Splash Landings Hotel

Food and Drink

Flambo’s Jambo

The main restaurant in Splash Landing Hotel is Flambo’s Jambo, an “all-you-can-eat” buffet style restaurant offering a range of culinary styles from Mexican to Indian to Asian to traditional British carvery and you’ll find that two or more are on offer every night. 

With bright colours adorning the walls, seats and even staff uniforms, you’re sure to have an eye-opening experience. The atmosphere within the restaurant is slightly more child-friendly and relaxed than you’d find at the Secret Garden over in Alton Towers Hotel, and you’ll find Caribbean music playing in the background alongside the buzz from Ma Garrita’s floating through the area.

The restaurant originally opened as Flambo’s Exotic Feast in 2003, but became Flambo’s Jambo in 2017 after a small refurbishment.

Ma Garitta’s

Ma Garitta’s is Splash Landings exotic bar, serving hot and cold drinks from around mid-day until late into the night. The bar is also the location of the children’s entertainment at Splash Landings and is often very busy with families (and can get quite loud!) until around 11pm. After 11pm Ma Garrita’s is the resort’s late bar and can stay open until around 2am on some evenings (with Dragon Bar at Alton Towers Hotel closing between 11pm – midnight).

All the usual bar products are available at Ma Garitta’s including adult’s cocktails and children’s alcohol-free cocktails, wine, spirits, alcopops and a range of draft beers.

Paradise Cove Burgers

Located at the back of Ma Garrita’s bar with views of the waterpark is the Paradise Cove serving a selection of burgers as well as a full children’s menu.

This restaurant opened as a pizzeria in 2014 but was later converted into a burger restaurant in 2019.

Hotel History

Following the success of the £20million Alton Towers Hotel, Alton Towers set to work planning their second installation. After many years spent on the drawing board with various concepts, Splash Landings Hotel and the Cariba Creek waterpark were born.

Splash Landings is based around a sleepy Caribbean village, where a series of giant geysers had recently started erupting in many different locations. In an attempt to save their village the local residents called in the Paradise Plumbers, Crazy Bob and Mumblin’ Pete, to reroute the water away from the village, using all their mixed up plumbing know-how. The result of the Paradise Plumbers work saved the village from flooding, whilst creating all the fun of  Cariba Creek for visitors to enjoy. When the hotel first opened, the Paradise Plumbers were costumed characters who roamed the hotel, along with Ma Garitta, proprietress of the local bar, and Baby Bear, who had previously been a mascot in the Alton Towers Hotel.

Unfortunately it wasn’t all plain sailing. The £30million Splash Landings complex opened on 1st June 2003 to much criticism. The hotel and water park were both described as a building site rather than a hotel complex, with much work still taking place in and around the hotel. Problems started right from the entrance, with the iconic ‘mine’ water feature incomplete and the entrance structures still being built. Once inside the issues continued, with workmen wandering around the hotel finishing various other features and decoration still taking place throughout the hotel’s public spaces, whilst in the waterpark, only the main lagoon was ready for swimmers, and the Master Blaster not yet in operation.

Alton Towers later admitted that the hotel was not ready for guests and closed it while work was finished, blaming the poor weather on causing the project to fall behind schedule. Guests who had stayed during this time were offered compensation by the resort.

Once work had been completed on the hotel, the quality of the workmanship shone through and the late opening was soon overshadowed by the immersive atmosphere. The new complex soon became a firm favourite with hotel guests, offering a truly unique break in the Staffordshire Moorlands.

Unlike the Alton Towers Hotel, when Splash Landings originally opened all the rooms were standard Beachcomber Rooms with no themed suites. However in recent years this has changed, with the Captain’s Quarters Pirate Suite being added in 2008 to coincide with the addition of Mutiny Bay, and Ice Age themed rooms arriving in 2012 to celebrate the opening of the park’s 4D Cinema. The other notable addition to the hotel’s line-up was the opening of The Coffee Shack in 2010, to offer more variety of food options within the hotel. Minor modifications seen around the hotels in recent years include addition of the giant deckchair photo opportunity in 2010 and updates to both the external water features during 2011 (which also saw the hotel’s signage changed) and internal water features during 2012, with the umbrella cascade replaced by a leaking pipe structure.

In 2014 two new food outlets opened at Splash Landings, with another Coffee Shack, this time located outside the main entrance next to the water fountain. And the Paradise Cove Pizzeria, located at the back of Ma Garrita’s bar. From 2017 Splash Landings moved to seasonal opening at the most popular times of the year.  2017 also saw Flambo’s Feast become Flambo’s Jambo

For more information about the past rooms and facilities of the Splash Landings Hotel, take a visit to the Resort of the Past.