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The Hotels: A Journey
- Thread starter AstroDan
- Start date
Slugjc
TS Member
Unless they employ some sort of room search swat team, I doubt they can unforced you fetching stuff in. Although if I stopped, I would openly crack open a pepsi Max and lion bar in my room. Because I'm a badass like that.
The cooking equipment must be for the tree top and stargazing. People fetching portable bbq's in
CoventryBee
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- The Smiler
just booked EV lodge for £150 for the middle of Scarefest.
Didn’t think that was too bad at all.
Didn’t think that was too bad at all.
You did well, I am only seeing £200+ prices for an EV lodge in Scarefest (looking at Tues / Weds / Thurs, so what should be cheapest).
CoventryBee
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- The Smiler
Merlin Holiday Club. Monday 16th October. £147 ATH and Splash, £145 Stargazing Pods, £151 EV
George W
TS Member
Sunday's are actually the cheaper nights typically, as you can see £102 for enchanted village (woodland lodge) And less than £100 for main hotel and splash landings.
All with annual pass discount, still even without its not too bad.
jon81uk
TS Member
Probably should have said its only that cheap due to the AP discount in the first post. It probably depends on how many are staying but I would be expecting prices around £150 a night without the discount.
Have searched again & got into Splash (yes poor choice I know) for £146 in Scarefest. It includes breakfast - which I don't look forward too.
The booking form also said my Platinum Pass number was invalid, but applied the discount. Read what you want into that.
Last edited by a moderator:
Ian
TS Team
- Favourite Ride
- Dizz, Bobby’s Yarn Land
I’ve just returned from an overnight stay in Enchanted Village and wanted to share a few observations.
Positivity warning
First of all, the atmosphere in the ATH atrium is much more pleasant. It was a much more ‘grown up’ affair, including a seemingly revised playlist, quiz game for over 18s on the ship (spot the intro, general knowledge questions, etc.). The entertainment felt far less ‘Butlins’ and also wasn’t so hideously loud that you couldn’t hold a conversation whilst acts were performing.
In Dragon Bar there’s now at least a dozen or so optics along the wall behind the bar with a much wider selection of gins and other spirits.
We dined at Secret Garden, my first time since the recent menu overhaul. Service was good. Despite a little wait to have our order taken, once it was the food was quick coming out. I opted for the salmon as a starter and the blue cheese gnocchi as a main. Both were great. I also noted the amount of salmon you get these days seems a lot more than previously.
Not my Stella!
Also in our group was the mackerel salad and bread sharer for starters, and the pork cutlet and grilled chicken for mains, with a side of mixed greens. Again, all dishes were well presented and good quality. The piece of pork was a good size and thickness.
We noticed the desserts going out to other tables which looked excellent. Again, the portion sizes and presentation of the three or so dishes we saw going by were top notch. I think we were all a little disappointed we had no room for pud after the starter and mains.
Also in SGR I noticed the layout has been rejigged a bit, with a row of coffee machines, water dispensers and juice units now next to the pizza station. The buffet serveries used at breakfast have also been moved further to each end and rotated 90°. It makes the whole restaurant feel much more open and less like it’s in two halves, separated by the buffet counters.
Another nice little touch I noticed was the fountain actually lit and running under the arbour in front of the pizza ovens. A simple thing but which adds a bit more than just a load of plastic plants!
The restaurant wasn’t full, but certainly wasn’t empty. We arrived at 8:30pm and I’d say over half the tables, if not more were filled. There were plenty of staff working too, which I don’t doubt reflected in the service speed and quality.
Whilst I’m still gutted the duck has come off the menu, I still really enjoyed it. Probably the best experience I’ve had in SGR for a few years.
Our lodge was more or less spotless. A slight mark on the corner of the bed runner, but in terms of dust, bathrooms and surfaces it was all up to scratch.
Breakfast this morning in Crooked Spoon was also a pleasant surprise. The restaurant and serveries were clean and presentable.
We didn’t venture over to Splash, but I have to say ATH and Village were both great and on the whole this was probably the best experience I have had in a very long time.
I do wonder if the F&B front is helped by Aramark now getting more bedded in, implementing changes and redoing menus so that they now have complete control as opposed to what they inherited from Towers F&B. I also ate at Burger Kitchen a couple of weeks ago and noted how much better quality the meal was from there too, with a juicy patty and soft bun.
Fingers crossed it continues on an upward trajectory from here. All these little changes both in the park and the accommodation are promising signs and give me confidence that the new management team have got their finger on the pulse and know what needs to be done. Excited to see what the next few seasons bring.
