To be worried about Butlins?!

They might come home with a new vocabulary though

Tripadviser can be a useful but it is also to be taken with the a pinch of salt. Everywhere has some bad reviews and if you focuss on the bad ones you'll never go anywhere.

Haven't been to Butlins since I was a kid, however we do go to Haven(The one we go to use to be Butlins). My kids love it there and so do we cause if they are happy, then as parents we can relax and enjoy ourselves. Of course it has many bad reviews like many places but we always enjoy it. I'd go and give it a chance. If anywhere has 4 stars plus on tripadviser I'm willing to give it a chance. Some people just love to moan.

We went to Bognor a few years running when DD was small (10-15 years ago).

Most of the accommodation had been upgraded since then.

You're never going to find it overrun with little Henriettas and Sebastians, with mummies and daddies quaffing Barolo, but it’s a lot of fun for younger kids and that makes it a good break for parents imo.

If your DD is quieter, they certainly used to do lots of low key day time activities…crafting, magic shows, scavenger hunts etc and the staff were always lovely.

I know it’s not quite the same however I went on an adults only weekend to butlins in Minehead. we stayed in the basic accommodation and it was fine, the carpets had mysterious stains which we chose to ignore. The entertainment was good, we found the site to be fairly clean, the staff were absolutely lovely and the food was very good! If you can upgrade to the apartments do. We made friends and visited their apartments they were so so much better in terms of cleanliness and space. Our rooms were run down, but again fine. Negatives were the other holiday makers - they were rough as rats, the pool although good fun was freezing (again this was an adults only weekend - maybe they thought we could take the cold!) and on the last night there was a fire and the alarms went off so we all got to stand in the freezing cold for an hour (not butlins fault I know) at 3am. I remember thinking thank Christ there’s no kids here the poor things would have frozen.

I would prefer not to go away then go to butlins 🤣

You should see what hotel cleaners have to deal with...

Minehead was awful…the pool was grim, a ring of dirt, and god knows what, literally created a ring just above the water.
Everything is just so dirty too 😩

Dd and family went to the Minehead one for a friends/extended-family get together. She was dubious in advance about the ‘rough’ factor, but in fact found it fine, especially for all their young children. Though admittedly that was in summer and they did have very good weather for enjoying the lovely beach.

I know people who go and they love it but I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole.

My friend used to clean at one in the summer holidays and the stories of how people left the accommodation was sickening. The worst was discovering someone had taken a shit in a frying pan and put it in a cupboard.

We did a week in the summer holiday last year and had a great time. We were in a private caravan rather then butlins accommodation and this meant no dining plan and no booking shows which I was worried about.

I think we managed to see everything and there were some amazing shows.
I was also worried about the time of behaviour described but the children have so much fun you end up focusing on that.

It’s the water. I had to drink bottled water in skeggy/ingoldmells even though it’s still Anglian water like at home. Always gave me the shits 😂

If people stopped going they would rightly go bust or get their act together.

How hard is to at least check for bed bugs, mould and so on.

It is easier to pop across the chanel and get a lovely camp site with all these pools and discos in France or Belgium or the Netherlands. There will always be the odd moan but how does butlins get away with it!

"always got a stomach bug" 😂😂.

I wouldn't touch center Parks with a barge either!!

We have loved it every time. Only thing is we always got a stomach bug. The last time we had to go home early. Think it cos it is so busy are more likely to catch things. Next time taking hand gel and keeping distance.

Butlins tends to be great or shit like most holiday parks tbh. You either have an amazing time or you never stop moaning about it. I’d always pay for the best accommodation you can or private rent a caravan on Skegness site.

Yes part of the pool is shut I’m sure it was a burst pipe or something. It was all over Facebook before Christmas people where mad rightly so because they where not getting money off when something was shut which is part of the huge selling point.

Skegness is Skegness it’s always going to be, it’s skegvagas for a reason. It’s easy to get to via train, coach and cheap. However they do have some really good gluten free eateries not far from the clock tower for donuts and what not.

We used to have our own holiday accommodation a bit further up the road but sold it (caravan before we get onto second homes) because we where just done with shitty nappies on the beach and the stink of weed everywhere and the more and more hen and stag dos appearing. Plus same ole knock off crap on fanny island.

So did I about 20 years ago so not really relevant to todays standards there I hope !

I got eaten by bed bugs at Skegness Butlins

We went last year and I don't get either the hate or the love for it.

It was fine. We went for a weekend.

Accommodation was clean imo (but then I'm not the type to go pulling beds out or taking close up photos of the bathroom sealant like some do 😂). BUT very outdated and tatty. If you're fussy, have very expensive tastes or compare it to a 'high end' holiday park like Bluestone, you'll hate it. It was somewhere to sleep, nothing more.

Foodhall was also fine. Certainly nowhere I'd go for a 'nice meal' but it was plentiful and varied enough and 3 dc (aged 14-5) love a buffet restaurant so were happy to fill their plates with it.

We saw one brilliant show and a couple of average ones. Youngest enjoyed the Peppa Pig show and the rides. Two teens enjoyed the arcade and go carts and being allowed a sneaky half pint of larger in the chaos that is the evening venue.

We enjoyed overall but it's not somewhere I'd spend more than a couple of nights at or £££ on.

I haven't been to the Skegness one but I've been to the bognor one. It was really nice. The apartment we stayed in was a bit dated but fine. The hotel is meant to be nicer. The actual park and entertainment was really good... everywhere was clean. I even saw some middle class people 😂

When we went to Centerparcs there were plenty of scum there.

Don’t go.

@x2boys because it seems patchy and no consistency of standards.

Fine if the clientele want to get pissed and scream insults to each other before lunch but.... Why doesn't butlins have good clean accommodation?

They had bed bug issues last year I think as well as general reports of poor accmd and facilities. People pay a lot of hard earned money for this and because they are owned in some huge faceless conglomerate the complaints process isn't very good. See old threads.

I looked into a long time ago as we saw the one in Minehead but I decided at most only a day ticket due to lack of customer care and extortionate prices.

We couldn't afford it.

Op would be much better off looking at many other options open to her, probably taking her dd abroad and somewhere else decent for cheaper, excellent quality accommodation and if she needs entertainment then entertainment.

We've been for the past 2 years. It is not somewhere that would be my usual choice but Stephen Mulhern was on and my daughter loves him so we booked a weekend. It was a lot better than I thought and we had such a nice time we booked for 4 nights the following year as my daughter was desperate to go back. Same as anywhere you get a mixture of families but on the whole I found most to be very pleqsant and polite. The first time we stayed in a room near the fairground which I wouldn't again as there was no where to sit together and it was a bit tired and dated. The second time we booked an apartment on the other side and it was really nice. I believe the pool is broken as in November the pump and pipe broke under the main pool so they have just got the flumes, rapids and baby pool open while they refurb it all. I think they are having the circus open instead.

We've been to the one in Bognor twice, once just after Covid and once last summer. It's fine, the pool is really good (the big flume queue gets a bit ridiculous but my DC aren't bothered about the flume). The fair is ok, although not all free, soft play is massive although not really anywhere to sit unless you're getting things from the food outlets there, and the shows are good if you're into that sort of thing. It's not a glamorous holiday, but the DC are keen to go again. It's worth paying extra for better accommodation, and downloading the app to book activities in advance of your visit as they fill up quickly.

You can get bands that let you queue jump from guest services if your DC struggles with queues due to autism - we only found this out at the end of the first time.