After months of preparation the hen weekend was finally upon us! Goody bags were safely in the boot of the car, directions were printed out, the address had been programmed into the sat nav and I was all packed! Just a shame I had forgotten to pack my purse!!! Luckily I realised before we went too far!!
My sister and I then picked up my cousin Charlotte and off we went. The drive there wasn’t too bad at all, we left at about 12.30pm and got there at 4pm! After unpacking we settled down in Ma Garrita’s Bar with a pitcher of Woo Woo! We were quite peckish too as we hadn’t had lunch so we shared a garlic bread pizza and chips – nice and healthy!
My friend Nicky who used to work at Universal was next to arrive which was quite handy as Charlotte and my sister decided to move on to Malibu cocktails next so Nicky joined me with the Woo Woo’s!
Jo & Juliette were next to arrive so I showed them to their room – only remembering afterwards that I was banned from that room as my sister had put some hen goodies in there for the Saturday night. Luckily I somehow didn’t notice them!!
The GT girls were next to arrive (Shelle, Lynsey, Jacqui & Vicky), and then finally my other cousin Vicki arrived.
I specifically chose Ma Garrita’s Bar for us all to meet in because it served a selection of light snacks and bites all the way through till the early hours of the morning – perfect as everyone was arriving at different times. More food and cocktails were ordered, with Vicky even managing to get a cocktail that wasn’t on the menu!!
We were all aware that we had to be up at 7am the next day though so none of us went to bed too late!
On Saturday morning after having breakfast we made our way to the monorail to take us into the park where we received our first perk of the day – myself and my two bridesmaids got to sit up the front with the driver!!
By staying in the hotel we got early entry into the park but not all the rides were open early – of the ones we wanted to go on only Nemesis and Oblivion were open. We went straight to Nemesis first of all but by the time we had finished it was almost 10am so we decided to walk over to Thirteen and get in the queue. Unfortunately by the time we got there it was gone 10am so we had a fairly long queue, but probably only about an hour. After that one it was over to Rita – my worst ride! I always go on it but it is definitely not one that I enjoy! After Rita we went on Air, then the Haunted House, and then onto Hex.
After Hex a few of us went on Oblivion, and then finally the last ride we went on was The Runaway Train. The queue was deceptive, if we had known how long it was we probably wouldn’t have joined it but by the time we noticed we had already been queuing for a while so we thought we might as well carry on! The guy on the tannoy was really funny, as each train left he would say in quite a suggestive way ‘Choooo choooo’ (you really had to be there!) and so when it was finally our turn we all shouted it back at him!
We finally left the park at about 6pm and got to sit in the front of the monorail with the driver again! Once back at the hotel, Theo had arrived – yay! She also used to work at Universal and so had been nattering away with Nicky who had left the park a little earlier.
The table was booked for 8pm in The Secret Garden restaurant and it had been decorated beautifully by Shelle and my sister – my bridesmaids. Lots of red (the wedding colour theme) and sparkly things! Oh and bubbles too!
They had arranged for a game where everyone bought me a present and I had to guess who had bought it. We did this for Jacqui’s hen weekend and so I must have dropped enough hints about how much I enjoyed it! Some of the presents were hilarious; Vicky’s in particular – carrots and potatoes!! (We both love our vegetable patches!)
I was also given a beautiful photo book which everyone contributed too, I burst into tears when I opened it, it was just so lovely. And I do love photo books!
After dinner we retired to an area with a fabulous huge chair where I perched for our second game – Mr & Mrs! Unbeknown to me Shelle and my sister had asked Martin 20 questions and I had to guess his answers! And for every question that I got right I got to open a present! The person asking the question would get the present if I got the question wrong so no pressure!!!!!! Luckily I got every question right, or more or less right anyway! One of the photos was an excellent red afro wig and red sunglasses – I would have worn them for longer if it wasn’t for the wig making me really hot!! I also got some temporary tattoos so started dishing them out – it was very amusing the next morning seeing everyone with their tattoos still on! Unfortunately mine came off pretty quickly! 
Most people started heading off to bed around midnight, I think I stayed up until 2am, leaving Nicky, Vicky and Theo propping up the bar until about 3am!!
On Sunday everyone had planned to go in the Splash Landings pool at 9am for an hour or so before the spa at 10.30am – but everyone was too hungover! I wasn’t, but didn’t really fancy going in the pool on my own! But as it was, it wasn’t open that early anyway! After breakfast we all checked out and then headed over to the spa.
It was amazing; they had a swimming pool, a hot tub, a laconium room, an aromatic crystal steam room, a sauna, a multi sensory shower, a meditation room and effervescent footbaths – and we had it all to ourselves! Well, for a few hours anyway, then a few other people started filtering in but on the whole it was really quiet, it was bliss! A few of us had treatments, I had an invigorating body exfoliation, but the majority just relaxed in the meditation room, or on the sun loungers.
We had use of the spa until 3pm but a few people wanted to head back early to see their families and so by 2pm I think we were all out. A few of us had lunch in the Alton Towers hotel and then that was that, weekend over.
Charlotte, my sister and I left at about 2.45pm and were home by 6pm – again, not a bad drive!
I had such a good time over the weekend, and judging by the photos I think everyone else did too! Some of the girls hadn’t met each other before but everyone got on really well with each other. Everyone really made an effort too, from the dress code for Saturday night, down to the guess who presents.
And of course an extra special thank you has to go to my amazing bridesmaids who organised the activities for Saturday night really well.
Chooooo chooooo!
