Very good, overall really glad we went, I think we ended up paying more for it than I would have liked but I'll expand on that a little bit more below as mostly my own fault!
Booking
We booked direct with the hotel as this seemed the cheaper option compared to jet2 or other travel agents. We booked a Robin hood garden lodge with hot tub ultra all inclusive. I'm not sure this ended up being cheaper for us- although when you book direct your shuttle from the airport is free, we had a lot of trouble booking this as I couldn't find our flight number far in advance. It wouldn't let me book the shuttle without the flight number, and the live chat service was very spotty so couldn't get in touch with the hotel to resolve. By the time I had the flight number, the website said it was too late to book shuttle and to ring the company, and despite ringing both the hotel and the transfer company, it didn't get sorted. We ended up trying to use local buses to get to the hotel - we ended up on the Spanish equivalent of a mega bus, and ended up in Valencia, watching magic Robin hood disappear on Google maps in front of our eyes as we whizzed past it. So, a warning 😂 we also couldn't book the transfer back, as reception told us to ring the Magic company and everything was in Spanish. So a bit of a faff, but we managed! But next time I would use a travel agent, especially if youre travelling with kids.
Arrival
We arrived (from Valencia...) at around 2pmish. Checked in straight away and lodge was ready, we got a buggy ride straight to our lodge and the driver was very friendly and offered us a tour.
Resort is big, and I thought it was quite lovely actually. It was like a little holiday village rather than a hotel, definitely more of a 'resort'. Not dissimilar to Haven/butlins in the UK, but a lot bigger and with a lot more facilities.
Accomodations:
Lodge was great- no issues at all. Had a lovely little garden area to sit and a hot tub. Not too private as overlooked by other lodges, and I was a bit unsure on the boundaries of our garden compared to our neighbors, but nothing to complain about.
Inside was great, air con is absolutely fantastic and so refreshing to walk into. Double bathrooms which was again fantastic and kids bunk bed in the living room.
Be careful as the door doesn't lock from the inside- I awoke to our 4 year old who had opened the door, sitting on the patio. Very easy for them to open.
Mini bar is refreshed with cold pop everyday which our little one adored. We got into a little routine of coming back to the room on an afternoon to a cold room, place to chill, and cold restocked drinks. I definitely spent more time in our accomodation than I would normally on holiday, and it became part of what I enjoyed. Very useful if you have little ones as they can relax inside in the cool while you're on the patio/hot tub/ having some decompress time. Same on the night time: our daughter is too young to stay up too late, so when she was asleep it was brilliant to have somewhere to relax knowing she was safe.
Kids club
Again, excellent, couldn't have asked for more. It's near the entrance to the complex, and children age 4+ can be left unattended. Two sessions run a day: 10-1 and 3-6. Kids can go to one or both, the activity schedule for that day is posted outside. I think it is Thursday's they do the 'mini chef ' experience - they made a chef hat with my daughter then took her to go and make treats! She adored the days she did go. There is an air con room and garden for them to play and staff are absolutely fantastic. You sign them in and out and do not have to prebook. Staff are fantastic and knew her by name, spoke English and Spanish. I felt like she was cared for when she was there and I recognized the staff from the entertainment team. You don't have to pay extra, and as parents who rarely have alone time- this was absolutely invaluable for some time together and I was so grateful it existed and was safe.
Food
Standard all inclusive. My husband and daughter always found something to eat, I have sensory differences so struggled a bit but always found something to eat. There's sausages on a morning, eggs, bacon etc. There are pancakes but they seem reheated not fresh, and same for the waffles in the food trucks. There is always chips, garlic bread, plain pasta etc. I did notice that there were often flies near the desserts/ fruit but I put this down to the heat. Maybe a cover for some of the fruit could be useful? It did put me off eating some of it, but I washed fruit for my daughter to be safe and we managed. I would recommend the pizza delivery on the night time, we did this nearly every night. Felt really good relaxing on the patio and having food delivered ! And was always a safe bet if there wasn't much choice at tea. Food trucks were good, hot dogs burgers chips. Sometimes burgers seemed a little rare for my liking but they were safe. Robin hood cafe was good for burgers but again a bit too rare for me, Italians was good, didn't use any of the others!
Entertainment
Didn't use the night time entertainment much as was a bit late for us- we did see the parrot show but I felt a little uncomfortable.
If you have a lodge near the main pool as we did, there is evening entertainment beside there and it is LOUD - use white noise for kids. Quite nice to listen to from a hot tub though!
Daytime entertainment was great, enjoyed the aerobics in the pool. Game room was fun and has VR which is good to try for the experience.
We mainly spent evenings out the front of the resort - there is a park and the adults only gin bar is there too. There are Bali beds opposite the park so you can sit and watch your kids from there, which we did with a drink. It was a lovely end to the night.
Drinks
We didn't drink much, but what we did drink was great- you can ask for alcohol with the slushes and Malibu and a strawberry slushie was my favorite. Gin bar will make what you like and it is branded, as are the other bars. Cocktail menus are available.
Soft drinks are branded and there is some self serve dotted around.
Pools
Main pool is where the slides are and it's never too busy to queue, there is music playing here. Always plenty of beds but depends on how close to the water you want to be. We never struggled to find one close. There is a splash pad for kids, a soft play and multiple little play areas in the water. There is a quieter pool by the back of the resort which has a swim up bar and another kids play area in the water.
Excursions
We only went to the terra natura aqua park. We avoided the zoo area as had read a lot of reviews of animals looking mistreated. We used the aqua park briefly but they charged us for a sunbed and food was very expensive. You could rent floats or queue in a longer queue for them. We didn't stay long at all and it was 15 euro each way to get there, and nowhere accomodated our request for an infant seat despite offering this. Definitely not worth it for us, if I could do it again I'd use the free shuttle to a hotel near the beach and use the all inclusive food at one of the hotels. The facilities at our hotel were better!
Overall
Would go again, plenty for kids, accomodation and entertainment great, food is okay and there are options. I think we payed a lot for this due to poor planning on our part + summer hols.
Overall we really enjoyed it and I know
