Please tell me Butlins is better than Haven

We've been to a few Havens and my only complaint is there is nowhere to escape the clubhouse,(far too loud for me and my asd son) the pub is dominated by football screens, Might try Butlins next year. Haven would be fine if there was a nice pub to relax in

Pontins make Haven and Butlins seem posh.

It is better but my experience of the swimming pool has put me off for life - floating things and used tampons, nappies in the changing room - they have updated the facilities since then but I still shudder thinking about it.

My only experience of Haven was hiring a caravan at Blackpool - I know but we were moving house and needed a couple of weeks somewhere to stay. Someone stole my childs tractor from outside the caravan and there was a party of girls one of whom kept screaming to be let in the caravan all night. Never ever ever again.

Butlins Skegness we have been back a few times when kids were small. Get wristbands for the Skybar so you don't have to queue for seats.

to those of you who've had the misfortune of Haggerston Castle. I went with a group of lasses for an 18th birthday and had a right laugh. Couldn't possibly imagine taking my family there. DH is in the Police and said there is constant bother there.

The same Type Of People who go to Haven go to Butlins.

I've been to both this year.

We're off to butlins next Friday, it will be our 7th trip in as many years, we love it and have never seen anything there like you experienced at haven:)

You can't really compare the two, having been to haven, butlins is a million miles apart.
Our dc are 3 and 11, girl and boy, it's very hard to find something that they both love but this ticks all the boxes.
Have fun!

BTW simon calder was on this morning yesterday and he was asked would he still recommend travel agents to book holidays even if they are more expensive.

he said yes - travel agents are more expensive than booking it yourself but its worth paying for their expertise

simon is the expert on holdaiys

Our budget would never dictate butlins, we always on a budget.

sillystring Fri 15-Aug-14 11:02:02

They are both owned by the same company and by going on threads on here. They are staffed by very young people on very very low wages who are there more for their own social life.
IF you have problems, dirty room fag butts, dangers in the room,un cleaned and so on, its seems again from threads on here no one will help you, not even management who have lied on here.

Therefore aside from all the other reasons I would never ever go to one of these places, see the above, if you have issues no one will sort them out.

I think the just for tots break will be lower key anyway, as there's no school children, and less late night entertainment as its aimed at young families, so less rowdy then usual or say on an adults only weekend.

Butlins is qorse than Haven but ive never seen that behaviour a

We have been to loads of Havens and never had any problem. We tend to choose small parks in scenic places. The only one which was a bit 'rough' was Berwick. There was a police blue light run through the park twice and lots of free range streetwise kids and groups of teens. We still had a good time though. All the other parks we went to were quiet and people were fine and ordinary.

I don't think there's anywhere worse than Haven. Though I haven't been to either for decades.

We did a just for tots Skegness in June and it was great. I am a bit of a closet judgypants myself and so was fully prepared for honking them up! We were pleasantly surprised, there were of course people of differing backgrounds and types, but because we all had young children things were kept civilised and swearing at a minimum. I was a but concerned because England was playing in the World Cup when we were there, and even with this element, things were fine.

I will say I probably wouldn't go unless it was just for tots, simply for fear of teens and older children not having the same restraint.

On the whole, just for tots was great! Booking again for next year!

hello OP .well i have been to haven plenty of times .and yes sometimes you see horrible people .but then we neither drink /smoke /take drugs .we dont swear at our sons .so it takes all kinds .my budget dictated it when my sons were little .

Butlins is great if you want to get stoned with the staff who share their cans and let ya use the outdoor pool after hours :o

I went to Butlins Skegness for my hen do

It seemed a right dump compared to the havens I've been to, but that was probably because it was an a special event weekend where 24 hour drinking was mostly on the cards for guests.

Haven is crap. Love Butlins especially Skegness the new pool is better than centre parks.

Older - I love Skeggy Butlins!

When I married DH I was all cat bums face at the idea of Butlins. My mum, in particular, had convinced me it was full of undesirable, unintelligent oafs (we always holidayed at 'historical' places as a child, and to be honest, it was a bit boring).

I've since been two Skeggy twice, and Minehead once, and love it! It's so much fun for the kids too

Holiday parks are my idea of hell, however last summer SIL , her DH and DC's went to a Butlins for a week. We went down and stayed for a couple of nights primarily to have the DC's for an evening and let them go out and have some time away from 3 small kids.

I was dreading it but in the end quite enjoyed it. To be honest I wouldn't rush back as it's just not my kind of holiday but all my preconceptions about what it was going to be like were blown away. It was very clean and tidy, accommodation was nice and I didn't see or hear any of the types of people / behaviour / language that the OP describes having seen at Haven.

Don't worry, just go with an open mind and you might enjoy it. If you do hate it then don't go again.

Sorry - xposted with What'sbehindthegreendoor, with whom I agree entirely.

I've been to haven and Butlins when the kids were younger and have found these types of peole at both. Skegness Butlins was worse than any Haven I've been too. I actually felt scared as there were all these huge teenage chavs physicallyfighting and swearing in this fort type thing. i got my little kids out and swore I'd never go back. Also I had an altercation with a huge scary women at the Noddy show ( we are going back a few years)
and physically felt scared. I don't go on holidays to feel intimidated and fear for my kids so I now generally try to avoid these places. We did go to Haven just for a weekend a few weeks ago and it was ok apart from a few parents swearing at their kids, but I think you get that anywhere. We also went to center Parcs this summer for the first time and it was like a breath of fresh air, totally different type of people !

OlderMummyone - we've been to both, and Butlins is much better! The pool is great (at Bognor, anyway) and the entertainment is really impressive for adults and kids. None of the rides cost extra, either. We only stayed at haven as it gave us a base for travelling around the area. No way would we have stayed for a whole day on site.

So yes, Butlins is a few levels above Haven. I could give you a sociological analysis in terms of tattoos, smoking, etc but I think you'll get the point.