Our review: CBeebies Land Hotel at Alton Towers Resort

Are you planning to head to the new CBeebies Land Hotel at Alton Towers Resort with your family? Well, why not read our review so you know what to expect, as we booked ourselves in for an overnight experience and have shared about it in this post.  To be frank, this is the fourth year (in a row) which we as a family have headed to Alton Towers for a sleepover, we usually stay at Alton Tower Resort Hotel but on this particular weekend it was closed for a private event so we decided to stay at the CBeebies Hotel instead.

Our package included the following :

• An overnight stay in a themed room
• Exclusive entertainment
• Free Breakfast in The Windmill Restaurant
• Free car parking
• Alton Tower Waterpark entry for the 4 of us for the next day

We arrived earlier as we always like to have a walk around the surroundings and take photos (as we always do).  We even popped over to Alton Tower Resorts Hotel which is just 5 minutes walk away (but there was a private corporate event being held at the hotel) as we wanted to head to their games room (with our spare 2p coins which we saved over the year..even though we did not win anything..kids loved it).

Check-in time at CBeebies Land Hotel is 3pm, a lot of the guests arrived around this time while others came around 4pm …which is fine as you would not have miss out on anything.  We were told that we could enjoy the Free entertainment while we waited to check-in (this was not a live entertainment but its just a very large tv screen showing shows from the CBeebies channel).

The inside of the hotel is very bright and colourful with music, so its very appealing and fun for children, older people who want something more sophisticated should avoid staying here. Do see the photo of the hotel reception area below.  Upon check-in we were given the programme sheet with all the timings, so we could plan which shows the kids wanted to watch.  We (adults) were also given a guest tag each to wear around our neck (this served as ID for staff as well as a place for us to insert our room keys). You would need the access card to access the lift and entry doors (which is a good security measure).

Postman’s car was park outside the hotel, so kids were were excited to walk over to check it out

The themed room at CBeebies Land Hotel includes Bugbies, Postman Pat, Something Special, In the Night Garden, Octonaughts or Swashbuckle.  We decided to book the Deluxe Swashbuckle Room. The room was large and very comfy, a double bed for the parents, a bunk bed for kids (there was also a pull out bed at the bottom of the kid’s bunk bed, so you could have easily fit in 3 kids) and there was plenty of space to fit in a  baby cot as well. The hotel room was clean and it still smelled new.  We were impressed that the rooms were totally toddler friendly with baby bath tubs, bottle warmers, stools for kids and with baby friendly shower gels all readily available.

We had an hour to relax in the hotel room before we headed down for dinner.  The kids enjoyed watching TV which was next to their bed while we had the news on our TV.  We soon got ready to head for dinner to the Windmill Restaurant (our slot had been pre-booked so that we did not have to wait for a table).

There was a salad bar available for everyone (this was free, and there were lots of vegetables to choose from) so plus point for that. My 7-year old daughter decided to order sausage and mash with beans, gravy and peas, this cost £5 (kid’s size). My son decided to order 8″ margarita pizza which was made with 60% wholemeal flour, this cost us £7, unfortunately he decided not to have any of it as he did not like the wholemeal taste. My husband ordered a grown up portion of the Classic Steak Burger (photo not included)…did not think it was worth £14 while I ordered the Grilled Salmon Fillet served with baked sweet potato, summer vegetables and creme fraiche. I am a small eater, so I ordered the kid’s size which was perfect portion for me (but it came in a kid’s plate), I thought the dish tasted nice (the same meal in adult size would have cost us £14).

For dessert, we ordered Ice cream and marshmallows (there seemed to be more marshmallow than ice-cream), priced at £3. This took about 20 minutes to arrive although the restaurant was only half full. So we ended up taking it outside so that the kids could have that and watch the live entertainment at the same time.

There were lots of entertainment available at the hotel such as live show, meet Postman Pat and Octonaughts, dance the night away and game shows.  Our kids enjoyed ‘Stargazing’ just before bedtime the most!  There were kids already dressed in their jammies and felt at home just lying on the comfy cushion while listening to the presenter narating her captivating stories.

The next day, we had early breakfast before we checked out at 10am to head to the Water Park where we spent the whole day there.

What we thought of CBeebies Land Hotel?

Yes – It is a baby and toddler friendly hotel hence you will be there with other parents with very young kids so you won’t feel uncomfortable if you child decided to throw a tantrum halfway through the meal. The hotel is new and clean and great place for parents to relax while the kids have a good time.  We went with our 4 and 7 year-old kids. Our 4-year-old really enjoyed himself while we could see that the 7-year-old was slightly outgrowing some of the entertainment and felt out of place at times.

Yes – The Front Desk Staff were very helpful… we mentioned that we were told about the Free entry into Sea Life on the phone but they said that Sea Life was closed (as we went in December). But instead of forgetting about it, they decided to trace the call and confirm that it was an error on their part and immediately presented both the kids with a lovely Bing cuddly toy that evening.  This was a really nice surprise as we were not expecting it at all.

Yes – There was free wifi with great reception throughout the hotel.

Yes – The deluxe rooms were large, and parents had a separate sleeping area (would have been nice if this was separated by a door, but nevertheless, we could easily watch late night tv without disturbing the kids when they slept.

No – We were a little dissapointed with the live entertainment at the Cbeebies Hotel. Looking at their programme sheet, it looked like a full day of entertainment but not all were live shows, a lot of it were just TV shows on a big screen (this is not clearly indicated on the programme sheet).

No – There is no library  at the hotel, just a room called CBeebies Land Hotel Library where calming music and restful activities take place (this was closed when we were there). We thought we’d mention this as we (being avid readers) went looking for the ‘library’ but were dissapointed when we did not find any books there to read.

Yes –  We could pre-book our dinner and breakfast slot which meant we could plan our day. We also found that the staff asked us if we had any food allergies before seating us at the table which would have helpful for families with food intolerance and allergies.

How much does it cost to stay at CBeebies Land Hotel?

Please check the hotel website for their latest rates as they will be offering different packages / offers throughout the year. Our package cost us around £180 which included a night’s stay for the 4 of us, breakfast and water park tickets.

Where is the CBeebies Land Hotel?

Farley Lane

Alton

Staffordshire

ST10 4DB

How do I book my stay at CBeebies Land Hotel?

You can do it via their website or by calling them at 0871 097 1233.

Read more: The Ice-Cream Farm Review