Alton Towers has been upping the game when it comes to its CBeebies Land, including a brand new Bluey themed rollercoaster that opened in the theme park earlier this year. When I headed there with my kids to give the new ride a go, we managed to bag one of the Bluey themed rooms at the CBeebies Land Hotel to make a weekend of it. In fact the hotel is known for plenty of its existing themed rooms spanning the likes of Octonauts, Something Special, In the Night Garden and many more, including new Hey Duggee rooms too.
My children could not wait to get in after spending months watching YouTube videos of the park and hotel, both being big fans of many characters on the CBeebies channel.
Not Just Any Hotel, It’s an Experience
It was instantly clear that this is no ordinary hotel. CBeebies Land Hotel is more of an experience hotel than your normal standard hotel or room. As soon as you walk in, you are greeted by bright colourful decor and some interactive displays for children to interact with. Great for when you are busy checking in.
We stayed in one of the Bluey themed rooms. You could also meet some of your CBeebies favourites in the hotel reception as we were greeted by Little Monster from Justin’s House interacting with kids and later Go Jetters’ Ubercorn was on door duty.
There is also a mini-tunnel that goes into the CBeebies shop, which as my two-year-old is currently obsessed with crawling through things is a very clever way of getting me and probably many others in there chasing after their child. Very clever.
Going beyond the lobby area, you have a coffee and bar area that is next to a stage with a huge TV screen showing CBeebies. This is the main activity area of the hotel and it is not just for watching TV. There are several activities throughout the day and night, including the chance to interact with CBeebies favourites. During our stay we saw a mini show from Bing and the Octonauts, as well as a kids disco that saw a very long congo line.
Inside the Bluey Room
I have stayed in many hotels throughout my life but never one that plays a theme tune when you enter the room. I am not sure if this is for all rooms but when we opened the door to the Bluey room, the epic tune instantly played with my kids smiling and running into the room.
That is just the start as the decor features several images of Bluey, Bingo, Bandit and Chilli in a colourful room. We had everything we needed including a pull-out cot, ironing board and a fridge, which is essential with little kids and their food and drinks that they don’t finish.
Sleeping arrangements consist of a double bed, which I can’t fault other than my kids waking up at 5:30am and not letting me spend more time in it. For the children, you have bunk beds but there is also a third pull out bed. I thought this was really handy for if your child is a bit of a roller in the night and you are not keen on them being in the bunk bed.
I also need to point out that when I saw the toilet, I immediately called out my wife to come and take a look - it had a built in potty/training seat, so we could leave our travel one in the car.
Meanwhile, my kids were walking all over pretending to talk to characters on the wall, including my youngest showing Bandit every car in his collection. There is also so much space as the kids area is a different part to the room to give you a little peace and quiet and with two TVs, you can watch what you want in the main room.
Just one word of warning if you book the Bluey room; if you go down for a drink after the kids go to sleep with your partner still in the room, that Bluey theme tune will go off when you go back and wake your kids up!
What About the Food?
We didn't have dinner at the hotel, but we did have breakfast at its Windmill Restaurant in the morning. Like many buffet breakfasts, it has hot options, cereal, fruits and pastries.
You certainly have enough food to give you a good start for a day at the parks but I found it did lack allergens on labels. They did ask before you were seated and I am sure they will tell you about them all, but when you are wandering around a busy buffet you kind of want that information staring you in the face. It also has the standard toaster only found in hotels that either needs to be put in a few times or burns your toast on the second one in. This one required multiple goes which did cause a line as there was only one. But I have no complaints about the quality of the breakfast overall - it was just what we needed!
CBeebies Land Is More Than Just Bluey
Now our bellies are full, particularly my two-year-old who now expects a buffet as the new norm since he has come home, we headed to the park. First of all, me and my six-year-old took on Bluey the Ride: Here Come The Grannies. We were fortunate to get on in just about 30 minutes but later the lines were 90 minutes, which is no surprise being the big new ride. To be honest, it is worth the wait with it certainly being the fastest kids' rollercoaster I have been on. It’s also really smooth as it gains its momentum rather than being a sudden drop.
But there is so much more than just Bluey! With wait times being high, I saw many people using the Alton Towers app to keep track of wait times on Bluey while going on other rides.
My oldest loves Go Jetters so he made a demanding stomp off to the Vroomster Zoom Ride, which we queued for around 35 minutes but was at 50 when we got off. It gives you a nice view from up high of the park and a great starter ride if your child is new to theme parks.
Next door to the ride is Hey Duggee Big Adventure Badge, which is an outdoor playground. My two had tons of fun here going up and down slides and finding all the squirrels from Hey Duggee scattered around the park. They probably spent a good chunk of the day here and wanted to come back. It is also probably the only attraction other attractions like Jo Jo and Gran Gran that my two could go in together.
A great time to warn you that if your child is below 0.9m, they will not be allowed on many of the big rides in CBeebies Land. There is still plenty for them to do with other rides such as In The Night Garden’s Magical Boat Ride and Bugbie Go Round, but my two-year-old was getting upset when he could not join his big brother, including Bluey the Ride. So maybe best to prepare them for disappointment.
Get Set Go Tree Top Adventure is also suitable for both but the line that day was almost as long as going for Bluey. Something Special’s Sensory Garden is also great if you love the TV show. It is a very peaceful walk through to another area of the park but my oldest loves the show so we all sat listening to Mr Tumble and Justin singing for a good while here. A nice break away from a busy park.
There are also multiple shows to watch from Bluey, Bing, Telebubbies and Hey Duggee that also allow photo opportunities at the end. The Furchester Hotel Live show is also running multiple times a day. However, it gets full very quick so you need to turn up way before the showtime to get in.
Is It Something Special?
Theme parks have always been pricey but I do feel you get value for money here. The hotel staff were all fantastic too; my oldest son has learning difficulties and plenty of times people go out of their way to avoid him but they showed genuine interest in interacting with him, which was very much appreciated.
With some rooms at busy times of the year being in the hundreds, it's not the cheapest place you could stay. But it is really not your standard type of hotel. Just seeing my kids' faces having an excitement over the hotel and room made me already want to come back. Even my wife said she wished we could have stayed longer to experience the hotel a little bit more.
Rooms vary on pricing - themed rooms inevitably will cost a little more, but you can find short breaks from £77 when you book on the Alton Towers website.
