questions regarding pontins/butlins/haven

yummymummytobe

hi,
basically i want to know are these holiday parks really as bad as alot of people make them out to be?
i want a cheap holiday (thinking clubcard points) but am mostly used to luxury hotels and if im honest im a bit worried.
i have stayed at a couple of travelodges - which arent great but they are stayable and only basic really - are they just no worse than that or are they really bad?

dont get me wrong - so long as it is clean and not falling apart i am not bothered - you get what you pay for at the end of the day but some things ive read are disgusting.

is one of butlins, pontins or haven much better/much worse than the others.

also are they generally quite central to the resort they are in as i want it mostly as a base but do not have a car and will have 2 children under 3 with me.

sorry for all the questions but i decided it was a great idea and then read reviews and forums and am now worried about doing it.

thanks in advance

susieb

We love haven. We stay at haven or in travelodges. I prefer haven for accomodation, but travelodges are handy as there are more of them.
The haven kids club are really good, but better for over 5's, the paws club for under 5's are a bit lame.
Some sites have great indoor play areas, others great swimming pools. Some are all action big sites, some alot quieter.
It depends on you, and what you are looking for, but for a holiday with kids I think they are hard to beat, especially with clubcard deals.
Over the last 10 years we have been to most sites, if theres one in particular you are looking at, then please ask and I will give you my personal opinion.
I didnt like cala gran (too far away from anything and quiet a small site) Hopton was lovely as was Doniford bay (but you need a car to get the most of the area).

kizzykizzywizzy

Would agree with the other poster that Haven are pretty good, have been on quite a few Sun holidays with then. I have just come back from a FREE holiday to Pontins Camber sands & although I've been there before ( about 9 years ago ) & remembered it being pretty bad then - it is worse than I remembered it. It was OKish for free, though I think I should've been paid:rotfl: It is totally outdated, just in such a lovely place, I think that's how they get away with it.

susancs

I have been to Butlins in Bognor and Haven near Hastings and found them both ok. I have never stayed in the budget range, so am not sure what that is like. Butlins half board silver accomodation was basic and clean (very like a travelodge room). The only slight problem in our case was the lack of fridge (toddlers milk), but we able to hire one from an onsite shop. The park is by the beach and a few minutes walk into town. Haven- we stayed in a four star caravan and I did have to complain as it was not clean ie. dirty carpets, sink and fridge not working and were moved to a cleaner one. It was about 15 minutes walk into the Town. Out of the two, I prefer Butlins as it was cleaner and a lot more to do onsite.

Myamoth

Hi, I've been to various Haven sites quite a few times, and always found them to be good for accommodation - I took a partner recently who was very dubious about the whole thing, as, like you he usually stayed in five star hotels, but he was quite happy with the standards. They are great for kids as they usually have plenty of onsite entertainment, pools etc. I would say most of them are not central to the resorts they are in though - you would have to check on the details of each site to find out which were closest. I've also been to Butlins in Minehead twice. The first time I took "Delux" accommodation, which was great, very clean, nice facilities etc. The second time we had "standard" accommodation, which I have to say I wasn't very impressed with. It was clean but very basic and small, no microwave etc. etc. Also it was a very long way from the onsite entertainment, making a lot of walking for a small child. I don't know about the other two Butlins parks, but the one in Minehead is very central to Minehead itself - although Minehead isn't very big :-) Does have a nice beach though (just across the road from the park) and a steam railway. Butlins Minehead have a land train that will take you into the town, although it's easy walking distance. I think I prefer Haven sites for accommodation, but as susancs said Butlins are better for onsite entertainment - my six year old daughter loves it there!

purpleheather2810

I´ve been to Butlins at Minehead in May 2007 - we had silver half board accommodation. We actually booked the standard but were offered a cheap upgrade. The accomm was basic but fine. It wasn´t very clean and we had to complain but they dealt with the complaint very well and the duty manager visited us with a basket of goodies (wine, fudge, etc). The food was fine - lots of choice. There isn´t much choice for lunch though, unless you want burger king every day - if we went back I would hire a fridge (or bring one with me) and make our own lunches. There´s a tescos round the corner.

Butlins really comes into it´s own with the entertainment and activities. Our dd was 2 and a half when we went and she had soo much fun! There´s a ofsted registered day nursery on site, where you can book your children in if you want to (including evenings) although we didn´t do this as we couldn´t afford it. You can go to the nursery anyway as they have play sessions during the day (but you stay with them, obviously). There is also a mini fairground for younger kids which is undercover in case it rains. The swimming pool has a little shallow paddling area which is ideal for babies and toddlers. The entertainment was good too - we went during a creative kids themed break as dd loves sticking and painting The evening stuff starts about 6 and the redcoats are so good with kids. There are other things like trampolines that you have to pay for, but there´s a lot which is FREE so why bother?
Hope this helps.

dacharlton77

Ive been to a Haven in scotland and was very good. I have 4 children aged , 7, 5, 3, and 18months there was quite a bit to do on site, but we didnt stay there during the day as we like to get out and about a bit. there was generally childrens activities during the day which looked quite good. The night time entertainment was ok. the kids enjoyed it which was the main thing.

From personal experience thou i woulndt not recommend pontins, espically the Camber Sands site. Room was cold and dirty. noone- seemed to want to listen to our complaint and the booking in process was awful.I belive thou it has recently been bought by another group and they have spent money on doing it up. But still wouldnt go back unless i heard some positive reviews about the place.

I would agree with purpleheather2810 in that butlins has the better entertainment and activities. We visited the site in Skegness and had a fantastic time. Went for the self catering option which was fine for our needs. Lots to do on site, the evening entertainment was really good and it is close to the beach. We are looking to go again this year.
1 thing i would say is make sure it has heating as we fell foul in the haven park and had to go and by hot water bottles and dressing gowns for the night time. and if you can get the haven on the sun holidays it makes it quite cheap.

hope you manage to find somewhere nice.