Centre parcs with toddler

[Newmumburnout]

I have booked a week at centre parcs whinfell. Really looking forward to it. It will be our first trip away with our 18 m old. Does anyone have any hints /.tips and how to get the most out of it and make it as smooth as possible ?! 😁

You don’t really need to do much as it’s totally geared towards babies children and toddlers! But one tip, all the main bars (sports bar, leisure bowl etc) have microwaves that you can use to heat up baby food. So I’d always take my son’s food out with us and just heat it up there so he’d have his tea then played on the little soft play area while we took turns to supervise and had a drink.

Take a little box of chalks for the blackboard in the villa, and take bird seed/peanuts to feed deer and birds right outside your on your patio.

At that age I’d probably not invest too much money in the paid activities, the pool and soft play and just exploring is enough.

I’d recommend cycle hire with a toddler seat to get around.

Thank you so much for that ! Really helpful ❤️

They don’t have washing machines so take lots of clothes changes.

Take a vast amount of money. Nothing is free.

its like self catering so you need to bring bin bags, fairy up liquid, kitchen roll, etc

need to bring your own pool towels

we try and bring as much food as we can with us as the little supermarket there is overpriced.

we have been so many times with our two toddlers and always have a fab time. X

That’s not true. I barely spent a thing once there with my son at that age as he was so happy to spend ages in the pool and mess about in the soft play.

i didn’t think the supermarket prices were THAT bad, but we only used it for top up. And about 2-3pm they reduce loads of the sandwiches and food from the hot counter 🤣

They do supply a few dishwasher tabs and loo roll but take extra.

Thanks everyone. Will be taking all the household goods, using the pool loads and probably will eat in the lodge most days !

Do a supermarket run on the way and aim to self cater the whole time. I don't actually mind paying for a restaurant if it's any good but our experience of eating out there was uniformly bad.

Absolute rubbish. The pool is free. The playgrounds are free. The soft play is free. The nature centre and toadstool area is free. There is plenty of free stuff to do, particularly with a toddler.

OP take peanuts for the red squirrels, your child will love seeing them at the patio doors. Spend most of your time in that lovely toasty swimming dome. If you want to book activities there are plenty that don’t cost a fortune. The spa is gorgeous if you can spare 3 hours for a session.

Take:
Washing up liquid
Dishwasher tablets
Teatowel
Loo roll
Kitchen roll
Hand soap
Tea/coffee/sugar
All of that is provided but in limited quantities and is expensive to buy there. We also take a good knife and a wok! I think they still have DVD players so a couple of films would be good.

It’s perfect for little kids and you’ll have a great time! When are you going?

Ooh yes that’s true, the tv channels are limited so we took a few dvds for the evening and a couple of kids films for a rainy afternoon. We took extra kindling for the log burner too. There is a Tassimo coffee machine and they throw in a few pods but might be worth having extra or bringing a decent instant.

Thanks for all your this, getting a good list together

We are going In may so not sure about the weather. Hopefully it will be good !

I haven't been with toddlers so no advice there but I echo everything above re what to take.

I highly recommend taking a fold out airer and a spare swim set for everyone if you can. Nothing worse than putting on wet stuff if a second pool trip in the day beckons and there is never enough space to dry everything comfortably.

Also while you don't need to book all the activities, one or two dotted about is nice. We always liked the ones where we could be outside meeting owls or nature stuff which is usually pretty good for younger ones.

It's ace with toddlers!!
There's loads to do, or not much to do if you'd rather!
Plenty of free stuff- pool, forest, wildlife, play parks.
Have fun!

We had an amazing time with our little one. Cost a lot but we made it cheaper by doing an activity in the morning e.g woodland walk, nature trail etc back to the lodge for lunch. Then packed our things for swimming and spent the afternoon in the pool (my DS loves it, so would have happily spent all day there).

Then back for dinner.

We had snacks out, but also packed tonnes of snacks, drinks etc to take on our adventures.

I know that's not a holiday for some but for me, when you have little ones it's a case of parenting in a different location! 😝 also not wasting money on food they won't eat.

