It is a four star hotel, higher than both of Altons hotels?

Correct

I'd rather stay at Splash Landings.

Perhaps they realised that Chessington WOA is crap and not worth marketing as 'Theme Park Hotel', so tried to market it for exploring the surrounding areas of the major tourist destination, such as Leatherhead! :roll: I hope Merlin buy it back when one day Chessington is worth a visit.

After browsing the photos it does lack that "something" that Alton Towers hotels have. It just looks plain, tad dull and well bog standard.

Agree with Astro regarding pricing.

I dont so much care babout the price, because I wouldnt stay there as it doesnt exactly look themed! Just seems to be another Holiday Inn, what annoys me, is that they cant just give you one totaled calculated price for your rather than excluding VAT and then adding on extra fees for more people.

I mean - surely a theme park hotel should be somewhat different to usual hotels? I am not disputing that there will be a slight safari 'zest' in the hotel, but musical lifts? Moving statues?

I think this is being marketed in entirely the wrong way. I hope Thorpe's is not a similar affair.

It's one of the ugliest buildings Ive seen for a long time. It looks like a school!
personally I think CWoA is going to the dogs:

*The rocks getting removed from Dragon Falls / unpainted new stairs on lift hill,
*Samuri going to Thorpe,
*Vampire station ruined when new trains fitted,
*Rodeo SBNO for years,
*The Bubbleworks fiasco,
*charging 50p for a map that they then expect you to recycle at the exit!


JW probably cries in his sleep over what they have done to his once-beutifull park.

"Diogoj42" wrote:

It's one of the ugliest buildings Ive seen for a long time. It looks like a school!
personally I think CWoA is going to the dogs:

*The rocks getting removed from Dragon Falls / unpainted new stairs on lift hill,
*Samuri going to Thorpe,
*Vampire station ruined when new trains fitted,
*Rodeo SBNO for years,
*The Bubbleworks fiasco,
*charging 50p for a map that they then expect you to recycle at the exit!


JW probably cries in his sleep over what they have done to his once-beutifull park.

After visiting it last Sunday i had more fun at Chessie than i have had at any other park in the UK, the place is fantastic and all your "major problems" are what enthusiasts would moan about not the general public. It was busy and maintains a healthy profit. I see it going from strengh to strengh no where else.

Hotel looks lovely if a little pricy.

"Spike" wrote:

After visiting it last Sunday i had more fun at Chessie than i have had at any other park in the UK, the place is fantastic and all your "major problems" are what enthusiasts would moan about not the general public. It was busy and maintains a healthy profit. I see it going from strengh to strengh no where else.

Hotel looks lovely if a little pricy.

Totally agree with you there Spike. I've made my first visits to Chessie this year (two consecutive weekends in fact :P) and I absolutely loved the place. Admittidely, there's maybe not enough there for people of our age group there, but it's ideal for doing up until 2/3pm on a quiet day then driving up to Thorpe to finish of.

I suppose looking at things from a fresh point of view, rather than someone who has visited in the past makes a difference though. I, like you found Bubbleworks to be a great, fun little ride and was nowhere near as bad as I thought it would be. OK, Dragon Falls did look better with the additional rocks, but it still has a "wow" factor - themeing of that standard for a flume is quite frankly amazing. Tomb Blaster is one of my favourite rides too, again themeing being of truly brilliant standards.

There's only a few things that I would maybe pick at, and that's that the themeing on their mine train is looking very tired, and perhaps a few other areas need a tidy up (some of the fibreglass rocks around Dragon Falls etc).

Then there's the obvious money making schemes such as park maps/benches that bring the place down a bit. On the whole though, the park surpassed my expectations by a long mile, and it must be a truly magical (ooh I said the "M" word!) place for kids to visit. Particularly since it has Vampire, which would be the first coaster for many of them due to its lower height limit.

I personally thought the hotel building looked excellent though, and so do the rooms from the few pictures that I've seen. It's in an ideal location for a hotel, not just for families but also for business, who are continually looking for hotels such as this in the more "quirky" places such as theme parks for meetings and conferences etc.

"Spike" wrote:

After visiting it last Sunday i had more fun at Chessie than i have had at any other park in the UK, the place is fantastic and all your "major problems" are what enthusiasts would moan about not the general public. It was busy and maintains a healthy profit. I see it going from strengh to strengh no where else.

Hotel looks lovely if a little pricy.

For people who have never been before, sure, it's a great park. But I practicaly grew up on Dragon River (as it was called then) and The Fifth Dimension. Don't forget the Vampire came before Nemesis was even heard of. Chessie used to be the leading themepark in the UK.

My point is that CWoA peaked in about 1996-'99 and has been going down hill ever since Tussauds started putting all their effort into Thorpe (not that I'm complaining about Thorpe!)

It's the same with any park. I went to Chessington for the first time this year - and loved it.

If you had never been to AT before and went, I bet you'd also love it.

When you visit places annually or more than annually you are going to guage more of an opinion. It's funny how both AT and Chessie 'peaked' in the late 1990's...

How we were so young.

:)

You may have a point there, AstroDan. maybe we are just too old and cynical these days!

I visited the hotel after Chessie on Saturday as it's now open! I have to say I was quite surprised with it.

I have to say, I was very impressed with the Hotel, although it's not themed as such, there is a safari colour scheme. I didn't think The hotel looked cheap and nasty either, it looked quite classy inside in my opinion. It may be just because it's new though! On the down side, the bar is quite pricey, 2 cokes and a beer for £7.50! The restaurant looked quite nice too.

On the whole though I was rather impressed, just think they need to get rid of some of the storage crates you can see from the back of the hotel! I wonder if they'll use the access gate round the back of the hotel for hotel guests to enter the park?

Stayed in the Chessington Hotel Saturday Night, the hotel is owned by "Tussauds" and is run and managed by Holiday Inn. Staff on reception were extremely welcoming and even showed me the room before they allocated it to me. Unlike the cattle treatment often offered at Alton Towers Hotels.
First impressions on entering, it's sophisticated, modern, spacious and has an executive feel to it. The rooms were "plush", spacious and very well equipped. Air conditioned rooms, tea and coffee making facilities, large wide screen LCD TV, with a choice of entertainment and internet, both on the screen and a LAN cable to plug your laptop in.

The beds were the most comfortable hotel beds I've ever tried and there is a "menu" for your choice of pillows to choose from I think there's 5 different choices available.

Room decor is nicely furnished with tasteful art and the bathroom is very modern with a plentiful supply of towels. Shower Gel and Shampoo is provided.

We didn't try the restaurant but the Bar is very comfortable and very attentive staff.

Room prices are far more reasonable that the Alton Towers hotels and in my opinion are far far superior at Chessington. Although there is a certain magic at AT, which is often spoiled by the poor quality of staff in reception and the "in your face" security guards.

If you get the chance to stay there, then don't hesitate for a second! I shall be going back for certain.

I am glad you enjoyed yourself there. I have yet to go, but based on what you just said I might give it a try.

"Uncle Lon" wrote:

The beds were the most comfortable hotel beds I've ever tried and there is a "menu" for your choice of pillows to choose from I think there's 5 different choices available.

I dream of being able to go to a Holiday Inn again to enjoy the delights of the pillow menu! :)

Thom...

but was it as good as the "formule 1" in reims?

I completely agree with your review its a very nice hotel. Will be booking another stay there soon. Its in a good location too.

btw
Has the Alton Hotel got Air con in ther rooms yet ?