To ask if you’d enjoy this holiday ?

[CryJustALittleBit]

All inclusive hotel in Spain.

Fancy dress competitions for kids and kids club for general ents etc discos

Some of the male hotel guests putting on drag acts as evening entertainment

Two pools - one indoor / one outdoor

Sharing a dinner table with another guest couple at the hotel

Space invader machines /Pac Man etc

Pool table

VERY predominantly British guests

Hotel is right next to a beach

Plenty of cafes and bowling alleys near by for entertainment

Nice ‘bar’ area where you can also get drinks like milk shakes etc

Courier service so you have the option to go on day trips etc

Hotel guests in general are a bit ‘Phoenix Nights’ iyswim

So, what’s the verdict ?? Y Viva Espana?

Club 18-30 was massive in the 80’s with British teens away from home without their parents for first time indulging in organised pub crawls often in fancy dress.

Obviously not but then I am London centric. I can't see the on the beach family using the same lounges as people pay for.

I am with you 1000% on this!!

Ah well, there're a LOT of us outside the London bubble. And if the 'On the Beach'/'Booking.com' families have an airport lounge freebie and?there's only one lounge at their airport that IS where they're going.

No, this would be my idea of hell. If I go abroad, I want to be abroad, not in a complex filled with loads of other Brits doing stuff I could do in a caravan park or campsite in the UK.

Daytime I want to be out visiting interesting places. Evenings are nice going for a stroll to see what the local atmosphere is like, either choosing a restaurant or cooking food picked up from local markets during the day. The DC don't need air hockey and that sort of thing to have fun after dinner, there's always plenty to do. Last time we rented a very nice place in Italy, and they played around in the garden while DH and I cooked late on. It was gorgeous. Later on they wound down in their own time, read their books and relaxed when we got back from an after-dinner wander to see the sunset. Lovely.

No, that's the sort of place I would avoid. I love our summer holidays with the children and never understand why people want to dump them in a kids club. The best part of holidays are the evenings and choosing a restaurant with the right ambience, not sitting in a canteen style dining room making small talk with people you don't know. And I don't understand why people need to be entertained on holiday either. We love strolling beside the sea, browsing in shops and stopping off for coffee, milkshakes or cocktails and people-watching. Love hearing foreign languages being spoken and spending precious time with the childten so all inclusive holds no appeal to me whatsoever.

Space invader machines /Pac Man etc

Yes, I would enjoy a holiday to 1981 very much.

By the way just as an FYI to everyone it was a Thompson’s holiday 🙌

I’ve been thinking more about the holiday. Now I think about it, I really applaud those hotel residents - the men who got up, took the initiative and did the drag act. Let’s face it, this kind of initiative is not seen as much, if at all today. I feel that the men who did this drag act in 1985 would now be sat in the hotel lounge scrolling their phones. And this, by the way, sadly also includes me! I think people generally can’t be arsed now ! Yes - including me!

Kis playing in the garden while you and your DH cook dinner sounds way too much like home for me..I'm sure the scenery and weather was nicer though.

The DC don't need air hockey and that sort of thing

Your DC don't ever play games or enjoy activities like this?

Or is air hockey also considered scummy now?

Love hearing foreign languages being spoken

Do you not live in a very diverse area? I live in London...I hear foreign languages being spoken every time I leave my house.

You are really taking this way too personally. One of my DC would like air hockey, the other wouldn't. Nothing scummy about either. Just preferences.

I like ballet and so does DD. DS doesn't. He likes football. We are all the same class, I think, whatever that is.I am not about to pretend to like football so I can be less " snobby". I like what I like.

Do what you want to do without putting a label on it.

We like cooking at home. Cooking outdoors in new surroundings and heat is totally different. The food is too. Cooking is just cooking - it's a shared activity that we can chat and laugh while doing. We can walk on a beach here, too, or watch a sunset, but it's different abroad.

And no, not this sort of thing in a heaving and busy place with random other kids. They're not fans of arcades and that type of thing, didn't like the little one in Windermere either. They spent a lot of time running around and playing games and exploring in the garden, or playing games with us.

I didn't like that sort of thing as a kid either. Hated bouncy castles and things. My brother loved them. Why is it so surprising that some people have different tastes and ideas of fun?

I do indeed do what I like. But this thread has been an eye opener. I genuinely had no idea that a kids disco and a pool table were considered down market.

I don't care that other people like different things to me...i just don't understand the sneering

Well, I would definitely not rather eat wasps or go to prison than going on an AI holiday! If I went I would make the best of it, just like I have gone with DS to football to enjoy his company when he was younger. If I had a choice though, I would avoid it.

I don't care that other people like different things to me...i just don't understand the sneering

I wouldn't even call it sneering; I know I wasn't. But it does sound like hell to me. Busy hotel complex with other Brits, loud music and (for me) cheesey entertainment. It's not my idea of fun at all, and definitely not how I'd want to spend a two week holiday. Like I said, it feels far too much like a caravan park or something in the UK.

When I'm abroad I want to enjoy the experience of being abroad - and that includes things like visiting little markets for produce (we really liked waking up early and wandering down before breakfast), going to try out different restaurants in the area. It's about getting a taste of the culture as much as possible for us, and that isn't really going to be found in a hotel complex watching drag or karaoke.

More power to those who would enjoy it. Obviously people do, because they're busy and popular places. But it's not my cup of tea.

Sounds like the type of place where all the men will be in football jerseys.
Hard no from me.

I am in Spain at the moment, not on the major costas and there is a local pizzeria called La Paloma Blanca. It's ok.
(Although the avian wildlife here is rather more exotic -- storks and flamingoes. )

I was there in 1985 and I don’t think replica football shirts were much of a thing then. I certainly don’t particularly remember them.

But maybe they were and I’m mistaken!

It’s not a holiday I would choose because I don’t like being surrounded by huge numbers of people. For the same reason I wouldn’t go on a cruise but I have friends who absolutely love them.

We have done holidays on a static caravan campsite, did the arcades with the kids, alternated with beach days etc. We had a holiday in Clacton for MIL, same MO. It’s not my ideal but you do what fits your budget and family needs at the time.

I prefer a quiet cottage near the sea with plenty of places to explore and good food but for some that would be hell.

Racking my brains I think they may have been for children.
Not many (if any) will have been drunk as it was an additional expense.
I don't know if it's like a caravan holiday as I have never been on one. Nor been to Centre Parks so can't comment on that either.

My feeling is that replica football shirts became more of a thing in the 90s after Sky bought the rights the show Premier league games in 1992 - I think the face of football MASSIVELY changed after that date.

But that’s just my opinion - maybe lots wouldn’t agree!

Fashion has changed as well

People used to dress much more formally in the past...then casual wear and sportswear became acceptable day to day clothing.

I remember going to a hotel in the 1980s and men weren't allowed in the dining room without a tie.