We came here with 2 toddlers for the theme park. Good hotel just across the theme park, late check in at 3pm and check out at 10am, available for late check out for extra £10 PER HOUR. 10am check out?! Our original plan was to visit the theme park on Saturday and check out Sunday after a nice relaxing breakfast, but 10am is anything but relaxing.
Book a package deal, B&B plus theme park tickets, Saturday weather was terrible, rained whole day, but luckily we could use the tickets for the next day, where the weather was sunny and warm, so the 10am checkout wasn't an issue for me.
The hotel wasn't too bad, with Thomas and some other trains at displayed so that made the kids excited.
Room was pleasantly nice, after reading some bad reviews, I was expecting it to be very very dated. It has fridge and tea making facilities, ironing board, hair dryer. That's about it. As a 4 star hotel, it has no toiletries apart from hand soap/shampoo/body wash 3-in-1, that is in a bottle dispenser on the wall. I like the basin, it is lower than normal, which is child friendly.
I booked the room for 4 (2 children and 2 adults) it only provided 3 towels. Being environmental friendly is 1 thing, sharing a towel with someone, even family member is another.... since we are only staying 1 night, i didn't bother asking for another towel.
Saw 1 of the review that commented on their poor bed sheets, where they are coarse and scratchy, and this is very true... it was terrible, it was so bad that we thought the sheets were covered in sand. Management should really replace these sheet.
The restaurant downstairs had kids entertainment, but we couldn't eat there since we didn't make any booking, although there were MANY empty tables, the front of house staff said they are all reserved, I don't see any reserved sign? Anyway so we went across to Grill Inn restaurant that is next to the theme park. Price is high, food is terrible. Don't bother.
The breakfast was English breakfast buffet plus some bread, pastry. The sausage bacons etc is fine, the bread section has no tongs, you need to use bare hands to pick up the bread....no fresh fruits but TIN fruits...TIN fruits.... a small selection of cereal for children. Fruit juice was worse than supermarket own brands, they use cheap squash, that was really horrible...
All in all, we had a good time, if we ever go back to Drayton Manor theme park, I might spend a bit more money to stay in a 4 star hotel in Birmingham ...
