Centerparcs - essential to pre-book activities?

[IToldYouIWasFreaky]

We're due to go to Centerparcs for the first time for a weekend in September. I'm just looking at activities but the choice is a little overwhelming!
Is it really necessary to book in advance or can you just turn up on the day for some things? We're particularly interested in things like Badminton or mini-golf that seem to run all day every day, and we can be flexible with times.

Certain activities get booked up - like aqua jetting. We book the popular things before we go. Badminton and things like that we often book when we're there.
Don't overbook activities. Our kids are happy hanging out in the pool and cycling. There's no need to go mad!
Oh and cook and freeze meals before going. We usually only eat out once. With 3 hungry teens it gets expensive 😂

If kids are under 8 they will be thrilled with cycling, nature walks, two visits to pool each day and touring the various indoor and outdoor play areas.
If older then the more interesting activities like tree trekking, archery etc will book up.

You don't need to book all your activities in advance, there's always things to do that you can book at short notice. What you do need to book well in advance though is restaurants... it's very difficult to get your preferred time if you're not organised with this.

Agree with not overbooking on activities.

We're going on Monday and I've prebooked my boys two activities each (they enjoyed choosing) and one family activity, plus two evening meals, but we've not gone overboard at all.

I've heard of some families booking 2 or 3 activities a day every day which seems like stressful madness to me. Surely half the point of the holiday is to take in the surroundings and play it all by ear. How do I know if I'll fancy the pedalos or crazy golf til we come across it at the right time? If there's space, we will but if not it really doesn't matter. Plenty of other stuff to discover.

Thanks, that's really helpful!
We're only there Friday eve to Sunday afternoon, and we're going with DP's family who we don't see often so I was thinking that Saturday would be mostly hanging out at the pool and possibly walking/cycling round the lake and then an activity or two before we leave on Sunday.
It's good to know we can play it by ear a bit!