THE SUN £9.50 HOLIDAYS Start collecting tokens NOW!! **BOOKING OPEN**

Rach1234

Hi, this is my fist sun holiday so im still waiting to find out if/where we'll be going. I was wondering if anyone has upgraded with either park resorts or park dean. Ive picked eyemouth, auchenlarie, sundrum, barmston beach and skipsea sands.

All the ones i've picked cant be upgraded with the sun but I'm hoping to upgrade as 1) I have a young baby so would want heating and 2) my husband is very allergic to dogs so on the sites where they accept them in their standard caravans there is a good chance he'll have a reaction.

Has anybody on here ever upgraded before or upon arrival at these parks?
What is generally the cheepest way of doing it?

Thanks in advance

beth01dog

Rach1234 wrote: »

Hi, this is my fist sun holiday so im still waiting to find out if/where we'll be going. I was wondering if anyone has upgraded with either park resorts or park dean. Ive picked eyemouth, auchenlarie, sundrum, barmston beach and skipsea sands.

All the ones i've picked cant be upgraded with the sun but I'm hoping to upgrade as 1) I have a young baby so would want heating and 2) my husband is very allergic to dogs so on the sites where they accept them in their standard caravans there is a good chance he'll have a reaction.

Has anybody on here ever upgraded before or upon arrival at these parks?



Thanks in advance

I've just received my email confirmation from park resorts. They say there is no availability to upgrade for my break but I have always been offered it before so was quite surprised at this. Hopefully you will be able to - if not take fan heaters and lots of allergy tabs!

13Kent

holdol wrote: »

Have you ever booked direct with a caravan owner? I've looked into it a couple of times in the autumn but I still had to buy the passes direct with Haven and instead of £8 per person it was £39!!!! Not so cheap for a family of 5 when I was looking into it!!

Granted if you have a big family and need to buy 6 or 8 passes especially if they are adult passes it can be cheaper to book with Haven. But you can often get good deals booking with owners, especially if you have pre-school children that you don't need to buy passes for, as Haven automatically include the cost of enough passes to fill the caravan in the price, so if you only need 2 why pay for 6? A week in August in a bottom of the range Haven van at the moment in Thorpe Park is about £650, and a top of the range van nearly £1000. A week in an owner's van is less than £500 so even if you have to buy passes you are making a saving, and usually owners vans are far better equipped than a Haven van - even the more deluxe versions. We've been in some that have children's toys, books and dvd's in and even a playstation and bikes, and welcome packs which include tea, and coffee and washing up liquid. We've known where the van is before booking, (one year we booked with Haven and ended up with a van on a muddy pitch at the back of the complex right next to the bins) and you usually get an early check in and don't always have to leave the van by 10am the next day you can stay on the complex but we've arranged to leave the van at 6pm before now so we've been able to eat before leaving without having to pay for a meal in the complex and therefore saving a little more. In effect we've had an extra day in the van included in the price - Haven charge for late check outs, and they also charge extra for a Saturday check in which owners don't tend to do. Also owners can be more flexible with dates Haven's dates tend to be fixed - Haven don't do 2 night weekend stays either only 3.

Some owners also offer loyalty discounts for second bookings, either during that season or during the next season, and owners will often give you a last minute discount if they haven't filled their dates at very short notice or a discount if you book 2 weeks. - and if you ask for a discount sometimes an owner will drop the price just to get the week filled. It's definitely worth looking into before booking with Haven or other similar companies.

13Kent

gailey wrote: »

went 2years ago awful john fowler park st ives.

but this year hubby said lets try again.

missed yesterday sun but got sent bonus coupon anyway so will collect from monday

been researching and decided want

willacombe devon
specific date 14th may 4days
theres 4parks there been researching all sounds awful apart from 1

so would putting 1 date and 1park work?
also thinking from reveiws definatly worth upgrading

says gold 17.50 is that £17.50 each or 17.5o on top of £9.50 each?

last time we did £15 but had to be min of 4 our youngest was under 1
then bedding service charges, club passes brought it to £110 plus full tank petrol and self catered.
the chalet was horrid and dirty, club house we never used, was remote, expensive shop, not exactly st ives and never used pool as was awful

dont 2want to risk bad hols.

my youngest is 9months do I need to pay for him?
its me, hubby 2girls age 6 and 2.

anyone got any recceomendations that been devon before?

I'd be tempted to look at owners vans on the site you have in mind - you only have to pay for passes for children once they are 4 year olds, and you would know what sort of van you were getting, where you can park outside the van or whether you'd have to leave your car in a carpark a walk away - a pain when you have little ones! Also you would know whether you could fit in a travel cot and some owners offer things like high chairs and travel cots and bed linen included in the price. We stayed in a Haven van in Golden Sands, the car park was a walk away, and we had to sleep in the living room because we couldn't get the travel cot into the main bedroom, or older children were in the other bedroom, and we didn't want to leave our baby in the living room alone overnight, and the sofa bed was broken so we ended up sleeping on a mattress on the floor -not the most comfortable holiday!

Also with an owner's van you can find out how near/far you are from the complex, one year we stayed in a really lovely van on Thorpe Park, but it was miles away from the complex near the golf course - far too far for our children to walk, and we ended up using the car much more than we had planned, and finding parking spaces near to the complex was a pain!

13Kent

Minxz wrote: »

I tried for ages last night, not easy as I work in a school so can only stick to a few holiday dates! No joy on any 4 night breaks in the SE or Dorset way... such a shame, i would have loved to take my 5 yr old to Butlins again, as i can't afford over £500 for 4 nights in October!
I tried the mail site, and they had dates i could use, then realised those dates were £40 per person....
ah well, maybe there'll be another promotion soon!!

Try looking for the sites you want on Direct Holiday homes you might get a better deal booking with an owner directly.

kdalwayskint

Has anyone had any success booking today? I've only been paid today so haven't been able to book until now, and I can't find anything. I also work in a school and have to stick to school holiday times

Rach1234

Thanks beth01dog, which site have you got?/ have you used in the past? I'm definately taking fan heaters just to be on the safe side, bit worried about all the posts re: not being able to fit the cot in the bedroom though, looks like ill be sleepin on the sofa bed lol.

james10999

Only started collecting the tokens for this on Monday, and we missed Thursday's paper

Even if we collect all the token's next week, we are going to be one short.

Does anyone know where we can buy a back issue of the sun to make up for this/ We are missing token "17". Just checked ebay and it's over £10 to buy all the tokens from somewhere else.

Gutted

Bootsalebargains

james10999 wrote: »

Only started collecting the tokens for this on Monday, and we missed Thursday's paper

Even if we collect all the token's next week, we are going to be one short.

Does anyone know where we can buy a back issue of the sun to make up for this/ We are missing token "17". Just checked ebay and it's over £10 to buy all the tokens from somewhere else.

Gutted

I've sent you a message about tokens

hmc

hi,
we are all booked up for butlins skegness. we have upgraded as much as we can as they say no gold or premium dining on sun hols
if we were to ask on the day we get there, where do we ask please? also any tips for checking in and avoiding the long queues? i really cant stand for long
thankyou