Is it me or is center Parcs extortionate?!!

[cheekymonk]

Just wondered really. Have paid about £700 for a midweek break in Whinfell forest ( loved the idea of Owl observing etc for ds)which had no problem with but after going through activities to prebook last night it is possibly going to cost another £300 on top for things like pony trekking, teddy bears picnic, looking at hedgehogs, cycle hire and admittedly £100 for dual massade for dh and I. I just think it is so much money and it doesn't include food or petrol! I just think it is cheeky charging so much for all the activities.
I am not tight but now I understood why my parents used to stress about holidays and why we couldn't have that 5th drink!!!

No it is not just you
It is blardy extortionate
Very nice though.
We don't do hardly any of the payable activities when we go...and try and book with discount or do a late booking with an offer.

Am just booking my first break with two toddlers and DH. Gulp. Assumed activities were free...

oh my god, what a total rip off!!
we are off to Portugal for a week for less than that!!!

cant beleive you have to pay extra for all the activities.. somebody is laughing all the way to the bank..

I think it is really expensive and that is what we don't go. £1,100 is a lot of money for a midweek break. I'm not sure how many dc's you have but we are going to Spain to stay in a S/C apartment by the sea (dh, Me and ds) for 10 days and it is costing £1,300 which isn't exactly cheap but for 10 days in the sun I'd rather have that any day than spend almost the same amount for a few days at centerparcs.

believe

agree with lazycow

our apartment and flights in Portugal for the 3 of us was £680

It is a big shock when you first go there and realise that the initial fee you have shelled out is just for the (quite basic) accommodation, and that all other activities are extra!

Admittedly it also covers the "sub-tropical water paradise" (aka giant swimming pool) which is why most people spend all day in there. But if you aren't a natural water-baby, then it's not much fun. And if you have small children, then it means standing knee-deep in tepid chlorinated water for hours watching your DCs splash about on glorified slides, while surrounded by people who really should not be displaying their bodies in public. I swear I've seen women there who were the actual shape of Barbapapa, not to mention the men with gorilla-like fur all over their backs, pierced nipples and ridiculous tattoos all over their upper arms. Then there's the endless parades of yummy-mummies in full make-up, jewellery and even glasses, who obviously have no intention of getting in the water and sit with their toes dangling in the kiddie pool all afternoon.

A tip - don't send the kids to do any of the "crafty" type activities in the Time Out Club because they are no more exciting than they could be doing at home. DD loved all the things she couldn't do at home - the climbing wall, table-tennis, football tournament, cycling etc. Next time we go she will be old enough for the more adventurous "Go Ape" climbing!

Like you, we spent about £300 on the extra activities for the four of us. Dh and dd did scuba diving which they both said was fantastic. Ds went to football academy, dd did the treetop thing, we went to the theatre, I did a couple of exercise classes, had a massage and the spa. And that's not including the bike hire!

Did seem pricey, but everything was well taken up(apart from the step class- just 3 of us) We ate in most of the time- again easy to spend money on all the food and drink places available. Most time spent in the pool though.

Wow, thanks all. Glad to hear your tips/info. We did Portugal last year and yes it was much cheaper but am trying out different ideas. Like all of you just want ds (he is 2.5) to be happy really and thus have some peace!!! Didn't however realise it would almost bankrupt us but you live and learn!

i am going next Monday. Have dd who is 1 so prob wont do many of the paid activities, but my sister did recommend buying our shopping before we got there, instead of using the opn site supermarket.

Have only read op. Agree, it's overpriced, and the accommodation isn't particularly great.

UK is very pricey, I agree. We go to CP in Europe - it is less than half the price and therefore cheaper even when you factor in petrol and tunnel/ferry.
The parcs are just the same. Our LOs love with pool complex and just being out and on bikes, so we don't tend to spend much on extra activities, but they are cheaper than UK anyway.
We do a shop at a local supermarket when we arrive, and self cater most of the week.
Only way to book is direct (via phone or web) with CP - don't go via travel agents or UK, or it will cost you!
Enjoy Cheekymonk, but look at Europe next yr

its a farking rip off for what is basically a swanky butlins.

BellyUP - tell me about your trip to Portuagl - I'd like to find a long weekend for September (instead of CP!!) & am about to start trawling t'internet

Always thought they were very pricey, if you want the outdoorsy stuff I would recommend booking a cottage or caravan near a NT or NTS place when they have kids activities on which are normaly cheap or free. The NTS property near me has two seperate weeks of kids activities through the summer for kids over 6 yrs and activities every week for all the family from learning about animal tracks to getting food from the forest. OK you don't get the spa stuff.

If you have toddlers, don't go in the school holidays (assuming you're not a teacher!)Heck, I've just booked flights to La Rochelle - 2 adults, 1 child & 1 infant plus rented a 3 bed gite for the second week in September which we are sharing with friends with another 3 yr old (hope the kids manage to share a room fairly peaceably) for £275! Car hire won't be more than £150 so the basic cost will still come in at £425 - cheaper than a break at Longleat Centre Parc but so much more convivial!

don't remind me pammo. I only have a toddler but dh is a lecturer and although they are supposed to have holidays anytime between June and August, the fact is that June is usually busy with exam boards and wind up meetings ec so if we want to take more than a week we get left with July and August.

As so many staff at my office were away this July I got lumbered with not taking July (as of course I don't have school aged children) but dh's job meant we couldn't go in Sept or Oct for more than a few days so we ended up with peak time in August instead - aghhh!

We did CP in Holland last year, and I thought it was really reasonably priced. We had a fantastic, well-equipped villa. We paid up front for activity coupons, which I think made it a lot cheaper.

Does anyone know if there are discount codes that can be used for centre parcs?

We're going to CP in Belgium for 1000euros for the whole of the half term week, in a VIP villa (with sauna) and fresh bread and papers delivered daily, plus bike hire for the midweek portion and kids packs and food package.

The same break in the UK in a standard villa, no bike hire, was going to be 1400 POUNDS with NO extras. Even with our overnight ferry at £350 it's still cheaper....and with the ferry it's like another couple of days holiday and an adventure for the DCs.

You can usually find some on the voucher code websites - type center parcs discount codes into Google and see what you get.
If you are booking within next 28 days try WH08 for weekend or midweek breaks or WHW8 for week long - should get you 15 - 30% off. Whenever you book you can always try the word FAMILY as a discount code - usually gets you at least 15% off

Haven't been to the UK ones but the europe ones are really good value. We have been to 3 Dutch parcs and one of the Belgian parcs. DC's love them and would quite happily go back year after year.

We've been a few times but we usually go in a large group and during the discounted period. We have the option to be flexible as our DD is at nursery so no school hols issue. also we go to the Sherwood forest and Longleat. Not been to this one.

We've loved it every time we've been!! My sis even had her 30th there as it's such a good deal. It works out at something like £25 per night per person which i think is really good value. It's clean, safe, no cars, loads to do. We take shopping with us.