Family and Friends Railcard

We love our Family and Friends Railcard, for just £30 a month you can save ££ when travelling with a child by train.

The card is designed so that up to 4 adults and 4 children (5-15) can save money, 1/3 off an adults ticket and 60% off kids - not just on the day but booking in advance too.
The savings really add up.... for example:

If me the 4 of us, 2 adults and 2 children were to go to Legoland in Manchester today the return tickets would cost £54.90.  This is reduced to £31.20 with a railcard (saving: £23.70 .... that's the card almost paid for in one go).

Now assume next month we were going to Alton Towers and staying over night.  The return tickets (if booked today) would cost Uttoxter would cost £81.60, this is taken down to £46.20 with a railcard.  (saving: £35,40)

Feeling flush we may decide to go to Chessington in the summer holiday (hey I can dream). Booking in advance, including underground trains,  we are looking at £243.90 (EEEEKKKKK) we can take this down to £138.20 using a railcard  - A saving of £105.70.  

In 3 trips this £30 card has saved us £164.80!!!

Merlin Passes - are they worth it?

Last year we forfeited a 'proper holiday' and bought Merlin Passes.  For 3 of us (Noah was only 2)  it cost us about £300.  So we made the most of them.

We went to:

Legoland Windsor (1 and a half days).  post 1  post 2
Alton Towers (2 and a half days)  post 1   post 2
Legoland Manchester (4 times - I think)   post
Sealife Manchester (2 times)

Camping Adventures ..... 2 kids, 2 adults .... no car - Tower Bar and Grill @ Alton Towers (review)

As you'll already know when we went to Alton Towers we decided to experience The Tower Bar and Grill.  This is situated right near the entrance/ exit and serves right up until 7pm.  A word of advice tho we left around 6.15pm and the place was packed, people were queueing for seats.



Menu

The menu is very simple and basic but with something for everyone and designated kids options.

I had a bacon and cheese burger with chips and it was probably one of the best burgers I've had in a long time.  Hubby had the gammon, he was rather disappointed in this (having had melt in the mouth gammon the night before) and had to find a member of staff to request a steak knife as it was too tough to cut normally.   Noah had chicken goujons and chips which he wolfed down, however Ben went for just fries.  He refused to have goujons as they "weren't chicken nuggets".  No amount of explaining would make him opt for them.  **strange child**

Camping Adventures ..... 2 kids, 2 adults .... The Star @ Cotton - pub (a review)

The Star at Cotton was our local pub to the campsite (ok it was the only pub within walking distance).  They are a family-friendly, traditional 16th century pub and restaurant with a contemporary twist situated near Alton Towers and on the very edge of the Peak District. you could tell it has been recently re-furbished to a very high standard and looked lovely and welcoming both inside and out.   The service we received was friendly and quick and the toilet facilities lovely and clean.

Camping Adventures ..... 2 kids, 2 adults .... no car - an eating challenge

I'm back - did you miss me?  :)

If you read my packing checklist you'll realise we went away this week, just for 2 nights, in a tent - with no electric hook up - by train.

Now I knew food was going to be our biggest issue.  Obviously we can't carry too much and we have to
facilities to keep anything cold.
We took with us a single ring camping stove and a frying pan.   No we didn't take any gas, we figured just to save a bit more room on space we'd buy some there.

I'll explain a little more about the location of the campsite in another post but it is basically in  the middle of nowhere.
The 'shop' is open for a couple of hours am and pm.   You have to get a bus to anywhere which run approximately every 2 hours until 4pm then switch and change frequently.  You may end up 4-5 miles away (or further) with nothing to do and no way of getting back until 8 or 9pm.
There is 1 pub in walking distance, The Star Inn.  No takeaways, cafes or fast food vans.  Not even a corner shop.

Alton Towers part 2 - let's explore a bit more

Like I said in the previous post my boys are becoming little thrill seekers.  Alton Towers is a lot stricter then Legoland height wise and we found that rides of 0.9m minimum at  Legoland were 1.1m at Alton Towers.

The biggest of these differences being the Spinning Spider (legoland) and the Marauder's Mayham (Alton Towers).  As far as we could tell these rides are in theory identical - you sit in a barrel and spin round, turn the wheel and you go faster.  Noah was soo excited but as we got closer we found he was too small.

Don't get me wrong I appreciate the map does very helpfully have the restrictions on it so I'm not saying we shouldn't have checked that first but you expect identical rides operated by the same chain (Merlin) to have the same restrictions.

Alton Towers part 1 - Cbeebies Land

Ever since the first advert Noah (yes, little 3 year old Noah) has asked almost daily when he will be going to CBeebies Land.  I must admit part of me wanted to go to just to see what the hype was .......... ok ok a
LOT of me wanted to go.  You see I'm a bit of a wuss when it comes to Theme Parks.  I wasn't taken to many as a kid as my mum and dad weren't keen which I think has almost given me a bit of a fear of the big rides (you'll not get me near the Smiler or Oblivian), I'm far more at home in a nice gentle car.

Even better we can get into  Cbeebies Land (Alton Towers) on our Merlin Passes and it only takes an hour and a bit to get there.  We stayed in Derby the night before on this occasion (but that's a story for another post).