Butlin's Showtime Term-Time Midweek Break review: a great value holiday for families with young kids

Our verdict

Geared towards families with children aged 0 to 5, the Butlin's Showtime Term-Time Midweek Break is the ideal budget-friendly UK holiday if you're able to travel outside the school holidays. It's quieter, more affordable, and packed full of activities and shows designed for younger children.

While it may occasionally be a case of sensory overload - we were immediately met with arcade games as soon as we entered the main Skyline Pavilion - there's so much to see and do at Butlin's that makes the Showtime Term-Time Midweek Break great value for money.

From headline shows and acts to a multitude of activities including swimming, unlimited fairground rides, adventure golf and the popular Tots Disco - most of which are included in your holiday package free of charge - we managed to pack a lot into our trip, but never felt rushed.

The site was smaller than we anticipated which made it very manageable with a toddler (without us having to use a buggy) and the lower number of guests during term-time meant we never had to wait for an activity - although we found the soft play got booked up very quickly each day.

With new facilities like the well-equipped Skypark as well as the varied Splash Waterworld pools, much of site (apart from the odd show venue like the Reds) feels updated.

Overall, Butlin's is unpretentious and generally what you'd expect from a activity-led UK seaside holiday resort. While we travelled as a family of three, Butlin's is ideal for a multi-generational trip and great fun for all ages.

How we tested

I stayed at the Butlin’s Skegness resort for four nights during term-time (from Monday to Friday) at the end of March with my husband and two-year-old. I found that my toddler was the perfect age to enjoy all the Showtime Term-Time Midweek Break had to offer. 

What’s the accommodation like?

We stayed in one of the resort’s new Maple Walk Premium Lodges, which were launched in May 2024 - a £12-million investment. 

Our lodge slept six, and had one double bedroom with a king-size bed and ensuite, two twin rooms, one main bathroom, and an open-plan dining room, living room and kitchen. The kitchen was fully equipped with a cooker, hob, full-size fridge freezer, kettle and toaster.

The lodges are essentially static caravans, but we found ours to be spacious and perfectly sized for us, despite not actually spending much time there due to the extensive Butlin’s activity schedule that kept us busy throughout. Each lodge has a private balcony area for relaxing when the weather is warmer, although we were enjoying shows into the evening so didn’t really use this.

Light, bright and airy, the Maple Walk Premium Lodge décor is modern and aesthetically pleasing, and we found the beds to be comfortable and roomy, with all bedding and towels provided during our stay. 

The lodges benefit from a housekeeping service, which meant we stocked up on fresh towels if needed, as well as toilet roll and kitchen essentials. Our lodge came with a few kitchen supplies including sponges, tea towels, dishwasher tablets, some sachets of tea, coffee and bin bags, which we appreciated.

Despite sitting just outside the main site - there are closer accommodation options, but these vary in price and spec - we found the lodges to be well situated and it was a short five-minute walk for us to get to the main Skyline Pavilion. There is also a playground and basketball court on the Maple Walk site for children to enjoy. Check in is from 3pm on your arrival date and check out is 10am on your day of departure.

What’s the food and drink like?

We were on the Premium Dining Plan, which allowed for breakfast and dinner each day (lunch wasn’t included). We were allocated The Deck restaurant from the hours of 8am to 10:30am for breakfast and 4:30pm to 7pm for dinner. You unfortunately don’t get a choice of mealtime slots, but we found the earlier slots to be ideal for our toddler.

The time allocation ensured The Deck restaurant wasn’t overcrowded during mealtimes and we experienced only very short queues for even the most popular food stations. 

The Premium Dining Plan costs £34.95 per day for each adult, £20.95 for each junior (ages 6 to 14) and £9.95 per day for each child (aged 5 and under) you’re travelling with, which feels like decent value considering you get an unlimited buffet for both breakfast and dinner. 

While you are restricted to either The Deck or The Yacht Club restaurants if you’re on the Premium Dining Plan, you can walk in and dine at any of the other restaurants on site if you’re happy to pay extra. These include The Diner, The Beachcomber Inn, Firehouse Grill, Rock & Sole (for fish and chips), Papa Johns and Burger King - not the most expansive of options but they offer something for most guests. 

We found The Deck restaurant to be spacious, with booster seats available for my toddler to sit comfortably at the table, and stations for us to grab some toddler-friendly cutlery and a paper bib. Highchairs for smaller babies are also readily available as are baby feeding stations in the restaurants and around the Butlin's site should you need to warm up a baby bottle or some food. 

The breakfast included both continental and cooked options, with made-to-order omelettes and lots of healthy choices like fruit, yoghurt and cooked oats. There was also a designated meat-free zone with ample choice for vegetarians and vegans, and those with specific dietary requirements.

