Magic Pirates Island Resort

“Fabulous stay with teens - 5 stars all the way”

Flights Flights from Stansted with jet 2 all good. I was worried about the new EU scanning system for fingerprints etc but staff at the airport were really efficient and this was quick and easy. Transfer We had jet 2 express transfer which guarantees you to be within the first 3 stops. We were t… more

Flights Flights from Stansted with jet 2 all good. I was worried about the new EU scanning system for fingerprints etc but staff at the airport were really efficient and this was quick and easy. Transfer We had jet 2 express transfer which guarantees you to be within the first 3 stops. We were the second stop and from boarding the coach (we were one of the first to get on) to arriving was just over 1 hour, with a journey time around 40 minutes. I looked at uber when we arrived and was £90 so not worth it in my opinion to save a few minutes. Check in We were the only ones on our coach to check in to our hotel so check in was quick and easy. Got a buggy down to the room which was nice as we were all hot and bothered! Room was ready at 2.30pm when we checked in which was lovely and we dumped our stuff and headed straight to lunch! Room We had a premium battleship pool room, Room was big enough for two adults and two teens. Storage in the kids room is two drawers and a small hanging space, so not much for my giant son! I bought hangers from home (travel ones 3 for £1 in £1 shop) and was glad I did as it helped get stuff away as they only had a drawer each! Room was clean, air con worked well. Bathroom was nice with soap by the sink and shower gel / shampoo in the shower. Housekeeping could be daily but we opted for just a couple of cleans and just asked for fresh towels most days which was fine. Only a couple of English channels on the TV - tried to get Netflix but couldn’t get it. ITV / channel for were the main ones we found: was something in the background when getting ready…. WiFi could be patchy at times. Mostly ok, but kept having to re-join and one morning it went for a few hours. Pools No inflatables at any of the pools (apart from life preservers - vests / small rings / arm bands - but these are not allowed on slides). Balls / small toys / sinkers all ok. Battleship lagoon pool This is the main pool where events happen throughout the day. They put up the daily activities on a big screen and it’s handy to look at this, as often the timings or events are often different (and more up to date) than the ones on the app. So if you really don’t want to miss anything. Have a look at that. Slides are on until 4 or 6 depending on time of year you come and then the zip wire over the pool is open for about an hour before the pool shuts. Not many did the zip wire when we were there. Appropriate clothing / footwear needed for the zip wire. The pool and pool bar open from 10am. Maybe 1 person waiting at the gate - so no sunbed wars 🙌🏻 if you like a particular bed get there for 10am but you could always find 3/4 sunbeds together when we were there. It did seem like maybe it was getting busier just as we left (31/07) but our experience with sunbeds was good at all the pools. Kraken pool We didn’t use this as we had teens. Was closed one day (I presume due to a poop incident). The toilets here next to the bar are the nearest ones we found to use at the paradise pool. There is also a good bar there which has donuts, scoop ice creams (you can ask for sauce on these too) and cakes etc. paradise pool We were premium so could use the paradise pool and my teens liked this for some quiet in the afternoon! The baliese beads were free and if you got there earlish afternoon you could get one easily. Pool is open to premium guests 2-8 and is lovely and quiet if you get there near 2. Just chilled music and a plain pool. There are sun loungers at the back of the pool area, round the corner from the Balinese beds. Pool tip - water shoes. I bought these on recommendation from other travellers and through I had wasted my money as they sat in the room for 3 days, but then both my teens feet became sore. The cheap ones I bought from eBay did not last an hour before the bottom ripped out, so I would say bring half decent water shoes if your kids will be in the pool a lot, as the pool floor is rough. I didn’t need them. Drinks Drink selection was really good. I don’t know if just cos we were premium but Jim bean, baileys etc and choice of cocktails / slushes at pretty much all bars. There was also a separate bar for premium guests opposite the entrance to the captains table, which we used to get frappe’s. The kids liked the chocolate one (the caramel one has coffee in it and tastes like a gorgeous sweet caramel latte 😋) I was glad to have pemium as the queues could be busy at bars. Especially early evening at the pool bar and in the amphitheatre near the start of the main show. Most of the bars do vanilla, banana and strawberry milkshakes with squirty cream on top - you just have to ask. - There is also non alcoholic beer and cocktails at the bars which was good. It was Cruz campo 0 when we went. Bottles in the indoor bar, for safety they put it in your cup