On my recent trip to Alton Towers Resort I decided to book some onsite accommodation to stay in the night before our day in the theme park.
I live about a 2 hour drive away from Alton Towers which isn’t that far, and I could definitely drive there and back in one day. But staying over the night before meant I could get up at a more reasonable time on our park day and I could avoid the morning rush hour traffic.
I decided to book one of the woodland lodges in the Enchanted Village for the night. My partner is a huge Lord of the Rings fan and the lodges kind of look like Hobbit houses, so that sold him on the idea!
We visited mid-week in mid-September so the price was much more reasonable than staying on a weekend or in the school holidays (the perks of being self-employed and child-free!).
We arrived at the Alton Towers Resort around 4pm and as I had checked in online the day before, we just need to pick up our keys from the Enchanted Village welcome desk. The staff were very welcoming and friendly, and after collecting our keys they gave us directions to our lodge. Our lodge was just around the corner from the welcome desk.
We parked in the car park over by the hotels and from there it was just a short walk to our lodge. Normally parking at the resort is £10 a day, however, parking was included in the price of our package. You also have the added bonus that you can park close to the monorail station, so there’s less walking on the days when you are visiting the park.
The lodges are set in a very quiet and peaceful area; it’s hard to believe one of the biggest theme parks in the UK is just around the corner! Each lodge consists of two rooms so you’ll only have to share a wall with one neighbour.
The main part of the room features a double bed, but there’s a separate room for kids with bunk beds and a pull-out bed. I would have loved that as a child!
There is a dressing area with tea and coffee making facilities (and free biscuits!), as well as a small wardrobe and a fridge.
The bathroom was a decent size with a bath and a shower over it. It was clean and there were plenty of toiletries and towels available.
Once we’d had a look around the room we headed back out again to play some golf as included in our package was 9 holes of Extraordinary Golf.
Extraordinary Golf, as you may have guessed, is a crazy golf course. But what I loved about it is each hole is themed around both past and present Alton Towers attractions or areas.
The courses were very busy, but that was understandable given that it was closing time for the park and many people were playing a round of golf before heading home for the day. However, we had a good laugh with the other people playing and it made it quite atmospheric.
After playing golf we headed back to our lodge via the other hotels. We just wanted to pop in and see what they looked like. The hotels do provide entertainment in the evenings, and as we were staying in the Enchanted Village we were welcome to enjoy their offerings. But we decided to just chill in our lodge watching some TV before getting an early night.
The next morning we checked out of our room around 8:30am, ready for our day in the theme park. Once again the staff at the welcome desk were very friendly and helpful.
Breakfast was included in the price of our package, and we received an email a few days before our stay inviting us to book a table at the Crooked Spoon for breakfast.
We booked a table for 8:45am and it was fairly quiet in the restaurant. Breakfast consisted of a full English buffet with all the usual foods you’d expect to find.
Having a buffet-style breakfast on a theme park day is always so challenging; on the one hand I want to eat as much as possible to fill myself up for the day, but on the other hand, I’ll about to spent most of the day upside down and I don’t want to be seeing my breakfast again!
But regardless, breakfast was really tasty and everything was nice and hot. My partner is a vegetarian and he enjoyed the pancakes and pastries. There was also cereals and fruits available, as well as tea, coffee and a variety of juices.
After breakfast we walked over to the monorail station ready to head over to the main entrance of the park. It was such an easy and stress-free process.
My partner and I had such a lovely stay at the Enchanted village, and I would definitely stay in a woodland lodge again. But on my next visit to Alton Towers I’d like to try out either the Alton Towers Hotel or the Splash Landing Hotel, just to see how they compare!
Have you ever stayed in any of the accommodation at Alton Towers? If so, what are your thoughts?
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