The unlimited dinner buffet changed each night, which kept things interesting, and there was a wide range of choices, including made-to-order burgers and pasta (which my husband loved), salad bars, and a huge variety of desserts (the gluten-free roulade got a solid 10/10 from me) as well as an ice cream factory, which appeased my ice cream-loving two-year-old. While my daughter eats practically anything, I felt like there was enough choice for even the fussiest of children. 

During the day, we tended to opt for meal deals from the on-site Nisa Local instead of having lunch from Costa Coffee, Burger King or one of the other restaurants. This kept things affordable for us and meant we could grab lunch on the go and fit this around our busy activity schedule.

We had an All-Inclusive Drinks Package which entitled us to a variety of soft and alcoholic drinks from one of the bars on site (these generally opened at 9am - ideal for a second morning coffee!) and meant we didn’t have to worry about paying for these each time. 

You receive a wristband that you have to show the bar staff each time, as well as a QR code via the app, which we got a bit confused about at first. There were occasionally queues for drinks, particularly in the show venues, but it never felt overwhelmingly busy and the drink options included with the All-Inclusive Drinks Package were adequate enough for us.

What's the entertainment like?

There’s so much to see and do at Butlin’s that it’s no surprise families like it so much, especially if you go as part of a multi-generational group.

We tried as much as we possibly could during our mid-week stay as all of the entertainment was included as part of the break. Shows we enjoyed included the Littlemagictrain in the Skyline Pavilion, Peppa Pig’s Circus Celebration, Peppa’s Dance Party, the Skyline Gang Dance Show (a personal favourite for my two-year-old), the Tots Disco at the optimal time of 6:30pm, and the lunchtime Puppet Castle show - all of which were perfectly suited to my toddler’s age group and were enjoyable for us adults too. 

The Showtime Term-Time Midweek Break differs slightly from the Butlin's Tots Break in that the entertainment carries on later into the evening, which is ideal if you're with a larger group and aren’t restricted by semi-early bedtimes, with the last show of the day ending at around 10pm. 

While our toddler’s overtiredness meant we weren’t able to try out some of these later shows, we did enjoy earlier entertainment including headline acts like The Butlin’s Party Show with Mister Maker, the new Studio Live show in Studio 36 (which featured lots of audience interaction and some slime as a bonus), and the brand-new Snow White and her Magnificent Friends pantomime (my personal favourite) which featured a super talented cast and lots of classic panto jokes to appease both kids and adults alike. The live interactive Dino Expo Adventure is also a new offering for the 2025 season. 

While some of the free shows need to be booked in advance via the Butlin’s app (many don’t!), it takes less than 30 seconds to do so and means you can nicely plan your itinerary in advance if you want to see and do as much as possible. The app gives you an activities timetable so you can easily see what’s happening when as well as what’s free and what needs to be paid for. 

As we were enjoying Butlin’s during term-time, guest numbers were lower so we never missed out on anything we wanted to see, however there were still small queues to get into venues before the shows. We had an Early Access VIP Pass each, which allowed us to enter venues 15 minutes before everyone else, as well as book activities and shows three days before they opened up to the rest of the guests. While the park wasn’t busy enough for us to need to use our passes all of the time, they would have been very handy had we been on a much busier school holiday Butlin’s break.

What other activities are on offer?

We each made use of Butlin’s All-Action Pass which starts at only £20 and gives you access to four different activities at the Skegness and Bognor Regis resorts - Adventure Golf, Bowling at Hotshots, American Pool and the Go-Karts - plus a bonus activity of your choice if you want to experience something for a second time. You get an additional activity - Bungee Trampolines! - at Minehead.

We tried all four activities and just turned up without having to book - a huge benefit to visiting Butlin’s during the week in term-time. It may have been different had we visited Butlin’s on a different break either over a weekend or during the school holidays. We particularly enjoyed the one-hour Bowling session (my toddler’s first ever game!) as well as a few laps round the go kart track, which is part of the main Butlin’s Fairground.

Most of the Fairground rides are included as part of your break - you get unlimited access and there’s no need to book. We liked the accompanying Little Stars Fairground, which has a play area for younger children under 1.5m as well as gentler rides including the cars and teacups. This meant that my toddler never had to miss out on any fun rides, although she was tall enough to ride on some of the main Fairground rides, and enjoyed both the Sante Fe Express train ride and a go on the merry-go-round.

Enjoyment of the Fairground is weather-dependent, but it sits adjacent to the arcade so we were able to duck inside quickly when it was particularly chilly.

What are the bookable activities like?

A few of the activities at Butlin’s can only be enjoyed if you book in advance and some come at a small additional cost, which is laid out clearly on the app before you book (as are the free activities). The app also offers venue details and directions for each activity so that you always know where you’re going.

