We're back :)
Dp and I are officially exhausted. The kids were in bed by 7pm this evening. Overall, a pretty fantastic weekend. I wouldn't say I'm a complete convert to Butlins holidays, (though the kids are!!) but I was very pleasantly surprised. The weekend far exceeded my expectations, and I would definitely consider going again depending on a few things.
Here's my thoughts on the weekend. I’d firstly like to say a massive Thank you to Mumsnet for making it possible for us to go. We felt really lucky.
When you are back
- Overall opinions from you and others in the family
Very impressed at the High Standards, excellent organisation, and cleanliness of the resort. DP last went to Barry Butlins as a child in 1977, and he felt that it really was now a very upmarket holiday experience, and vastly different to what he expected. The sheer variety of activities on offer was almost mind boggling, we didn't have a spare minute!
- Describe your accommodation
We really liked the accommodation. We stayed in the Wave hotel, and had a family king size room, with a Balcony that had views across the park, and you could just about see the sea! The kids had their own Submarine themed room, with each bunk having their own lights and TV/DVD player. The room had a door, so it was great to put them to bed, and to then be able to put our feet up and watch a bit of TV at the end of the evening! That's normally difficult when there are 4 of you in a hotel room. The bed was very comfy, and the shower in the bathroom really excellent. Everything was VERY clean...and there was some good towel art going on! We had daily housekeeping included, which you pay extra for, but someone then comes in and cleans your room daily and makes the beds.
- Describe your dining experiences
I thought the Premium Dining package we had was excellent, and really good value for money. The package included Breakfast and Evening meal, and the times you could eat between were really practical...8.30am- 11.00 for Breakfast for example. We could eat at the Deck, which was a self service restaurant and I was really worried that it would be a really horrible queuing experience, a massive bundle for food, and generally like a school canteen but actually it was quite the opposite. Considering the amount of people they got through the door each mealtime, (it must have tipped over 1000), it was a relaxed pleasant way to have dinner, and best of all, as the food was all ready...there was no waiting about with hungry kids. The selection of food was described as 'Awesome' by dd, and it truly was, there was roasts, traditional british food, Chinese, Noodles, a pasta station and a grill, as well as all the chicken nuggets and chips a small boy could want. There were starters and desserts of all sorts, and a really good range of soft drinks. Breakfast was similar, cereal, full english, pancakes, porridge, and a range of cooked to order items. It was all completely unlimited and the kids ate loads. I was on slimming world, and there was lots to choose from, so I was really pleased. The dining package could also be transferred to the other restaurants on the resort, so on the last night we got vouchers to eat at the Beachcomber Inn, and they were very generous with what you could have. DP was able to have steak, and the kids had a nice choice of food, I had a chicken salad, and we just needed to pay for drinks. I thought it was really good value for money. The dining package was £198 for the three days, which covered 6 meals. There was so much food, we didn't bother having lunch as we weren't really hungry..and considering as a family of 4 we generally pay about £45 for a meal out including drinks, we felt this was on a par on what we would have spent. So I thought that the Dining Plan was a really great feature of the stay. All food was fresh, and beautifully served.
- Did your break meet or exceed your expectations?
It really exceeded our expectations. I was quite stressed about it being all a bit tired and grubby, and the food being awful. So we were all really pleasantly surprised. People on the resort were friendly and fairly relaxed.
- What activities have the kids enjoyed?
The kids have loved the shows. They really were the highlight of the holiday for us. We saw a Kids Comedy Act, Scooby Doo, Dick and Dom, Freddie Mercury Tribute, Superslam Wrestling, Lady Gaga Tribute Act and Cirque du Hilarious as well as the Redcoats Dance off, Titan the Robot and a puppet show.
The Superslam wrestling was the highlight of the stay for my ds5 whereas Dick and Dom, and Cirque du Hilarious were for dd11. The shows were messy, and interactive….and had a real end of term feel about them…they were the last of the season and the artists were all relaxed and really up for a laugh. The shows felt effortless and fun. We did need to split up to take the kids to different shows, as they were on at the same time, and the kids are different ages.
Dd went to Club Red, the 9-12 activity club and learnt a dance routine, which she got to perform on the stage in the Skyline pavilion, which she really enjoyed.
- What activities/entertainment did you enjoy as a family?
We all enjoyed our second visit to Splashwater World. The first wasn't great. It was absolutely packed, we went at about 11.30am, and it was really really hard to watch the kids with that many people in there. Each slide had a huge queue, and it was quite stressful. However, they had an early 8.30am swim for hotel guests the following day, and that was much better. It was quieter, (still busy) but much easier with the kids, and slide queuing times were much shorter....we could do the waves without bumping into people! Then as the breakfast times were so flexible, we were able to go and have a leisurely brunch! Splash Waterworld was really great, I thought the selection of slides and things to do in there was brilliant, there was something for all of us. DP was very brave and did the space bowl...and looked very shaken after...DD and I did the master blaster....small yellow boats you ride very fast in tubes... high above the splashworld pools. We absolutely loved that!
- Was there anything that surprised you about your break/Butlins?
