Splash Landings Hotel at Alton Towers: What’s It Really Like With Kids?

If you’re planning an Alton Towers trip with kids, staying onsite is definitely tempting – particularly when an overnight stay gives you two days in the theme park rather than trying to cram everything into one exhausting day.

I recently stayed at Splash Landings Hotel with my seven-year-old, and if we’re judging purely on how well a hotel understands children, this might be one of the best we’ve stayed in. From the Caribbean theming and bunk beds to evening entertainment, arcades and a massive waterpark your kids can literally see from inside the hotel, almost everything has been designed to make the stay feel like part of the Alton Towers experience rather than somewhere you simply sleep afterwards.

But – and there is a but – there were a couple of surprisingly basic things missing that made me question whether anyone involved in designing the rooms has ever tried spending a night in a hotel with a child.

So, is Splash Landings Hotel actually worth the extra money, and does staying onsite make an Alton Towers trip any easier with kids? Here’s how we got on.

First impressions: a hotel completely designed for kids

From the second you walk into Splash Landings Hotel, it’s pretty obvious who this place has been designed for – and it isn’t adults looking for a peaceful spa weekend.

The whole hotel has a colourful Caribbean theme, with loads of quirky details for kids to spot, including an enormous deckchair that’s basically asking to be climbed on and used for photos. Downstairs you’ll also find a proper arcade next to Flambo’s Jambo, with everything you’d expect – games, ticket machines and plenty of opportunities for your children to turn actual money into tiny plastic prizes of significantly less value. There are quite a few machines in there too, so it’s enough to keep kids occupied for a while if you’ve got time to kill before dinner or the evening entertainment starts.

💡 Mum tip: Factor a little arcade money into your budget before you go. There are machines dotted around the hotel as well as the main arcade downstairs, so avoiding them completely requires a level of parenting skill I personally don’t possess.

But probably the most exciting feature for kids is the fact that you can look straight down into Alton Towers Waterpark from inside the hotel.

And I’m going to save you some trouble here: if you’re staying at Splash Landings with kids, book the waterpark. Once they’ve seen other children flying down waterslides directly beneath them, you’re fighting a losing battle. You may as well accept your fate before you arrive.

Overall, though, our first impression was really positive. It immediately feels like you’ve arrived somewhere for them, and that makes the hotel feel like part of the Alton Towers experience rather than somewhere you’ve simply booked to sleep.

What are the rooms like at Splash Landings Hotel?

The Caribbean theme continues into the bedrooms, with bright colours and some particularly fun murals in the bathroom. Our room had a double bed and a set of bunk beds, which our seven-year-old obviously loved – apparently a bed you have to climb into is considerably more exciting than a normal one.

For the two of us, the room was absolutely fine. For a family of four, though, I’d expect it to feel pretty cramped. For one night that’s probably not a dealbreaker, particularly when you’re unlikely to spend much time in the room, but don’t arrive expecting acres of space.

There were also two things missing that regular readers of our hotel reviews will already know I’m disproportionately passionate about: a fridge and a smart TV.

The lack of a fridge is particularly annoying when you’re travelling with kids. Somewhere to keep milk, drinks, fruit and snacks cold makes life considerably easier, especially if you’re staying away from home for more than one night.

The TV wasn’t smart either, so there’s no option to cast or stream your own programmes. That won’t bother everyone, but it’s something I always look for when travelling solo with my daughter. She doesn’t use a tablet, and you’d be amazed how quickly terrestrial television stops catering for seven-year-olds once you get past about 7pm.

Neither would stop me staying here again, but for a hotel that has thought about children so much, they’re two surprisingly basic omissions.

The bathroom was probably my favourite part of the room outside of the bunk beds. The Caribbean theme continues in here with really bright, colourful walls and murals, which makes what could otherwise be a pretty standard hotel bathroom feel much more fun for kids.

There’s also an actual bath rather than just a shower, which any parent travelling with younger children will know is a surprisingly important detail. After a full day walking around Alton Towers (and potentially getting covered in rain, ice cream and whatever else they’ve acquired along the way), being able to chuck them straight in the bath is considerably easier than attempting to negotiate a hotel shower.

Evening entertainment at Splash Landings

One area where Splash Landings absolutely does understand family stays is the evening entertainment.

There’s a huge bar area with plenty of room for kids to move around, and entertainment runs into the evening, so you can grab a drink and actually sit down after walking approximately seventeen million steps around Alton Towers while the kids get involved.

During our stay there were games and family activities, and we joined in with the family quiz where, somewhat shockingly, we came second. I’ll be adding that achievement to my CV shortly.

It makes a big difference to the stay because you don’t finish your day at the theme park and then wonder what you’re supposed to do for the next three hours. The holiday atmosphere carries on back at the hotel – although whether your children have any energy left by this point is another matter entirely.

Eating at Splash Landings Hotel

The main restaurant at Splash Landings is Flambo’s Jambo, which I’ve eaten at on a previous visit and really rate for families.

