market - from £15 per person.
• Theme Park, Lightopia and Christmas Market - from £30 per person.
• Santa’s Sleepover - from £120 per person.

You can book your tickets on the Alton Towers website.

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