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Stargazing Pods
- Thread starter Matt N
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- stargazing pods
A very good question! If Staffordshire Moorlands District Council read this they may not be open for much longer. It sounds like some rules are being flexed here.
Dave
TS Founding Member
I think some of the rules are interpreted by the local public health team so you do get a bit of variation across the country depending on their advice to Venues. I would put money on the council signing off on it.
djtruefitt
TS Team
I believe you book a time slot for the showers. Assume you just use the toilets when you want though. I see no difference in using the toilet there and using the toilet at a pub or in the theme park.
WickerwomanH
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Wicker Man
I visited and stayed at the stargazing pods recently and yes there is a time slot system for the showers and the toilets are free to be used whenever. There are staff outside the block manning them to ask if people have a time slot for when they go to use the showers.
evilcod
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Pirates of the Caribbean - Paris
I think around the £80 is fine, and should probably be the standard price. It isn't just a shed in the middle of nowhere, it is a shed with a premium location, to expect any cheaper seems a bit wishful thinking.
MaxPower
TS Member
A basic room with on suite bathroom would be good value at £80, not a glorified wendy house.
We stay at the chained oak, which is literally next to the park and costs only £10 more for a double room.
pluk
TS Member
I have heavily derided the Stargazing pods before now, but as I sit here in a camping chair on my tiny porch, kid asleep inside, on a pleasant evening with the light fading, a stout in my hand and the peace only broken by the gentle gargle of kids playing in the background, I'll admit they have their place.
They're probably about 25% over priced for what they really are, but woth the hotels about 70% overpriced for what they deliver I'll consider it good value!
They're probably about 25% over priced for what they really are, but woth the hotels about 70% overpriced for what they deliver I'll consider it good value!
pluk
TS Member
I think it was £80, with a sausage or bacon roll and a cuppa for breakfast, and £12 I don't need to pay to get out the parkpark twice, it's tolerable.
AstroDan
TS Team
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The thing is, if they were £80 consistently it wouldn't be as bad.
As it is, the price is sometimes way more than that.
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Dave
TS Founding Member
I don’t think anyone has suggested they don’t have their place, even huge world class resorts like EP and Disney have camp sites. My main issue with the pods has always been:
1) The toilet and shower block is too small, it needed two at opposite ends of the site.
2) The price is often far to high. If it was £60 a night fine, but they often breach £100+ and that is ridiculous.
1) The toilet and shower block is too small, it needed two at opposite ends of the site.
2) The price is often far to high. If it was £60 a night fine, but they often breach £100+ and that is ridiculous.
Matt.GC
TS Member
I think you do have somewhat of a point there. As a fierce critic myself, it was always to do with the price and laziness of how they were built/introduced for me.
Since they've been built, I've stayed in EV 3 times and got substantially more for very little extra cost. For some reason, EV is usually far keener price wise than the 3 hotels so we just stay there, have a beer on the porch whilst the kids roam and play outside in the evening and use all the hotel facilities for everything else. I am a fan of EV and often defend it despite its flaws.
But on a summers evening and for a good price, I would imagine the pods can be a decent enough experience. As the pods age and with the hotel prices being outrageous at the moment, could we see the pods soon becoming what they always should have been in the first place? Or even maybe intended to be eventually?
NuttySquirrel
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Batman: Gotham City Escape
The problem is the stargazing pods were always marketed as a 'budget' option, more akin to camping than a resort hotel stay. But this means they need to be a viable option for people with tight budgets, which means being competitive with off-site accommodation as well. Just being slightly cheaper than a standard resort hotel but still way more expensive than a local campsite doesn't suit anyone's needs.
pluk
TS Member
Further pod based thoughts...
- the toilet block is very obviously insufficient. I would guess from activity seen and keys hanging up the pods were about a quarter full on my stay. Even then more than once I had a wait for a toilet. I imagine it's a huge issue at capacity.
- on the toilet blocks, hygiene isn't great. I didn't see a cleaner in there once. On my first visit one toilet had been filled with toilet roll by some scumbag. 8 hours later it was still the same. The showers have no cleaner present or floor squeegee, so the floor where you are to dry yourself becomes filthy. Only a couple of sinks have cold water taps which everyone wants to brush their teeth. I've stayed at campsites at a third of the price which have an attendant permanently in the block at busy periods.
- signage around pods, village, carparks and hotels is a mess. Our pod was near tye little path towards reception, 6 people asked is if we knew where reception was I'm the space of about 40 mins. The signs from the park want to send you through a busy dangerous carpark rather than by the hotel front path.
