Staying at Theme Parks: Theme Park Hotels

You know you’ve hit the jackpot when you take the children to a theme-park and they even adore the carpets. Ours spent hours dancing from island to island on the brightly coloured floors kitted out to look like a pirate treasure map. They were not in the park itself – Alton Towers, near Stoke – but in the Splash Landings hotel that’s part of what they now call a ‘resort’.

Staying at a theme-park used to be the province of Disney, but Britain’s two major players now let you take the frenzy out of your day with a relaxing night.

Splash Landings is Caribbean-themed, and so good Disney would be proud. It has beachcomber family rooms (with bunk beds) and two brand new pirate ‘cabins’, calypso music, limbo dancers, and the colourful Flambo’s Feast buffet restaurant, which is as acceptable to parents for dinner as it is children. Plus, of course, those fun carpets washing from your room down the hallways.

Then there’s the Cariba Creek waterpark – one of our children’s favourite places anywhere. The year-round indoor section (overlooked by Flambo’s) is a lagoon surrounded by rocks and ramshackle buildings, with places to float and places to get soaked, along with the Master Blaster water-slide. Toddlers can have gentle fun while bigger children can let off energy. Outdoors are more lazy options for summer.

The original Alton Towers Hotel is also an escapist affair – a country mansion kitted out with the phantasmagorical creations of inventor and explorer Sir Algernon Alton. Rooms (sleeping up to six) are equally eccentric; six particularly extravagant themed options include Peter Rabbit and Arabian Nights rooms. Our kids loved the showtime in the big bar, and even dancing with the entertainers.

Both hotels offer single-night packages that include two days’ park and waterpark entrance (and an hour’s start on outside visitors). New this year is the Mutiny Bay pirate-themed area with the everyone-gets-wet Battle Galleons water-fight. It joins some of Britain’s most serious coasters – Air, Nemesis, Oblivion, and so on – and lots of family attractions.

Quite different is the Holiday Inn at Chessington World of Adventures in Surrey. Imposing in wood and stone with a parkland setting, it has the air of a safari lodge but is stylishly modern rather than outrageously themed. Our kids adored the 18m indoor pool, from which they could gaze out at birds of prey gazing back.

Our family room was cool and comfortable, and the second TV in the children’s alcove was a big hit (with us as much as them). The Langata Brasserie restaurant is excitingly upmarket, its décor continuing the African theme, and has a good children’s menu, although it might be a bit too smart for a casual family meal with tired youngsters. Instead, we opted for pizzas in the Marula bar, with its patio and grassy views, where the children dashed in and out of the playroom complete with art supplies as we relaxed over our wine. The hotel offers family packages including park tickets.

Our children love Chessington and return again and again to the Flying Jumbos and Beanoland, despite being tempted by challenging fare such as the leg-dangling Vampire skycoaster. The zoo, with gorillas, lions, tigers and sealions is a constant delight, while the new Sealife centre, a walkthrough aquarium with a glass tunnel so you can stand under the sharks, is a big hit too, even if it doesn’t have themed carpets…

See Take the Family's Theme Park page

See Take the Family' Short Breaks and Days Out page