Every half term since my daughter started school four years ago we have gone somewhere different in this country, this year we decided to give Butlin’s at Skegness a go. We got the brochure and looked at it and decided if we should have a weekend or mid week and actually decided on the full week. We duly paid our deposit and eventually the final payment which came to a total of £344 plus £1 for using a credit card, so £345 for a weeks self catering in a Gallery Apartment which was meant to be the best type of accommodation.
Arrival went smooth enough and we got to the apartment and were pleasantly surprised with the accommodation. After unpacking and putting things away as you do we went out for a meal with the kids and another couple that we were on holiday with to the Sun and Moon bar restaurant, which is a Tom Cobleigh establishment. We were surprised to find that they had only 5 menus for the whole restaurant and I could
only imagine what it would have been like if it were busy. Our meals were fine apart from one of the children’s meals which was stone cold but that was soon fixed by microwaving it.
We went from there to have a look around and from first appearances it looked great and the Skyline (big top tent) look quite impressive.
It will be easier now to break the trip into sections otherwise it will be like a holiday diary and become a little stale.
Swimming Pool:- a must for all that love swimming and water, the pool is split into several areas having 3 normal flume rides, the Space Bowl which is a flume that drops into a bowl and you spin around it with the centrifugal force and eventually falling into the tank below and Master Blaster, a powered water ride / slide where you sit on a dingy and ride round it, which is great. The problem with these rides is that they have very long queues, especially the Master Blaster. On a normal day you could wait an hour to get on. To combat this I used to get to the pool 10 minutes before it opened and you could get on the rides as it wasn’t as busy straight away, but it was soon busy within the first 20 minutes. The pools were warm and comfortable and one has a whirlpool / rapids and another had a wave pool but the wave machine was not open or working. This was the best activity and venue of all.
Food and Drink:- as we were self catering I can only give an opinion on the food outlets that we could use. There was Burger King, Harry Ramsdens, Bar Rosso, Pinewood Studios Bar & Restaurant, Skyline Café, and The Sun and Moon, which I have already covered.
Burger King is the same as any other Burger King in the UK and in my opinion better than McDonalds any day but a little more expensive than the town based outlets.
Harry Ramsdens is the infamous fish and chip restaurant and was pretty expensive and the quality was poor and I would not recommend spending your money there when you could get better and cheaper just down the road in Skegness itself.
Pinewood Studios, is a themed restaurant and on the night that we went, it was an American theme the service was poor and the food was very average with above average prices. Skyline Café, sold coffee and tea as well as some food like Jacket potatoes and rolls. Service here was slow and if you want to go for the best value in coffee go for a large Westminster or Viennese. The Jackets were very tasty and well priced.
Bar Rosso was as it says a bar, beer and drink at Butlin’s are expensive £2.25 for a pint of bitter and £2.65 for a bottle of Foster’s Ice. If you drink spirits expect the same pricing but you will not get brand names such as Barcardi, Smirnoff and Gordon’s Gin.
Evening entertainment: - we went into Reds, which is the concert hall (working mans club) of the Redcoats. Each night it opens at 7:00 (another tip if you want a good seat be there before 7 to queue up). The standard of the entertainment on most nights was good apart from one night which was grim. The draw backs of Reds and the other concert hall was it was full of smoke from cigarettes and the cost of drinks, a round for myself wife and daughter came to £5.00 which was 2 pints of bitter and a carton of Ribena which in any ones terms is expensive.
Children’s entertainment:- this was run by the Redcoats and was, according to the kids, great, and they wanted to go again and again. The only problem was that if you were there for a week as we were, the activities were repeated. There was also the fair ground which had 6 rides which were free and a go kart track which was good but an extra fee was payable of £3 or £4 if you wanted a two seater. There is also lots of arcade and fair ground type games that will relieve you of your cash. Twice in the weeks’ program, the Redcoats had the children at a swimming fun session between 7 and 9 at night and this was very popular and great fun for them.
Cinema:- this was a two screen cinema run by the Odeon and was showing the latest films for adult and children. They ran a children’s morning and this was free but as I said before if you are here for the week the films are repeated again. One of my observations was that while the children were at the kids clubs the cinema was not open for the adults.
Redcoats, the mainstay of Butlin’s, what can I say these people seemed to work tirelessly with a smile on their faces, but there was only 12 for the whole site which is by far not enough to cater for everyone especially the kids.
Over all it was a good holiday break if you went for a weekend, anything more is too long as there is not enough to keep you occupied on the site, that includes children and the older they are the harder it will be to occupy them. As for value for money I personally think it is not good value if you take into account all the extras that you would spend whilst there.
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Advantages: Great fun, lots to do, well themed, brilliant location, very atmospheric Disadvantages: Expensive on site, get fat from all the drinking and junk food.
Trixie_Firecracker 12.05.2005 (12.05.2005)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Butlins
Advantages: Lots to do, great fun family entertainment, good standard of accommodation Disadvantages: Limited choice of food outlets for self-catering guests
Mar 8th, 2001
very helpful by (83%):
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