Netherlands holiday parks for older children (not Duinrell) recommendations

[sugarbum]

I'm planning a last minute break for a family of 4.
The kids are 8 and 11. The 8 year old is pretty much up for anything and loves adventure.

The 11 year old hit puberty a while back and is like a sulky teenager. He just wants a 'decent waterpark'. We went to Legoland the other day and he was miserable the whole time.

I planned on just heading to Duinrell, which seems to fit the bill for him, but the only dates available now are a weekend stay (3 nights) at the end of August, which is fine, but if we are paying for a ferry, I'd like to add a midweek break onto the front of this.

Obviously I can't plan for the weather, so I'm after something along the lines of Duinrell, i.e something that has an indoor waterpark plus anything else.

We will have the car, but I don't want to drive more than about 2.5 hours away from the Hook of Holland as the ferry trip I anticipate being extremely hard work (the 11 year old again)

We aren't beach people and Efteling looks great for DS2 but DS1 will not be impressed.

Any suggestions would be great. I did spot one called Slagharen which also seems to fit the bill but is a bit farther away from the ferry port than I'd like.

Kempervennen might suit you all.

We went to Efteling with older teenagers who usually like the big roller coasters and they really enjoyed it.

I have looked at staying at Efteling for one night. It does somewhat blow our budget somewhat though (more than one night not available so I'd still have to cover the other 3 nights)

I don't think the water park at Duinrell is a patch on the ones at Center Parcs.
We enjoyed Kempervennan and had a day at Efteling. A day was plenty for older children

Yep, CenterParcs. We went to Kempervennen. Real snow ski slopes!

Why don't you do Amsterdam before or after Duinrell? It's brilliant for kids, loads to do, easy to avoid the dodgy bits and maybe more fun for you than a waterpark?

I would recommend Center Parcs De Kempervennen too. It has loads of activities available including various water sports, an inflatable assault course in the lake, climbing walls, zip wires etc. There is also the swimming pool which has slides and rapids and like others have said there is a snow dome where you can have skiing or snowboarding lessons. The last week in August tends to be cheaper too.

I forgot to mention that if you stay at De Kempervennen you can have a day at De Vossemeren (Center Parcs in Belgium) which is a short drive away. Just take your swim pass and you can use all their facilities. They have a great pool which has a really good flume called ‘Monkey Splash’

Landal Het Vennebos www.landal.com/parks/het-vennenbos