REVIEW: Alton Towers Hotel and Gangsta Granny: The Ride

And now the Staffordshire-based theme park has been swept up into the World of David Walliams with the opening of its latest attraction, Gangsta Granny: The Ride.

We were invited to the resort for an overnight stay at the Alton Towers Hotel and a visit to the theme park to celebrate the launch of the new family ride.

We arrived on Friday evening, quickly parked up and headed into our hotel to check-in. After a quick temperature check – following Covid guidelines – and a pain-free check in process, we were straight into the lift up to the next floor to find our room, which we had been previously told was one of the Moon Voyage rooms.

Children and adults of all ages will be amazed by the design of this room – complete with space-themed wallpaper, a huge double bed, a set of bunk beds, two televisions, an Xbox and a themed en-suite bathroom with a bath and shower.

The hotel itself is set back from the park behind an impressive car water feature. Inside is like something from inside a child's imagination – with the tiered hotel centred around an abandoned pirate ship with a hot air balloon sitting in the centre. There's always something different to explore around every corner – and the themed aspects continue into the many bedrooms including Gangsta Granny, Peter Rabbit, Smiler and princess-themed rooms.

We headed down to the ground floor ahead of our dinner reservation in the Secret Garden restaurant. We were impressed with all the social distancing measures in place – scattered seating, staggered reservations and a requirement to scan into the NHS Track and Trace app on arrival. We soon sat down and chose our meals from the menu – garlic bread to share to start, two beef burgers and chips from the children's menu, while my partner and I chose the steak and fish and chips respectively. The meals were just simply delicious and we returned to our hotel room with full stomachs – and ready for a comfortable nights sleep ahead of the excitement ahead of the following day.

We were treated to an exclusively-themed Gangsta Granny breakfast along with other guests, which included gold pancakes and Crown Jewel biscuits. We treated ourselves to a full English breakfast, with rounds of toast, while the children enjoyed the golden pancakes with dollops of chocolate sauce and syrup – all washed down with apple juice, tea, coffee and hot chocolate.

And then it was time for us to venture to the park – we were picked up by a coach at 8.15am to be taken through to Alton Towers, a whole hour and 45 minutes before the park opened to the public.

We were taken straight through to the new area of the park – the World of David Walliams – and were greeted by bright colours, cheerful music and a London beefeater or two. The whole area has been themed to David's books with its rides and attractions. Guests can pick up a bargain in Raj’s Shop, race on a regal thoroughbred on the Royal Carousel, and bounce away on Raj’s Bouncy Bottom Burp, among other things.

After being entertained by dancers and a brass band – it was time to test out the new Gangsta Granny ride. We were all blown away by the theming as you walk through the queue line – with the added extra of your own family mugshot picture. And it was soon time to jump board a Royal Carriage on a tour of London's Crown Jewels – only to be swept up in Ben and Granny's escape.

For the lovers of the book and film, the ride drops you right in the middle of the main character's quest to attempt the greatest heist in history – to steal the Crown Jewels. The ride itself will be loved by adults and children alike – it's a multi sensory experience, with a 360 degree special effect laden ride. You feel like you're in the story – as you see, feel, hear and even smell the what's going on around you. It was a big hit with our family – from the youngest, to the oldest. And I would recommend to anyone visiting Alton Towers to give it a go, whether you're a fan of Gangsta Granny or not.

For the rest day, we free to explore Alton Towers as we wished – from Wicker Man, to the Congo River Rapids, from Duel to Smiler. The resort was kind enough to give us free fast passes for the day too – so those huge queues you experience on a Saturday melted away. And it was quite nice for those who are not so keen on ride – aka me – that waiting around for your group to come off Oblivion or Galactica didn't feel too long.

To coincide with our visit was the start of the resort's first ever Mardi Gras inspired takeover. Throughout the resort was bursts of colour and decoration, with music and street performers everywhere for your entertainment. New food stalls especially for the event were also available – and we can highly recommend the Greek street food and stonebaked pizza we enjoyed on our lunch break from the rides.

For the 2021 season, Alton Towers has also unveiled a trio of retro rides – The Retro Squad. It includes Mixtape, Roller Disco and Funk'n'Fly – which are all lots of fun!

Overall, we had a great weekend at Alton Towers Resort – and would recommend an overnight stay to anyone. It's something we have never done before – and we are already looking at booking a trip back later this year.