We recently stayed at the CBeebies Land Hotel at Alton Towers! With a variety of themed rooms to choose from it was only right we opted for Something Special given that’s Liara’s favourite and this whole trip was for her first birthday!
This blog is based on the Christmas period and uses the Merlin Holiday Club. What’s offered in this blog is exclusive to Christmas time only.
Check-In & Out:
Check-in is very simple and much like everywhere you receive an email before filling in your details then on the day simply collect your key. Upon arrival you’ll receive a lanyard as you enter the hotel for safeguarding purposes it has to be worn at all times in the hotel. One slight dissimilarity with this hotel stay you acquire a personal text service where you can ask staff at any point questions or for information. It was incredibly useful. Check-out is also straightforward with just handing your key back to staff on the way out. The times for check-in are from 2pm and check-out is 10am.
The Room:
Our room was themed to Something Special as I mentioned above. Therefore, the entire room was wal-to-wall Mr Tumble-themed! It was pretty epic in all honesty. There are so many nods and touches that any fan would appreciate. Of course, it’s intended for children, therefore, the children’s sleeping area is incredible with a projector & activity wall. You could efficiently sleep 3 children within that area with the bunk beds and the pullout bed underneath.
The room includes all your baby-friendly facilities such as a baby bath, nappy bin, bottle warmer, travel cot etc. It is worth pointing out the travel cot doesn’t include a mattress.
The overall room is special for the attention to detail. As for us adults & our experience, unfortunately, wasn’t so tremendous our bed was not the most comfortable nor the quietest. We didn’t get a wink of sleep. Our bed made this horrifically loud creek at any given movement. Unfortunately, the room cleanliness wasn’t where you’d expect it to be given the price you pay to stay in these themed rooms.
The Windmill Restaurant:
We ate here twice during our stay as we had an evening meal & breakfast included. We had two very distinguishable experiences.
Our evening meal was quite the experience in all honesty. All of the food was cold and desert was partly frozen. It wasn’t what we had anticipated at all. Whereas breakfast was the complete opposite and absolutely beautiful!
The Hotel Itself:
The hotel is mesmerising in terms of theming. Everywhere you look there’s something eye-catching. Toddlers and children can fully embrace the hotel for sure. There’s so much for them to explore within the reception area let alone elsewhere with interactive stations and sometimes characters. The hotel does feel a lot undersized than the other two but for a children’s hotel, you can’t want much more. There’s a very tiny gift shop inside as well.
Evening Entertainment:
We caught some of the evening entertainment all of which was screen based. Which we were quite surprised at. We caught a show on the screen & Mr Tumble overlay singing children’s songs. We spent most of our evening inside the Alton Towers Hotel instead for their live entertainment.
What’s Included at Christmas?
For the Christmas package, you get everything incorporated. This includes an evening meal, breakfast, 9-hole golf, waterpark, Santa grotto, pantomime etc. There’s no denying the fact it’s an expensive time to stay but for what’s included you can’t quite moan.
Would We Stay Here Again?
Not whilst Liara is so young, no. She enjoyed her birthday which was the main thing but with the costs we paid, we would probably stay in a top-flight room in the other two hotels instead. Although Liara enjoyed her time we did not have a very good evening meal and sleep was non-existent it’s not ideal for how much you pay. When Liara’s old enough to choose where she’d like to stay and if she chose this hotel again we’d do it then. But there were quite a lot of things we didn’t necessarily expect like the entertainment, the evening meal, and the condition of the room. But the memories were lovely that we made and Liara’s nonstop smiles the whole time that’s all that truly mattered.
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In total using our Merlin Annual Passes we paid £350 for 1 night this was during the Santa Sleepover and in an off-peak week.
Have you ever stayed here before? What’s your experience being like? Did we just get unlucky or is this something that’s common?
Thank you for reading…