Review – Arctic Explorer Room at the Alton Towers Hotel

I’m not going to lie, I love the Alton Towers Hotel. When I got the opportunity to stay in a new Arctic Explorer Room during our recent visit – I jumped at the chance! One of the corridors on the reception level has been given a full ‘Arctic Explorer’ makeover. Each bedroom off the corridor has had a full refurbish into the Arctic Explorer theme.

The sales blurb says – “Join Sir Algenon on his latest expedition through the Arctic. Step into the Mountain Expedition Adventure and stay in the Arctic snow crawler with views out across the snow covered mountain peaks and impossibly deep ice canyons. Watch as fantastical flying vessels and balloons pass through the dangerous mountain paths, in search of the extraordinary Yeti. Upgrade to an Arctic Adventure with features from our polar pioneer. Each Arctic Explorer Room sleeps up to four people and includes magnificent furnishing, glacial winds from air conditioning, 26″ television and tea and coffee making facilities.”

In our room, they hadn’t created a split ‘childrens’ area like you’d find in the Moon Voyager themed Rooms. It’s one open space. This works better, in my opinion as the rooms were never designed to have enough space for an added partition. It’s of course great if you’ve got smaller kids for them to be tucked up in a separate area of the room. However, I think it creates a brighter, lighter room overall to leave it open plan.

The cost of a night in an Arctic Explorer Room is somewhere between the standard ‘Explorer’ Room and the ‘Moon Voyager’ Room. As an example – a stay next week will cost you £304.00 per night. The Explorer room is £294.00 and a Moon Voyager room is £324.00.

Does the slightly higher price give you a better experience?

Yes, yes it does. The Arctic Explorer Rooms are themed to an exceptionally high standard. The combination of carpets, curtains, fixtures, furniture and digitally printed wall coverings work beautifully together. It’s also great to have fully integrated air-conditioning in an Alton Towers Hotel Room. The Alton Towers Hotel was built at a time when Air-Con wasn’t really in UK Hotels. Now, for premium rooms at least, it’s essential. I found it to be better than the solution offered in the Moon Voyager Rooms too, which is essentially a unit at the far end of the room.

The hair dryers are also an upgrade on the standard rooms, they are decent, full sized ones like home – rather than the dreadful ones you find in the standard rooms! There was also a lovely assortment of snacks, crisps and water provided – perfect to nibble on as small people are sleeping. It’s all finished to a wonderful standard, from the way your feet squish into the thick themed carpets to the lovely comfy beds.

For the grown-ups there’s a nice Double Bed, and for the children there’s a single bed with an extra pull out bed underneath. Without the table and chair, you could easily add a cot too. The furniture fits in wonderfully with the Arctic Explorer rooms, from the luxurious headboard, to the ‘safe’ styled bedside units. The TV is tucked away in a themed frame too so the ‘modern’ tech takes on an ‘aged’ feel. The lighting is subtle and ties in nicely with the room. I especially love the ‘globe’ light above the bed. There’s even tiny details on the drawer knobs too. It feels like every inch of the theming has been considered.

360 degree Bedroom View

You can take a look around the bedroom area in the image below – pop it into full-screen to get the full effect.

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Bathroom

The Bathroom continues with the stylish theming. Whilst the fixtures and fittings are the same as the Explorer Room Bathrooms – the Arctic Explorer Bathrooms have a more detailed finish. From the snow shoes and exploring equipment print on the door, to the brass electrical ducting. There are also a faux windows that make it look as if you’re looking across a snowy mountain top. It could be perhaps improved further by brass taps and shower fittings – however I understand why they’ve stuck with stock ‘silver’ finishes.

360 degree Bathroom View

You can take a look around the bathroom in the image below – pop it into full-screen to get the full effect.

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Overall

I really liked the Arctic Explorer Room at Alton Towers Hotel – they are a great upgrade on the standard ‘Explorer’ Rooms. Although they are missing the Kids Area of the Moon Voyager Rooms (along with the XBox and second TV) I found the experience to be better. The expansive wall spaces allow for some incredible theming and keep a bright, airy feel.  I think my only gripes were the lack of Power Sockets next to the bed – it’s 2017 – everyone has a phone and charger – it’s a pain having to charge it across the other side of the room.

In our room the TV and Frame needed some slight adjustment as the theming was covering the IR sensor. Ultimately, not show stoppers, but you expect perfection for this cost. However, it’s certainly close to this – if you’ve got a special occasion or celebration coming up, I’d certainly go for an Arctic Explorer Room at Alton Towers Hotel.

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