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Center Parcs & Butlins
thelawnet
Posts: 2,584 Forumite
Went to Center Parcs Longleat Friday-Monday then Butlins Bognor Regis Wednesday - Friday.
Butlins is much better!
For Monday - Friday for a family room in the Shoreline Hotel at Butlins it was £215 (we paid £145 for Wednesday - Friday), Center Parcs would have been more than double (we paid £459 for Friday to Monday).
We've been to Center Parcs before, and even though the activities are hideously expensive they are all booked up in advance; we booked 'High Ropes', which was advertised as lasting 2 hours. 3 of us cost £69, plus we paid £25 for a 3-hour session in the creche, so basically £100.
In the event it lasted barely an hour, of which the actual activity time was just a few minutes - climbing up some poles and along some beams and then waiting while the other customers did the same. Butlins also had a High Ropes course, which cost less than half - £10, you just went up and paid and did it, no queues, no booking months in advance, and it was probably better than the Center Parcs one.
Went along on Thursday morning, signed my son up at 10am to do fencing at 11am, and it didn't cost anything.
We ate at the Sports Cafe and the Pancake House at Center Parcs - both were disgustingly bad, they apparently do not believe in fresh produce, because none was available on the menu (admittedly some of the other choices were better). The restaurants at Butlins were not particularly appealing, although Brian Turner's new restaurant (opening in a couple of weeks) might be slightly better, but we just jumped in the car and went to East Beach Cafe (rather up itself, but good food) at Littlehampton; this isn't really posssible at Center Parcs because you are basically imprisoned in a plastic pine forest, whereas at Butlins you can enter and exit the complex quickly and easily (better for the local economy).
Center Parcs sells itself as eco, but with hundreds of ugly chalets (they are, to be fair, nice on the inside) dotted across its forest, it's anything but natural. The large scale really isn't ideal - they rent out cheap, poorly maintained bicycles (best bring your own if possible), but the site is ridiculously hilly, so after spending £150 on massage for two (and babysitter) we had to cycle up a steep hill to get back to the room. I ride my bike every day at home, so to go on holiday in order to cycle round a park on a poor-quality bike seems a bit pointless. The Butlins spa, which is cheaper than Center Parcs, is just a short stroll away from any of the accommodation.
Nearly everyone in Center Parcs goes with children, but after taking my kids to both there's no question at all which is more child-friendly - Butlins has a funfair, nonstop entertainment and shows (Bob the Builder, etc.) from 9am to 11pm, and it's all within a short, child-friendly distance of everything else.
Our hotel room at Butlins was obviously smaller than the chalet at Center Parcs, but it was of a better quality than something like a Travelodge, equipped with a fridge for beer/milk - the thing is at Center Parcs you will spend a lot more time sitting in your room (due to the distances to get anywhere and lack of evening entertainment) so it needs to be bigger, but then if you are going to sit in the chalet you might as well be at home.
The pool at Center Parcs is nicer/better landscaped but my son preferred the Butlins one because it had better slides.
Center Parcs is a holiday camp for middle class people, which I am - and I was a bit nervous about Butlins, but although there were rather more tattoos on display there (although there were some yummy mummies and such like there too), there were no issues at all, the staff were slightly more friendly at Butlins.
Center Parcs have obviously got better marketing, because they've somehow persuaded people to spend excessive amounts of money to go on activity holiday where all the activities are absurdly expensive and not up to specialist standards, whereas Butlins most of the activities are free and there was no great clamour for them...
Butlins is much better!
For Monday - Friday for a family room in the Shoreline Hotel at Butlins it was £215 (we paid £145 for Wednesday - Friday), Center Parcs would have been more than double (we paid £459 for Friday to Monday).
We've been to Center Parcs before, and even though the activities are hideously expensive they are all booked up in advance; we booked 'High Ropes', which was advertised as lasting 2 hours. 3 of us cost £69, plus we paid £25 for a 3-hour session in the creche, so basically £100.
In the event it lasted barely an hour, of which the actual activity time was just a few minutes - climbing up some poles and along some beams and then waiting while the other customers did the same. Butlins also had a High Ropes course, which cost less than half - £10, you just went up and paid and did it, no queues, no booking months in advance, and it was probably better than the Center Parcs one.
Went along on Thursday morning, signed my son up at 10am to do fencing at 11am, and it didn't cost anything.
We ate at the Sports Cafe and the Pancake House at Center Parcs - both were disgustingly bad, they apparently do not believe in fresh produce, because none was available on the menu (admittedly some of the other choices were better). The restaurants at Butlins were not particularly appealing, although Brian Turner's new restaurant (opening in a couple of weeks) might be slightly better, but we just jumped in the car and went to East Beach Cafe (rather up itself, but good food) at Littlehampton; this isn't really posssible at Center Parcs because you are basically imprisoned in a plastic pine forest, whereas at Butlins you can enter and exit the complex quickly and easily (better for the local economy).
