Alton Towers - Cbeebies

[nicohna]

Hi everyone, looking to go to Alton Towers May-ish 2023 for our sons 2nd birthday. He absolutely loves Hey Duggee so we want to get it in before he grows out of it.

We'll be coming over from Northern Ireland and thankfully the flights are decent enough but the on-site hotels - wow. I wasn't expecting almost £500 for a 2 night stay.

I can't seem to find anything in the surrounding areas that would even have shuttles to the park. Is on site our best option and is it worth it?

[mskitty]

We stayed in the Alton Towers hotel which was the cheapest option for our date and it was just OK...very tired. However there was good entertainment on the evening for families and the breakfast was lovely.

Due to the nature of where the resort is there aren't any other nearby hotels as such. There are some which you could drive to.. have you considered hiring a car to see if that works out cheaper?

There are also the camping pods on site which are reasonable and although I've not stayed in them I've heard great things.

[Jessie2012]

When our son was that age,and up to about the age of 6 or 7 we stayed at the Alton Towers hotel,really enjoyed it-just loved the atmosphere.Only stayed one night each time though and had two days in the park.Stayed in Postman Pat and Mike the Knight rooms the first times,then Moon Voyager rooms after that,as they are cheaper. Only ever stayed in the Alton Towers hotel but the Enchanted Forest looks good with play areas around for children.We ate at the Crooked Spoon there and had a great time.

[Bolto6]

Unfortunately if you're going 'in season' you are going to be paying those £'s. We've paid anything from £160 to £240 for a 1 night stay with waterpark, not including the theme park (DD is now at that awkward stage (she's 7) where she's too big for CBeebies and too small for the main park.)

When DD was that age, we did 1 night in the summer with a day in the theme park and then a day at the water park staying in the Enchanted Village. Maybe then look at book ending your stay near the airport, to keep the cost down.

Alternatively, you could go 'out of season' which defeats the object if you want to see Duggee. Before she started school, apart from that 1st time we took her, we went 'out of season' in Jan-March (avoiding Feb half term,) and paid anything from £85 to £115 for an overnight stay including the waterpark - I'm pretty sure we paid £85 for our January 2017 stay at Cbeebies hotel, and it was packed, this included the waterpark as well. There's loads going on in the CBeebies hotel as well, my daughter was entertained just by the room

As we only live an hour away we sometimes just travel over for the waterpark, DD loves it, but also use it as a little escape away. I'm just looking at Feb half term at the moment, and it's going to be £206 for the 3 of us, but it includes limited park entry, (like sea life and 3 rides,) waterpark and mini golf, and don't forget all overnight stays include breakfast.

EDIT: We've stayed at all 4 hotels.
CBeebies is great for little ones with lots of entertainment for them.
Enchanted Village is nice as you stay in semi-detached rooms.
Alton Towers hotel is nice, but I would say it's more for an older family, although we did get a free upgrade when DD was 3 to an Arctic Explorer room, and got one of the funniest video's ever of her interacting with the stuffed polar bear in the room.
Splash Landings is by far DD's favourite, probably because it has an arcade. I would stay there in the winter, but not summer, when we went Summer 2021 (we had a voucher to use after lockdown,) it was sweltering in the rooms, with only a fan to cool us down, it was the only let down of the hotel really. Both times we've stopped at Splash Landings we got a 'pool' view

[nicohna]

Thank you all so much for the helpful comments!

As we're flying over I'm not keen on only doing one night but I will look into the logistics of it. Will probably have to look at a car hire too... Thankfully my husband had a couple of glasses of wine last night as said if we were gonna do it for him then we should do it properly, so I can't argue with that!

I am actually going to have a look at March prices too just to compare and then maybe contact them to see if Duggee would be there 'off-season'.

[Guest]

You can visit the hotels at Alton Towers and the waterpark in the 'off season' (i.e. before March 18th, which is when the theme park re-opens again). If you visit the CBeebies Hotel it will be significantly cheaper than when the theme park is open and they do have entertainment and character meets in this hotel (for CBeebies Hotel guests only) but not sure if this would include Duggee as they often rotate things.

However I would say that if you are traveling over and needing to fly etc it would be worth waiting until the park is open so you get the full experience. It will cost more, but you will also get access to the theme park which includes CBeebies Land of course - including the Hey Duggee playground, where you can also meet him

I would strongly recommend you hire a car, Alton Towers is in the middle of nowhere with very limited public transport options (they do exist, but it makes things much more limited in terms of time etc).

If you have a car it also really opens up your options in terms of places to stay, the onsite hotels are very expensive and perhaps aren't quite as good as they used to be when it comes to food and cleanliness. There are lots of local places to stay in the villages surrounding the park - I would recommend the Chained Oak B&B - its a 5min drive from the park so nice and close.

One final note - don't discount the rest of Alton Towers theme park for a 2yr old, there are things outside of CBeebies for them, including a Sealife centre that is included in the theme park ticket.

[ScoopsAhoy]

If you can I’d say just splurge and book the CBeebies hotel (when they park is open) as it’s the only hotel you can’t pop into if you haven’t got a reservation.
As you’re flying you may as well make the most of it 👍🏻

[mrsmickey]

If it helps, we went when the beast from the east was just dying back in March 2018. It was 2 degrees, only one rollercoaster was operating in the main park but CBeebies was fully operational and Duggee was very active - I think in that suit they were the warmest person there! The CBeebies hotel is very worth it, the theming is excellent