Alton Towers Hotel — Hotel in Staffordshire Moorlands

So here is my experience of a 4 night stay at Alton Towers. (Should've been 5 nights). On a good note, the staff are awesome. Nothing is too much hassle and they're all lovely in the Alton Towers hotel. The hotel is clean and there are toilets a little shop (sells tampons/ painkillers and general merch) Bad stuff.... There was excruciating loud singers in the main foyer every night. You couldn't hear yourself - if that's your jam, fabulous. Trying to eat in the painfully expensive Secret garden restaurant (only place to eat in the hotel bar a small Costa) was not great due to the said music blaring through from 5 till 9.45+ the Dragon bar is right next to it and we left due to not being able to hear each other, let alone relax. (I like love music, but the volume was crazy) Be prepared for loud banging if the hotel doors and hearing your "neighbours" kids cry/wail and run about. The rooms were clean(ish)- dust and some fingerprints on mirrors and marks on the walls. But you've a kettle and a few milk, teabags and coffee sachets. Housekeeping take your towels if you leave them in the bath each day and replace your mini shampoo and soap and toilet rolls each day. You can only text housekeeping, but they were quick when we needed more pillows. BOOK EVERYTHING in advance. Do not be fooled with thinking you've meal choices at the various restaurants, you don't! You'll be given a time slot to pick from in advance. If you don't pre-book, be prepared to be turned away. Witnessed that a lot. There are only 3 places to get food in the evenings (rollercoaster/secret garden/crooked spoon) So book your tables in your chosen restaurant advance to secure a sensible time slot. The water park, was clean and easy to use, (lockers for 20p) but which only has two/three slides for those aged 8+ish, so be warned if you've older kids there's not much there. The flash floods water section and outside areas, you need to have good, strong swimmers as the water is fast. Lots of fun for very young ones, not so much for anyone over that. Buy your tickets in advance. The golf took all of 30 minutes, was packed and although a giggle, was not going to fill time. Staff were lovely, but the areas felt a bit neglected. The prices. If you can stretch to it, go self catering at the lodges. It was eye wateringly expensive. The rollercoaster restaurant is a 15 minute walk from the hotel and a lot of fun as the meals literally "coster" from the ceiling down to you. (Take your phone you'll need a QR reader to order) Wonderful staff, but ouch on the wallet. Not as bad as the secret garden, but only buy a few pounds. Eating in the park itself was quite good value for the amount you got, but everything from water (£2.75+) a small bottle to the toy games you can try (£10 for 3/4 balls) everything was designed to make you spend at huge overhead prices. The rides- now this was a mixed bag. Wickerman was not open and we weren't told prior to booking. And Galactica had issues and opened late- not told. This caused much disappointment and a lot of anger amongst visiting guests. The skyline wasn't working still- not told and rides are randomly shut for testing/checking and Nemesis and Smiler both had issues that meant long wait times. The park is clean, staffs are great and once you've figured out the basics-and bring REALLY good shoes. We walked 12.5 miles in our 2 day passes and our feet were sore. Gardens/grounds are gorgeous. Extra socks, and a thick pair of slippers are a must. The hotel provides towels at no fees in the rooms. The most disappointing part, and why we left a day early. Was outside of the hotel there is nothing to do once you're ticket day/s runs out. You CANNOT access the park beyond the monorail to walk the gardens or eat at any of the outlets inside the parkland areas. There are none outside and you're limited to your own means at the hotel which was sweets/vending machines and your time slot for dinner...it was boring to be honest! We couldn't find anything to do past 11 the day before until our dinner...

