@StartingANewNameToday ah I’m so sorry that was your experience!
We went to Bognor, not sure if that makes a difference or not as I haven’t been to Minehead.
I actually think we were originally booked for minehead but they had some flooding and had to shut some of their accommodation so we moved our booking to Bognor.
We paid extra to have a gold apartment (it was still pretty basic to be fair but it was clean)
We also did self catering because I’m a bit funny about buffets, and we have kids with allergies so I just did a supermarket shop when we got there. We did eat in the Burger King for lunch after swimming, we picked up chips late one night to share and had a meal in one of the restaurants one night. It was nice enough but a bit overpriced for what we got.
Our kids were 6 and 1 last year.
The meeting Father Christmas experience was really special (ds6 still talks about it and says that it was the only time he has met the ‘real’ one and not just a helper like at the garden centres etc 😂)
my kids love swimming so we did an awful lot of that, sometimes numerous times a day. They were always cleaning the changing rooms and they were clean in my experience.
They aren’t that interested in all the shows so we did dip in and out, there was one on in the main stage with billy and Bonny and Father Christmas- it was short and sweet so they enjoyed that one.
They especially loved the fairground rides, the soft play, the Christmas lights everywhere.
They also just loved walking around, the atmosphere and buzz of things going on, Christmas music was playing outside.
There was always an activity or show to go to, to fit around our schedule, so we didn’t have to be regimented too much.
I will be honest and say there were some unsavoury families. Screaming at their kids, or letting their kids run riot, a bit of swearing, the smell of weed drifting around now and then outside. But it was really rare, most people were just normal families from a mix of demographics who just wanted to have a nice time with their kids.
dc has already asked if we can go this year again (which sadly we can’t!)