- the sausage breakfast role was vile. The bacon one a bit better. I can't believe it wouldn't be cheaper for them to have a tray of bacon, a tray of sausages, and some cut up French stick. Would be vastly superior than the warmed up prepackaged stuff they're serving up now. Was nice to have juices offered instead of just milk, which is what is listed on the menu.
- the pods themselves are fine; comfy bed, heated, electric sockets. Serve a purpose well enough.
- Great having the play area for kids in the centre, shame it doesn't have some smaller bits alongside for the younger ones. Just a bit too challenging for a 3 year old.
- The teepee seems like a great idea, but wasn't in use on our visit. The piano was merrily playing itself through though! I get the pods weren't that busy, but EV was sold out, and the hotels not quiet. I think there's plenty of scope for the teepee to he used as a different sort of bar to the others for people from across the resort to go to with a very different vibe to the hotels, but if you weren't I the pods you wouldn't know it existed.
Overall I quite liked it as something different, it felt like a bit of an adventure for my daughter who really enjoyed it. Even my wife who can be a bit snobby about camping was happy enough. I'm sure it'd be a different story in the rain though, and that really is the biggest problem with the pods as far as I can see. They'd be an inescapable misery in the wet. But booked late enough to know you should have a warm dry evening? I'd use them again.
- the toilet block is very obviously insufficient. I would guess from activity seen and keys hanging up the pods were about a quarter full on my stay. Even then more than once I had a wait for a toilet. I imagine it's a huge issue at capacity.
- on the toilet blocks, hygiene isn't great. I didn't see a cleaner in there once. On my first visit one toilet had been filled with toilet roll by some scumbag. 8 hours later it was still the same. The showers have no cleaner present or floor squeegee, so the floor where you are to dry yourself becomes filthy. Only a couple of sinks have cold water taps which everyone wants to brush their teeth. I've stayed at campsites at a third of the price which have an attendant permanently in the block at busy periods.
- signage around pods, village, carparks and hotels is a mess. Our pod was near tye little path towards reception, 6 people asked is if we knew where reception was I'm the space of about 40 mins. The signs from the park want to send you through a busy dangerous carpark rather than by the hotel front path.
- the sausage breakfast role was vile. The bacon one a bit better. I can't believe it wouldn't be cheaper for them to have a tray of bacon, a tray of sausages, and some cut up French stick. Would be vastly superior than the warmed up prepackaged stuff they're serving up now. Was nice to have juices offered instead of just milk, which is what is listed on the menu.
- the pods themselves are fine; comfy bed, heated, electric sockets. Serve a purpose well enough.
- Great having the play area for kids in the centre, shame it doesn't have some smaller bits alongside for the younger ones. Just a bit too challenging for a 3 year old.
- The teepee seems like a great idea, but wasn't in use on our visit. The piano was merrily playing itself through though! I get the pods weren't that busy, but EV was sold out, and the hotels not quiet. I think there's plenty of scope for the teepee to he used as a different sort of bar to the others for people from across the resort to go to with a very different vibe to the hotels, but if you weren't I the pods you wouldn't know it existed.
Overall I quite liked it as something different, it felt like a bit of an adventure for my daughter who really enjoyed it. Even my wife who can be a bit snobby about camping was happy enough. I'm sure it'd be a different story in the rain though, and that really is the biggest problem with the pods as far as I can see. They'd be an inescapable misery in the wet. But booked late enough to know you should have a warm dry evening? I'd use them again.
WickerWonder18
TS Member
Anyone stayed in the Stargazing pods recently?
If so I've got a few questions as me and a few mates are staying in one at scarefest.
1) Where is the parking located? And where do you check in?
2) Do you have to book a slot for the showers still or was that a Covid thing?
3) Where do you get the breakfast roll from?
And any other useful info would be appreciated.
Thanks
If so I've got a few questions as me and a few mates are staying in one at scarefest.
1) Where is the parking located? And where do you check in?
2) Do you have to book a slot for the showers still or was that a Covid thing?
3) Where do you get the breakfast roll from?
And any other useful info would be appreciated.
Thanks
AT86
TS Member
Car parking is on car park J, head towards the hotels and it’s sign posted for Stargazing/Enchanted Village parking.
Check in is at the old Tree Top Quest location in the woods to the side of the car park, again it’s sign posted. You also collect breakfast from the same building.
Not sure about the showers, sorry.
WickerWonder18
TS Member
That's great thanks!