UK Theme Parks Mini Trippie

Em4owen · 22 Aug 20, 09:47 PM

We decided to purchase Merlin Premium Passes and do a theme park tour as part of our holiday to replace the hole left by our cancelled dream Florida holiday. I thought I'd do a kind of trip summary with pros and cons for everyone incase you'd like to do any of the theme parks or something similar.

We spent a week touring the theme parks, Sat 15th-Sat 22nd August, having spent the week before relaxing in a cottage in the Cotswolds. There's me, DH, DS1 aged 6, DS2 aged 4. We're from Essex.

Sat 15th-Mon 17th Alton Towers
We decided to go to the one the furthest away first. We left our cottage in the Cotswolds around 9.30am and arrived at Alton Towers around 12 noon. We were staying at the Splash Landings Hotel. We were able to do a pre-check in, including a temperature check before entering the parks. We stayed until 2ish and found we were able to do quite a few rides at CBeebies Land before ending back to the hotel for our 3.30pm slot at the water park. The water park was busier than expected at social distancing was lacking. We stayed until just after 5pm as we had a dinner reservation at 6pm at the Secret Garden restaurant in the Alton Towers restaurant. We had a bit of magic here as DS1 was upset to discover they were out of slush. He wouldn't choose another drink so the waiter left. When he came back to take our drinks order, he reappeared with a slush he had gotten elsewhere and made my son's day. So lovely.

Days 2 and 3 were really great. We spent most of the time in Cbeebies land but ventured off to do the Congo River Rapids which we loved and the galleon water one. We found staff were so friendly and the park had put plenty of measures in place including hand sanitizing, cleaning rides and very clear one way systems and social distancing markers, all staffed well. We felt very safe and it didn't seem too busy especially in Cbeebies Land. We also enjoyed a quiet meal at the Rollercoaster Restaurant. I was sad to leave as I really love the atmosphere here. We spent the night at a Premier Inn in Bambury as the drive to Legoland would have been too long.

Tues 18th-Thurs 20th Legoland
We arrived around 10.30am and again were able to pre-check into our hotel which was the Legoland Hotel. We could walk from our hotel to the park and had a temperature check before entering. The park was a lot busier but we found a few rides to do as it only got busier around 11-12. We found this was always the case here. We returned to our hotel for a 3pm reservation in the hotel pool and pirate Splash area. We got 1 hour including changing time and that was all we needed. Dinner was at the Bricks restaurant which was a buffet but served to you and you had a buzzer to tell you when it was your turn to go up. The food was delicious.

Days 2 and 3 were spent enjoying the rides and attractions. Hotel guests get to enter the park at 9.30am buy rides don't open until 10am so we got to queue early for them. One of the days it poured down with rain all day. We were grateful we had the hotel room to chill out in before venturing out again. This was the best park for safety, they really ensured social distancing happened, that people wore masks or proved why they couldn't and the restaurants felt the safetest. We left Legoland around 2pm on Thursday to travel to Chessington.

Thurs 20th-Sat 22nd Chessingham
We arrived around 3.30pm. We checked into our Safari view room and then went to the park for a bit, just to look at the animals and the boys played in the dragon area. We had a 5pm reservation at the Safari Grill. This was very basic and you had to order everything from an app. It was a let down after the other theme park hotel restaurants.

Day 2 was quieter and we had the bonus of early entry and ride time from 9.30-10.00am. We loved this perk and made sure we were queued up to enter 8.45-9 so we were at the front each time. Social distancing was lacking here and the toilets were always busy, with queues and no monitoring. I felt the most unsafe here. They did clean the rides and had masks on some but it did seem quite disorganised.

Day 3 was super busy. Wait times were long after 11am until closing. Even the zoo parts were busy. There also seemed to be less staff and monitoring than the day before. Other than some sanitizing areas and markings, it didn't feel like they were enforcing anything and at times, it was a free for all.

Pros and Cons

Alton Towers
Pros- safe, less busy and shorter wait times. Staff much more friendly.
Cons - no advantages for staying onsite other than a different entrance and the monorail wasn't running so lots of extra walking.

