To be wary of butlins?

[Haveacwtch]

We would love to take the kids away on the weekend of half term (21st feb). I have two boys 2 and 5. Centerparcs and bluestone way out of our budget. I fancy butlins and think boys would have a brilliant time. We would be looking at a silver apartment.

There are so many bad reviews though and I am worried

Any experiences please?

Thanks

We went to Skegness many times when our two were little. Not been for a few years as we do centreparcs in Holland or France now they are older. It is what it is. The children enjoyed it but can't say that I did. We always went gold or silver self catering as would not like the scrum for meals. The children will be entertained and that is all that mattered to me.

But line is fine, I would avoid pontine at camber sands like the plague though.....it's cheap for good reason!

Butlins and pontins even!

We went to the Skegness one many years ago when our kids were little. It is great in that rides are free, lots of entertainment, but I remember the accomodation being particulalry dire and the place being full of very unsavoury, intimidating people ( perhaps we were just unlucky !!). Friends went there recently and thier 15 yr old dd got picked on and verbally abused by a group of drinken women.

I have never taken my DC but always got enjoyment out of them having a great time where ever we are!

i could never take the risk with so little money for holidays to go there, after some threads on here and the thing that got me most, was their response.

we even had the PR guy on here once trying to defend some fag butts, dirty sheets and mould in the ops room.....and he got the details wrong!!

^this is what would worry me most, its a large faceless organization and yes - occasionally things go wrong, but as ever its how a company deals with it.

from what I have seen on here, there is no way i could trust them, holidays for us are too precious.

what about farm b and bs, anywhere near beach, play areas?

Definitely a vote for Skegness here but do not go in cheap accommodation. As for rude people...never noticed to busy having fun with family.
Your kids will love it !

Have a look at a private caravan site. Lots of people hire out their caravans on minehead one. You have to.pay for passes etc but think caravans are reasonable and clean

we went last year - me and 3 kids (6/11/12) - we went to Minehead and stayed in the new chalets/flats

The chalet was lovely and had it's own red coat team and free board games etc

The kids loved the pool and the rope climbing - quiet liked the entertainment - especially the big jugs of coke!

I found the dinning experience awful - like a prison camp chock a block with rude people and vile kids and I found the food on offer poor value when we dined out (The Diner for example had nothing healthy - was expensive and the service shocking)

We have booked for 4 days this August but I am self catering this time - it's what you would expect really - a bit tacky but not awful - I don't think it's massively different from Centre Parcs

zombie zombie zombie

Oh FFS

Zombie Red Coat

Reported for digging up the dead to spam with.

Awww we loved Butlins!! Now the kids are older we do the Over 18 weekends lol.

I still take my grand daughters though.

Its a fun, upbeat place to go. The silver accommodation at Bognor has always been fine, and any minor problems dealt with efficiently by the housekeeping team.

Avoid, unless you enjoy queuing for an hour to use the swimming pool, then another half an hour to go on the waterslides. There's also never anywhere to sit to watch the entertainment, if you manage to get in that is, because the queues for that are also about a mile long.

Oh btw for a decent and well priced break, our absolute favourite is Vauxhall Holiday Park near Great Yarmouth. Lovely place.

We went to a mid week just for Tots break this year at Minehead. Was dreading it but actually for our family it was brilliant. We could do as much or as little as we liked. There was loads of activities included. My eldest was nearly 3 and little one was 9 months. Apartment clean and serviced every day for a small charge

Ive been every year for about 8 years since my youngest was little. The kids love it. We go to Bognor Regis. Apartments always clean, I have stayed in silver and gold and the hotels. Hotels are the best option there for cleanliness as they are newer. I am a bit of a germ freak and have slight OCD so nothing is ever quite up to my standard, but I stayed there without too much anxiety so it was far from unclean.
Staff are brilliant with children which makes the holiday for them.
My youngest prefers butlins to going abroad.