My twin boys are 22 months old. They wake up at 6-7am and want to go play outside almost immediately and they do it all day with a nap and short meal breaks. To my sad surprise it turned out that kids's club wont let me and my husband inside to play with my kids and hide away from steaming heat. The cute playground is open only when kid's club is open, so no access at 8 am or 6pm.
Mind you that this is the time we'd go with our kids to a playground since there is not much shade and we got all sweaty when being there today from 9 till 9:30, after that we wanted to go inside the club to play with our babies but were not allowed. Like WHAT? Where should I take my kids to hide from the heat and burning sun? I am regreting that I have not picked Bahia or Princess Family. This is so unthoughtful of Barcelo! It seems Barcelo doesn't like kids under 4, neither their parents. Just 6 months ago we stayed at Bahia Tulum and loved every moment of our three week vacation, we could access their new kids playground, pool, splashpad, play and draw at kids club any time. Playground is accessible 24/7. At Barcelo it's only 9am till 5pm.
The only fun for smaller kids is the kids swimming pool. My boys love it, so we spend most of the day there with some visits to the ocean.

At the arrival we had to wait for 1 hr between 2 and 3 pm again during the hottest day time to be checked in in the room that had terrible smell of mould? When asked for priority we were rejected while all people in front were adults or young adults. KIDS? No! You have to stay in line!

The food for adults is ok, there was better selection at Bahia though. There is very limited heathy food selection for our babies, so they have oatmeal for breakfast with fruits, chicken, potato and guacamole with some veggies and fruits for lunch and dinner. I wish they would make more soft steamed veggies for kids and some veggie purees with minimum salt and spices.

This is the worst place I have ever stayed. Starting with the worst. The food is terrible. Questioned if I even wanted to let my kids eat it. We ate burgers everyday because the rest of the food is garbage. The Italian restaurant was edible but when I asked to take my leftovers back to the room I was told it was impossible. And sure enough they pulled it off the table and threw it right in the garbage. Good waste drives me crazy.
The pools are nice, the beach sucks and the rooms are 2 star. I can’t see this place open much longer as all I hear is people complaining all day and night and the staff don’t care.
Please don’t waste your money
For perspective, I normally give the benefit of the doubt.. this is really bad

Let's start by saying a vacation is what you make it. If you've travelled to other resorts before, you will know that there are certain issues that may come up; difficulty reserving restaurants; towel supply; COVID restrictions, etc. If you go into a vacation with realistic expectations, you will not be disappointed.
That being said, this was our 3rd time at the Colonial. We just returned from a fantastic week (April 25 - May 2). The food was wonderful (I didn't have to cook!), the ocean was crystal clear & warm (despite the seaweed), the rooms were clean and the grounds were breathtaking. The resort is large, so be prepared to walk through their incredible gardens and walkways. I can not say enough about the beautiful grounds! Never had an issue getting chairs at the beach or pool. You may not find your ideal spot, but there were always some available. And, there will always be "those people" who reserve spots and don't show up for the entire day. Every resort has them.
We did have a hick up with our room smelling of mildew, but we asked to change and our needs were met immediately. Within an hour we were transferred to another room.
Most of the staff were incredibly warm and friendly. Those are the ones we tipped well.
All in all, we had a wonderful time and a great experience!