A different kind of mini-break
‘WOULD you like a carrot in the morning, sir?’ The threadbare grey rabbit checking in to the Dorsett Hotel nodded. ‘Let me make a reservation for you.’
The receptionist’s small hand reached up over the check-in desk and pulled the receiver down, muttering intently into it.
West London’s newest hotel is also its smallest: a one-room miniature experience, set in KidZania, Westfield’s vast new role-play attraction for children.
This child-size world – the latest of KidZania’s 19 centres worldwide – is the size of Leicester Square, as a quick walk around confirmed, after we’d checked in at the British Airways entrance desk (tickets cost from £10 for one- to threeyear-olds, £28 for those aged four to 14, and £16.50 for adults).
The mini Dorsett opened in June, hot on the heels of its big sister, the 317-room Dorsett Shepherds Bush hotel, a year ago.
My five-year-old daughter Claudie and friend Clem were getting work experience as hotel receptionists, one of 60 roles in the KidZania city. This included honing their customer-service skills for Claudie’s favourite toy Bunny, as he was shown to his tiny bedroom.
As with all of KidZania, the attention to detail is staggering. Everything down to the golden chinoiserie wallpaper, white lattice wardrobes and bedlinen has been faithfully scaled, to the delight of the girls who were enchanted at being in charge of a world their own size.
Capitalists in training, children earn KidZos, the KidZania currency, for working in the various areas which, along with the hotel, include a Boeing 747, hairdressers, F1 pit, fire and police stations, and a newspaper.
Then they can spend their KidZos at the pint-sized department store or even open a bank account for a debit card to use in mini-cash machines.
KidZania is heavy on product placement – all manner of shops and companies partner their own shrunken worlds here – along with organisations and public services. But the ‘educational entertainment’ experiences are undeniably big fun, especially as adults have to watch from outside as the children learn vital ‘life skills’, with guidance from helpers.
‘Where do you want to work?’ a parent asked their child in somewhat Victorian manner as they strolled past. Thankfully,
career choices for children have improved since then. At the miniature Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, there was a queue for the special baby care unit. ‘You can perform a liver transplant in the other theatre – it’s usually quieter,’ confided a mother in the queue. ‘Doctor’ Claudie was paid an NHS-style six KidZos for her shift, roughly the same as she got for working in the supermarket. Ah, the life lessons, they came thick and fast here.
A four-hour KidZania visit isn’t long enough to do everything here as it’s a huge experience for little minds. Planning a return visit, we headed back to the real world and the Dorsett Shepherds Bush hotel for the night.
Wide-eyed at the Alice In Wonderland experience, the children squealed when they realised they were staying in the big version of ‘their’ room at KidZania.
Seasoned traveller Bunny had seen it all before, though. It’s a small world, after all…