Center Parcs - help me plan please!

[ICanSeeCherryBlossom]

Hi all, I'm sure Center Parcs has been asked about millions of times before, but please bear with me. Also, I know it's expensive and I could go elsewhere cheaper, but this is an absolute one off for my children.
We're off on a 3 night break to Longleat. I know that the pool will be the main attraction for my kids (11, 9 and 7), so I'm sure we'll spend most time there. My question is whether it's feasible to spend whole days in the dome, or whether breaking it up with a few activities is worth doing. I can be a bit (very) stressy about schedules and time getting away from me, so I don't want to add things in that feel like they're using up limited time that we could be using in the pool. That said, 2 and a bit days straight in the water feels a bit much...
Also, a practical question: will we need more than one swimming costume each, or can you get them dry in the lodge?
And food... I am prepared for eating out to be expensive, but I've saved up to make this a real treat and not a money saving chore. Where is best to eat for a family, especially as the youngest is very fussy and won't eat chips?
Any top tips also welcome! Thank you!

You can dry your costumes out on the spinny things in the changing room, where the hairdryers are, they’re free. Other than that your lodge will likely get plenty warm enough on the towel rack to dry things out.

At those ages yes I would think about other activities too, the cheaper ones like squash, table tennis, paddle boat or pickleball are good as the whole family can get involved but just riding bikes around is fun too. These don’t generally get booked up in advance so you should be able to do at least one on a whim. The big ticket ones like high ropes etc will get booked up in advance. It’s way better now you don’t have to book a time slot for the pool, I like going around tea time when it gets quieter and the rapids in the dark are always fun. The dome is fun and there’s a cafe in there etc but I don’t think I could spend an entire day in it- maybe in the old days when they had a sauna bit etc but not now- unless you book a cabana which look great but are ££.

I can’t help too much on the restaurant front I’m afraid as we never eat out there, but there’s a good range by all accounts.

There are loads of parks dotted around, my son loved exploring all the different equipment. We fed the ducks.
We also went bowling, used the climbing wall, played mini golf, played a game where there was an interactive wall and you threw balls at it. Lots of walking. Pancake house. You will need to book everything well in advance. I think booking for activities opens about 12 weeks before you go so be quick to get in there and book the best slots.

Great - thanks both. Didn't consider needing to book so far in advance for things, so I'll definitely start thinking. Also in my head the bikes were just for getting from the lodge to the pool, but exploring on them sounds like a great idea - and my lot absolutely love parks!

Lots of the activities I saw seemed either too young for my eldest, or not allowed for my youngest. There was a high ropes family experience I wondered about (not that I love that sort of thing, but I'm willing to try if they'd love it).

We often spent large parts of the day -sometimes all day - in the dome. With biking it’s pretty much all we found we needed. Plus some board or card games or videos or telly in the lodge. Tried a few paid activities over the years but, meh to them.

Oh bikes are very much a part of the overall experience! You could throw in bowling too maybe, suitable for all the ages. I would book say one activity a day in advance for a bit of structure and let the rest free flow around it.

You can spend as long as you want in the pool and people do, but we are more of an in an out family and only ever go once a day. One costume each is fine - we simply spin them before leaving the pool and dry them off in the lodge. Towel wise we all have Dock&Bay ones which are lightweight and dry quickly - heated towel rails in the lodge have plenty of room for putting them on.
My advice is don’t be tempted to book too many activities - the first time we went we tried to fit too much in and found ourselves constantly looking at our watches and rushing between each one. We never now do more than one activity plus swimming each day.
I haven’t been to Longleat since my teens - Winfell is our go to and with each visit we’ve eaten in the restaurants less and less. I have no issue at all paying top whack for food that is good but I resent paying the same for chill freeze stuff that is often not the best. We’ve found that The Cook range of frozen products sold in the Parcmarket is certainly no worse than what we’ve eaten in the restaurants and although there is the faff of heating them up the money saved is well worth it.
We always take something with us for the first day, eat out once then just muddle through the other couple of days.
Have you joined the Longleat Facebook group - if it’s anything like the Winfell one it will be full of useful tips and information amongst all the complaints

No not true. We had no problem booking when we were there and went in the height of summer. The kids need to figure out what they want to do. Download the app and take a look at availability.

