Mum won the battle
when it came to picking this hotel, as Dad had his heart set out on a hotel we
had previously stayed at while in Bali. But as luck would have it the other
hotel was being renovated and after Dad saw a YouTube Video of Bali Dynasty Resort KUTA he decided this would ultimately be the one we would stay at.
We stayed at Bali
Dynasty Resort from the 13/05/18-19/05/18 and initially paid $1,320 on expedia.com.au for a family room with garden views. But
when we arrived Mum decided to upgrade the family to a pool view room for an
extra ($35 per night). And boy are we glad we made this decision in the end.
Having the pool right there was a massive bonus (but I will touch base on that
more later). This price included buffet
breakfast every morning and kids club.
BDR (Bali Dynasty
Resort) is plonked right behind Kuta beach, and although there is access to the
beach from the resort- it is manned by security and the gates close at around
7:30pm every night. Once we took the long way as the gate was shut (it was
already 9pm) but got to have a nice walk of the Kuta streets, which never
sleep. The front of the hotel is on Jl.
Kartika, just a short walk to Waterbom waterpark, Discovery Kartika Plaza,
Bubba Gump Resturant and so much more.
OUR ROOM
Our Pool View Deluxe Family
room was perfect for us and was probably my favourite set-up of all the places
we’ve stayed at. As you walk in the front door you can see the pool out the
windows at the back of the room. To your right is a very spacious bathroom with
bath, shower, toilet and vanity. Then if you keep walking in from the front
door the first open room is the girls bunk room. With their own TV (and the bar
fridge also stored here) their room was huge- they quickly head or tails’ed who
would get the bottom bunk. Madi was down the bottom and Hails up top.
Then past
the two glass panel doors (so you can close the main room off from the kids of
a night time for privacy) you hit the main bed- a huuuuuge Super King sized bed
with a cute towel elephant welcomed us from on the bed. Keep going on to the big panel doors
overlooking the whole pool and you open that up to your own little porch with
two chairs and a table.
This was great, we
could literally watch the girls from the pool when we wanted to come in to cool
off. Mum’s not big on pool swimming so this was awesome.
The aircon was
another worry of ours, as we had previously stayed at a hotel where the aircon
was mediocre and roasted through the night.
SECURITY
There were a lot of
terrorist warnings floating around Bali while we we’re staying at BDR, but not
once did I feel threatened or scared. When you drive in the front there is a
camera on a TV that checks underneath your car and then a security guard hand
checks the boot and inside of the car. If you walk in by foot, you have to go
through a metal detector and bag check.
The back gate was also manned by security and locked of a night -time
through to morning.
KIDS CLUB (Gecko Kids Club)
This was included
into the price we paid in our overall accommodation on expedia, which I thought
was fantastic- we hadn’t had that at previous resorts. But then again our
previous resorts and hotels in Bali, a lot of them were more budget friendly.
Not saying BDR isn’t affordable- we think we snapped up a fantastic deal.
The kids visited
kids club on two different occasions and loved it each time. It was nice
knowing that when we wanted to do something the kids would consider boring,
like lounging around by the pool. That the girls were having a ball with the
other kids in the resort. At one stage there was around 15-20 kids in there
(all sporting massive smiles on their faces) with plenty of staff supervising
them.
Everyday they had a
run sheet of activities they could take part in if they chose to, if not there
were alternative activities for them- like the playground and kids pool.
FAMILY FRIENDLY?
Without a doubt one
of the most family friendly accommodation we’ve ever stayed in. From hours
spent feeding the giant koi fish while sitting around the pond, to the pool,
the kid’s pool with playground, the normal playground (no water here) and let’s
not forget kids club, which is included in your price. If this isn’t enough there are also
PlayStation’s fitted out into the family garden view rooms.
THE POOL(s)
The main pool wasn't overly big at
all, but this meant we could keep a close eye on the girls (even from under the
shade of the swim up bar. There was a waterfall at one end, unfortunately
followed by scaffold as they were doing work on the sunset bar at the time and it
was completely closed.
We never had any
issues with chlorine or the water being too warm/cold, it was always the right
cool down and swim around temperature.
Often we would see
families out there playing water volleyball and there was always a lifeguard on
duty when the pool was open. I think from memory the pool opened from 7am to
7:30pm, but could be completely off.
There was also a nice little pool area next door to the sunset bar for adults only. It had little fountains coming out of the wall and the pool itself wasn't deep but had like concrete lounges where you could enjoy the sun and the water.
FOOD/ Restaurants @ Dynasty
There are multiple
restaurants throughout the resort – Sen5es,H2O, Golden Lotus Chinese, The Upper
Deck at H2O, Café Piazza (where you can purchase food for the goldfish for
50cents), Gracie O’Kelly’s (Irish pub) and many more. But we only really
properly went to two of these and one was Gracie O’Kelly’s. The only Irish bar
in Bali to have midget Leprechaun entertainers roaming around the bar dancing
and singing with the band. We all found ourselves here every second night
enjoying a quite drink, a sing and a couple of times even dinner. The prices
are average, but we expect that being a resort and not a local warung.
The other was H2O
Café where we had our buffet breakfast each morning. The food was your standard
Bali resort breakfasts and everything was quite fresh- the only real let down
was the variety. It really didn’t change and there wasn’t anything really
different to other mid range resorts.
Bali Dynasty Resort
also had a mini mart downstairs, which was more expensive on the street. But
always open in case you needed something, or like us went foraging for a
midnight snack. We thought this was
great for when the girls were asleep and we couldn’t leave the resort.
Next time we visit
Bali, Bali Dynasty Resort is definitely on our list of places to stay again.