Call it the winter blues, Covid lockdown craze, or cabin fever. Whatever it is, our family was in it deep and we needed a break – STAT! I love that we live so close to one of the coolest hotels — Fantasyland Hotel at West Edmonton Mall. An overnight staycation was just what we needed to lift our spirits and give us the chance to make some fun family memories.

Picking a room to stay in at the Fantasyland Hotel is a near impossible decision because they are all so unique! Of course, you could book a plain old hotel room, but why would you do that when you can sleep like royalty in a princess room or sail the high seas in a pirate room (complete with it’s very own pirate ship to explore!). If your kids have dreams of going to outer space, they’ll love the space rooms equipped with bunk beds that look like command centers! The Polynesian rooms are some of my favourite for a little mental escape from the cold Edmonton winters. Although, if you like to embrace the cold, the igloo rooms will be right up your alley. And did I mention that all of the themed accomodations have in-room jacuzzis? That’s what really sold us on a staycation at Fantasyland Hotel.

My two-year-old twin girls are currently in a car-obsessed phase. We race cars around the house all day long, so I knew the Luxury Truck room would be perfect for us. The queen bed is in the back of the truck, the bunk beds look like firetrucks with lights the kids can turn on and off themselves, and you can even sit in the cab of the truck! Plus, there are working traffic lights in the room. How cool is that?!

Fantasyland Hotel Truck Room

Luxury Truck Room at Fantasyland Hotel — Photo by Kristi McGowan

After we checked into our room, we headed out to the mall to do a little shopping. On top of being one very cool hotel to stay at, the location is hard to beat. It’s so nice to be able to shop at the largest mall in North America and then easily return to your room to drop off your great shopping finds or take a little rest.

Since we were planning to spend most of our overnight stay playing in the jacuzzi, we decided to stop into Lush to pick up some bath bombs and bubbles for added fun. We love their kid-friendly bath bombs and Rainbow fun bar which is a clay-like soap kids can mold and play with in the tub. During our stay we also hit up some of our other favourite kid-approved stores. We visited the Lego store and admired the life-size lego creations. We also made our inaugural visit to Build-A-Bear where my girls selected their favourite Paw Patrol friends, Chase and Skye, to build.

Fantasyland Hotel Shop and Stay

Showing off our Build-A-Bear purchases at West Edmonton Mall — Photo by Kristi McGowan

Back in our Truck room, we made excellent use of the jacuzzi. Between the bath products we had bought at Lush and the products that Fantasyland Hotel provides, we had our jacuzzi brimming full of bubbles! My girls had brought their favourite bathtime toys with us — 2 bathtub dolls — and loved washing the bubbles off of them. We spent so much time in the jacuzzi during our stay that our fingers were prune-like by the time we left.

Fantasyland Hotel Jacuzzi

So many bubbles in the in-room jacuzzi at Fantasyland Hotel. — Photo by Kristi McGowan

Our staycation at Fantasyland Hotel was quick, but it was the perfect refresher. Our kids are already asking when we can go back. And with so many different rooms to explore, there’s plenty of reason to return!

The writer was a guest of Fantasyland Hotel, however Fantasyland Hotel did not review or approve this article and all opinions contained within the article are the writer’s own.