We have been twice (last year) with our family including two year old granddaughter. We go swimming once a day for about two hours. Rest of the time she loves the playground and we go on some walks. My daughter and I always book an afternoon in the Aqa Sana. Restaurant wise I’m not impressed as it’s all chains (expensive and not very good). The good thing is they have Cook ready meals in the shop, so we buy these do main meals. Lunches are sandwiches or cheeses with fruit and salad. We do go out for drinks in the bar and there is a Starbucks for hot drinks after swimming. I second buying Dock and Bay towels - makes life easy with towel drying.

We have been a few years ago, and have just booked for 2nd week of Easter holidays. We could book activities on Friday morning - so have done that as spaces are limited in some things. Just needed to take into account the location of each thing, and time to walk between activites. We've basically jooked something for each afternoon, and have most mornings free for chilling / exploring / maybe swimming. However, the activities can all add up! One of my DS is a fussy eater - but always found something to eat at Cafe Rouge or Bella Italia. Tend to take snacks, breakfast and lunch items, general fridge things, and maybe frozen mince in coolbox so will be defrosted by 2nd night to do a bolognese. But will prob plan to have dinner out at least twice. Don't want to spend most of my holiday cooking! So we may book restaurant times slots soon as well.

You should book a few activities - whether that is eg badminton or other activities in the sports hall or outside activities

there will be many activities suitable for your eldest so I don’t get that comment - because there are many activities suitable for adults. The high ropes one, canoeing, possibly segways/karting for example

bikes a must as add to the experience

lots of restaurants - you will be fine

you will be fine with one costume

we go every year - have fun!

We got a cabana at the pool when we went last year for my 40th. IMO it wasn’t worth the money.

Agree with PP that the rapids at night when it’s dark is great fun. We rarely book other activities just explore the forest on foot or on bikes. If we do any other activity it’s usually bowling.

Have fun OP, I love Centre Parcs but it helps that we live 20mins drive from one, so usually take two cars and buy our food for our stay and take it with us 😂

This is amazing! I've got more out of this thread than I have out of a tonne of googling! Thanks everyone.
I've seen the Dock and Bay towels a few times and wondered if they were as good as they say. Maybe they are!
Interesting about the ready meals - definitely sounds like an option.
Question... We will be arriving around 1730/1800 ish, but I know the children will be absolutely desperate to go to the pool that evening. Will we have enough time to check in and get bikes and then go to the pool? I was thinking of just eating sandwiches in the car before we arrive so people will have eaten. I'm worried I'll just add in a load of stress if I try to squeeze in the pool on the first night, but I don't want to just sit around the lodge with 3 over excited kids either!

Re. Activities for my eldest...he can't go and do them by himself (and won't want to even if I'm watching), and I can't leave the younger two. So we always have to stick together.

Pré hire the bikes- plan to collect Saturday morning (or whatever is the next morning of your stay) you probably won’t be able to pick up when you arrive, I don’t know what time it closes but they like to fit them/adjust seats etc and it takes time.

I think it’ll be tight to factor in swimming but doable if you have everything ready to go in separate bags you can just grab. By that time check in should be much quieter. Go straight to your lodge, leave the car there, one of you could stay behind and do a quick unload then catch up. I think you have until ten to move the car back to the car park so you could just dump the car and go straight to swimming but you’ll have to unload everything quickly when back.

My two tips:

Take back packs - so much easier to carry everything when cycling
Take some decent plastic carrier bags - all the cycle parks are in the open, so put them over your saddles when parking on rainy days and secure with an elastic band. Nice dry saddle to cycle home on.

Mine always loved a game of crazy golf and a session in the nature centre/bird hide.