Does anyone else hate pre booking days out?

[Hopefortomorrow3]

I know its the same for everyone but I miss being able to wake up. Assess the weather and make sure the kids are not starting with coughs and colds and just leave on a good day and turn up.

I want to do something this weekend and the weather is looking bad. It's £30-£50 for the places I'm looking at. But they are outdoors so not keen on booking.

So I've decided we will go to the last cal garden center for cake! Plus they have a playarea.

Can't wait for booking systems to go!

Local not last cal!

I find booking systems are ok because you gurantee a visit and it means it's not packed (not to do with covid just generally nicer to go places where you're not being jostled)

However I do find the 24 hours before booking thing annoying. Everywhere round here you have to book a day or two ahead so there is no spontaneity and you can't say to a friend "oh hey we should go out today" even when there are available slots that could be bookable.

Yes! I hate it! I don't mind for the big, expensive days out. I always would have pre-booked those. It's the swimming pool, National Trust, local petting farm type places where it drives me nuts.

Especially the pool... you have to book a week in advance here even for the outside pool!

No, I love it. You know you'll get in and it won't be too crowded.

I swing between both sides- I like the fact that you know you’re going to get in and that it won’t be too busy. However I agree about the weather and we’ve had a couple of days out that have been soggy as we’ve not wanted to cancel due to already paying, plus a couple where we have actually cancelled and lost the money.
I also find the arrival time a bit stressful, eg if you book to arrive at 10.30am and then you’re running late getting the kids ready etc. Before pre-booking it didn’t matter what time you got there.

Same, have booked soft play twice and not been able to go. And you have to be in at 7 the day slots get released to have any chance of swimming at the weekend

I'm with you!

I miss the days when you could just decide to go somewhere, turn up at whatever time you happened to get there, and buy tickets on the door.

It's tricky isn't it. I hate the thought of loosing money. The prices seem to have understandably gone up too. A basic farm near us is £29 to get us all in. It is basic too. A few chickens. 2 pigs and few sheep.

I agree with the arrival slot too. If you are travelling it's hard to time it x

Our local attraction you just have to arrive within 45mins of the arrival time. Which is good since the last time is 3.30, and they don't finish school until 3.20 (we normally get there at 3.45).

I miss the spontaneity of life.

Or you book an outdoor thing and it absolutely chucks it down on that day but the rest of the week was glorious weather. So irritating.

Agree with pricing - the fancy soft play here went from £13 for me & preschooler for all day to £20 for the two of us for 3 hours on a guided visit.

I prefer it! Our local NT place gets so busy on sunny days that often the car park is full and we would have to turn round and go home anyway. I love that parking is guaranteed and everywhere is quieter. If we know we have to be somewhere at 10 am it isn't hard to get everyone ready it's the same as getting ready for work/school really.
Love that the toilet queue is generally outdoors too, so much nicer than standing inside the loos with everyone squeezing past.

Yes I hate not being able to decide on the day. When will that all settle down I wonder?

Agree. COVID is the thief of spontaneity (amongst all its other horrendous attributes).

It's a nightmare with chronic illness and disability as it isn't predictable.

No, I hate it. Mainly because Ive already woken up unwell due to my autoimmune condition and couldn't attend a pre -booked exhibition. I also couldn't phone them to cancel as I woke up on the morning I was going and just was so ill, I could not get out of bed. Before I could see how I was and just go. I lost money and envisage a rather expensive future. This will probably happen more than once.

I absolutely hate it. I have a very anxious dd and I don't know from one day to the next if she'll feel able to do something and the pressure of having booked something already is too much for her.
Also, I'm an unorganised person anyway, and I enjoy spontaneity.

Yes there's just a list of things I don't like. Although I do appreciate it's good for busy places and certain times. Although it's usually an option to pre-book anyway isn't it? I think it's good that it's an option. But I personally want to not have to consider if I'm prepared to loose £40 due to a kid getting sick or weather stuff.

I've booked an hour and half tomorrow morning at the local imagination play center. That was only £15 so it's a little less to loose if we can't.

I just want to give the kids some days out now and not feel this pressure. It's over an hour away for most zoos and things so I don't like the strict slots.

Hopefully once nightclubs get opened they will allow this to relax too. It's just an extra problem for many clearly.