Eating Gluten-Free and Halal at Alton Towers: What's Changed

Eating Gluten-Free and Halal at Alton Towers: What's Changed

If you last visited Alton Towers a while ago and remember staff adapting dishes for your dietary needs, this is worth reading before you book. The policy has genuinely changed — and knowing that in advance makes a real difference to how you plan your day.

The Policy Change Nobody's Talking About

Following updated guidance from the Food Standards Agency and UK Hospitality, Merlin Entertainments has revised its allergen policy across its attractions.

The key change: Alton Towers no longer provides menu adaptations or personalised allergen guidance.

Instead, all guests are offered an Allergen Guide — a detailed document listing every menu item and its potential allergen content — and are expected to make informed decisions independently. If you're still unsure after consulting it, the official advice is to choose a different option. Restaurants will not adapt dishes.

This is a meaningful shift. Previous visitor accounts describe staff willingly mixing and matching items to create bespoke dishes, and managers coming over to check you understood the allergen information. That approach has ended.

Where to Find Halal Food

This one's straightforward and officially confirmed. Halal options are available at:

• Eastern Express — Mutiny Bay
• Forest Feast — Dark Forest

Two outlets across a 500-acre park is genuinely limited, so it's worth planning your day around them rather than assuming you'll find something wherever you happen to be at lunchtime.

Gluten-Free: The Honest Picture

Reviews from the coeliac community are genuinely mixed, and it's worth being straight about that.

The positives. Alton Towers states that items can be cooked to order separately to avoid cross-contamination, with steaks, gammons, gluten-free pizza, chicken, salads and jacket potatoes among the options. Hotel breakfasts have drawn praise, with gluten-free bread, rolls and cereal available at both Alton Towers Hotel and Splash Landings. Eastern Express in Mutiny Bay comes recommended by gluten-free visitors, with a clearly displayed allergy sheet — one reviewer named the chips and onion bhaji as their go-to.

The criticism. Other coeliac visitors describe options as genuinely poor for a venue this size, with some reporting they were left with chips as the only safe choice. One noted a previously available gluten-free burger has been discontinued. Pop-up food outlets at events are reported as not catering for gluten-free at all.

The recurring advice from coeliac visitors is blunt: bring your own food to avoid going hungry.

Terminology Worth Knowing

Alton Towers has dropped the term "No Gluten Containing Ingredients" (NGCI) from its menus, following FSA guidance that it caused confusion. NGCI items were never suitable for coeliacs, as they may be prepared in environments handling gluten.

Practical Advice

• Bring your own food. The park permits picnics and non-alcoholic drinks
• Ask for the Allergen Guide at every outlet
• Plan around Eastern Express — it's the most consistently recommended for both halal and gluten-free
• Hotel breakfasts are generally the strongest option if you're staying over