So so so overpriced and yes it does feel like a middle class prison camp.
Your car is about a mile and a half away from your lodge in a car-park big enough to get lost in (you are allowed to drive to the lodge to unpack and re-pack at given times; this takes about 25 minutes each way because 500 other cars are trying to do exactly the same thing at exactly the same time on a windy narrow one-way road system with a 10mph speed limit). You're surrounded by 15-ft high fences. In practice, you just can't get out; it's designed that way.
Restaurants ... well, think what Cafe Rouge would be like without the need to compete on the high street and you've got it. The massive, corporate-looking pubs are the absolute pits. The only coffee shop is a starbucks you can't even get into usually because it's so full. The lodges are hmm OK, but well below par for anyone used to self-catering holidays booked through 'normal' channels (because, why would they be any better? It's not the primary product and once you're in, you're in). The only shop is a 'Parc Market' which is a rebranded co-op but with a 20% price hitch.
It's like a cross between an airport terminal, a leisure centre, and a static caravan park, in a forest. And you can't leave for four days.
The woodlands make a lovely environment but then, all woodland is lovely: you don't need to pay £2000 to see some trees. The swimming pools are great but indescribably rammed with bodies. Everything else costs £80 a go. The campus is too big and spread out to get around on foot easily but bike hire is priced punitively.
I get dragged to Center Parcs every year against my wishes and the resentment only grows. I've been to maybe four different ones and there's not much to choose between them; the formula is well-established.
Stick with your country cottages and enjoy your freedom to follow your own nose. Spend the money you've saved on activities for the children which aren't in a containment compound, and look up a local swimming pool that costs £5 a head. If you've got a hankering after a lodge then there are loads which will be much nicer out there. Just as an example, when DC2 was only a few weeks old we wanted an uncomplicated holiday just pottering about in a lodge changing nappies and drinking gin, so we went with one at this place near cheddar gorge (can't now remember exactly which lodge but you get the idea): luxurycoastal.co.uk/luxury-lodges/strawberryfield-park-cheddar - it left any CenterParcs lodge for dust. No big swimming pool but we had our own hot tub which the 3yo loved. Other booking websites are available of course - we've also used www.bluechipholidays.co.uk/
You are not missing out.