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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

AIBU to think that the reason Centre Parc prices are so high is because...

154 replies

spababe · 13/01/2013 17:47

they want a 'certain type' of person to stay and wish to exclude others ie the Butlins type?

You may not like what I am saying but I think it is true. Prices in school holidays are rather eye-watering but my kids love the place and it's the only place they want to go to this year. I've gone for a middle of the range villa sleeping 4 and it's cost £1125 for 4 nights Mon-Fri.

OP posts:

Mintyy · 14/01/2013 10:58

Roffle at ComposHat!

Thingymajigs · 14/01/2013 11:09

I went to look at a CP but they were asking £1500 for the week we wanted which for us is ridiculous. I really was hoping to find a 7 day holiday for around £500 but it seems like we are now trying for a Haven holiday in Cornwall for just 4 days for £800. That will mean we will need to be very tight with money for a few months but my youngest is really excited about a family holiday so it'll be worth it eventually.

Goldrill · 14/01/2013 11:11

We're going in a few weeks - £260 for 6 of us. Maybe they don't mind the lower orders at this time of year...

FantasticDay · 14/01/2013 11:22

Hi. We're not poor, but I think CP is eye-wateringly expensive. Give me Butlins any day! Spotless accommodation, the premium dining is excellent, with loads of healthy options (standard dining a bit school dinners, but the kids liked it), loads of free stuff - entertainment (pantos are fab!), sports activities (dd is keen footie player, we also like family rounders and fencing), nature walks, additional activites reasonably priced (£6 for climbing wall/ high ropes). MNers might also be interested in www.landal.com (a tip I followed up from another thread!) who offer CP type surroundings on the Continent for half the price!

marjean · 14/01/2013 11:30

Am going to Sherwood Forest CP in a couple of weeks. 4 nights for the 5 of us (6-berth villa) is costing 250 pounds. There are good deals to be found if you can go out of peak season. Whilst we are there, we wont be doing much more than the free pool so it is a great value break for me.

colleysmill · 14/01/2013 11:45

Horses for courses.

I've been to CP twice - enjoyed it but tends to be a bit pricey for us now as weve taken to camping a lot more.

I quite like the camping areas on Haven sites - much cheaper than statics and you still access the pool etc. We paid just under 500 quid for 5 of us for a week in august at a haven last year.

If people are happy to pay to go to CP then the prices will stay high. Supply and demand!

NoillyPrat · 14/01/2013 11:48

We went to CP for 3 nights over New year, which cost us £500 (for 2) then there was £££ more spent on activities and food. Madness but we enjoyed it.

slhilly · 14/01/2013 11:52

Cherries I'm glad it's not just me. I think CP is expensive, but I don't know of anything offering the specific amenities I listed that's cheaper. In fact, I don't know of anything offering the same specific amenities. I'd love to be proven wrong, though.

I really don't get this thing about "sanitised environment", by the way. We've only ever been to the Sherwood Forest CP. It's a bunch of lodges and some paved roads in a forest. The forest is managed, as has been the case for every other forest in the UK for several hundred years. I'm not sure what would count as unsanitised or 'more authentic' that would be better? It doesn't contain wolves and there's no deershit in the bathrooms. And there are some paved roads. I'm OK with that, personally.

slhilly · 14/01/2013 11:54

ComposHat the wry truth is that some posters on this thread appear to think they themselves are normal but that others are subhuman or poor excuses for humans

AmberSocks · 14/01/2013 11:58

if you book late you can get it for much cheaper than that,we went ast year ina 3 bed comfort plus villa for 289,i love center parcs and so do the kids but its not somewhere i would pay thousands for,you have to pay for all the activities and food too so it wouldnt seem right,i would rather go to an al inclusive place abroad for the much!

AmberSocks · 14/01/2013 12:01

Also cp is the onlyplace i woud really want to go to in the uk as a family,else it doesnt feel like a holiday to me,we have tried camping and caravans but its just like being at home only not as nice as where i live with less mod cons!I can go to the beach/swimming pool/nature walks/softplay and restauraunts where i live i dont need to drive to devon to do that!

FairyBasslet · 14/01/2013 12:27

I'm with you slhilly.

We just got back from a weekend in cp and had a wonderful time as ever. We cycled lots and swam (dc are 4, 7 and 9) and the only extra activity we did was to hire a badminton court. We spent a lot more on meals this time seeing as it was my 40th and I wasn't going to be cooking.

