Queuing is an inevitable part of visiting a theme park. To sustain the necessary stamina, it's important to build up sufficient anticipation among your offspring. All this week's sites can help organise a visit and delay the onset of tantrums.

The most nauseating
Alton Towers
With its shuddering browser window and unsettling sound effects, the Alton Towers site is about as appealing as a midwinter Channel crossing, but it has a few uses - notably the ability to book an X-celerator package in advance. This enables you to get into the park before the rest of the horde and be sure of a ride on Nemesis, Oblivion, the Runaway Mine Train and numerous other attractions. Disappointingly, only 30 of the packages are available each day, and they cost £35 for each child and £65 per adult.

The most masculine
Chessington World of Adventures
Booking ahead on this site attracts a small discount and entitles you to a free copy of Kids Out on the gate. Chessington's zoo can be rather depressing, but this year's Beanoland and Action Man Training HQ zones are likely to appeal to small boys.

The most coasters
Blackpool Pleasure Beach
The glut of rollercoasters, carousels and waltzers at Blackpool could have been beautifully evoked on this site. Visitors have to be content with a list of the height restrictions for each ride and the types of ticket available.

The most European
Universal Studios Port Aventura
A Spanish park with the usual themed zones (Far West, China, Mexico), Port Aventura's site is an introduction to the rides rather than a full description. You can download a map, planner and hotel and transport information.

The most commercial
Disneyland Paris
The site includes plenty of poor-quality video and sound effects - for instance, you can listen to the French-speaking pirates in Adventureland demanding their gold - but so slow is the connection that the Disney videos would be a better bet. You can't book online, but you can inspect a Disney hotel room in QuickTime video. The US resorts are at www. disney.co.uk/usa-resorts.

The most unassuming
Thorpe Park
A rather charming exploration of Thorpe Park, with a downloadable gate plan and the opportunity to buy tickets online.

The most comprehensive
Coasters Canada
Going to Canada? Track down a rollercoaster here.

The most exciting
Build a Coaster
Visitors to the site can take a video ride on a rollercoaster, or even build one themselves by means of click-and-drag track parts.