Butlins - honesty please!

[Lionsandtigersohmy]

Hi

So we have a tots break booked for September at Minehead Butlins. My colleagues have been very negative about it one even suggested just cancelling it!

Looking for honest reviews! We have booked a comfort plus apartment and are intending to self cater with odd meal out.

Is it really that awful? Surely the kids will love it?

I've only ever heard rave reviews about Butlins. I presume ppl who go there aren't expecting Italian villas or centreparks.

We went to Bognor only a few weeks ago. We stayed in the hotel shoreline, it was clean and ok comfort wise. It's great for young children with lots of entertainment and the staff were excellent.
Like others have said, it's what you make of it and it's a break focused on the children not the adults.

Friends went to a 80's weekend and said it was really good but you do need to get into the spirit of it, it's not posh, it's loud and brash, but super fun.

We went when my DS was small and I really didn't want to go. But it was fab!

It was really good weather, the funfair was good and we went to the beach. We ate either in the dining hall or at restaurants.

I think Minehead is the best one.

We went to Skegness as mystery shoppers. None of us loved it, the kids enjoyed it more than we did but they never asked to go back and they don't seem to have fond memories.

We were put in Gold accommodation which was very basic but clean enough.
The food was decent.
Pool was good but very busy and the changing rooms were dirty.
Entertainment was truly awful, like going back to the 70s.
It is noisy and crowded everywhere.

My friend goes every year with her family and her sister and family (primary school aged kids)... She always says she's had a great time. She doesn't drink but doesn't mind rubbing shoulders with other members of the public, so she has the attitude to just go and have fun.

We've been several times over the years to Bognor and Minehead.
Nicest accomodation was the Bognor hotel.
Self-catering accommodation in Minehead was perfectly clean 9 times out of 10. The one time it wasn't we called guest services on check in and they had been over to sort it within an hour (changed stained bedding and shampooed a carpet!).

The kids have always absolutely loved it. We have found it the easiest holiday to do with kids and therefore pretty enjoyable too.

The one thing I would say is that with food, if you do a dining plan it's worth it to go for premium or hotel dining. We did the food court one year and found it edible but no better!

Lots of mad people queue for an hour beforehand to get tables at the front for the shows. Personally, I can't understand the point and just turn up as doors open to go straight in to the middle/back. Can't think of anything worse than queuing for an hour with children!

Never seen any drunks or brawling dads, never had an issue with feral kids etc.

Aww I want to go back to Butlins. Last year we went to Haven for a change after many years of Butlins (apart from Covid which we went to later on) and while it was just as good I think I prefer Butlins.

We're hoping to go next year if funds allow.

The tots breaks are great. Entertainment from early with shows, crafts, sports... pool, inside and outside fairground, soft play and loads of playgrounds. You can be busy all day and not spend anything except for food. Everyone else has little ones so no judgement if they're making noise. I loved my time there.
Go for a stroll into Minehead or to the lakes on site if you need a bit of chilled time. Now dd is older we often eat out and go to the arcades there as it's better value than on site but you can get a food package on site

We started going to Butlins Minehead when DS1 was 4 in 2005. We went every year until 2016. We went back last year with 21 and 16 yo DSs because they loved it so much and they wanted to experience it again 😆

Yes it can be a bit grubby and tired in places but honestly it’s the best holiday for kids. The area around Minehead and the town itself are lovely too.
Dunster castle is defo worth a visit and a trip on the steam train is great too.

I’ve never been but neighbours extended family have been several times to Butlins Minehead and all seem to enjoy it grandparents , parents (30s) and children ( baby to about 7 I think)

It’s a cheap weekend with lots of fun for kids. That’s it. Anyone moaning about it , just shouldn’t go again end of. It’s like anywhere, there will always be someone moaning!

It’s everything I hate in a holiday.

Noise, crowds, queues, screaming children, crap food, arcades everywhere.

I’ve been once, never again.

