To think nipping to Tesco at center parcs is no biggie?

[GreatBrickMoose]

four adults /2 cars going to center parcs in a few weeks. Original plan is for us to get their early and go swimming etc then at checkin time, one car goes to lodge with children and luggage and second car goes to Tesco to get click and collect.

my partner thinks this is a bad idea and that getting out and then back in to center parcs on day 1 will be stressful and chaotic.

my sister has tried to mitigate this by booking early checkin but he’s unconvinced.

the alternative suggestions are one car arrives later and comes straight from Tesco (so miss morning fun) or we go to Tesco very early and have food in car for a few hours (sister is worried about food spoiling with this option).

wwyd? I’ve not been to centerparcs before so not sure how chaotic day 1 is. He has but not for a long time. . is it really THAT busy outside of half term in winter?

yabu- he’s right you should rethink.
yanbu- tell him to shush.

We go to elveden every year. We arrived around 5:30. Queues still take us about an hour at that time. Waste of your time. Get food on the way and leave in car. It will be fine. We always do that.

Get the shop before you go in so you can chill out. It’s February, food will be fine.

We’ve booked to go for my daughter’s 1st birthday. I’m using cool boxes for chilled food and shopping before we go ☺️ only because I will happily admit I’m way too lazy to go collect it after parking up after a long drive and I’m the only driver 🤣

Whenever I've been to Center Parcs in Europe (not been a UK site), there might be a short-ish queue to check in on changeover day but (i) there will be no significant queue an hour later after check-in time, let alone the following morning, and (ii) you can bypass the queue anyway if you've already checked in.

I'd be tempted to take enough stuff for the first evening, then set up a click and collect order for the following morning (early, as I tend to wake before the rest of the family and wouldn't mind popping out to collect things).

christ this has reminded me of the one and only time we went to centre parks, we were in the lake district, and at one point found ourselves pacing the perimeter fence like caged bears while we tried to get out to see some actual lakes. never again.

What lakes were they @TheBunyip? Can't see any near Whinfell

I mean, we did have car, it’s just it had been impounded. Having driven 5 hours to get there we were keen to see something of the area 🤷🏼‍♀️

I have only been to one and that was in France, not UK. All the swimming stuff is free but absolutely everything else, yes you have to pay for. Even stuff like use of a ping pong table or the children's playground.

Some popular things you also have to book in advance otherwise you're out of luck.

I will say some of the on site restaurants were not bad and we were able to buy all the food we needed at the Park shop.

Half way through the week though we got stir crazy and cycled out of the park to the nearest small town for a lunch and a bit of life outside.

This thread has done the complete opposite. CP has always intrigued me, but now I never want to go.

We go all the time. On arrival day there is always a long queue to get in and keys from the drive up hatches. You can then easily park your car in the main car park. Come 3ish, people start to sit their cars in a queue from this car park into the village. I would personally take a meal I've made in advance for the first eve (I usually do a lasagne or curry and freeze it so it keeps itself cold enough) and also fruit, cereal, crisps etc. You can then top up at the Parc market when you're there. Mid stay you can easily drive out to tesco for a top up but I doubt you'll bother.