Centre Parcs in December - lots of questions!

[thehouseofmirth]

Have always kind of thought CP a bit too contrived and not something I'd enjoy but am finding myself seduced by the Xmassy ads on here and am wondering whether that is the kind of occassion/time of year when it actually comes into its own?

We live in Sw London so I was thinking about Longleat. I have many questions...

Heard food is terrible & expensive. In the outside world we quite like Cafe Rouge. Does this mean we like terrible food or is the quality worse/prices higher in CP?

What will it be like in winter? Was thinking of going Friday 11th to Monday 14th December. How crowded will it be?

Christmassy stuff will it be well done and fun or naff?

Is there much for a 4.5 yo old to do? (he's quite tall so I could lie & say he's 5!)

How much do activities cost?

Which should we book, which do we not need to?

Which accommodation?

Which location?

What's the procedure for arriving - car., luggage, check in etc? Any tips?

Thank you!

All of Pine area I find fine for walking to Plaza. In the past I've been over in PINE 193 (link to video of the Woodland Villa) and that is about the furthest away. I would say that avoiding 106-208. 209 to 371 is central location. 372-440 is a bit further out. I never pay extra to choose, I just let them allocate it. Typically they allocate the top slot in the pick your villa choice, but I book last minute so there are few choices. Longleat Map PINE area

We went to CP, although the one at Whinfell, last December for a week - the sae week you are talking of.

It wasn't particularly busy. It is before the school holidays start which helps. We did get to the pool early as DD had swimming lessons before the pool opened for the public. It never got overly busy and you could always find seats, etc.

We went with 6y DD and 2y neice, along with me, DH, BIL, SIL and PILs. There was loads for all of us to do, including both children. We spent most of the time in the pool or cycling, but the girls went to the Cristma sparties and did a couple of activities each, plus they went to see Father Christmas with a pony ride there. The girls loved seeing FC and it was very well done; kept the magic there for both girls.

We stayed in a 4 bed old style excutive villa. In April we stayed in a 3 bed new style Woodland Lodge. Both accomodation were nice; the furnishings and kitchen were more up to date and obviously newer/fresher looking in the new style. However the old style was perfectly fine; we had no complaints although the oven took a fair bit longer than ours at home to cook food!

We didn't find the food expensive. It was the same menus as Cafe Rouge, Starbucks, etc as they are at home and same prices IIRR. The take out pizzas were good value, although the take out curry was very expsensive IMO. The eat in Indian banquet was great though and DD loved that. The shop wasn't bad prices either IMO. We did take some with us though, and took lots of wine, etc.

We never went to the Spa and didn't use the Time Out clubs.

We booked later than this and there was still plenty of accomodation available. Infact BIL and SIL, with neice decided to join us with only a couple of months before we went, if not closer. And we were ablle to change from a 3 bed to 4 bed villa with noproblem, although ended up going from new style to old style as a result.

Hulababy thanks for that.

Nannynick thank you so much for your detailed advice & links - you should start a side-line as a CP consultant! I was thinking it would be most useful to be nearer the pool than Plaza. Does that make sense? Am still going round in circles over accommodation but need to decide as things are getting booked up and prices are going up too. So it's either a 2 storey old-style executive in Maple or Ash areas with the advantage of ensuite bathrooms, maid service and a more central location but I can't even see Ash on the map and also from what I can see it looks like no streams or ponds in the Maple area or a new style Woodland in the Pine area. Help!

The tapas bar in the plaza is nice. I'd go for a woodland lodge, I was worried CP would be a bit naff but our lodge was quite stylish. Careful if you have stuff delivered from the supermarket, it took them over 2 hours to bring us our shopping and DD was starving by then!

If I remember correctly, the pool is in the plaza. The village square however is in the middle of nowhere. And the pancake house was rubbish.

Ash is the orange section (about the middle of the map). The two story villas are below the black/white marked road - that road is a main route so is used by lots of people plus vehicles (on hand over days, Mon & Fri) plus the Land Train. Plus point though is that it is very near the Plaza, which is where the swimming pool is. A plus point of some villas in Ash is that you get Free Wi-Fi. Executive villa's have it, and I find that if you are next-door to an Executive you also tend to be able to pickup the Wi-Fi.
From Ash, the sports complex and AquaSana are a 10 minute (or so) walk, down the hill (far left of the map you can see the lake).
Maple is the Green area, towards bottom of the map. The hill is steep going up (you can see a red lined road on the map, next to Giant Redwoods) but there are alternative walk/cycle paths - though those are also quite steep.
If you have a child who wants to ride a bike, I would suggest you go for Ash, or Pine... not Maple.

Woodland in Pine will be fine. Only downside is that you may not get Wi-Fi access, as that is meant for Executive villas only (public Wi-Fi is available at The Plaza and the sports centre, and I think in Village Square). I know I Mumsnet whilst at Center Parcs, but will you really want to be doing that?
Personally I wouldn't go for any two storey vila... have a single storey instead, enjoy not having stairs

The small ponds & streams can be accessed by anyone, you don't have to have a villa over looking the pond.

When you log in to make a booking... what number Pine's are you able to select from the list? If you let me know, I can help point out where on the map it is located (as the Center Parcs site still doesn't seem to be showing the Longleat Village Map page correctly).

Have found a more detailed Longleat Village Map. It is a PDF, so you can Zoom In and see the individual villa numbers. CenterParcs Longleat Map (PDF)

Hi, we have booked a xmas break at CP (Elveden forest)there are 6 of us, 4 adults and 2 child, 2 and 4 year olds.

We've got a 2 bed villa but didn't declare the true no. as if I would I should have got the 3 bed villa and there was no point of an extra bedroom for the kids that they would share a bedroom with us anyways!!

But I am very worried now and like to know how strict the check-in procedure is and whether they realy head count the guests at the arrival lodge/point of entry??

Many thanx

sorry to say this, but when I have been they have done a head count. . good luck though.

ditto whenever we have been they have checked who is in the car even though there are only 3 of us! They have even double checked DS's age as once they are 2 you need a 2 bed. Good luck though!!!

As an afterthought, and becuase I work in the hospitality industry, doing this kind of thing is very dangerous in the (unlikely) event of a fire. It's not just about the money. Sorry!