Centre Parks V's Haven

olivetrees

Just wanted some points of view really......

We have two children 2.5 & 4 and are looking at a week away for April 2009.

Just wondered which do people prefer Haven or Centre Parks?

Centre Parks is MUCH more expensive just wondered if it was worth it?

Would be grateful for anyones input -thanks ever so!

lynnexxxo

Having been to both on numerous occasions i'd go for center parcs. Heres my reasons :

1. swimming - center parcs open 9 till 10pm (maybe 9pm), haven open 10-12.45 then 2 till 4.30. Changing rooms - center parcs, hundreds all decent sized suitable for families, floors dry, haven two changing rooms for 100 people floors as wet as the pool. Haven swimming is generally a pool with maybe a slide, thats it, center parcs is pools, slides, flumes, wave machines etc.

2. amusements - to get to ANY of the activities including the swing park at haven you have to run the gauntlet of a million fruit machines and video games. We went with 5 children (not all mine) so everytime to went somewhere someone ended up crying as they want to play the games, look at the lights etc.

3. Haven entertainment. Sitting in a room with a bear doing the cha cha slide dance. Its noisy, hot and to me it sems the main aim is to get you to part with as much cash as possibly (but mum everyone has these light up guns that cost 6.99 but will break in ten minutes).

Center parks is expensive though, theres no getting away from it. Eating out isn't cheap (though cafe rouge and various others take tesco vouchers and there is often an early evening dining offer). The activities can be quite pricey too. However you say your kids are 2 and four (same age as mine). We never book many activities, my kids were prefectly happy swimming (although by the friday i was like do we really need to go swimming AGAIN!) and cycling, going to the parks and the various soft play areas.

Theres not much in the way of haven style going out for drinks at center parcs, although there is a bowling, some nights a kids disco and some nights organised night. We went to the sherwood banquet which was really good and the kids loved - at £19 each it included dinner and a glass of wine (under five free) so it wasn't too expensive.

If you go to cp outwith the school holidays and mon to fri its much cheaper.
It is full of people with their posh phil and teds buggys etc and their precious little first born though!

mummytofour

Having done both many times too and the ages of your children I would probably say centre parcs. Centre parks is more civilized that haven but it depends on the children.

Mine are now older (11,9,7,4 and 2) centre parcs is no longer an option for me as I am priced out of the market as we need a 4 bed villa. But in addition my kids want amusements, slot machines, entertainment,swimming soft play...

However when they were all little and loved ducks wildlife and the fun of being in a bike trailer I would of gone for C/P every time.

In short
CP is very grow up/civilised but you have to pay for everything apart from the pool.
Haven is more kiddi/tacky but loads more stuff included in the price soft play/pool/entertainment

olivetrees

Thats loads of help - thank you! So far CP has the edge - I can always ask for their gift vouchers for Christmas......and smuggle in loads of food!!!

consumer999

Returned from CP Winfell on Monday. The facilities were good but the lodges very poor - we paid for an executive lodge - the smell inside was awful - smoke smoke smoke. several lights and the phone were broken. There was a pool of water below the fridge. One of the beds was broken. I hate complaining but did on this occasion.We moved to another house which seemed clean. However on Sunday evening first one and then several other mice appeared in the lounge room.I think the whole place needs to be closed for a few weeks and given a decent clean.

affordmylife

have also done both.

it depends what level of luxury you like or are willing to pay for.

quite frankly centre parcs is miles better than haven for a million reasons.

i personally would rather stay at home than go to a haven site. once was more than enough for me thanks.

centre parcs all the way.

we always take all our own food so dont worry about that side of it.

Bestbitter

Have you concidered Butlins? It has greatly improved in recent years, and is extremely good value for money. If you take the Dinner, bed and breakfast option, you don't even have to think about food, and the entertainment is endless. There are shows every evenig, which are for both kids ad adults, and also a full program all day in for the kiddies. If you are bored with that, there is a swimming pool which compares with splash world, and then there are all the outside ativities including the fairground. Generally, it is not possible to find a basic B n B that is cheaper!

simes

As your kids are so young, Centre parcs is ok. To be honest its a bit boring for older kids.
Entertainment is seriously lacking. If you are the type of person that likes to stay in during the evenings then you will be fine.

They would be better entertained at Haven though, and it would also be much much cheaper. The money you save would pay for some rides etc for the kids.

They are chalk and cheese , both enjoyable in their own rights.
Centre parcs - quiet, very pricey , quite boring
Haven - noisy , tacky , but fun

Geenie

Went to Centre Parcs several times when our children were young.

Elveden in Suffolk, which was a bit of a hike from Devon, but completely flat, so a dream for cycling around with younger children at 4 and 6 years. They loved it.

And finally the last, Longleat Forest, which was really hilly, and despite the curving cycle paths finished me off! Luckily our chalet was at the top near the pool, shops and restaurants, as if we had to cycle all the time from some of the lower areas to get there, I would have been well saddle sore by the end. Not the easiet of places for little ones or if you have one of those towing bikes!

It is some years since we last went, but my experience of Centre Parcs was a really safe, clean environment, and perfect for my active children who loved sporty things. It also gave me and OH a chance to have time out sometimes, as they had really good kids activities, and creches which were well run.

Not cheap though, if you start booking lots of things. But pools were free, which my children mainly loved, and so was the wonderful environment they are set in, the woods and lakes. Look out for special reduced deals they have every now and then.

In_debt_5

I have been to CP Whinfell and both times I have felt really ripped off and I have to agree the standard of acommodation is poor. I don't like the fact that you have to pay for activities except swimming when you already pay lot for the accommodation.

Yes Haven is tacky, we went at the beginning of October midweek for £99 in a 2 bed caravan and for price alone it far outweighs Center Parcs.

If the site entertainment wasn't up to much, we made our own as a family;

BillScarab

Center Parcs for me. We're not interested in evening entertainment so we don't miss out on that. The pools are great and the Spas are excellent too, send the children to the kids club and book a coupe of hours in the Spa.

We don't go to CP in the UK anymore though as it is expensive. We go to the ones in Holland or Belgium which are much cheaper (even allowing for ferries) and just as good. In February half term this year 8 of us paid £500 for Mon-Fri in a DeluxeVilla in Holland which included hiring 8 bikes and paying for 2 cars on the ferry. It's not so good next year as the Dutch half term is the same as ours unfortunately but it's still cheaper than here.