Our Visit to Alton Towers - Cbeebies Land

 

You may have read that recently we were lucky enough to recieve a Merlin Annual Family pass. Well last week we made the 2 hour drive to Alton Towers. Well it actually took us three and a half due to an accident but that is besides the point. We had one very excited Little Mr when we arrived. We parked up and headed to the monorail, we could have walked 20 minutes to the entrance but saved our legs.

Once in the park we had our very own map reader who directed us to our first stop, Cbeebies Land. 

He was far too excited to pose here, and so were we really. We followed Little Mr into the park and he immediately spotted the Postman Pat ride. Now anyone who knows Little Mr knows he LOVES Pat. He has a play set at my Mums which he just adores. We headed to the queue and saw it said 60 minutes!!  Not great with little ones, but we queued anyway and found it actually took much less, it was around 30 minutes in the end.  It passed really quickly as there was lots to point out to Little Mr and some great games to play whilst queuing.

 

Little Mr had great fun  driving us around and delivering parcels along the way. We loved seeing his face light up each time he was greeted by another of his favourite characters along the track.

Next stop were the toilets. There were plenty of them so we didn't have to queue,which I was a little worried about as when a toddler needs to go, they need to go quick.

Then we headed to the In The Night Garden Magical Boat Ride which was very popular. The queue was stated as 60 minutes but again was less (around 40). There were plenty of games to play along the way plus I took some snacks to help pass the time, but was perhaps just that bit too long to wait with restless toddlers. *since our visit the queueing system for the ride has changed to a ticket system where you are allocated a time slot.*

We got to meet all of the characters along the way.

Central to Cbeebies Land is the Big Fun Show Time Arena. This is a great place to sit and have a picnic. It is also where the shows are. We caught the back end of Nina and the Nuerons, a science experiment show.  

You can also meet the characters too. When we went upto the tent it was Iggle Piggle, we didn't have to queue as there was only one person in front of us. The main plus for this opportunity was there was no extra cost to take a picture. You just take your own which is great.

 

Next up was Mr Tumbles sensory garden. The garden actively encourages children to use their 5 senses to explore.  There were lots of plants which were great to smell and even Little Miss got in on the action.

 

As we wandered around the park we bumped into Pats van along with Jess. They were more than happy to pose with Little Mr for pictures.

 

We then headed to the Cbeebies Bugs 'Get Set Go' Tree top adventure. Little Mr loved this as you get a great view of Cbeebies Land.  We (well Mummy and Daddy) fancied a break from Cbeebies Land after a while so took a walk across the park towards Cloud Cuckoo Land.

 

Little Mr had great fun on the round about with his Daddy.

 

There was also the most amazing inflatable soft play that Little Mr had ever been on. They measure your child as they enter to determine whether they are suitable for the Little or Big Wobble. The Big Wobble really is huge and Little Mr was over the moon that he was tall enough to bounce around on it. Little Miss stuck to the Little Wobble with her Daddy whilst I watched Little Mr through the various viewing windows of the Larger inflatable.

 

Once we got back to the car Little Mr was fast asleep before we had even managed to get out of the carpark.

 

If you are planning a visit here are some of our top tips.

- Leave Plenty of time for your jouney there.

- Take £6 in change for the carpark

- In our case queue times were always shorted than stated.

-Take a picnic

-Take snacks for the queues.

- If you have an umberella style pushchair use that as you can get onto the monorail much more quickly. Our pushchair was too big so we had to wait for the larger carriage.

 

 

We had a great day visiting Alton Towers and Cbeebies Land. We cant wait to return.

 

 

 

 

Annual Merlin Family Pass

Some of you may know that recently we were lucky enough to receive a Merlin Annual Pass. A fabulous gift that is sure to give our family hours of enjoyment and many happy memories over the next year. Once the voucher for the pass arrived I looked into it a little more to begin to plan the different excursions we could make. It turns out it covers even more places than I first thought and we could visit places like Blackpool Tower and the London Eye.

You can find out more here.

We will start using our pass tomorrow with our first stop being Alton Towers. We are extremely excited about our visit especially as Little Mr is desperate to visit the newly opened Cebeebies Land.

If you are thinking about getting a pass or visiting one of the attractions covered by the pass keep checking back as we plan to blog about all the fun we have had.

Our Day Out

Recently I mentioned that we had visited a local petting farm/adventure park. We had such a good time I thought I would share some of the pictures I took. I love our little days out just the three of us. Of course they would be much better if Daddy was there too.

 

We started our day with a visit to see the animals. Little Mr particularly liked the goats. 

Where ever we go at the moment he is always keen to read the map. The great thing about this farm is that the map it very child friendly and he could easily pick out where he wanted to go next.

After the animals we headed towards the other play activities. First stop was a spot of miniature golf. Tricky for a three year old but turns out even trickier for me, Little Mr was giving me a run for my money.

One of Little Mr's favourite parts is the tractor enclosure. He loves hooking and unhooking the trailers along with filling it with'diesel'. As it was half term there were older children to contend with and Little Mr was rather upset when a bigger child came and told him to get off his tractor that he had ever so patiently waited for. So parental involvement (or maybe the teacher in me) was needed. 

After our tractor fun we headed into the picnic enclosure. I had brought a few snacks and Little Miss's food but purchased mine and Little Mr's there. I wasn't organised enough in the morning and wanted to get a move on, making a proper picnic would have just held us up. Well that's my excuse anyway.

After our lunch we headed to the sandpit. The only picture I got was of my feet. Probably because I can't relax while he is in there. Sand gets everywhere, it is one of my pet hates. I hate the feel of it when it is in your socks. Therefore Little Mr was swiftly change into wellies. I know I should relax about this a little more, there were plenty of children running around in it barefoot. There was even one child filling her shoes with sand!! I think I just have sandpit phobia.

Once we finally escaped the sandpit Little Miss had a nap whilst Little Mr played in the park.

He loves this big red tractor. He  always has done, I remember he once sat on it for a full 30 minutes happy as could be.

Next stop were the inflatable pillows. Little Mr had so much fun bouncing around. We are sockless here as it meant he could bounce higher apparently.

Last stop was to see a sheep 'have his hair cut.' Little Mr was enthral led as he loves getting his hair cut and often talks about the girl who cuts it for us when we drive past. He thought it was hilarious that a sheep was being sheared.

We had a brilliant day and headed home with two very sleepy but content children. Before leaving Little Mr added his mark to the large mural, and I visited the farm shop to stock up on a few yummy treats.