Why do so many people dislike Centre Parcs so much?

I really enjoyed Longleat but I had really low expectations and a child of the right age (8). We did a bird of prey thing, mini jeeps, the tree tops climbing thing, pottery painting, mini golf and spent hours in the pool and riding bikes. He had a fab time and it was very low stress/ effort for me. We only ate out once - went to cafe rouge which was fine/ normal for a chain. There is no good restaurant there that I am aware of. Oh yeah we did pancakes and was fine too - DS loved it.

The people were pretty civilised. I used to work in a Butlins and it was a zoo comparatively - people vomiting at the kids disco and all sorts. I am 30 years out of date on Butlins though it may have improved.

I know groups of adults go to centre parcs without kids though and that genuinely blows my mind!

I think the experience and value can depend on the age of your child and the time of year you go. It feels better value during the Winter Wonderland thing they do, as there is more to see and do (for free!) alongside the pool. I think the pool is really good, the changing rooms are well organised and the actual pool is warm (the room and the water) which isn’t always the case in other holiday parks. It is especially good for little ones with good sized pool areas where they can stand, sit and play.

I think for families with school ages children who have to go in school holidays, and who would need to do lots of activities, it would be horrifically expensive and poor value.

Its very expensive, the restaurants are rubbish, there are too many people.

But I still go, and enjoy it, because it is easy and my kids LOVE the pool. We can spend all day every day in there. A lazy convenient holiday primarily for the kids. Chuck a couple of bags in the boot and go. Have done some European ones as well and I liked those better, more space than the UK.

We like CPs but we never go in school holiday so never pay the extortionate prices. We make the most of training days and go for those weekend.
It usually works out at £1000 for the lodge for a weekend for us, the kids and my parents to go. We rarely eat out when there as that is expensive but do a few activities.

We've never experiences any of the issues with sickness and dirty pools that others have mentioned. We've only ever had good experiences even in winter months.

Costs a lot of money. Our cabin was very basic, and a little damp/musty. You have to take everything except the kitchen sink on holiday with you. The park is very big and busy. The list goes on.
I've been to other places since that are cheaper, luxury cabins with a hot tub, all activities are free once there, better restaurants on site, more peaceful etc.

I think it's good for certain groups/events we go with grandparents once a year as a meet up in-between our homes go when the kids have an inset day for a long weekend, its not overpriced I don't think at those times if you look per person the kids choose 1 activity each and then we do some family stuff and it works well. However if you went Monday to Friday in August and did an expensive activity every day I can see it would be over kill and expensive

I’ve definitely said this before on mumsnet about our one experience of CP:

it is forever known in our house as Centre Pukes.

We went when kids were quite young, pre school age so we weren’t tied to school holidays and some friends of ours raved about it so we gave it a try.

The chalet was shit. Basic. Not well looked after.

The activities were extortionate.

The restaurant area was dirty and like a shopping mall food court.

The pool was like a human soup with plasters and hair floating in it and I can still feel the moment my foot squished into some poor unsuspecting man’s goolies when I came hurtling along the rapids bit in the pool. 😩

You feel like you are trapped on site. Huge fences etc and getting out for a day trip took some doing.

And yup, the whole family, except me, came down with norovirus starting while we were there and for the next week like - one after another like dominoes. We actually left CP early.

Not for us!

I loved going there as a kid, but the ratio of enjoyment available and the price to stay there and actually do stuff is so insane these days.

Often it's cheeper to fly out to a different country, stay in an all inclusive resort for two weeks, do a bunch of days out, and fly home.

A single week at CP in August for a family is almost £3k and that's before food and activities which can easily add another £1k. Two weeks could easily be over £7k.

Looking at TUI package holidays for the same departure day, there are several two week options for sub £2k for the same family size.

I think it was higher end and unusual when it opened in the 1980s, but a lot has changed since then and they really haven't. Nowadays we have online booking, Airbnb, and more competing venues.

I do like it. Although I haven’t actually been other than when there were some level of Covid restrictions, so I wonder if my experience is skewed (it was less busy as they had to be well under capacity).

I am going again with my youngest in October so will see!

It’s so sterile, it reminds me of The Stepford wives or the Truman show, everyone leaving their identical cabin on their identical bikes, riding off to do the same activities.
The restaurants when we were there were crappy chains, the activities are so expensive and for some you have to pay for the privilege of supervising your own child.
TBF first time we went we had two small DC and went in term time for about £300 and the lodge was new. It was really quiet and aside from the crappy restaurants it was a nice enough break, we didn’t do the activities just went for walks/cycled and swam.
The second time was part of a larger family holiday in school holidays, the kids were older and wanted more activities and it was so busy. It was awful.

Yes the fun fair! The arcades is the only place we spent any extra money. We get the food packages because I don’t want to cook when I’m on holiday. Can’t go wrong with a full English each morning! We rarely had lunch as we filled them up and had an early tea.

It depends when you go and who with. We go with another family sharing a 4 bed, Mon-Fri in term time (shoot me) in Jan/Feb and it’s well worth the £300-400 per family for 5 days of relaxation and swimming.

I agree the school holiday pricing is preposterous though!

Super expensive. Shabby. Swimming pools not especially clean. It’s a substandard experience for an inflated price. Very poor value.

The cabins are damp

the restaurants are terrible

the “sub tropical swimming paradise” is not that warm

the spa treatments are expensive and not good quality

Its just extremely expensive for what it is. You can get log cabins in Woods with hottubs for much cheaper. All I ever hear friends say is 'well the swimming is free'.. i should think so too. I can see it really losing its popularity soon

That's what we liked - though only went to Skegness one. Great pool lots of free shows - fun fare nearby beach - could walk to other places like into town.

We did self catering as kids could be tricky about waking and eating times when young - and while it could get expensive drinks at shows - we got a lot for the basic money and did a lot in the week.

the fence thing kills me too, i felt trapped!!

it's the outdoors for people who don't really like the outdoors IMO.
overpriced accommodation that's not particularly nice, crap food offerings, and then pay even more for activities you could actually do anywhere if you really liked the outdoors!
Butlins for people who think they're posh.

I think it's great with pre school kids when you are not governed by the school holidays and the ridiculous price increases associated with them! At that age most of the activities you do with them like the parks and pool are free and it's nice to walk/bike around without cars to worry about. As soon as they hit school age it became unaffordable and we started going abroad for the same price!

Never been but I think they work out expensive for what they.

We had years of fun at Butlins with cheap deals and unpopular summer week with young kids - last week of school hoildays - many of the people weren't our cup of tea but we enjoyed the hoilday rain or shine.

Then when last wasn't great too busy we switched to UK beach hoildays then as kids got older to city breaks.

Some people prefer a week on a beach and pool in Spain and some of them feel that's only what a hoilday can be - others fancy different hoildays. I don't think we ever fancied center parks or Pontins parks either but know others who've had great breaks at them.

You ever been to Butlin’s since you think it has ‘Butlin’s feel’? Butlin’s is better than centre parks because everything is included. Amazing pool, great shows, beach, kids disco, football coaching, adventure playground. Don’t knock it.

I've never been so can't say I dislike it for definite but the idea isn't at all attractive for the price. It seems very expensive to be able to go swimming on holiday (can do at a caravan park much cheaper) or walk in a forest (can do so from my house). Not interested in archery or bike riding etc.

Went once when the kids were young. Never again. Massively overpriced. Cabin was damp. You got skinned alive for all the extras. Felt crowded.

Weatherspoons holiday in every way except the price.