Butlins-Skegness anyone?

[CathB2]

DH has talked me into a trip to Butlins at Skegness with DD1 and 2 (age 5 and 3). I have never been before and am a bit anxious about it !! Have been to (and love) centerparcs so I ma prepared for it to be more basic !

Would be very interested to hear from anyone who has been recently. there seems to be loads to do for the kids, but is it nice for adults too and how is it for friendliness and noise??

I'm sorry to say it but we hated it!

We went to Bognor in June, really looked forward to it as it was our first trip away as a family. The reason we booked there was dd and because we got such a good price for it.

Basically, it is basic and I would say it's a far cry from Centre Parcs. There wasn't all that much for dd but she is just under 2. If your kids are a bit older then it will be great for them I suppose.
The food is basic but one tip I would give you is to get to the food hall when it opens as everything went really quickly. Things like cutlery weren't re-stocked so we had to resort to eating with hands!
We never bothered with the evening entertainment as it was totally embarrasing.

There is more that there are people who enjoy it but I think it will be diffrent to what your used to.

I hope I haven't scared you!

Hi there. I can't comment on the Butlins site itself but I had a week last month in a caravan just down the road from there (literally a few hundred yards away)and was pleasantly surprised at the area in general.

It's a few miles north of Skegness itself but there's plenty to do in the area. Skegness town has cleaned itself up loads and there is a fairly decent park, the beach is a massive length so there are quiet duney areas as well as the donkeys & touristy bits and the Seal Sanctuary at Skegness is well worth a visit.

One place I went and hated was the market/fun fair at Ingoldmells. Crowded and full of total tat IMO.

The beach where the Butlins is is good so if the weather is ok the kids will probably love it.

Have you checked out Butlins Skegness website

We have been to both Centreparcs and Butlins Skegness and loved both!!! We found out of the two that Butlins was best as it was cheaper and more to do for younger kids (ours are 5 and 3). We quite enjoyed the entertainment although it is typically the party songs/kids doing silly dances etc kind of thing but our kids loved that. There is a brilliant water park at Skegness too which we spent a lot of time in.

We loved Centreparcs (was called Oasis Whinfell when we went) but found it was very expensive and we didn't like the night entertainment as it just seemed to old for our children. The scenery is obviously much better though and the cabins at centreparcs beat Butlins hands down although we still liked our chalet at Butlins.

I would go for Butlins but when the kids are older I think Centreparcs will become more appealing to us.

Hope this helps you.

Sorry Nbg had such a bad time at Bognor, but I have been three times with dd to Bognor and once to Skegness in the last three years. Dd was five in August, and she loves it. The entertainment is not show standard, but she likes the children's disco. Dd's main attraction is the rides - we have been twice to Eurodisney, and she dislikes most characters, because of the rides - and she feels bigs because there are some she can go on on her own.

The food is edible, we have never had a problem with cutlery running it - been half term and August bank holiday weekend - not luxury, and soft drinks (fizzy with dinner, juice with breakfast although limited choice and hot with both) are included. Afters we did find a problem with some choices running out.

In Skegness there were lots of foreign staff (not sure if students or what), who were friendly but did not always understand you first time. Noise, depends on how lucky you are with your neighbours - on all sides.

Can't comment on things for adults, because with just dd and me did not do anything without her.

we're off there in December too for the Xmas weekend (prize holiday!! wwoww never win anything...)

Anyway we took the kids (2 and 3) to Butlins at Minehead in may but we went self catering which was much better than the food hall style of eating. There was a tesco across the road and we were able to please ourselves. tehre was a pizza huit on site so dh was allowed to indulge!! It was basic and the acco was very disappointing but my friend who has been to Skeggie and M'head says the Skeggy accom is MUCH better and newer. She says the silver at Skeggy was much nicer than the gold at Minehead so we're hoping for better things in Dec! kids adored it and are still banging on about meeting Bob the BUilder and the kids disco. can't wait to see them with Bob and Santa (eek!)
Hope yo enjoy it
Lesley

PS there's also a spa!

LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT!

Me and DH spent a week at Skegness in August, and it was fantastic! Left Jess with my dad and we had some time out, but will admit, it would have been better with her with us.

The Spa is LOVELY! 3 hours for £16 - it was a true bargain and absolutely fantastic.

The kids will love it - i promise! The only thing is - dont expect them to have a routine! Late nights are part and parcel but well worth it!

Do the Billy, the Billy walk, common everyone and do the Bilyl walk!!!

I have been to Skegness and Bognor. Skegness accommodation is much better, I recommend Silver apartments, even if you are half board, go for the apartments. We had a really nice time last year, dd was nearly 7 and ds was 4 so were able and happy to sit and watch a show at the front of the stage whilst we sat back further.

I think its a good family break, lots of tacky thing to buy but on the whole not too bad at all.

oh, and yes, silver accomodation!

i d never been to any butlins before June. Me , Dh & ds (4) went to skegness one in june and loved it so much we booked for the fireworks weekend in november AND another week next June! My DS thinks it the best thing ever- we had a lovely week aswell. It was better than our holiday abroad last year!

i like it, the kids also love havens, but they are caravans and few chalets. i prefer the chalets myself.

We went to Skegness Butlins in April with DD1 (age 3) and really enjoyed it. I'm always hesitant though at recommending it to others as I think their standards might be higher than ours . We paid £123 for the three of us, half board, silver accomodation (as others have said upgrade if poss because the standard looks really basic) which I thought was a real bargain. So did everyone else, evidently - it was very busy even though it was term time. I think it's fab for young children, though could get quite expensive if you had older ones who wanted to do all the activities. We went as kids but I don't remember there being so many charged-for activities, eg, face painting was £3.50, the cinema was high street prices (though the films were current ones).

We found the accomodation really quiet but were at the far end of the park so that probably helped.

We only went to the early evening entertainment as DD was dead on her feet by about 8.30pm. I don't know what the standard of the later shows was like - probably not that great judging by what we saw of the redcoats - it was all a bit amateur hour. I can't believe Butlins would produce big household names now - I know we went out of season but nothing seemed to be prepared - they did a kids disco which consisted of just playing a tape which presumably no-one had bothered listening to beforehand as they had to keep interrupting it to fast forward songs like Tommy Steele's Little White Bull because the kids were leaving the dance floor in droves Having said all that though DD loved it and I think if your children are enjoying themselves you will too.

The food experience can be a bit grim. The vegetarian selection wasn't exacty inspiring but breakfasts were good and the silver accomodation kitchen was really well equipped so at last resort we could have prepared meals there.

I'm not really selling this very well here, am I? What I'm trying to say is we were pleasantly surprised, it cost us peanuts really so our expectations were quite low. I'm sure if you go with an open mind and, as you say, don't expect Center Parcs then you'll have a good time.