Saturday 28th March 2026 saw Alton Towers open its brand new rollercoaster in the form of Bluey The Ride – Here Come The Grannies, and we were there for the morning to take a look and get in the queue for our first ride. Elliott is a massive fan of Bluey, so he was excited.
About The Ride
Bluey The Ride – Here Come The Grannies is a Zierer Force/Custom model coaster, built in the spot where Postman Pat Parcel Post (RIP) used to be in CBeebies land. The coaster is a junior/family coaster with a minimum height requirement of 0.9m if accompanied, or 1.1m to ride alone. The ride is themed after the Bluey episode ‘Grannies’, where Blues and Bingo dress up as their alter-egos – Rita and Janet.
How Does It Look?
It really brightens up CBeebies Land. The bright green track really stands out and the blue/purple ride trains contrast it. The ride takes you on a trip around the Heeler family garden with cartoon trees and a washing line. The lead car looks like a Little Tykes push-along car, littered with socks and pants that have been knocked off the washing line, with Rita and Janet in the front.
Around the ride area, you’ll spot characters from the show. Chilli sweeping leaves under the tree, Bandit mowing the lawn while struggling with the hosepipe (future water feature, maybe?), and best of all – the most important granny – Muffin, dressed as Gladys on her mobility scooter.
The entrance of the ride is the Heeler’s house, where the front window has screens inside that will show some of the characters (it wasn’t on when we were there), and leads you into the queue. There’s not a lot of theming in the queue. A photo op with models of Bluey and Bingo, and some cutouts of Janet and Rita later on too. But, it does have some entertainment for the kids. Whilst you wait, there were a few play areas to distract the kids, themed to scenes from the show. The larger of which was a small hill to climb on (Rug Island) which looks like it’ll have crawl tunnels at some point.
The ride station was pretty basic though. Just felt like a big blue tin shed. The only real theming was lights strung across the roof and where the train left the station there were a few cutout pictures and a model of Blueys toy ‘Chattermax’, which Elliott was impressed with.
Ride Experience
For a kids coaster, it was really fun. The length of the train slows it down on the first drop, but it picks up the pace for a fun ride. And you do get a little of the stomach jumping feeling on one or two dips too! It has a few twists and turns, then back through the station for another lap. Can’t go wrong with a 2-lap special.
How Was The Opening Handled?
I felt like Alton Towers did a good job of Bluey the Rides opening day. I was expecting chaos, but it was fairly smooth. They’d blocked off the entrance to CBeebies Land and made you go in at a lower gateway, through the Hey Duggee play area and into the main queue, which was extended for opening day. There were signs along the way giving rough estimates of how long you might have to wait, but it was moving quicker than posted. We did have a brief bout of hail, which stopped the coaster for about 20 mins, but otherwise, it was a steady flow.
Towers also had signs up telling people to ask staff members if they needed to leave the queue for toilet breaks, and there was a staff member on hand to give out a pass for you to rejoin the queue. This was mainly for kids who couldn’t hold it, but we did spot a few adults nipping out for a coffee. I was tempted…
Reliability
We did hear reports of the ride going down a few times though the day, but aside from the brief delay for weather, it was fine for the 2 hours we waited. It’s a new ride, so expect teething problems, but lets hope they are just that and its not plagued with issues like some of the other rides that Towers seems to be having trouble with at the minute.
View from the queue 
Flossing with Janet and Rita The Train in the ride station 
Bluey the Ride 
Inside the station 
Exiting the platform 
Bandit in the garden 
Chilli sweeping some leaves 
The Heeler family house 
Elliott in the queue play area 
Ride entrance 
Promo flags out by the lake 
Checking his heght before a 90 min queue Janet and Rita zooming around the garden Gladys – “If ya don’t want it, don’t buy it!”
Overall Thoughts
Bluey The Ride – Here Come The Grannies is a welcome addition to CBeebies Land, and Alton Towers as a whole. It’s a great step up coaster after Octonauts Rollercoaster Adventure to give children a more thrilling ride experience for their younger years as it definitely has a lot more pace and fun elements to enjoy. It rides well and looks fun, and it’s themed to Bluey. What’s not to like about it?
It was a thumbs up from us, and Elliott especially loved it.
“Nice parking spot, Rita!”
Want to take a ride on Bluey the Ride? Check out the official Alton Towers website for details.
