To not get Centerparcs?

[goingmadinthecountry]

No holiday this year - finances - friends suggested a weekend at Centerparcs. 600+ for a weekend without activities, showers rubbish compared with ours at home, basic kitchen with not too clean stuff in it, cheap plates, tiny outside area, all the effort of shopping/cooking/washing up/cleaning/making beds. Overcrowded overpriced activities, screaming children. Having to be at every activity at a set time, riding a crappy hired bike around for absolutely no reason whatsoever. Been before and it all seemed like an effort. Really, am I missing something? Disclaimer: I live in the countryside so feel no need to get away from it and commune with nature.

I've gone off iCentre Parcs, there's a sodding mouse in the living room which is where DS was sleeping. He's now in our room, DH is in the mouse room and I am in the bathroom . It's going to be a long night, I can hear next door.

It annoys me how miserable and tight they are that even though you've spent a fortune on the accommodation they won't so much as leave a bog roll or j cloth in the place

Like I said, I've been before. Just don't get why it's so expensive
Because it isn't Butlins

and why so many people love it.

See above.

Not been myself, but I was at a relatives just before they went and my uncle seemed only concerned that there would be beer in the fridge before they arrived. That seemed a good idea.

emerald cabaret, club house, nightly activities. Sounds like hell sorry.

I have only been in November with the winter wonderland. But it's fairly quiet. Even the fireworks we found seats on the edge of the beach.

laffy we had toilet rolls, j cloth, dish washing tablets, and maid service.

But then we only paid £400 for the midweek.

Butlins too expensive for us in the holidays too.
Nice chalet at seaside for half price of Butlins. Toilet roll/ washing up liquid etc left and we left ours...
Have done Park Resorts recently with kids on newspaper deals and caravans lovely and they love the club house though I suffer it somewhat!
Just felt very ripped off by Centre Parks when went some time ago....

People pay extra for the 'snob factor' - I have been & enjoyed it but it's very expensive for what it is.

HeadDreamer, it was 10 years ago and we paid considerably more for a 4 bedroomed 2 bathroom (plus cloakroom) lodge. There wasn't a scrap of toilet paper in any of the 3 loos or any means to clean them. We were asked to pay extra for a "housekeeping pack" . We broke a wine glass, it was one of those cheapo pub 1970s style ones and they demanded £5 to replace it.

We had taken our DCs brand new bikes but were told that they weren't allowed to use them "for insurance purposes" and were offered some rusty looking wrecks (which cost money of course) for the DCs to use. We declined and just walked everywhere.

Have said before, but it felt like being trapped in the Truman Show.

My DB works in one of them (think it's near Suffolk) and he's astounded at its success, people come back year after year so it's not for me to say what they're getting wrong, plenty of people think they've got it right.

Crieff Hydro is so much nicer and better value, all the same activities are available but the vibe is much more pleasant and "free", it's also far less expensive.

We're not coming again. We complained this morning about mice as DD then saw one too . This morning there were mice droppings in one of the bedrooms too. Man came with trap and I asked if he could guarantee we would be mouse free by tonight, of course he couldn't . He was very nice amd gave us a number to ring and to push for Marina as no mice in flats there.

Someone came with keys to another cottage and apologised that full and no Marina flats. Quizzed him about mouse situation in other cottage and he said he can't guarantee it so I asked for traps to be set in advance which to be fair I think they have done.

We then had to pack up and move all our stuff. Were ready 20 mins before the check in time for normal arrivals and the car park man wouldn't listen to what we were telling him and wouldn't let us in until suddenly the penny dropped by which point I'd pretty much had enough.

DS meanwhile was ferrying the bikes to new place and nearly got run over by woman on a bike, he's currently knackered and miserable. DH is just taking keys for mouse house back. We've lost pretty much a whole day of our holiday and all feel quite miserable. New cottage very overlooked so all our privacy gone.

Crieff Hydro is so much nicer and better value - not when I have looked at it. Pool is small and changing rooms unpleasant ( they may have been upgraded since we were last there) and certainly no flumes or lazy river.

Also does not have the extent of grounds that Center Parcs does that are car free to cycle round.

Whilst we complain about the chains at Center parcs - and yes I have had better meals - they are all infinitely better than the Faulty towers style 3 course meal we were served up at Crieff, and at least at CP you have quite a variety of cuisines.

Sorry I didn't mean to focus on knocking Crieff Hydro, I know that some people enjoy it very much and go repeatedly, just like many go to Haven parks year after year and DH and I swore never to set foot in one again due to the row upon row of money chugging machines that you had to go past to get to the pool and the broken bottles in the pub garden with the play area etc. etc.

I love CP. We generally go once a year - arranging to go in conjunction with other families who stay at neighbouring lodges. The DCs love roaming on the grounds behind us, they love the pool and they like the space. I certainly wouldn't pay thousands for it - we tend to go at a specific long weekend that our area gets, that no one else does and tend to pay around £500 for 3 nights in a 2 bed caravan, which I actually think is not bad value for what you get.

We go on other holidays. We quite like some of the caravan parks in the Lake District, we also like going abroad.

I can see why people wouldn't like it if they found a mouse there, but honestly we have great fun and I get a bit fed up with these threads that seem to poke fun at our holiday choices.

It's not just a pool though is it? The pool, flume rides, Cyclone and rapids still appeal to my teenagers as much as they did when they were little.

In July I took 6 adults for 4 nights in CP. We had 3 en suite bedrooms, a sauna, wi fi and free access to a decent water park for £820.
That's £34 each, is that really so expensive?

Actually I don't care what it costs and we eat out every meal, there is no competition in the UK for an all weather short break.

The Holland CP are shabby compared to UK though (I've done many different ones) and if you live up North the ferry crossing makes them more expensive.

Come to Brighton. It is lovely here.

I went to Disneyland CA in 1989 in November and it was half empty. I am still all Disneyed out now. You would have to pay me to return.

I would love to go to Brighton grand. I have never been.

According to my brother you do get less desirable clientele off peak at cp. They've had a lot of trouble with members of the travelling community.

Butlins in the forest. Ugh.

We went to Centre Parks when DC1 and 2 were little, in term time so it was really cheap, the lodge had just been upgraded and it was lovely. The maid came while we were out each day which was great. We really enjoyed ourselves.

We went again when DC 1 and 2 were older and I was pg with DC3. It was a totally different experience.
The lodge was tired and shabby, and the maid came at the crack of dawn which was annoying.
The activities the DC wanted to do were so expensive. DC had to be supervised, fine, but we had to pay for the privilege of supervising our own children.

We're staying in the UK next year and Brighton sounds like a great idea, always wanted to go.

Just found a couple of mouse droppings in the second cottage . Poison is down as asked them to do itbefore we moved in and I'm too knackered to even think about complaining . Sorry to whinge, feel better getting my CP frustration out. To be fair to the staff all but car park man have been lovely despite what it says about them on Trip Advisor.

It is exactly as it says in the brochure and very clear on prices - you are not conned in any way. You don't have to book!