at the pool bar. There is also 0% beer on tap in the captains table restaurant, which we didn’t find until the end of our stay. Entertainment Staff all seemed lovely. Entertainment ‘kids club’ staff all spoke English as did reception. Most others didn’t but would translate on phones if needed. There were lots of activities throughout the day. Not much aimed at teens - but there never is as they don’t often want to take part 🙄🙈 white party. Started at 10.30 and finished with a foam party at 11.15 (mainly just for kids) we didn’t realise this, so thought I would post as I don’t think the foam party bit was clear on the app! Not much went on. Free candy floss for the kids, and then they tried to do some party games, but queue for candy floss was massive so staff were stuck there for most pf the party! We got there at 10pm and my daughter managed to get two lots of candy floss before the queues 🙌🏻 Amphitheatre is behind / above the seven seas restaurant. It’s part of the zoo so doors don’t open until around 8.30. We only arrived there at 10pm as we didn’t want to do kids disco. BRING YOUR CUPS. We didn’t realise this as glass cups are provided in the bar we visited before the show. They don’t sell tokens there, so you can’t even buy more cups. (Although staff did give us paper cups so we didn’t go without a drink). Shows in the amphitheatre are well done but repetitive. Pirate show was really good. Acrobatics plus singing and dancing - lots to watch. Inagination one was not really for us with teens. Nice to hear the old Disney songs but some were in Spanish and just a couple of dancers dancing to them, so not as engaging for teens 🤣. The horror show was good. Bollywood was more acrobatics and dancing - just with a different background! Singers by battleship pool 6-8 each night. Some were better than others! Mixture of Spanish and English songs. One night it said there was a singer at the pirate plaza (I assume near the bars / captains table restaurant) but no one was there 🤷🏼‍♀️ Food Captains table We mainly ate at the captains table. The first day I was worried it wasn’t a great selection, but once you got used to what was what and where we really enjoyed the food. Lots of choice and well cooked. We liked to eat outside at breakfast and dinner and the view was lovely. We also ate at the grill for lunch, which is above the captains table - the starter was a sharing starter, and was really nice. My husband and son shared a platter for 2 and me and my daughter had popeye chicken which was KFC style and was nice. My husband found the pork slightly underdone so didn’t finish it. Service was good and the robot servers were a good touch. We also ate in the Italian (taco of the Caribbean) which is above the seven seas restaurant. We really enjoyed this. Again sharing platters to start and then we all ordered a pizza, which were big and delicious! Definitely worth booking. Pool bar food Burgers were fairly pink, my son likes them like this, as we had the same on a previous holiday. So he ate 2/3 with no problems. Chips were nice. There are also crisps and nuts at the bars which is a nice touch. Benidorm Didn’t want to take the bus to Benidorm as it takes an hour. So we tried to get a bolt or uber about 11am but bolt did not confirm pick up and uber was coming up £30. So we asked reception who said they would book us a taxi but did not say how long it would be….. while we were waiting we got an uber come up for €20 so we booked that. We went to the market pueblo which is next to the hotel Servigroup, this was a fairly big outdoor market, bags, socks, jewellery, fans, fake perfumes etc, was worth a wander round. We then walked to the magic stars cafe to use our free drinks (booked in the app) but they seemed a bit grumpy, and then asked us to sit outside but it was very hot, so we went to a different bar. Just to note, the sign outside just says “stars” in big silver letters as we missed it at first. We then strolled along the beach towards the Maui beach bar, where we were booked for lunch. Staff were very busy but were friendly and polite and food was good. Got a shared starter, main each (I’m fussy so I ordered chicken burger from kids menu which was no problem) and ice cream each. We paid a small amount to upgrade the mains. We had 1-2 drinks each and all included. I would recommend going there. It’s at the other end of levante beach to the magic stars bar. Near the old town, so a good location for a wander. Enjoyed the beach at Benidorm, went for a sw. loungers were €6 on the beach and umbrellas €6 also, we didn’t bother, just popped our stuff on the floor and went in to jump the waves. Was a lovely day out. Taxi back from the taxi rank in the old town was only €8.50. Zoo We really enjoyed a couple of hours in the zoo. It was a short stroll from the hotel (turn right when you leave the hotel) We went when it opened and it walked round all the exhibits by 12.30 - we didn’t stay for the shows as the children were happy to go back to the pools as it was really hot. Good views of the animals who all seemed quite content. Waterpark We enjoyed the waterpark, (turn left when you leave the hotel, short walk across