Duinrell Holland

[saggyhairyarse]

Anyone been?

My kids were surfing the Eurocamp site and found this site, it does look pretty good if you are 5 or 7 and I would be happy to take the kids as theya re doing the culture thing this year.

When is a good time to holiday in Holland? I am assumming the climate is similar to here?

TIA

Hi, we have been twice. It's kiddy heaven alright, my DC's loved it. I posted a review of it in the review section here and there are other reviews there too. We went in late June the first time (scorching weather the whole time) and late August (pleasant and dry but not especially warm). I would love to go back for a short break at Easter some year and see the tulip fields in full bloom. We were very impressed with Holland as a holiday destination.

my kids loved it

i hated it

i really hated it

it was like butlins

and that part of holland wasn't very aethetically pleasing at all

pretty mucha let down

did get stoned in amsterdam though

It's lovely, although we stayed in one of their chalets. We went last week of august, some rain and some nice days which we have found to be fairly normal weather (we went to Holland 5 years running for the last week of August)

Have you looked at the Duinrell website

When we went the swimming pool was only open for a limited time and it did get a bit busy.

There's a nice little town within walking distance and a lovely pancake restaurant just outside the park and it's also not too far from the beach, which was very windy.

It's a theme park - the opposite of culture

Hocuspocus, I know! We are going to Italy this year and will be going to Venice so I am 'up' for Butlins!

We are going tomorrow for 2 weeks with ds7 and dd5 Staying with Canvas in one of their static vans with decking.

We went April 2007 and they loved it. The theme park is fairly low rent (less Legoland more paultons park or smaller) but gives us something to do if the weather is grotty.

We take bikes and cycle to the beach (2 miles) or the Hauge (10 miles)when the weather is good. Only used the pool once last time as they are very strict about kids under 120cm wearing armbands. DD will have to wear them this time even though she can do 100m front crawl.

We won't use the kids club or evening entertainment as it's not really our thing. We tend to cook our own food at the van so can't comment on the restaurants either.

In the evenings we will bbq by the van and play cards with the kids. The huge sandy playpark is open after the theme park closes. Last time we sat there with books and a mug of wine while the kids played for hours in the evening. Very chilled and a lot like tent camping to be honest.

To be honest it's as butlins or not as you want it to be. It will be interesting to see how busy it is this time. The theme park closes earlier on our second week so I think that the Dutch kids must go back to school then.

Will post a report when we get back

One thing I noticed, although loved it over all, was the lack of safety on the rides. Entrance and exits were not observed so if someone was slow getting off they were knocked over by the next rush of people, rides started without children belted up or even sitting down, people were getting off roundabouts before they had stopped etc.The lovely sandy playground with all the old swings and stuff that are now banned in the UK, there was no barrier around the 'cheese cutter' and anyone walking into THAT in full swing would have serious injuries. Just don't leave it up to the operators to observe safety, it's down to you!

That's one of the things that we liked about it hocuspontas. It was like it was when I was growing up before the hi-vis vest mentality set in.

We are of the mind set that the kid's are too wrapped up in cotton wool and little controlled danger will help them learn boudaries and common sense.

On our last camping trip ds picked up a brick that had been around the (now put out) campfire. It was still hot and he got a couple of minor blisters on his finger. It hurt but he healed up and he now realises the danger around the fire even once the flames have gone.

Sounds good, I priced it for next Mays school holiday for 10 days (although might do 7 days and a couple of days in Amsterdam) and with flights it was £700 which is cheap for a family of 5s main holiday.

We are a BBQ and cook for ourselves family

Had great fun there, agree it is an unlovely part of europe, but kids adored the theme and water parks, second the recommendation for pancake restaurant, Oh and the whole place was riddled with some weird frog mascot character - Rick de Frog - most odd.