Have a fab time!!

😂😂

Great advice thank you ! I will be packing alot so that we have everything we need to hand. I've booked one of the activities the mucky pups I think it's called which is the painting and it was reasonably priced. After all the advice we will plan to eat in all week apart from the Monday when we first get there as DS will need food before we do anything and out lodge won't be available. Excited now 🙌

We took our little girl at 18 months too. Things we did:

1. Didn’t pay for additional activities
2. She loves walking so we walked loads; beautiful woods
3. Swimming EVERY day
4. Indoor restaurants - some have a soft play area
5. Lots of parks
6. We kept to her normal evening routine so she was bathed and in bed by 7pm and we ordered for delivery which many have started doing

We loved it; we’ll definitely go again!!!

We took our little girl at 18 months too. Things we did:

1. Didn’t pay for additional activities
2. She loves walking so we walked loads; beautiful woods
3. Swimming EVERY day
4. Indoor restaurants - some have a soft play area
5. Lots of parks
6. We kept to her normal evening routine so she was bathed and in bed by 7pm and we ordered for delivery which many have started doing

We loved it; we’ll definitely go again!!!

The sports de jardin (sports bar) does reasonably priced food and has different offers each night which helps to keep the costs down. You will have a great time!

You can arrive early on the first day, and even though your lodge isn’t yet available you can park up and still use all the facilities. If you pack a separate swim bag for example, you can just pull that out of the car and off you go.

Same on departure day - you need to be out of your lodge by 10am, but you can pack up, leave the lodge, then park up and continue using the facilities all day. Pack a separate swim bag again, and off you go.

Book your restaurant space on Monday as soon as you are allowed to. The changeover days get very busy around late afternoon and if you leave it late you might have to take whatever is left timewise. Nobody wants a hungry toddler at 8pm.

I was at Whinfell last year with my boy who was 2 at the time. He LOVED the pool.

Where is the soft play? I totally missed that!

As far as paid activities for him, we did the squirrel picnic which was great. He also really liked the messy play workshop - basically just loads of glue, paint, playdoh, gloop, sand etc. He was able to paint some pictures and take them home.

We first went when Ds1 was 18 months old and we go every year. We are booked again this summer and he is now 22 years old.

Every check in day we go to Hucks as it is our tradition. It usually opens at 4pm but opens at 12 on check in/check out days. There are always play areas in the restaurants. Make a note of all the opening times for Parc Market etc in case you need anything or want a Starbucks or whatever. Definitely book into a restaurant, they will be busy.

We always arrive around 10.15am, collect bikes at 11am which is the earliest you can collect them (I now hire an electric bike, complete game changer so I can tackle any hill) and when the children were little we did hire the yellow trailer to be able to transport them distances plus they loved being in the back of them.

We cycle to the swimming pool after bike collection as we always have a backpack ready to go for each of us. We have a swim, the toddler section is fantastic, not now of course but a great place to play for little ones. We also do early access to the villa for 2pm which you can pay for. Ds2 (now 18 years old) and I head to the villa, Ds1 and Dh cycle up to the car park to collect the car. Ds2 and I unpack (packing cubes so easy) whilst Dh and Ds1 return the car.

There is a lot you can do for free, wildlife is literally on your doorstep. We have a spreadsheet to remember what to bring. I agree on taking an air dryer although I think they provide one, we take 2 sets of towels and swim wear. There are lots of videos on youtube of people at Whinfell. I hope you have a wonderful time.

Don't book so much that you are constantly clock watching and rushing from one place to another. Enjoy the pool and just mooching around. We took it in turns to do a toddler activity while the other went for a treatment at the spa but if you can manage a few hours at the spa absolutely do it!

I love CP, not been to whinfell before but Longleat and Woburn plenty of times. We went twice last year and already booked again for this year as it's the perfect place for a toddler!

Amazing! Although I took my LO swimming just the other day and he was a handful although I was by myself with him. We plan on doing the same, normal bedtime which is also 7pm and we will eat in. How did you order for delivery to the cabin ??? X thanks for this advice x