Center Parcs sells itself as eco, but with hundreds of ugly chalets (they are, to be fair, nice on the inside) dotted across its forest, it's anything but natural. The large scale really isn't ideal - they rent out cheap, poorly maintained bicycles (best bring your own if possible), but the site is ridiculously hilly, so after spending £150 on massage for two (and babysitter) we had to cycle up a steep hill to get back to the room. I ride my bike every day at home, so to go on holiday in order to cycle round a park on a poor-quality bike seems a bit pointless. The Butlins spa, which is cheaper than Center Parcs, is just a short stroll away from any of the accommodation.
Nearly everyone in Center Parcs goes with children, but after taking my kids to both there's no question at all which is more child-friendly - Butlins has a funfair, nonstop entertainment and shows (Bob the Builder, etc.) from 9am to 11pm, and it's all within a short, child-friendly distance of everything else.
Our hotel room at Butlins was obviously smaller than the chalet at Center Parcs, but it was of a better quality than something like a Travelodge, equipped with a fridge for beer/milk - the thing is at Center Parcs you will spend a lot more time sitting in your room (due to the distances to get anywhere and lack of evening entertainment) so it needs to be bigger, but then if you are going to sit in the chalet you might as well be at home.
The pool at Center Parcs is nicer/better landscaped but my son preferred the Butlins one because it had better slides.
Center Parcs is a holiday camp for middle class people, which I am - and I was a bit nervous about Butlins, but although there were rather more tattoos on display there (although there were some yummy mummies and such like there too), there were no issues at all, the staff were slightly more friendly at Butlins.
Center Parcs have obviously got better marketing, because they've somehow persuaded people to spend excessive amounts of money to go on activity holiday where all the activities are absurdly expensive and not up to specialist standards, whereas Butlins most of the activities are free and there was no great clamour for them...
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Comments
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I could disagree with so much of what you have posted. But here are a few tit bits:
The Spa's - The one I went to at Butlins was in no way comparable to the facilities you get at Center Parcs, by a mile and a hundred more.
The general activities at Butlins I found tended to get booked up very quickly, were oversubscribed, with little attention to detail and ailing equipment that I wasn't sure whether to trust tbh. The ones at Center Parcs were well run, well maintained and as you can book before you arrive there is plenty of choice if you plan ahead
The fairground consisted of a few run down rides with mostly loud and obnoxious teenagers hanging about.
Accommodation, ok, so the hotel might be a bit smarter, but lets compare chalet for chalet shall we, grotty, run down, filthy bronze style accommodation. The basic chalets at center parcs are clean, and presentable.
The surroundings are uncomparable, center parcs is so peaceful and relaxing, Butlins was loud, brash, in your face and hectic.
As for food, I recall the silver dining as being a feeding frenzy, animals in a zoo eat better, noisy, tannoy announcements every five mins, messy, cluttered and mostly deep fried crap for food.
If you want to self cater the shops at Butlins are poorly stocked and grossly overpriced. At Center Parcs they are well stocked even for vegetarians like myself, a bit pricier than Tesco but not so much as Butlins.
Location, well, if I go to Center Parcs frankly I'm not using it as a base so I don't care how remote it is, in fact the more the better.
It is very much each to their own and I do feel that it largely depends on the age of your kids and what you want to do when you get there.
As a family we have never used babysitters on holiday, but either take turns with stuff as parents or do stuff as a family. I'm not judging your babysitter use at all, it works for some people. For me though we just work round things without one.
Oh, other guests, Butlins OMG there were some ruffians there with their rough looking pets and feral children, Center Parcs blissfully free of such like.
Center Parcs hands down for me, can't wait for May when we go back.0 -
I've never been to Butlins/Haven & certainly don't intend on going. I prefer to pay for what I know & love than waste money on somewhere with gangs of teens hanging round entrances, slot machines, fairground rides & a greasy chips shop. Oh & bingo.....each to their own!
I have had a taste of a Butlins/Haven-esque place in Devon (Woolacome bay Golden Coast) & my oh my......never again. That gave me an idea of what they're like.
But as I said...each to their own.....:)0 -
Our hotel room at Butlins was obviously smaller than the chalet at Center Parcs, but it was of a better quality than something like a Travelodge, equipped with a fridge for beer/milk - the thing is at Center Parcs you will spend a lot more time sitting in your room (due to the distances to get anywhere and lack of evening entertainment) so it needs to be bigger, but then if you are going to sit in the chalet you might as well be at home.
