Centerparks in Europe - anyone been?

[Fragglewump]

Part of me loves centerparks here but I loathe the slightly manic scramble to book anything - activities, kids clubs, restaurants etc. I'm toying with the idea of a stay in a park in holland/ Germany/ belgium but concerned that the booking activities etc will be way more stressful in another language. Any experiences good or bad most gratefully received!

I have been to CP in Belgium and Netherlands and language is not a problem. You can usually book activities online before you go anyway.

I have never been to the UK ones so cant compare but I know the activities are usually a lot cheaper in the european ones.

Also you can book food packages on line before you go as well.

Thanks bruffin! Which parks did you visit? There are lots to choose from.

Yes. I've been to kempervennen in holland.

Everyone speaks English and it's about a third of the price of the uk

I would recommend it highly. It has a real snow ski / snowboard slope. My kids loved learning to snowboard. And it's quite reasonably priced

Kempervennen., Het Heijebos, Het Meerdal, De Eemhof, De Huttenheugte and Erperheide.
My DCs loved the waterski lake at Kempervennen we didnt get time to try the ski dome. Some parcs are better for older dc. Erperheide has a giant ball pit which is ideal for the little ones. Het Heijebos has the tropical dome (pictures on my profile) and it has a good equestian centre for horse riding.

We went to De Vossemeren (Belgium) for February half term. It has a fantastic pirate themed indoor play area with a beach and pirate ship. Our kids (7 and 3) absolutely loved it. The whole site never seemed too busy - unlike cP in the UK.

We pre-booked some of the kids activities (mainly pirate ones) and they were really cheap in comparison with UK ones. We booked the activities over the phone and the staff spoke fantastic English. It was actually much easier than pre-booking activities in the UK. The kids are put into language groups during activities and the staff all spoke really good English too. I would say that about 20% of the guests were British).

We're looking at going again next year.

Still dithering - looks much cheaper than here - thinking about de kempervennen as our 4 dcs are between 10 and 14 but by the time you pay for skiing table tennis bike hire paddle boats etc it all stacks up!

If you book 2 months in advance you get some activities free (they call them toppings)

I've been to De kempervennen too. Tis fab. All the staff speak English.

Don't book every minute with activities. They'll want to spend days in the pool in my experience

Thanks for all your help. I want those toppings but we've left it too late for this year....rats to me for being a last minute loopy!

Seriously, you don't need to book as much as you think. The last thing you want is to be rushing from one place to the next.

And if they have last minute availability, they advertise it in the centre at lower prices