#StayPlayExplore Family Fun

We’ve been enjoying our #StayPlayExplore Family Fun pass here, which has given us 3 brilliant days out, and an overnight stay at the lovely Hinckley Island Hotel.

Have you heard of these passes? I hadn’t, and so now I’m really shouting about them as I think they’re such great value. I was chatting to a friend the other day and she couldn’t believe how much you get for the money! There are a variety of options available, but as we have two little ones, we went for the Family Fun pass, at £109. This meant we could choose 3 days out from the following attractions – Conkers, National Space Centre, Twinlakes Theme Park, Snibston Discovery Museum and Twycross Zoo, AND have an overnight stay at a 4* hotel, including breakfast. How fab is that?!

We went to Twycross Zoo

Then Conkers

Then finally Twinlakes Theme Park

Click on the links to read about our days there.

We also then stayed at the Hinckley Island Hotel…

I was very impressed with the hotel. It’s easy to find and check in was efficient and the lady very friendly. We were advised that as we hadn’t prebooked the restaurant that it’d be an 8.45pm booking at the earliest – there’s no way the children would have lasted that long, or me for that matter! But, you can just pop and eat in the lounge area, which I preferred anyway as it was more informal and a little noisier, which I do like with the two little ones! They also received free kids activity packs, which went some way to keeping them entertained while we waited for our food, which was absolutely delicious! All portions were a good size and the food was just perfect. I had beer battered fish, chips and peas, which sounds so basic, but I do believe this was the best one I’ve ever had. And the elderflower and raspberry tart afterwards – yum! In fact, thinking about it now I’m starting to feel hungry.

All #StayPlayExplore bookings are automatically upgraded to an executive room, which as you can see, was lovely, with white fluffy towels, robes to use, toiletries for the kids as well as us, and the cot that we’d requested all set up and ready on arrival. The beds were comfortable, the room nice and warm and there’s Freeview, so when the children woke us at 6.30, we could all snuggle up for a bit watching CBeebies!

Breakfast was a serve yourself buffet, and there were bars for cereals, fruit, juices and drinks, pastries and toast, and full English, too. The food was all fresh, hot and we found a table easily enough on a Sunday morning. I do love a hotel breakfast, and it had been ages since we’d enjoyed one, so we were there for some time, indulging!

There is also a pool there, though we didn’t use that, along with free parking and free Wi-Fi.

On checking out, we decided to go into nearby Leicester to do some shopping, having never been there before. It’s great there! Highcross Shopping Centre was brilliant, packed with lots of big brands, the all-important Disney Store for the kids and a lovely John Lewis for us, as well as plenty more, and there were also lots of smaller independent shops just outside the centre, too. We barely scratched the surface with the children getting bored after a while, so we will return!

After our #StayPlayExplore experience, we’ll definitely be getting another pass to enjoy next year, and though I like to try out different places, I may just book at the Hinckley Island again as I know how good it is.

The Family Fun pass is perfect for us, and I cannot recommend it enough. I’m telling everyone! There are also other breaks, such as Family Adventure for those with older children, Theme Parks, Gourmet Taste, King Richard III Breaks, City Break – some are for families and some are adults only, so plenty to choose from. You can check them all out here.

What do you think? Something you’d enjoy?

UPDATE! We’ve tried out Stay Play Explore again – find out how we got on here.

Disclosure: We received a #StayPlayExplore pass FOC for the purposes of these reviews, but all words and opinions remain my own

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