Oh & funnily enough our lodge at CP did have a fridge too - just like Butlins!! And what makes you think that that most "will spend a lot more time sitting in your room" ??? I tend to get off my backside & walk & do stuff & take the kids...seeing it is their holiday. And also you can book your lodge if you prefer to be closer to the centre of the village.0 -
charis18uk wrote: »I could disagree with so much of what you have posted. But here are a few tit bits:
The Spa's - The one I went to at Butlins was in no way comparable to the facilities you get at Center Parcs, by a mile and a hundred more.
Depends what you mean by 'spa'. We don't particularly see the point of sitting in the steam room or whatever for three hours, but yes it's true the Center Parcs has more extensive facilities
If you are having a 'treatment', e.g., massage, then it comes down to the quality of the individual therapist. It's difficult therefore to compare, however the treatment brochure at Butlins was pretty extensive and somewhat cheaper also.
That wasn't my experience this last couple of days in Bognor. Perhaps they have been refurbished recently, but I certainly didn't see any problems. The ones at Center Parcs are ok, but for example:The general activities at Butlins I found tended to get booked up very quickly, were oversubscribed, with little attention to detail and ailing equipment that I wasn't sure whether to trust tbh.
The ones at Center Parcs were well run, well maintained and as you can book before you arrive there is plenty of choice if you plan ahead
Center Parcs Tree Tops course - cost £25 and is clearly not a patch on any of the Go Ape courses
Climbing wall - very basic, not comparable to a specialist facility such as Craggy Island, where I go weekly
Bowling green - we paid £10 for an hour, which is more expensive than you'd pay outside the park and the green was poorly surfaced, and we had to share with another party
Pool table - no chalk was available
The off-site paintball was about 50% more expensive than playing privately at the same course. I'm sure you could go down the list and find that all the activities are overpriced and don't reach the standards of specialist centres.
Rather than paying hundreds to stay at Center Parcs and then hundreds more for their activities, you'd be better off doing the same thing offsite.
Maybe it depends when and where you go, but on our stay I'd never seen so many children under 10. There were virtually no teens on site, and no loud or obnoxious behaviour at all.The fairground consisted of a few run down rides with mostly loud and obnoxious teenagers hanging about.
Can't comment, I didn't even contemplate staying in one of their chalets - it's not compulsory, but let's compare like for like, May 16 midweek at Butlins, £265 buys you a room with oblique sea view in the Shoreline Hotel, that's a separate children's sleeping area with 2 bunk beds, TV + dvd player, with king-size bed for parents with their own TV + DVD player, or you can pay £379 for a Comfort Villa at Center Parcs.Accommodation, ok, so the hotel might be a bit smarter, but lets compare chalet for chalet shall we, grotty, run down, filthy bronze style accommodation. The basic chalets at center parcs are clean, and presentable.
Center Parcs is fairly peaceful, but you've still got chalets to your front, rear, left and right, if you're really looking for that you'd be better off booking a cottage somewhere properly secluded. If you don't want to stay in Butlins you can walk along the sea front or do whatever you like, and at the end of the day you've got a decent hotel room to sleep in.The surroundings are uncomparable, center parcs is so peaceful and relaxing, Butlins was loud, brash, in your face and hectic.
I didn't even contemplate the inclusive buffets tbh, not my thing at all. We ate here:As for food, I recall the silver dining as being a feeding frenzy, animals in a zoo eat better, noisy, tannoy announcements every five mins, messy, cluttered and mostly deep fried crap for food.
http://47musselrow.co.uk/
and here:
http://www.eastbeachcafe.co.uk/
both classy restaurants, a few minutes drive from Bognor - quicker than getting to the on-site restaurants from certain parts of Center Parcs, and a proper one-off experience unlike the chain restaurants (which are as you would expect) and truly disgusting Sports Cafe and Pancake House we tried at Center Parcs.
The food at Center Parcs is let's face it poor. It is at Butlins too, but the difference is at Butlins you aren't trapped in a plastic pine forest, the exit is just across the car park, so you can spend as much - or as little - time in the 'brash' Butlins as you want - when we got there we walked straight out and bought fish and chips from the hut on the seafront and sat eating it on the beach, much nicer than sitting in the chalet at Center Parcs or in their dome thing.
The supermarket was rather poor and expensive, but again you can be out the gate and in a proper supermarket in just a few minutes. The supermarket was really the one thing that I felt was a rip-off at Butlins - whereas pretty much everything at Center Parcs is extortionately priced, plenty of stuff at Butlins was cheaper than I'd pay locally - for instance I paid £2.10 for a Pimms from the pub.If you want to self cater the shops at Butlins are poorly stocked and grossly overpriced. At Center Parcs they are well stocked even for vegetarians like myself, a bit pricier than Tesco but not so much as Butlins.
Hmm, I believe they are building one near Luton, tbh I don't think any of them are genuinely remote, it just seems that way when you are inside.Location, well, if I go to Center Parcs frankly I'm not using it as a base so I don't care how remote it is, in fact the more the better.