Booked a ‘stay splash and play’ overnight break with the hotel option being the Alton Towers hotel but the ‘splash’ part centred on a visit to Splash-landings water park||Splashlandings visit was half the experience as it was half shut! The outdoors part was not open, according to reception there was no plan to open it during our visit from the outset. It was a lovely sunny day, the best so far but it was closed up and not even mentioned when we booked the break or even checking into the water park on arrival. This meant that 40% of the slides were in available as 2 of them are accessed outside. Also there is a big area outside. Why wasn’t this clear when booking if there was no intention to open it during our stay? Our visit to the water park was otherwise enjoyed. Was very quiet, as was the hope given we didn’t get to go on many slides last year as packed during half term and had to queue for ages for a ring and then queue again for the slide, so was able to have lots of goes in a short time which was nice , plenty of seating and able to hear the calypso music. Not happy that the amenity at the forefront of our stay was half closed though.||Hotel & restaurant - at check in we were informed by the lovely helpful reception staff that there was no where to eat other than the Secret Garden restaurant. We had looked online at the menu and this was not appealing whatsoever. We were told we could order food to be delivered! So many restaurants on site and you are expecting guests to order take out! We have been visiting here for the last 4/5 years and this restaurant has gone downhill every year. We struggled with the menu last year but there year it was ridiculous with minimal choice and maximum cost and absolutely nothing on there was even slightly appealing so I had to drive off site to a restaurant where there were suitable meals available. |Otherwise room was fine, bed bit hard for me but I just prefer soft mattresses. A lovely gentleman came and helped with the heating as couldn’t get the radiator to work and it was freezing! I scanned the QR code for help and asked how to turn it on and he appeared not long after to help us - wicked! |Left crayons and colouring books in the room but I have a 12 & 14 year old - would have been better to have something more age related but a nice touch for if you have smaller kids.|All staff friendly and breakfast was nice - no buffet but what we wanted cooked to order which was great. Was offered sachets of Nescafé to make a cup of coffee when I asked if there was an alternative to the lukewarm and foul tasting coffee on offer so pleased with that and the boys loved their pancakes and berries. |Lovely singer in the bar area in the evening but was quiet so a shame she didn’t have much of an audience and we missed most of it as had to go out to eat |Expected to have a few drinks in the bar whilst the boys went in the games room when I came back from dinner but the bar man suggested we take them to our room as he was closing the bar - it was 9.10pm! This is a joke right ?! Had to go out for a meal as lack of facilities, no entertainment and then told bar also shutting and no other facilities on site open?! Ended up having an early night as nothing to do|This was supposed to be a relaxing stay but I had to drive offsite for a meal, only had half a water park to visit and then told the bar was shutting as ‘too quiet’ and entertainment not on so just didn’t feel welcome at all.|I feel utterly short changed - there was nothing to indicate that the facilities would be reduced or not offered. Merlin should be up front about this when you book or just not do the visits if they are not prepared to offer...

We visited a few months ago as we had always loved Alton Towers but didn't get to go much because of distance. So when we moved to Nottingham we were excited to be closer. However, we were disappointed by that visit, but decided to give it another go this past weekend (16th march) as we're moving away soon. My husband also booked for us to stay in the Alton Towers Hotel in the "Moon Voyage Room" as a surprise. Let's just say the experience wasn't much better, but it cost ALOT more! My husband was going to book a long weekend aboard somewhere as the cost is similar, but he thought it would be too last minute. I wish he had! The hotel room is basic. We paid £100 more so the kids would get their own "room" rather than bunkbeds in room with us, but apart from a wall between our bed, it's all very open plan so not worth the extra expense in my opinion. Think the electrics need looking at too as the socket by my side of the bed was crackling and not staying "connected." Check out isn't until 10am, but house keeping was knocking on the door at 9am. The hotel entertainment was ok, same 3 singers over several different show times either singing separately or together. No bar menus so can't give a cost break down but 1 double gin with Lemonade and 1 oasis came to £13.75! We had breakfast on the Sunday in the restaurant. What a shambles! Only one hot food "bar" was open, which meant a very full restaurant were all trying to get their breakfast from one place. At no point did all food containers have food in either, so you had to eat your hot food in stages, for example, there would be sausages but a 5min wait for the bacon! Scrambled Egg was the only egg on offer, but that didn't get filled until we finished eating. Baked beans got served in empty ice cream tubs which were both empty to start with. Only one toaster worked properly, but then you needed a spoon to reach your toast from under the machine when it dropped down so you didn't burn yourself. Finding plates and bowls was another "fun" experience or a clean cup. The cereals that were on offer didn't keep topped up so for coco pops there was prob enough for 1 spoonful. Maybe when you pay such high prices, your expectations are higher, but I don't think this even covered the basics of a cheaper one. The hotel stay doesn't even include the park tickets either, but we paid for a day and got 2nd day free. With queue times rides closing, and if you don't want to pay for additional fast passes, then you need that extra day! The new ride, "Nemisis Reborn," never went below an 85min wait on Saturday and at its peak was at 274mins!!! Thankfully my husband and son got to try it Sunday when it went down to 40mins, although they said they think it was less than that. As mentioned, several rides did close and quite often too: Galatica which my husband and son got stuck on for 20mins, fortunately the right way up as the people in front of them got stuck hanging forwards. Spinball was another we saw people stuck on. All sat with safety helmets on! Then others were Oblivion, Smiler, Congo River Rapids, Alton Manor and Gangsta Granny. Hex still isn't open and wish they'd put back the Skyride. We did take our own picnic to try and save money altho on the Sunday I treated my 4yr old to an ice cream as he got stuck with me when the other two went on the "thriller" rides, that cost £3! Overall I just don't think this place or a stay is worth the...