It’s buffet-style, which is ideal when you’ve got younger or pickier eaters because everyone can choose what they fancy, kids can have tiny portions of seventeen unrelated foods if that’s what brings them joy, and there’s no waiting around between courses with increasingly bored children.

Unfortunately, Flambo’s Jambo was closed during our stay, which meant we ended up eating at the restaurant inside the main Alton Towers Hotel instead.

It did not go well.

Rather than derail this entire hotel review with the tale of how we managed to wait more than an hour for olives and dough balls, I’ve put together a separate guide to where to eat at Alton Towers Hotel with kids – and the options I’d choose instead.

Breakfast, thankfully, completely redeemed the food situation.

There’s a huge buffet breakfast with plenty of choice for adults and kids, including pancakes, fruit, cooked breakfast options and continental bits. Again, the buffet format makes mornings with children considerably easier – everyone can grab what they actually want and you can get fed and back into the park without turning breakfast into a two-hour event.

Alton Towers Waterpark at Splash Landings

If you’re staying at Splash Landings, I genuinely think Alton Towers Waterpark is worth adding to your booking.

We booked a two-hour session on the morning of our second day and used it to break up our two days in the theme park – and honestly, you’ll need the full two hours.

There are slides, water features, areas for different ages and plenty to keep kids occupied. Our seven-year-old absolutely loved it, although be prepared to say “DON’T RUN” approximately 200 times as your child inexplicably forgets everything they’ve ever been told about wet floors.

The practical side is good too. There are large family changing rooms, which make getting everyone sorted much easier, and hairdryers are available to use without having to find extra change.

Our itinerary worked really well: theme park on day one → waterpark the following morning → back into Alton Towers afterwards. It meant the second day felt different rather than simply repeating another full day of rides.

Just remember that waterpark admission isn’t automatically included simply because you’re staying at Splash Landings, so check your package and book your session separately where needed.

Getting from Splash Landings Hotel to Alton Towers

This is where staying onsite really started to justify itself for me.

The Alton Towers monorail is around a minute’s walk from Splash Landings, making getting to the theme park incredibly easy.

And you may not appreciate quite how valuable that is until the end of the day.

There is a LOT of walking involved at Alton Towers. My daughter is a genuinely good little walker – I regularly march her around cities for hours without much complaint – and even she was absolutely exhausted by the end of it.

It also rained heavily during our trip, so being able to get back to the hotel quickly, peel off the wet clothes and get warm rather than facing another journey was an absolute blessing.

If you’re visiting Alton Towers with younger kids, I’d definitely factor that convenience into the price of staying onsite. You’re not simply paying for a bed; you’re making what can be a very long and tiring couple of days considerably easier.

We’ve also put together a full guide to visiting Alton Towers with a 7-year-old, including the rides we loved, what surprised us and everything I’d want to know before taking a child that age.

How much does Splash Landings Hotel cost – and is it good value?

Our stay cost around £250 for the two of us, which included one night at Splash Landings, two days in Alton Towers theme park and our two-hour waterpark session. Food, drinks and the inevitable arcade spending were extra.

£250 obviously isn’t cheap.

But I actually came away feeling like we’d had pretty good value for money.

A decent family hotel room in somewhere like London can easily cost around £200–£250 for the night alone, whereas this gave us accommodation plus two days at Alton Towers and the waterpark.

More importantly, staying overnight completely changed the pace of the trip.

We didn’t have that horrible feeling of needing to squeeze every ride into one day because we’d paid to be there. If we didn’t get to something on day one, we knew we could come back tomorrow. We could leave when everyone was tired, get dry, have dinner, enjoy the entertainment and start again the next morning.

It made the whole thing feel like a proper little break away rather than one very long theme-park day, and that’s probably where I found the biggest value.

Obviously, prices and packages vary hugely depending on when you visit, so I’d compare the cost of staying onsite with buying your park tickets and an offsite hotel separately before booking.

Would we stay at Splash Landings Hotel again?

Yes, absolutely – with a couple of caveats.

If I’m judging Splash Landings purely as a hotel room, there are things I’d change. The rooms aren’t huge, I’d really like a fridge and I will continue my one-woman campaign for family hotels to provide smart TVs.

But judging it as part of an Alton Towers trip with kids, I think it’s brilliant.

The theming makes the trip more exciting, the bunk beds and arcades were a hit, the evening entertainment means there’s still something happening after the park closes, the waterpark is fantastic and the location makes two exhausting days at Alton Towers considerably easier.

Most importantly, our daughter loved it – and staying overnight made the whole trip feel much more memorable than simply visiting the theme park for the day.

So, is Splash Landings Hotel the fanciest family hotel we’ve ever stayed in? No.

Is it one of the hotels that’s thought most carefully about what kids actually enjoy? Absolutely.

And sometimes a giant deckchair, bunk beds and a waterslide they can stare at through the window are worth considerably more to a seven-year-old than fancy toiletries and Egyptian cotton sheets.