Why do so many people dislike Centre Parcs so much?

[coulditbeme2323]

Following on from the thread about over rated things, CP came up again and again.

I feel I am in the minority on MN, but in real life it runs anywhere between 95-100% capacity.

Of course people are entitled to their opinion and if you dislike it you dislike it, but honestly what do people find so awful about it?

One type that plans and books holidays with the kids being happy and having fun as their main focus. So they will go to places like CP, Butlins, AI’s with kids clubs etc etc.
Then there’s the other type where the adults plan and book the holiday they want and drag the kids along.

Always booked holidays with dc first in mind.

Most of the time we book Airbnbs that have their own private pool. (Have seen Italian mansions with their own lake complete with Swan pedallos or a desert house in Las Vegas with its own pitch and putt course and lazy river) all for less than the equivalent amount of time in a CPs

We then make sure that there is stuff to do around the area and places to go sightseeing a beach is a plus

It might not be jam packed with children’s activities but dc liked not having to be somewhere for what essentially was a lesson. They preferred a lazy get up and playing in the pool and in the afternoon going to an activity that didn’t require too much queuing up and little to no supervision or someone looking over their shoulder. The idea of being somewhere for the start of a lesson at a certain time sounded like school and not a holiday

Same

Most people I know love it, but I can't stand it. Because:

• It's like fake outdoors, and I like hiking and mountains etc.
• I can't stand public swimming pools, they're people soup.
• The restaurants are crap. They seem to a worse version of already shitty chain places at an inflated price.
• The shops are all super expensive.
• The activities are really expensive for what they are - you pay for the convenience of them all being onsite.
• Other than people soup there's nothing to do that doesn't cost money.
• It's caravan standard accomodation at holiday cottage prices.

We used to go when the kids were pre-school/primary school and it wasn't bad value for the time of year - we always used to go for a long weekend starting on the Friday of the last day of term before Christmas - we'd pick the kids up and go straight from school so would get there late afternoon.
Haven't been there in pushing twenty years but from what it sounds like the sites need at best a good deep clean and a lot of a makeover but at that time the lodges were OK, there was a reasonable choice of food and nothing was hugely marked up compared to outside the gates.
Are they another one the places trying to catch up for the revenue they lost during covid by not refurbishing the site to save money but also by upping the prices as well?

It is expensive in holidays, but there are cheats.

Obviously if you have pre school kids you can get great deals, but if you book in advance the first week of October half term can be 600/700 then literally doubles for second week.

October half term is one week - or does that rely on my kids being privately educated? 😂

I'm not a fan of pine plantations and when they say the camps are in woodlands, it's usually a pine wood which is very boring and sterile ecologically (no undergrowth - just piles of grey needles and darkness, few birds and animals).

And I like being away from other people on my hols.

State schools where we are have two weeks. It is an absolute pain, who wants two weeks off in an English autumn?

We have always got two

Because it’s not a real forest holiday but it’s Butlins prices without Butlins stuff.

So it’s shit on both ends of the scale.

@coulditbeme2323 / @SpudGunToo

How mad! I manage an education recruitment business and all of our areas are one.

We have a few private schools and free schools that have longer.

In fairness my son’s SENd school authorises term time holidays so the kids can actually access them, we took him away the week before May half term last year, so I don’t really have to stick to school holidays anyway.

Some state schools do 2 weeks at October half term but it's not standard, in England anyway.

You can ride a bike or do anything you have in CP elsewhere and have choice. Only difference is you as a parent have to take them and join in the activity and sometimes I think it is that which is the attraction to CP.

What’s wrong with that? We are Londoners, my dc loved being able to cycle to the shop alone at CP, at home they had to wait until they were older.

Becoming more common in London, my dcs school started last year.

Schools are increasingly using it as a recruitment tool. Teachers enjoy the possibility of having 2 weeks away, other than Summer and Easter.

Maybe some areas have fewer recruitment issues than others, but once some schools in an area do it, it's very hard to recruit if you don't. It's usually achieved by adding minutes to the school day, rather than taking holiday from elsewhere, so it feels like extra iyswim.

It is shit. Instead of an extra week in the summer when the weather is lovely and the nights are light it’s an extra week in the cold, dark and wet.

Oh I really like two weeks in October, summer feels long.

Teachers who want a couple of weeks of out of season sunshine...

My DN in the Midlands also. It's common enough to be unremarkable but it's also not the standard.

I feel like I'm in prison - the rules about cars, the difficulty bringing in groceries. the booking of activities, the restaurants are shit, too many over excited kids. Our kids loved the pool - I hated it - dh went in with them, I sat in the coffee shop - only place with wifi whilst a baby screamed her lungs out for at least 45mins - I don't know why the parents thought that was OK? Maybe because it was Centre Parcs and maybe that's why I hate it.

I've never been as it's catastrophically expensive. But whenever I've looked at the websites it just looks like a middle class Butlins. Nothing special. Touch of 'enforced fun".
And they don't have washing machines apparently? I don't understand how anyone can go away and not wash their clothes, especially if they're outdoors or have kids.

They are 3 or 4 day breaks, you can live without a washing machine!

They pack accordingly, so that there’s no need to wash clothes.

I’ve never been on a single holiday/break where I’ve done a wash.

the most is a quick rinse of swimsuits

I've never washed clothes on holiday ... even with baby/toddler twins.

I’ve been a few times and it’s never been damp, although is that a recent thing ? Once had a dirty grill pan , told guest services and got wine and chocolates as an apology.