Legoland
Pros - safe, lovely hotel with added magic extras for kids
Cons - long wait times after 11am

Chessington
Pros - extra ride time for hotel guests, lots of other things to do if wait times are long
Cons - toilets always busy and lack of social distancing

Extra info - we are a family of vegans and vegetarians. All parks had options for us but Alton Towers was the best for catering to this. Chessington was the worst.

I hope you all find this useful. I'm absolutely shattered after a week of theme parks but we enjoyed ourselves and the passes were a godsend. I'd recommend staying in the hotels too as we enjoyed them all but particularly the Legoland Hotel.

**SuziQz** · 23 Aug 20, 12:01 AM

Sounds like you had a good week on the whole. Shame Chessington isn�t as organised as the others but glad your son got his slushy at AT, amazing what a difference a little extra effort by a member of staff makes.

Thanks for reporting back, hope you get a lie in tomorrow

MichelleS · 23 Aug 20, 08:18 AM

We were at Chessington Tuesday and Wednesday and felt the same slightly disappointed with the cleaning and social distancing but tried very hard to keep apart from others as much as possible.

Em4owen · 23 Aug 20, 08:48 AM

Originally Posted by MichelleS

We were at Chessington Tuesday and Wednesday and felt the same slightly disappointed with the cleaning and social distancing but tried very hard to keep apart from others as much as possible.

I'm glad it wasn't just me who noticed this. We didn't let it dampen our time there but I think if we had started here instead of at the other two, I would have been very anxious. It did seem staff had had less training than the other two. I do wonder if it's because they have a zoo and because of that they struggled financially during lockdown as the animals still needed to be looked after, so additional running costs, whereas the others don't. Some rides and areas looked like they needed some love and care.

Em4owen · 23 Aug 20, 08:49 AM

Originally Posted by SuziQz

Sounds like you had a good week on the whole. Shame Chessington isn�t as organised as the others but glad your son got his slushy at AT, amazing what a difference a little extra effort by a member of staff makes.

Thanks for reporting back, hope you get a lie in tomorrow

It really was lovely. I had a nice, long sleep and am so pleased I thoroughly cleaned the house before we left. I just need to do all the endless laundry!

MichelleS · 23 Aug 20, 10:15 AM

Originally Posted by Em4owen

I'm glad it wasn't just me who noticed this. We didn't let it dampen our time there but I think if we had started here instead of at the other two, I would have been very anxious. It did seem staff had had less training than the other two. I do wonder if it's because they have a zoo and because of that they struggled financially during lockdown as the animals still needed to be looked after, so additional running costs, whereas the others don't. Some rides and areas looked like they needed some love and care.

Yes my dd told us about the zoo finances when we got back think we were slightly anxious as we had our 3 gdd with us .
It was good to get away and have a theme park fix though.

C4rla · 2 Sep 20, 10:03 AM

That's great, thanks for sharing. We're going to do something similar in a couple of weeks, so will see how we get on.

Guest · 2 Sep 20, 10:15 AM

Originally Posted by C4rla

That's great, thanks for sharing. We're going to do something similar in a couple of weeks, so will see how we get on.

Have you pre booked all your parks?
I�m slightly miffed as have a merlin pass but struggling to get passholder tickets as they�re all gone for months in advance .
Have already done Alton towers and Chessington last month but wanted to do Legoland .

C4rla · 3 Sep 20, 10:18 PM

Originally Posted by FizzyWhip

Have you pre booked all your parks?
I�m slightly miffed as have a merlin pass but struggling to get passholder tickets as they�re all gone for months in advance .
Have already done Alton towers and Chessington last month but wanted to do Legoland .

When I looked availability was quite good on the week days so it didn't seem to be a problem. Although I haven't booked yet so thanks for the reminder, I will do that tomorrow.

Guest · 4 Sep 20, 08:32 AM

Originally Posted by C4rla

When I looked availability was quite good on the week days so it didn't seem to be a problem. Although I haven't booked yet so thanks for the reminder, I will do that tomorrow.

Ah ok , we can�t go in the week but yes lots mon- thurs.
Have a great trip