As for the 'sanitised outdoors', DS is a huge nature buff and on our various cp holidays he has spotted deer, red squirrels, bats, woodpeckers, great crested newts etc etc - cp actually do a lot for the environment and we have been to some really informative activities run by their Rangers.

Clientele? The place appears to appeal to all types, and why not? I'm not particularly interested what social class people belong to, or how much they earn. We go because we all like it and have fun there. To us, the current prices are worth that.

VivaLeBeaver · 14/01/2013 12:37

The nature rangers at cp are amazing. We had the most wonderful nature walk last year. Only me and dd and the ranger and he stayed with us way later than he should have done as he could tell dd was so interested. We were watching bats for ages.

Dd has now bought her own echolocator and is very excited about taking it back to cp. she's talking about wanting to work in conservation type field since going to cp and spends all her time looking at nature books since our trip.

soontobeburns · 14/01/2013 12:46

I went all inclusive to Turkey last year for a week. Flights, transfers and hotel was £133 (each) add on a jeep safari, boat party, market trip and mud baths was £110.

So £240 for an activity filled all inclusive trip in marmaris is why I would never holiday at home. (We dont even have CP or butlins here so an extra good bit for flights and taxi etc)

CuriousMama · 15/01/2013 08:30

soontobeburns how did you find that holiday? Where did you fly from

CuriousMama · 15/01/2013 08:30

oops missed the ?

maleview70 · 15/01/2013 08:46

That's the reason I like it!

I see enough chavy people in the town I live without having to tolerate them on holiday.

bedmonster · 15/01/2013 09:22

My Dad took us all to CP a couple of years ago for a weekend break between his job (he works abroad and we don't see him much) and decided to 'treat' us. We all wished he hadn't bothered by the end of the weekend, including him.
It was one of those places that left me itching to get out and go home. It was so naff, it wouldn't have surprised me if the forest was made of plastic trees.
The weather wasn't great so we spent a lot of time paying for the classes and in the yukky swimming pool. It was so warm. Too warm. And full. So so full.
The accomodation was as though you were in a cheap tacky roadside motel.
We all decided we'd never go again.
There were people of all classes, backgrounds, nationalities there, god knows why.

However, we went glamping to a featherdown farm last year on the only nice weekend of the year. We had 3 tents between our family and friends, the only 3 tents on the farm in use at the time. We had a whole field to ourselves. Kids cycled everywhere and we spent our time down at the beach and then bbqing and drinking outside in the evenings. Kids had a wonderful time, and we all enjoyed being there. We have all agreed to go back again this year.
Can't comment on the other clientele as there weren't any!
Not everyones cup of tea obviously, but then CP wasn't ours!

Kiriwawa · 15/01/2013 09:29

I am going this year over half term and the price is exactly the same as the tiny (and I mean tiny) holiday cottage I stayed in last year where the (admittedly empty) indoor pool was not available at certain times because they rented it out for private lessons and they were doing building work so there was no changing facilities, neither of which we were warned about.

From what I can see, CP is better value - we have a daily cleaning service plus two en suite bathrooms too.

malteserzz · 15/01/2013 11:13

We love center parcs and go every year . In the Easter holidays were going in a 2 bed executive villa for 4 nights for 500 quid, I don't think that's bad at all. If you've been and don't like it fair enough but there does seem to be a lot of people here judging it when they've never set foot in the place !

Each to their own, we've done the holiday cottage thing and in the rain it's miserable, at CP there is loads to do and best of all you leave the car in the car park and cycle or walk everywhere we love it

Wolfiefan · 15/01/2013 12:22

Just don't be fooled that they care about families or their customers. DS was diagnosed with an awful medical condition the day before we went. He was admitted and vvvvv ill. Their attitude stank. We lost all our money and they were totally unhelpful and unsympathetic. For that reason, I will never book again.
Bluestone, on the other hand, is lovely. Staff can't do enough for you.

mrsjay · 15/01/2013 14:02

That will mean we will need to be very tight with money for a few months but my youngest is really excited about a family holiday so it'll be worth it eventually.

try hobourne holidays they are down the west coast ( not sure about cornwall ) they are fab and I prefer them to Haven , sorry to sidetrack

mrsjay · 15/01/2013 14:04

south west* i meant

Thingymajigs · 15/01/2013 16:16

Thank you mrsjay, I will take a look later.

soontobeburns · 16/01/2013 13:12

Sorry curious just saw your post. I found it on teletext holidays and flew out of Belfast. Its cheaper to fly from England.

I met a girl from Engald there staying in a 5 star all inclusive and it was £260 for flights, transfers and hotel.
Some good deals in marmaris.

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