We finally took your picture down off the wall, ah Jesse how do you always seem to know just when to...
We finally took your picture down off the wall, ah Jesse how do you always seem to know just when to call
Member since:18.10.2005
Reviews:48
Members who trust:18
About Christmas last year my mum phoned me up and reminded me it was going to be my nan's 80th birthday in May...and....as a present to her we are all going to go on Holiday. All? I ask....yes it turned out there was, 2 parents, 1 sister, 4 aunts, 5 uncles, 1 nan, 10 cousins and me (would like to point out that's just my mum's brothers and sisters, their partners and kids).....
Slightly dubious at this point, sounds a bit crazy to me a holiday in benidorm with an age range from 80 to 4....then mum informs me her and dad will be paying for me....well sign me up!!
So we arrive at the airport, amazingly with everyone still in tow and proceed to take up half the coach that's heading to our hotel, Magic Rock Gardens. From the airport in Alicante the journey takes about an hour but our coach was air conditioned so it wasn't too bad. We arrive at the back entrance to the hotel...why?...because the clever people who designed the hotel thought it would be an excellent idea to put the front entrance on a road too narrow for coaches to travel on.
Our rep points reception that way and promptly disapears sparking a bit of confusion (I do realise that this is the fault of the holiday company and not the hotel).
Next problem the lifts are only big enough to fit two people and two cases, with 24 of us and 23 cases it took a fair while to get to reception.....we managed to lose 1 aunt and 1 uncle on the way but somehow retain their child?!? Anyway once all together again it's time to check in. The staff on reception didn't speak very good English, now to be fair we don't speak very good Spanish but I thought that they should be able to at least check us in (typical Brit I know!) It took about half an hour to 45 mins to finally get us all checked in. Most of the rooms weren't ready yet but they kindly showed us the one that was so we could all leave our luggage there.
So time for a tour, well 1 dad, 1 uncle and me managed to find one of the bars very quickly and proceeded to make use of our all inclusive rights (The hotel being soley for all inclusive guests). This bar was located in the snack room which is open from 10am - 11pm everyday. There were several tables inside and doors out to the patio. The snack bar had a wide selection of salads, bread, pizza and chips. Perfect for when you've travelled all morning and arrived just after lunch! From the snack bar you walk out onto a large patio, this comes complete with some more tables and chairs and sun loungers. The first pool was on a slightly lower level than the patio and was fairly large. Then on an upper level was the second pool which was only 1ft deep all along for the younger holidayers, along with an adventure playground designed for toddlers and younger children.
So a few beers later it's time to check out the rooms. I am sharing with 1 sister (should be interesting!) In the room there are three beds, 1 sister proceeds to un pack and hang eveything up or put in drawers whereas I make use of the third bed to store clothes in open suitcase. Having said that if i had been so inclined there was plenty of room for both of our stuff in the wardrobes and drawers. There's no Balcony!!!!! Beside each bed was a nightstand and there was a dressing table with large mirror. The bathroom was standard but clean with both shower and bath, also had a b-day.
A few more beers later it's time for Dinner.... Dinner is served in the resturant we walked in and managed to find space for all 24 of us to sit together. Dinner was self service there was a wide selection of salads and breads, pasta, meat dishes, fish dishes and vegetarian dishes. There was also a wide selection of desserts. Drinks that were available were sangria, red and white wine, beer and soft drinks. Dinner was served from 7pm - 10pm.
Well I'm not going to bore you with the details of the rest of the holiday but surprisingly everyone had a good time and everyone is still talking!
Some thoughts on the hotel:
The hotel has 267 rooms with air-conditioning on 12 floors with views of the pool from each room.
The holiday in May Half Term cost approximately £500 per person including flights through Thomas Cook, this will obviuously very from agent to agent.
Pool: With a seperate pool for children the larger pool was free for games and swimming, the only downside is it is posistioned in the shade of another building so doesn't get much of the sun durung the day. Both pools were clean and never too crowded.
Food: The Salad selection was fantastic. Breakfast was excellent. The only thing I found disappointing is there was only one meat, one fish and one vegetarian dish each night. These were changed on a nightly basis but not much choice on each night. The resturant was never too crowded and we managed nearly every night to find enough tables to sit close together.
Bars: There were three bars and also one in the resturant. You had to use your room key as proof you were staying at the hotel and could only get two drinks per card at a time. The bar in the entertainment lounge was open until midnight and it was relativly easy to stock up before midnight if you weren't ready to call it a night. If you hadn't drunk your fill during the day there were several bars within easy walking distance of the hotel all open into the early hours of the morning.
Entertainment: Most of the entertainment was geared towards children but a lot of it was enjoyable for all the family. There was a couple of things on every night.
Rooms: Very good standard, cleaned well and very spacious. Only dissapointment was the sign hanging on the wall telling me that in order to create this spacious room they had removed the balcony :0( . The rooms were all air conditioned with telephones and satelite tv. Oh and familys with young children be careful of the windows as they open wide and there is a sheer drop underneath them.
Beach: This was literally a five minute walk away and has many shops by it. The downside was coming home there is a very steep hill that many people had nicknamed Cardiac Hill.
We had a few room thefts while we were there which put a bit of a dampner on things but to be fair there were safety deposit boxes and we hadn't used them, still think there was a bit of an issue with security.
Overall would stay at the hotel again and thoroughly enjoyed the holiday!
I know this was a bit long winded so if you got here....Big Thanks for reading xxxx
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Nov 16th, 2005
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