We had a weekend away at the Alton Towers Santa Sleepover and here is a review of the best Christmas trip we’ve ever had as a family!

The Trip

Firstly, I think it would be totally unfair to not start this by talking about the dedication of the staff. Everyone we came across in Park and basically anyone we came into contact with throughout the entire trip had the best attitude towards Christmas. I think an experience like this lives and dies on the dedication of the staff, and they were absolutely fantastic. More than happy to help and sensitive to the moods and needs of the kids, the entire thing was put together perfectly to put everyone in the Christmas spirit. It might be a bit cheesy to say, but walking into Alton Towers and seeing all of the lights and the production of it all was honestly like stepping into Santa’s world. I don’t think my girls stopped smiling the entire time we were there, and that was down to the amazing effort that Alton Towers staff had put into the experience.

The Park

I was a little bit apprehensive about Cbeebies Land to begin with as I knew that my lot wouldn’t like to stand in queues, especially with the weather being what it was (cold and a bit wet- typical December). I didn’t have anything to worry about, as we were pleasantly surprised by the speed in which the queues went down and we weren’t waiting around long for any of the attractions suitable for our little ones. We didn’t go on many more rides after spending the majority of our morning in the Cbeebies part but the lighting and Christmas themed decorations kept all of us looking around in wonderment. After our day out – with only a minor upset which was nothing to do with the Park itself and more to do with being a bit wet, cold and hungry – we headed to the Pantomime.

The Panto

Again, the effort that went into the production was amazing. It was a brilliant panto and a really fun take on the Alice In Wonderland story with plenty of laughs and the girls all loved the larger than life characters. Alice was brilliantly cast and the entire thing was really well done and executed. The kids were totally enthralled by all of the bright costumes and enormous sets, and were absolutely in love with the characters.  It capped off a brilliant first day so we headed back to Flambo’s bar for some food and then returned to the Splash Landings Hotel.

The Hotel

At the start of day two we decided to explore the huge waterpark at the Splash Landings Hotel (after a breakfast at Flambo’s, as we were so impressed with the evening meal). The waterpark was definitely a highlight for the girls, who absolutely loved it. I’d say this was as close as you can get to a Disneyland experience without actually going to Disneyland. It was spot on, again the staff were super helpful, informative and again really good with the kids. We spent the majority of the day there and then headed to the Christmas Tipi to meet Santa. We’d booked to do this as our last activity just to really cement in the Christmas feel for the girls but I think we could have done it earlier on without losing too much of the experience.

Meeting Santa

The Tipi itself was great, it was just getting a little bit dark and so all of the twinkling lights gave a brilliant ambience to the whole thing. We were greeted by a pair of very enthusiastic elves and were provided with hot chocolates for me and the kids and a mulled wine for my partner (note to self: don’t be the driver next time) and then we were sat down. After Mr. and Mrs. Claus had arrived there was a wait of about fifteen minutes before the girls were called to meet the man himself, Santa Claus.

The girls each received a small gift and had a little chat with Santa and Mrs. Claus, and I think this was brilliant testimony for how successfully executed the whole christmas experience was. I think a picture says 1000 words and you can see the smiles on all of the girls faces above. The whole experience was something the girls absolutely loved and we will 100% be recommending it to all of our friends and family with young children. We’ll hopefully get to book up again next year too, and I’ll get to have some mulled wine with Santa!

You can book the exact package I did here and all in all I couldn’t recommend it any more.