Centre Parcs Christmas

[MumDSDD]

has anyone booked a last minute break over Christmas at centre Parcs, looking at booking when we get Christmas bonus which falls the week before Christmas so would be a last minute booking,
wanting to be I there for Christmas Day, we have a 10, 4, and 1 year old
never been away for Christmas and wanting to do something different
what are your musts for centre Parcs Christmas,

From what I’ve seen (I’m on a few Center Parcs Facebook pages) Christmas time sells out quite quickly so I’m afraid you might struggle to book that late

As the above poster has said, it seems like all they currently have left are the really fancy accommodations for between £2-5K for 4 nights.

Yeah it would be really amazing and I'd love to do it we are real center parcs fans but you may have left it too late.

Book early for next year.

X

There is still plenty of availability as we need a larger accommodation due to grandparents joining us too, just wondering what peoples experience of booking last minute

Center not Centre.

OP there wont be any lodges available that close to Xmas.

I think you've probably left it too late for Christmas sorry. What about next Christmas?

To be honest CP don't ususally have "last minute" bookings any time.

Even if you manage to get a lodge, you will be too late to get a restuarant or activity bookings, most likely.

The chance of getting the correct size lodge will be slim, the chance of booking activities, meals, etc will be even slimmer!

The park is decorated beautifully with lights.
you can order an Xmas tree from CP but you might want to bring your own. For cooking a Xmas dinner you would need to plan it well as the ovens small (and not very powerful one). Pay for early check in.
we had a lovely time. Paid to see Santa on Xmas eve (this might be sold out by now), had hot chocolate and a walk around the park. Xmas day the usual presents and then dh took the kids to the pool for a few hours and I got on with cooking. Had dinner then a lovely walk around the park.

We often pass Centre Parcs on the way home from visiting family between Christmas and New Year and I always have a wee look to see if there's any availability around when we are travelling and it is always sold out. Could you book ahead on a credit card and pay if off when you get your bonus (obviously not a good idea if you are not certain how much you will receive!)

Christmas decorations. You’ll be unlikely to get a tree unless you book it the minute the activities open. You get icy white lights and silver baubles if I remember correctly, so if that’s not to your taste, you’ll want to bring your own.

We’re going the first week in December and activities were available to book last Friday, so you’ll have another week or so before your booking window opens.

If they do sell out before you get a tree, and you haven’t got room in the car to bring one, join one of the CP FB groups as there are always people who book them, who are offering to leave them for the next lot of people, so you could get one that way, but it would be a gamble.

Santa’s workshop is lovely for children who still believe. If you want that, it’ll go within seconds, so you need to be ready logged on and refreshing your screen for 8:30 on the dot.

Restaurants have gone back to taking £5pp deposits, so be prepared for that. I’ve never had Christmas dinner there but have seen very mixed reviews recently. Again, join one of the groups on FB and there’ll be crowds of people giving their opinions on each location. I have no idea how anyone would do a Christmas dinner on their ovens and your own equipment is banned, so it’ll take some careful planning if you want to eat in the lodge.

In case you're still looking: Christmas does sell out, but lodges do come back when people cancel, and they tend to go again quickly. I've used ParcWatch; it watches a sold-out lodge for your dates and emails you the moment one reappears: parcwatch.co.uk. Hope you get your Christmas trip!

You might actually pick up a cancellation this year.

Apparently, CP screwed up and opened the booking window a few days early, so lots of people who went online at the time they were told booking would open found all the good restuarant and activity slots were already gone.

Lots of very angry people online, and apparently customer service are getting inundated with complaints. So who knows, there might be a few cancellations.

It just sounds like so much hassle having to transport all the presents back and forth. Cooking a full Christmas dinner in a crappy kitchen. And having to pay extra and decorate another Christmas tree when you get there