Each to his own of course... I was just expressing my surprise really, I thought it would be horrible and full of chavs, and actually it was quite pleasant. And of course for our kids (3 and 8) there was just no comparison at all, Butlins is far more appealing. Consider that if you hate it you don't really have to spend any time there and you've not lost out, whereas if you are at Center Parcs and decide that staying in a forest with hundreds of chalets in it is not your idea of getting close to nature, then you really are stuffed.It is very much each to their own and I do feel that it largely depends on the age of your kids and what you want to do when you get there.
Ah well that wasn't possible at Center Parcs. The only massage available (which my wife wanted) when I checked shortly after booking (which admittedly was at short notice) was a couple's massage. Also because there is pressure to pre-book sessions at Center Parcs, we booked the High Ropes as a family (except for the youngest) and therefore had to book the creche as well. At Butlins, the High Ropes was just turn up and pay, no real queue, and it was next to the sandpit and playground, so taking turns there was much more practical compare to Center Parcs where different activities can be long distances apart - not great if you have children of different ages or with different interests.As a family we have never used babysitters on holiday, but either take turns with stuff as parents or do stuff as a family. I'm not judging your babysitter use at all, it works for some people. For me though we just work round things without one.Oh, other guests, Butlins OMG there were some ruffians there with their rough looking pets and feral children, Center Parcs blissfully free of such like.
Well there were certainly some rough looking people around the camp (didn't see any pets though?), didn't cause us any issues at all though, no bad language or anything, I think the hotel guests were upmarket of the chalet guests, FWIW.0 -
Our hotel room at Butlins was obviously smaller than the chalet at Center Parcs, but it was of a better quality than something like a Travelodge, equipped with a fridge for beer/milk - the thing is at Center Parcs you will spend a lot more time sitting in your room (due to the distances to get anywhere and lack of evening entertainment) so it needs to be bigger, but then if you are going to sit in the chalet you might as well be at home.
Oh & funnily enough our lodge at CP did have a fridge too - just like Butlins!! And what makes you think that that most "will spend a lot more time sitting in your room" ??? I tend to get off my backside & walk & do stuff & take the kids...seeing it is their holiday. And also you can book your lodge if you prefer to be closer to the centre of the village.
I've stayed at CP several times, I'm well aware of the equipment there, just pointing out that even though we stayed in the Butlins hotel it still had a fridge in the room.
They do put in the living room for a reason.... At CP you can very well spend the day swimming and such like, but we ended up back in the chalet at 9pm, spending a couple of hours there before bed time, whereas at Butlins we went to watch the show (which the kids liked), and instead of hauling tired children back across the park on bikes/foot at Center Parcs, it was just a short walk at Butlins. You could of course go to bed early at Butlins, but it's nice that there's another option there besides staying in the room.
Re booking the chalet, only a small percentage are near the dome, so if you don't book in advance they'll be taken, and if you're looking for say a 2-bed economy chalet, you're likely to end up staying on the 'dark side', because not all accommodation types are available in all areas.0 -
Why is CP being described as being a 'plastic pine forest'? As far as I'm aware all the trees are real! There are also ash, oak, birch, cedar, redwoods, maple & fir too.0
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interesting comments....particularly the bit where the op describes the cp complex and being 'imprisoned' in it ! surely people are free to come & go as they please !0
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I think there is the illusion of being enclosed at CP. Actually, at Sherwood Forest anyway, it's dead easy just drive to the automatic barrier and you are out. When coming back the security guard just looks at the sticker on the drivers mirror and you are in. There is a Tesco less than 5 minutes away. the beautiful and free Rufford Abbey 2 minutes away and the magnificent Clumber Park 10 minutes away. It's all down to how you want to spend your holiday.C.R.A.P.R.O.L.L.Z Able Archer0
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missindecisive wrote: »interesting comments....particularly the bit where the op describes the cp complex and being 'imprisoned' in it ! surely people are free to come & go as they please !
You can certainly leave, but the park is setup to keep you inside. According to Center Parcs own figures the average off-site spend is only 6 pounds/visitor/stay for all off-site spend - buying petrol, snacks, visiting local tourist attractions, etc.0 -
why not ask the kids what they want.i do know a bit about kids and what makes them tick. i coached kids rugby at the local rugby club and in school both primary and comprehencesive
we go to butlins every year our kids are now 17,18 and 19.
i would not class them as chavs lol.the 3 kids all work one daughter is training to be a nursery nurse with special needs (blind and wheelchair kids)the other daughter is training to be nursery nurse and our son is doing a sports course and coaches a kids football team.we have had a sorts of different hollidays over the years but every year its when are we going to butlins.
hyltonlad0
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