My two-year-old tried out the free Tots Football session, as well as the indoor soft play. We did find that the soft play got booked up quite quickly, especially the baby-friendly area (although we didn’t need to use this), but there are various time slots to choose from each day and the booking system ensures each session isn’t too busy. We turned up at the wrong time on one of the days and were able to join in with the session nonetheless. My daughter also enjoyed the one-hour-long Skyline Dance Academy with the popular Skyline Gang, which costs £15.

Other bookable activities at the Skegness resort include Balanceability (a toddler-friendly bike session), Pottery Painting, T-Shirt Design, the Climbing Wall (for children over five years old), the High Ropes and Archery (both for children aged eight plus), among others. The extra cost for some of the bookable activities reach a maximum of £15 per session.

The activities and shows on offer may differ slightly depending on whether you visit the Skegness, Bognor Regis or Minehead resorts.

What are the swimming pools like? 

A major highlight for us was Splash Waterworld, an almost 3,000 square metre group of pools which includes a wave pool, lazy river, toddler pool with three toddler-friendly slides, as well as river rapids, flumes and a family-friendly raft slide that surprisingly my two-year-old could also enjoy. 

The pool is open from 9am every day, but features like the wave pool and flumes don’t kick off until 10am. Splash Waterworld is free to use and you don’t have to book - just turn up whenever you fancy. I was also immediately impressed by the fact that each pool in the Splash Waterworld complex is heated, which is very reassuring if you’re swimming with a baby or toddler. 

We tried to always use one of the larger family changing rooms so that we had more space to get ready. While these tended to get messy quickly as families came and went, there was always a staff member on hand to clean up any rubbish.

What’s the Skypark playground  like?

One of my toddler’s favourite activities was visiting the Skypark, Butlin’s £2.5-million inclusive playground designed for children up to 12 years old. She loved the variety of equipment available to her including the toddler-friendly slides, swings and mini trampolines, although she was less impressed by an impromptu visit from Billy the Bear, one of the two resident Butlin’s bears. There are larger tube slides for older children. 

The Skypark is spacious and well thought out and we appreciated the inclusion of an adjacent café to grab a drink or snack if needed.

What’s the beach and surrounding area like?

One of the benefits of visiting Butlin’s Skegness is that the resort backs straight onto the beach, so you’re able to access it really easily whenever you like.

We enjoyed an ice cream on the beach on one of the more sunny days of our trip and we found the beach to be both quiet and clean. 

What are staff members like?

We found all the staff members to be really friendly, and always ready to say hello and offer help if needed - everyone from the dining hosts to the housekeeping staff.  

The iconic Redcoats (Butlin’s resident entertainers) brought lots of energy and enthusiasm to each show and did a great job of getting all the children involved. My sociable two-year-old made friends with a couple of Redcoats immediately.

The highlights of our Butlin's trip

• Splash Waterworld swimming pools

• The lovely Butlin’s staff!

• Skypark Playground

• Amazing shows, especially the Snow White and her Magnificent Friends pantomime and the Skyline Gang dance shows

• A game of bowling (my toddler’s first!)

• Ice creams on the beach

• Toddler area at the Fairground

What’s included in the price? 

The basic Butlin’s package price for the Showtime Term-Time Midweek Break starts from £79 with a two-bedroom Comfort Room (this increases to £587 if you book a two-bedroom Premium Maple Walk Lodge)* and includes the following:

• Accommodation

• Unlimited Splash Waterworld entry

• Unlimited fairground rides

• Entertainment and activities - most are free, but a select few cost extra (note that entertainment and activities may differ slightly between Butlin’s resorts)

Other general extras you can purchase across all three Butlin’s resorts include: a Premium Dining Plan (£34.95 per day per adult, £20.95 for juniors aged 6 to 14, and £9.95 per day for children aged 2 to 5) that can be tagged onto a drinks package to create an all-inclusive bundle; the All-Inclusive Drinks Package (£25.95 per adult and £10.50 per child per day); the Early Access VIP Pass (from £20); the All-Action Pass (from £20); early check-in and late check-out. There are also additional paid-for activities that you can buy. 

Our Showtime Term-Time Midweek Break at Butlin’s Skegness, which included accommodation in a three-bedroom (six-person) Maple Walk Premium Lodge (one of the pricier accommodation options), three Premium Dining Plans, three All-Inclusive Drinks Packages, three All-Action Passes and three Early Access VIP Passes, cost £1,141 in total.

* Prices based on a family of four booking in 2025

About the author

Laura Westerman is an editor, writer and Deputy Head of Content at Mumsnet, where she oversees the website's pregnancy and baby content, but writes reviews across the entire content portfolio.

With over eight years' experience as a full-time editor and a passion for SEO, Laura has written extensively on everything from parenting to travel, and is committed to delivering honest, in-depth reviews to make parents’ lives that little bit easier. 

Laura is an avid adventurer and loves visiting new places with her family, both in the UK and abroad.