Tripadvisor reviews are generally accurate. So I looked.
There are over 1100 reviews grading it "terrible". Reading the details (of recent stays) I would not take kids there. The accommodation is poor and the service even worse.

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g190746-d282080-Reviews-Butlin_s_Minehead_Resort-Minehead_Somerset_England.html#REVIEWS

You will have a great time, we have stayed when ours were little, fantastic for them, really enjoyed it.

As others have said, some people can be a bit snobby about Butlins. I'm of an age where I was taken there as a child on holiday (Bognor once, Minehead at least twice) while still at primary school/early secondary school in the late 70s/80s. We loved it! In fact, I really miss the swimming pool at Minehead where you could sit in the cafe and watch the swimmers in the indoor pool through the viewing windows! And the monorail was fabulous when I was 7 or 8!

Above all, it was a safe place for children to be - I remember being given the task of 'buying the milk' in the morning from the on-site supermarket in Minehead (we always went self catering) when I was about 10, and loving the feeling of being 'grown up', and the free fair ground rides were amazing!

Went back 20-odd years ago with my own children, Minehead again, with my parents too. A lot had changed, but some of the old buildings were still there from my childhood (I think they've all gone now though) and my DC had a great time.

OP, if you want to, you'll love Butlins. It's not for everyone, but the accommodation seems to have improved tremendously over the years since I was last there (1998) and Minehead itself I remember as being the gateway to some lovely parts of Somerset if you are taking a car. (Porlock Weir, for sure - just make sure your brakes work ready for the 1:4 gradient hills!!).

I haven't RTFT but I imagine others will have said that for some reason people have snobbery about Butlins.

Before I had DD it wouldn't be somewhere I would choose to go... although actually I did do an 80s weekend for a hen do.... but since she came along we've been a few times. It is what it is, people are the same about Blackpool, but there's no denying kids have a great time.

I would always rather go to Butlins ( or Blackpool) than Centre Parcs, that did nothing for me at all.

I took my kids to Minehead Butlins a few times when they were younger. I think it has lots to do for younger children and the pool was nice. Save a fortune by taking snacks from home, as the on site shop costs a fortune from what I remember. As for Pontins...well avoid that like the plague. I needed a holiday to get over that holiday!

They'll love it always lots to do. I've never been for the Tots week but I've heard it's basically the same just all the entertainment stop's at 8pm. Not really an issue though if you have preschool children.

My kids absolutely love it. They would pick it over any other holiday, EVER. at half terms (not sure about any other times) the entertainment is absolutely brilliant, I'm thinking of electric city and cirque du hilarious last time we went. The accommodation isn't amazing but definitely upgrade to an apartment and it's clean enough. Would never do the rooms as the walls are paper thin. I find the holiday is a bit much and need another holiday afterwards 😅 but like I said. Kids love it and they are 8&4. Been to Skegness several times and Minehead once and I did find Minehead a lot more run down.

But people are far more likely to post a negative review than a positive one .

There's a farm we went to not far from the Butlins site. If you want a change of scene. The repetition does get a bit much after a few days. We went on a steam train from Minehead. Which is a short walk from the site and it was a short walk from one of the stops. But it's free entry. There's a soft play that our children were too big for. But I'm assuming you pay for that and a cafe and farm shop. I don't think he's there anymore. But there was Mr Snood the very friendly Turkey. He had his own Facebook page.😂😂😂

https://donifordfarmpark.com/

That's true but still, that is a LOT of negative reviews, with pictures as proof! They aren'[t invented.

All the posts here are saying how great it is, and if that's how you feel, great. But the notion that those who hate it are just snobs, which has been said repeatedly, is just nonsense.

I'm not a snob, at all. But I wouldn't go to Butlins again if you paid me, it was completely fucking hideous by every available metric. Literally the worse place I've ever been. I've seen cleaner prisons, and they had better food too.

It's honestly fine. Kids love it

Some kids love it.