Positivity warning First of all, the atmosphere in the ATH atrium is much more pleasant. It was a much more ‘grown up’ affair, including a seemingly revised playlist, quiz game for over 18s on the ship (spot the intro, general knowledge questions, etc.). The entertainment felt far less ‘Butlins’ and also wasn’t so hideously loud that you couldn’t hold a conversation whilst acts were performing.
In Dragon Bar there’s now at least a dozen or so optics along the wall behind the bar with a much wider selection of gins and other spirits.
We dined at Secret Garden, my first time since the recent menu overhaul. Service was good. Despite a little wait to have our order taken, once it was the food was quick coming out. I opted for the salmon as a starter and the blue cheese gnocchi as a main. Both were great. I also noted the amount of salmon you get these days seems a lot more than previously.
Not my Stella!
Also in our group was the mackerel salad and bread sharer for starters, and the pork cutlet and grilled chicken for mains, with a side of mixed greens. Again, all dishes were well presented and good quality. The piece of pork was a good size and thickness.
We noticed the desserts going out to other tables which looked excellent. Again, the portion sizes and presentation of the three or so dishes we saw going by were top notch. I think we were all a little disappointed we had no room for pud after the starter and mains.
Also in SGR I noticed the layout has been rejigged a bit, with a row of coffee machines, water dispensers and juice units now next to the pizza station. The buffet serveries used at breakfast have also been moved further to each end and rotated 90°. It makes the whole restaurant feel much more open and less like it’s in two halves, separated by the buffet counters.
Another nice little touch I noticed was the fountain actually lit and running under the arbour in front of the pizza ovens. A simple thing but which adds a bit more than just a load of plastic plants!
The restaurant wasn’t full, but certainly wasn’t empty. We arrived at 8:30pm and I’d say over half the tables, if not more were filled. There were plenty of staff working too, which I don’t doubt reflected in the service speed and quality.
Whilst I’m still gutted the duck has come off the menu, I still really enjoyed it. Probably the best experience I’ve had in SGR for a few years.
Our lodge was more or less spotless. A slight mark on the corner of the bed runner, but in terms of dust, bathrooms and surfaces it was all up to scratch.
Breakfast this morning in Crooked Spoon was also a pleasant surprise. The restaurant and serveries were clean and presentable.
- Orange and apple juice were served in those big glass stand jugs with the taps on the front, as opposed to the awful rehydrated stuff you usually get (I don’t know if this is also the case in SGR and Flambos, but here’s hoping!)
- The sliced bread for toast was more like a bloomer loaf (albeit thinly sliced) than the generic square white loafs
- On the hot buffet everything we tried was an improvement on past experiences. The dreaded sausages, whilst still not incredible, were certainly an improvement. The potato bites have been replaced with proper hash browns and the mushrooms actually had flavour too! The fried eggs too were much better prepared, and in general everything was still kept well stocked, even up to the end of breakfast service.
We didn’t venture over to Splash, but I have to say ATH and Village were both great and on the whole this was probably the best experience I have had in a very long time.
I do wonder if the F&B front is helped by Aramark now getting more bedded in, implementing changes and redoing menus so that they now have complete control as opposed to what they inherited from Towers F&B. I also ate at Burger Kitchen a couple of weeks ago and noted how much better quality the meal was from there too, with a juicy patty and soft bun.
Fingers crossed it continues on an upward trajectory from here. All these little changes both in the park and the accommodation are promising signs and give me confidence that the new management team have got their finger on the pulse and know what needs to be done. Excited to see what the next few seasons bring.
Mattie boy
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Shamballa
Judging by this I may change my forthcoming SG breakfast to the noisy crooked spoon just for the better juice option it seems.
ScottishChris
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Legend
It's great to see there has been an improvement. Last time I went, for what we paid, it was shocking. They just need to clean the actual hotels now!
NuttySquirrel
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Batman: Gotham City Escape
It's usually that chips are cooked in a shared fryer, so there's a high risk of cross contamination.
Allergen-friendly restaurants would use a dedicated fryer for non-gluten items but a lot of places lack the space or inclination to set this up.
An easy fix would be to substitute the fries with another side such as new or baked potato, its a pity this isn't advertised as an alternative.
As a coeliac I've found the resort menus increasingly lacking in choice since Aramark were brought in.
Good point @NuttySquirrel about the cross contamination. I would have thought they can substitute with abaked potato but then again I suppose it depends what ready made microwave food Aramark have supplied them with that day!
Dave
TS Founding Member
Because pre-booking tables is actually quite wasteful, you have to assume everyone will have the table for a maximum amount of time per booking so tables actually spend a lot of time not being used. With walk in and wait tables are constantly cycled so you get more capacity.