I was a bit shocked just how big central stage was! And how many people there were on the resort. I'm not good with crowds, I find holidays like that very stressful…and I actively avoid them…so I was quite apprehensive when we arrived and saw just how many people were there! We avoided areas that were full of slot machines and gaming machines, which were very noisy and busy, and tried to eat at the quieter times, and use the fairground when the weather wasn't so great to avoid the queues. Some things like the Football Coaching for 5-7's I found frustrating, as there were 47 kids, and one football coach, and most of the session was spent organising them all, with only one or two football skills practised and a VERY short game, so that everyone got a chance to have a go. The coach did it superbly, but I felt that really, two coaches and splitting the group in half would have been a bit fairer and more fun for the kids. DS didn't want to go back for a second session.
How would you rate/ describe...
- Food
Outstanding, completely surpassed my expectations. 10/10
- Accommodation
Really great, practical, clean, kid friendly, tired parent friendly! Nice to have a fridge in the room too. A TV for each of my kids avoided arguments as they are both quite far apart in age!
- Activities
An amazing range of activities. We didn't pay or book any extra activities, as there was nothing we particulary wanted to, or had time to do...but there were activities that you could book at an extra cost, but there was a good mix of them with free activities, so I didn’t feel pressured to do them. There were really good indoor and outdoor play areas for the children, and lots to do with regular shows and character appearances throughout the day in the skyline pavilion, as well as the evening shows, and the fairground. There was THE most spectacular firework display on the Saturday night!
- Entertainment
The quality of the entertainment was excellent. All the shows were highly entertaining, and very interactive. The kids loved it all!
- The Butlins team
Staff were really approachable and friendly. Some a bit more than others, but I had no complaints. We didn't quite get the hang of the B-Line passes to start with, but a very nice man took the time to explain how they worked, so all was good.
- Things to do for adults
Make no mistake, this is a holiday for kids! Though DP and I did enjoy ourselves, especially the shows. We did find ourselves wondering what one of the adult weekends might be like...like an 80's weekend, especially now we knew how nice the hotel was and that the food was good etc. There was a nightclub on site, and quiz night, and more adult entertainment later in the evening...but as we had the kids we didn't see any of that. Our main holiday criteria is being able to have a leisurely drink or two while the kids are enjoying themselves, and we were certainly able to tick that box.
- Things to do for children
The kids were beside themselves. They didn't know what to do first! There is a HUGE amount, and the spent a long time using the App and programme for the weekend planning what they wanted to do.
- Things to do as a family
As a family, we really enjoyed the shows, the fairground (note to self: Always check what the ride does before your kids get you to go on it with them) and Splash Waterworld. It was a very family friendly break, and we all got something out of it. We have some great memories, particulary as ds5 won the air guitar competition at the start of the Wrestling on the Saturday night, he’s not stopped talking about that…getting to perform in from of at least 500 people all cheering him! LOL
- Would you return/ try out another Butlins resort?
I'd certainly treat the kids to another weekend at Butlins. They really loved it. I'm not sure about another resort. I looked at Minehead and saw all the chalet style accommodation, and it's absolutely not for me. The hotel was excellent though. I would certainly stay there again. I've looked on the website and some of the lodges and rooms look ok...but how they compare to the hotel I don't know!
- What did you think about the value for money – especially compared to other family holidays?
DP and I have spent a VERY long time discussing this. And actually, we overheard other families discussing the cost of a break in a certain well known resort with a large dome structure, and how much more it cost than Butlins. I was quite shocked to hear how much more it was! I had initially thought that Butlins, at £993, including the £198 dining package and daily housekeeping for our weekend was very expensive. But it appears that was actually a cheaper option compared to other family resorts.
Now that we have been and when we broke the pricing down a bit, it started to look more reasonable...for example, the dining package we thought was excellent value for money. And we saw 5 shows, that were of an incredibly high standard…so if you allowed a £20 ticket cost each, away from Butlins...you'd have paid at least £400 to see all of that, if not more! And of course there’s the convenience of it all being on one site! Then if you add on all the activities, extras, fairground, water world, and it really starts to look not as expensive as first thought.
When we got home I also costed up on the website the identical Halloween weekend for 2015. Though you can 't see all the shows that will be on, an identical break to ours came in at nearly £200 less than the cost of this one...so it clearly pays to book early! I thought that price was very reasonable. And of course, compared to other well known family resorts, that includes your food and lots of actives, that aren't available elsewhere.
One other thing was that we were really pleasantly surprised about was how reasonable the drinks at the bar were, certainly no more than pub prices outside the resort for a couple of pints. I really appreciate that, as there is nothing worse than being somewhere where prices get racked up because you're a captive audience. There were good options for kids drinks too, in plastic cups you could keep, and cheaper refills. The kids liked that, and they were well priced too, at £1.99 each.
- Any other comments?
We paid for B-Line passes - see my first post as to why. They allow you into the shows 15 minutes before the main doors open. They were good, and we did have lovely seats for every show, but it was frustrating to have to queue up and go into each venue an hour before each show and sit and wait. I didn't feel that the queues were policed very well sometimes. Despite being asked not to, lots of families would leave one member to save a place in a queue, and then just before the doors opened, another 20-30 people would turn up and push their way in to the front where their family was...and you'd suddenly find yourself getting further and further back! That was a bit annoying.
Overall though, we had a brilliant weekend. I don’t think the kids are going to stop talking about it for months. We are certainly going to consider going again in the future as I felt that Butlins did offer something for everyone….I’m still very tempted by the 80’s weekend too…much to DP’s horror!
Thanks again. It was fantastic :)