To not get the fuss about centerparcs?

[BelleMarionette]

It seems to have an almost cult like following. I went recently and joined the Facebook group to see if any useful information and anyone who dares say anything negative is immediately jumped upon. Centerparcs can do no wrong apparently.

When we went, the cost was exorbitant (nearly £3k for one week for a poky terraced single story 'lodge') and nothing was included other than the pool. Activities were extremely overpriced. The shop and restaurants were also poor both in terms of value and quality. The pool was overcrowded, changing rooms and pool dirty, and it looked very tired. Only a tiny, boring playground on site.

I've been to Bluestone and found it much better: better quality and more spacious accommodation, included activities and play areas, both inside and out. Paid activities were reasonably priced too. Pool was far better maintained.

I've been to Butlins too: so so much cheaper and loads included. Accomodation was also better, and the pool was miles better than center parcs.

I don't understand what the obsession with center parcs is, especially given how poor value it is.

AIBU?

I think it's partly lack of other options. Yes you could go abroad for the same cost but we go to CP precisely because we want to stay in the UK - can drive to 2 different CPs within 3 hours. Don't have time to go abroad!

I go once a year with the girls. We always have an amazing time. It's not expensive if 6 friends are sharing. The spa is fantastic and we enjoying dicking around on bikes.
It's fine for people to like different things.

I take my family twice a year and we stay in a treehouse. We absolutely love it, especially the Aqua Sana.

We went before our first when we were younger. It was bliss, very safe, calm and chilled and an excuse for us to have a cabin in the woods basically.

It was full of parents though or large families. It was expensive for 2 of us so we’ve no idea how people afford to take kids. Everything costs. Everything.

I didn’t find the shop to bad, it’s a Co-Op so you expect it to be higher than normal, the restaurants all finish around 10 which for us we’d have liked somewhere to stay a little later for some drinks one eve but not a big deal really.

The activities are about £15-£30 each, which for some of it I found extreme. Even with one kid/one parent and one activity a day you’ll be probably looking at around £160 on activities alone.

They are lovely places mind, just very expensive for what they are, even the accommodation is very expensive in my eyes

Bognor Regis: it has a beautiful newly constructed pool with loads of slides (far more than centerparcs). Center parcs pool was very tired in comparison,and queues very long for the few slides available. The changing village was much better at Butlins too.

The park locations are nice but they’re expensive (friend had a pre-wedding trip there recently and it was over £1k per for the weekend for four of us!) and don’t offer anything special. Everything is an extra cost. I felt like I was being charged to breathe onsite lol.

When my DD was a toddler we went to a different holiday park and didn’t like it. The chalets were scruffy and not very clean (stained mattresses & sofa, for example), and the on-site bar was horrid (swirly carpets, sticky tables, for example).

It was a bit of a disaster of a holiday and we came home early. We did wonder whether now we were parents, this was what we were doomed to.

The next year, we decided to spend more and go for less time with a midweek at CP Sherwood Forest and it was such a success. DD loved the simple things like ducks wandering on to the patio in the morning and she really really liked the water park. We didn’t spend money on any extra activities that time.

So we went back several times over the next few years, interspersing with other types of holidays, but never again to any other holiday park, because of that horrible first experience.

^This. Did the last thread not get deleted as it was a troll?
I'm not saying you are op but the one the other day was.

I think you’re paying for the quality and it’s an alternative to a foreign holiday but yes the activities seem crazy money wise sometimes!! Friends of mine from a big city go to experience luxury in the midst of the countryside and I totally get it. Dh said he could never justify it

It's just such a lovely relaxing cosy and festive atmosphere at Christmas, like nowhere else i've been and a good 'all-in-one' family-friendly holiday, only an hour from home for us.
It feels alot more 'natural' than somewhere like butlins IMO.

It IS expensive, particularly during the school holidays, extortionate in fact! But we do love it, and have been going every Christmas for the winter wonderland since we had DD1 in 2017.
We are not well off, so have previously got around affording it by either going with family and splitting the lodge cost, or staying in the hotel and stating DDs age as younger than she is, then booking her onto activities as a 'guest' so she isn't classed as two young to do them.
I know it's dis-honest, and some may frown upon it, but the rules are ridiculous, stating you can only stay in the hotel with one child under 2! (Total money making scheming there to try and force people into booking the more expensive lodges unnecessarily....in any other hotel families of 3 would all stay in the same room fine at any age) We did that for the final time last year, with DD1 aged 4 and DD2 as a newborn, which was just about do-able, but this year we will be in a lodge as we need the extra space really, especially as DD2 is crawling/cruising everywhere atm, and we are treating my mum as a xmas present too.

This year I think we will also get fined for taking DD out of school, as she is now in year 1 and they have recently tightened their absence policy, but I refuse to pay the hundreds more to go in the holidays, and it's a yearly tradition for us that we don't want to break...even in covid year 2020 we were lucky enough to still be able to go, as the week we had booked was one of just a couple they ended up being open that year due to movement restrictions and lockdowns!

It's each to their own I guess, depending on what sort of holiday you like and whether you would make full use of the activities, restaurants, swimming etc on offer.

The rapids, mine love it.

i go all the time. Booked an 8 bed lodge for £600 for 4 nights. That’s £18.75 per night per person. Cheaper than a premier inn and it has a pool.

you don’t have to like but plenty do.

It's so overpriced and basic.
My sister also says Bluestone is much better.

Yabu. Don't go if you don't like it. No need to criticise those who do though, obviously it's popular as the prices are high. It provides a lot of employment in the communities it operates in.

Also...having been once, I really enjoyed it and so did my kids. If I had enough money I'd definitely take them again.

Butlins and centerparcs are both great

We go term time once a year- we have 3 under 6's. Its an hour and a bit away from us, Skegness (closest butlins) is 4 hours and bluestone is further than that. So for our family it works really well - the outdoor playareas are brilliant- we found butlins had a tiny playpark and nowhere really to walk too. Whenever we talk to friends they tell us we can go abroad cheaper, but I've never found a term time holiday cheaper than CP - once you factor In passports, travel etc I would absolutely love to take the kids abroad though guaranteed sunshine would be lovely!

I’m a member of one of those pages and they go crazy for the ‘wildlife’ which is basically vermin! Squirrels and muntjacs which are an invasive species!!

however recently did 4 nights 5 days 1-2 activities a day and I guess all in (travel eating out) it was 2k.

There was an almost identical thread to this a few days ago.

Different people have different tastes shocker.

I wouldn't pay £3K to go to centre parcs. More fool you for doing that.

We go in term time and pay £600 for a 4 bed upgraded executive lodge. At £300 per family sharing that's worth it.

I don’t get the hype at all. You may as well fly out

I thought it was absolutely shit.

Red squirrels are not an invasive species?

Always seen grey in Woburn and Muntjac and Grey squirrels are invasive

You don’t get red squirrels at cp. They’re not on the IoW and Brownsea really

I don’t think we can hold CP responsible for the proliferation of grey squirrels and Muntjac deer in the countryside.