Alton Towers is an escape from reality, a theme park packed full of excitement and rides which really transports you to another world. In fact, some may wish to escape for a few days. Thankfully, Alton Towers has you covered with a selection of accommodation, each with their own theme (and prices). I’ve stayed at most of the offerings on park now – Minus the Cbeebies Land Hotel as we do not have a child, so felt like making a small blog post rating the accommodation choices on the park. As a reminder, these are my own personal thoughts based on my experiences and any opinions are my own.
Starting off at the bottom of the list, for me it must be Splash Landings. This Caribbean themed hotel is advertised as “A hotel with fun at its heart and home to our fantastic Waterpark!” however when we visited during my birthday, we really didn’t get any real personality from the place. The Beachcomber rooms were nicely themed and so was the hotel, but that really was the only positive I could give you. During our visit, we had a professional welcome (which was nice, but lacked any sort of personal touch), there was no entertainment offerings (even the arcade had closed by 4pm), the onsite restaurant was closed, and the rooms had thin walls – so much so, we could hear people in other rooms which kept us awake and was a little unpleasant. Now, I do have to mention that our stay here was midweek during the first week of the open season so this may have impacted the entertainment/arcade – However, we stayed around the same time the previous year, and all of this was open. Perhaps we got unlucky? Not too sure but this was unfortunately our least favourite stay of all.
Next was a slightly harder decision as I quite like the other three options, but if I had to pick one for third place, I would probably say the Alton Towers Hotel for the main reason that I haven’t been there in a few years so it’s the least fresh on the mind. The Alton Towers Hotel really has that Alton Towers “Escape” feel to it with a welcoming grand foyer and series of unusual things to find around the building (including a massive chair, messages in the bathrooms and a selection of themed rooms). The standard rooms are quite basic, but the themed rooms stand out in this hotel. My only concern with it is the menu for the Secret Garden could use some more normal menu items, I found it was a little bit too fancy for my personal taste.
Second place goes to the Stargazing Pods. We experienced these for the first time a few years ago on a warm summers day and found they were a surprisingly relaxing experience. The pods may look small, but they are spacious and comfortable inside. The individual pods are relaxing and have a camping feel to them with their own shower/toilet block. The breakfast option for this one is slightly different to the other stays – a takeaway breakfast is available to enjoy and honestly, it was perfect for us. The pods also have power so don’t worry about your phones and devices!
As you can guess, my top spot goes to the Enchanted Village Woodland Lodges. They are so cute and nicely themed. They are one of the more expensive options, however in my experience, they are a lot more relaxing than the hotels due to being more isolated. They remind me of Hobbiton with the circular doors and they completely capture that “Escape” feeling that Alton Towers has been known for. There is a feeling of magic almost to these rooms and there’s nothing quite like waking up in the morning and going to the Crooked Spoon for breakfast. This is the furthest away accommodation from the main entrance, but it really does feel special at the same time (as long as it isn’t raining!)
So those are my choices based on my personal experiences, I may have just had a bad time with Splash Landings though as I have heard others with much more positive experiences. Maybe I will try it again at some point.
Do you agree? Or is another accommodation your favourite?
Let us know in the comments!
Written by: Elise