Hi there,
Thanks for all your advice. In the end we paid (quite a lot) extra to stay in our room in the resort until 2.30am, then took a private transfer.
So glad we did, the queue was still outside when we arrived - and some children were very upset. Our children had six hours sleep, and so did we!
To the people who said we could sleep in the airport - they wouldn't even let us in the airport until 3.30am! There were people smoking and drinking outside, not a good enviroment for children to sleep.
I think it's a pretty shoddy system actually and I can't understand why people put up with it, when they're paying huge prices for a holiday. I certainly won't be doing it again. I'm organising my own flights next time.