Alton Towers SplashLandings?

[PlasmaBall]

What can anyone tell me about it please?

DS is desperate to go to a waterpark and we don't have anything more than a pool with a couple of slides locally. If he was given the huge treat of a weekend there for his birthday would it be worth the (3hr) journey and the cost (c.£200)? Would we want 2 full days in the waterpark or can you do it all in a morning? Is the hotel fun or unbearably naff?

In short are a family with 11 & 13 yo boys going to be glad they went?

I'm interested in your question also.
I did look into it once but couldn't believe how expensive it was for 1 night.

Hi Plasma, I've been looking at this too. Keep getting to the payment bit on line then dithering and having second thoughts, so not booking! It doesn't get great write ups from what we've looked at.

Hope you don't mind if I loiter here, to see what others say.

If it's just the water park bit he is interested in there are better places to go. It's pretty small and think half a day would be max. I thought the hotel was really good fun and only a bit naff (stayed in the cheaper bit which was great). It's brilliant if you also want to do the main Alton towers park. When we went you got in to the park an hour before opening so could get on all the big rides before the queues started.

If it's just water park I'd be thinking center parcs or finding somewhere like the sandcastle in Blackpool and staying in a local B and B

Ah thanks sarah, so the waterpark is no more exciting than the pool at centerparcs? He's thinking big white-knuckle slides.

Is the waterpark actually part of the hotel then?

If we did a weekend we could do 1 night in hotel, spend first afternoon in the water and then the 2nd day at the Theme Park?

We stayed the for a couple of nights last summer, when the weather was amazing, and had a great time. The waterpark is pretty small really, there are two outdoor pools, both little. There is a lazy river type thing, and a couple of flume tubes. The main bulk of it is a kind of soft play with added water...there are climbing nets, towers, a great big bucket that gradually fills up, then tips, soaking everyone below. Places where you can stand and shoot giant water pistol type things onto people in the pool underneath. It's good fun, and ds loved it. There is nowhere you can actually swim though.
We spent the first afternoon we arrived there, then went to the main Alton Towers park the following day, then spent our final morning back at the waterpark.

The hotel itself is fun, and obviously extremely child centred, they had entertainment on every evening, and the restaurant is buffet style with different counters offering lots of different types of food. It was an expensive few days, but we all had a really good time....which was definitely helped by the fab weather we had!

Yes, sorry, the waterpark is connected to the hotel...when you're in the restaurant and main reception there are windows all round, looking into it.

I took ds there, and if he'd been older it would have been a bid disappointment tbh. Its pretty small, and def no white knuckle things. It was also a right pita in terms of food - only two tiny outlets with huge queues.

Splashdown in poole dorset probably better for older children (not sure where about you are in the country!). Alton towers have 35% off short stays until the end of today.I'm keen on taking the children (they're only 5 and 3 though) as want to take littliest to new Cbeebies land in the main park too but just can't bring myself to click on the payment button!

Ah now Rosvita, it was Splashdown that started all this. We when about 4 years ago when on holiday down there and DS has been seeking out YouTube footage of waterparks ever since

I didn't realise the 35% offer expires today. I don't need that kind of pressure

I'm going next Friday for a Pirate - themed stay but that will be too late for the 35% offer!

My parents have paid for one night for us (me, dh & dds who are 9 & approaching 13) , themselves & my bil, sil & their 3 kids who range in age from 6 to 11.

The plan is to arrive & stay Fri night & do the water park on the Sat. My extended family stay less than an hour from AT. Luckily my kids aren't into white-knuckle rides & I think the fun for them will be in seeing family. I'm slightly dreading the 3 hour, Friday night traffic to get there, not helped by the fact we'll attend a pirate disco when we get there ...

It's worth it if you are staying at the hotel to visit Alton Towers but I Dont think it would be worth a long drive just for the waterpark. We have had two excellent long bank holiday weekends there where we've stayed two nights, visited the waterpark, had the evening buffet at the hotel and gone to Alton Towers. On the way way there or on the way back we have visited Warwick Castle to break the journey. I have stayed at Alton Towers and Splash landings. Both were good but Splash Landings is more geared up for younger children. We have Merlin Annual passes so it made the mini breaks good value.

Plasmaball - yes splashdown is great isn't it (although price has shot up since I started going as a kid!).my children learn to swim in the training pool there as the slides are a good incentive for my son to become a more confident swimmer as he knows once he can swim competently he can have free reign on the slides! I think I may go ahead and book for dd's birthday but as it's not until November may have to do it earlier if want to combine with Cbeebies land/main theme park, although a lot cheaper just to do the Waterpark in off peak season!decisions,decisions...