To be worried about Butlins?!

It’s rough ! And dirty and grim

but the kids love it

That's true

We're in a tourist area. Heard shouty sweary folks on beaches, in restaurants, cafes, at the zoo, on the quay, there's no avoiding them. Just steer the children away.

We were in a lovely marina restaurant an unpleasant mother was swearing at the children husband who had two grandchildren asked her to stop. This lovely mother sent in her partner big ugly and 40 years younger to sort out the bleep pensioners.

The difference with Center Parcs though is that it isn't about drinking or entertainment it is an outdoors activity holiday. There is no entertainment and not really any bars to buy a drink, you really need to pay for a restaurant meal to have a drink. As the emphasis is different, there's limited social side in the evening.

If you would like somewhere family friendly, with entertainment etc but without feeling like you’re live on the set of Jeremy Kyle, the Hoburne parks are great.

It’s Butlins, and Skegness. YABVU to expect it to be anything other than rough as a badgers arse

Don’t go to Skegness. I’ve been half a dozen times over the last ten years and my kids have absolutely loved it, but it has deteriorated so much last summer, we vowed we’d never go again.

The first day, the river rapids outdoor water ride was shut. The next day, even the lazy river was shut too. The pool is one of the things we most loved about it previously. There was a dirty nappy on the balcony leading to our apartment on the day we arrived. Despite reporting it, it was still there when we left. The shower flooded. The fire alarm went off every morning. One of the stages smelt like cow manure.

It was grim. We still just about had a good time, but only because we got it really cheap with Tesco vouchers. I’d have been really pissed off otherwise.

The new sky park is pretty cool, but my kids said that there were little kids getting stuck in it and crying.

Is this sarcasm?

@Burlee cancel and go to Haven instead. The Haven just up the road in Cleethorpes is fine x

Is the suggestion that if we didn't see shouty, swearing adults at Butlins, it must be because we shout and swear at our own kids so our kids are used to it? 😀
Not the case here.

I've not stayed at the Butlins in Minehead but I like the town. We visited Dunster Castle and travelled through Exmoor to Devon when staying there. So lovely.

We love it and are going again in Feb but there are some people there who, well, I won't elaborate but my DD said once, "There's the sweary mum!" And, "Why do people have kids if they're going to be that horrible to them?!"

We still love it

I used to love it, but went last year and it (minehead) has gone right downhill.
The place was so rundown,the staff didn't seem very happy either
Our accommodation was disgusting and we got moved at 12 at night as there were mouse running about!
The accommodation we we offered wasn't much better either.
Would never go there again.

Yes and because it's included in the cost and accessible you can be spontaneous...so we'd be walking to the entertainment or dinner and the kids would have a quick go on a funfair ride...

And I don't recall them being around shouty ,swearing adults

Of course it's possible to access these kinds of activities without going to Butllins i think they point is it's included in the cost of the holiday which is great if your on a budget
My kids are 17 and 13 now
I doubt they would enjoy Butllins now but the loved it when they were little

Butlins was my idea of holiday hell until i stayed at Minehead ,actually did 3 holidays there.
We stayed there for our Child's pleasure but we all enjoyed it , not very restful as so much to do , we did a lot off site too.
It was spotlessly clean in all the 3 types of accommodation we stayed in and the holiday makers were fine , i know i sound like a snob but i went expecting a 'certain type' and i was wrong , everywhere on site was clean and well kept.
Not somewhere i would go to again as kids past that age now but i think its a great place for a traditional basic seaside holiday if that's what you want.

I hope you enjoy the Cape Verde Butlins.

Can I ask again if I can just buy a ticket for The Masked Singer & not stay? I see Daytime passes online but nothing about night passes. Has anyone done this?

TIA

That’s great.

I hope you got a full refund

Minehead had mushrooms growing on the carpet under the bed. We turned around and drove straight home.

They were sold to Blackstone a couple of years ago, then bought back recently by Bourne Leisure. PE houses aren't there to invest and make facilities better, they asset strip to try and maximise profit. Hopefully Bourne Leisure will invest and bring it back to life.

Honestly we've been on cheaper self catering holidays abroad.

18 months ago son, wife, 2 kids went to Cape Verde October 3k. This October looking to rebook 6k. Doubled in two years

I think some people are replying as if they think people who go to Butlins can never have been on any other type of holiday. So dont realise there are other options. We went a couple of times when the dc were younger but have experienced various other types of holiday and enjoyed those too.