the carpark). Pirates guests can use the sunbeds on the grey areas, so keep an eye out for these as others are chargeable. Slides did get busy later on in the day, waiting for a float mainly. I believe you can hire these. You can use the snack back tropica as part of the all inclusive, so take your cups. We just got drinks as we headed back to the hotel for lunch…. The waterpark pool was large, so the kids quite enjoyed going in that. They are strict on checking heights there. Visit to magic natura We booked as part of our UAI premium to use the natura hotel. We were not overly impressed with the hotel. Limited sun loungers by the pool and more flies around the loungers on the grass / hill area. It was cool to see the elephants from the pool, and you could jump of the sides there, but we soon got a bit more. We stayed for lunch which we had pre-booked for 1pm and the food in the buffet was really good. Lovely selection of ice creams by the door. But after that we were happy to go back to pirates. It was a 5-10 minute walk to the hotel, which was fine for us. There was also a little train / shuttle thing taking people if preferred. My son’s wristband stopped working on day 4. We got this replaced on day 5, but the replacement didn’t work. Was a little annoying as meant he needed us to get in the room (and he’s almost 17 so doesn’t normally need us! Lol) but luckily we were right on the battleship pool so often right near there. So we didn’t bother going back to sort it as only here for a week. Games room We booked this but there are no chairs (which I get as otherwise people would probably be in there all day 🤣) it’s a 45 minutes slot, free with UAI or €5 otherwise I think. We only went once; nice and cool in there and friendly staff. Mainly PS5’s and some driving games, dance Matt and some arcade style older games. If you booked the day or two before; there was norallly plenty of availability when we went. Robin Hood - medieval show We booked this as part of the UAI - it was worth a watch, but don’t know if it was worth separately paying the money to go if we didn’t have it included. We left pirates at 7pm - walked up to the taxi rank by the entrance to the carpark and got a taxi €15 each way. We got there at 7.15, there was already a queue and it was hot! Got let in at 7.55 and was put in the second to back row…. They fill one side first and then the other. Show starts about 8.45 and food starts coming out at 8.55 - if I’d have known I would have eaten before or got there later as we spent an hour just watching them fill the venue and we were all quite hungry! The show was good. Worth a watch. Food was ok. Even my fussy daughter at something. There were taxi’s pulling up at the front of the hotel when we came out of the show, so jumped in one back to the hotel. Reception Staff were friendly, but not always as helpful as we would have liked! When asked if we could book a taxi to Benidorm, they said yes, but took no name and nothing came. When asked if we could pre-book a taxi they said no. When my son’s wristband stopped working they issued a new one, but that didn’t work either. When asked how we could see a doctor they gave us details of a private hospital - we checked this is where we should go. But they would not see my husband, so he had to pay for another uber to another hospital…. Frustrating when you are already in pain. Overall I’ve been really honest in my review to give lots of detail - but I can’t say anything other than it was an absolutely fabulous stay, would totally recommend this hotel to anyone. I can only speak for having premium UAI which I would choose again but the hotel was clean, staff were friendly, food and drink choice was good. We felt safe in the hotel. I think it would be even better for younger children as ours were teens. But it was honestly a lovely stay! If you booked this hotel, I’m jealous, I wish I could do it all again - haha!! Requested buggy to take us and our bags back to reception. Turned up right on time. Nice touch to save being noisy and stressed dragging luggage around. TIPS terra natura = zoo (unlimited use) Magic natura = hotel (UAI prem can book 1 visit in the app day or evening) Terra aqua = waterpark (unlimited use) Water shoes for kids - the pools hurt feet after a few days. Take your cups to amphitheatre / pool bars. Grey areas for sun loungers in waterpark and tropica snack bar are part of AI. The battleship and paradise pools have hidden steps. Up to the slides and where the rails are at the entrances. Tiny Improvements earlier main evening entertainment Little more variety in entertainment - it’s all dancing / singing and acrobatics Burgers cooked a bit more well done at the pool bar. App could be updated better for entertainment at times it was wrong or stuff was missing. Strawberries and larger marshmallows at the chocolate fountain would be really good. Even just for a couple of nights a week. Maybe a teen disco one / two nights per week. 13 - 18 year olds with parents welcome. With some games etc to encourage them to mingle or use the games room to get some challenges going. My teens need a push, but would love to make friends when away!

less