The Build Up I had half decided that this years dream holiday would be at Butlins before my wife and I had got the brochure. I guess it’s just one of those things you think you should do while you have a young family. My wife and I are in our 30’s and our 4 children are 14, 7, 6 and 4 so entertainment and value where my main considerations. When the younger kids saw the brochure there was no real turning back as they love Big Dave from Playhouse Disney, the Power Rangers and Noddy. After dredging my memory I started scouring the kitchen for the Tesco Club Card rewards booklet and hallelujah, there it was, buy a discount voucher for Butlins with Club Card money off vouchers, then the search recommenced with the vouchers as my goal. I should’ve just asked my
wife, we’d used them. Next stop the Internet and the online bookings section. I’d got an idea of the cost from the brochure and the dates the kids where on holiday and entered the relevant information which returned with no match but gave relevant alternatives, I printed off the results of several searches, from which my wife and I chose a week in a half board Studio room. Back to the online booking and surprise, an early booking discount was applied, with hindsight at this point I should have gone back and seen what the discount had brought into our budget (a Gallery room). Instead I came away pleased with the ease of booking and the discount. The documentation from Butlins duly dropped through the letterbox on time. I filled the week preceding the holiday checking the route to Skegness on Multimap, the AA and Shell Geostar journey planners and printing potential trouble spots out.
The Holiday The journey to Skegness was a doddle with a nice break at the Humber Bridge, as we neared Skegness, Butlins was signposted, here we hit our first and only queue as we came to the resort with the pavilion clearly visible. Only 20 minutes late for the 4 o’clock check-in, security on the gate told us where to park and check in. Car parking was easy and the check-in was straightforward. So far so good. The block our rooms where in looked a little austere from the outside, inside our room was a shock, it wasn’t value accommodation it was just cheap, the worst I’ve ever seen. A cleaner asked to check the condition of the room and said that we should complain about the cleanliness of the room (she was from another block). We went to get a trolley and collect the cases we’d left in the car, when we returned there were floods of tears as the kids sunglasses had gone, as had our information pack. It turned out that even though we hadn’t complained the cleaners had been back in and had handed them in at their office. This was the low point of the holiday. The next challenge was mealtime; our restaurant was in the pavilion, it was nice and clean, finding a free table was easy. The choice of meals was soup then traditional, foreign, vegetarian, salad or kids main meal and ice cream or a pudding for dessert. At the start of the week the serving area was pandemonium with families milling around, by the end of the week it was quite organised as everyone new the routine. Breakfast was easier due to the reduced choice; English breakfast, porridge, cereal and/or kippers. Some of the serving staff have trouble with English but this wasn’t too much of a problem. Entertainment Its easy to keep the younger kids entertained at Butlins, the hard part is scheduling everything, by Thursday we were getting it right but earlier in the week we seemed to be meandering round catching the ends of all the kids entertainment. There is plenty to see and do but its best if you’re organized and be prepared to queue if you want a good view of the stage, if you want Big Dave’s autograph for the kids (the missus really) don’t leave it too late, as the Red Coats have to stop people joining the queue early enough to clear the front of the stage before the next act. There are plenty of things to do in the area, Skegness was nice barring the weather. Ingoldmells “killed” a day, the kids loved the animal farm but Fantasy Island was mainly some tatty open and covered markets, there were a few amusements and several rides that ran occasionally. The best night was at the Skegness Stadium watching stock car racing, we went just to have an evening away from Butlins but it turned into a really enjoyable night for the whole family (air horns are a must).
Would we go back? If you’d asked on the first or second day at the resort, the answer would be never. If you asked on the Thursday, the answer would be probably not. If you asked now, the answer would be maybe, in better accomodation.
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I have never been to Butlins and doubt I ever would.
tomhughes78 27.01.2003 22:06
brilliant first op - welcome to ciao :)
nictastic 13.01.2003 18:49
i'm sorry for the fh rating, but this review does not take into account any activities or amenities, i'm sorry you didn't enjoy the holiday, but your review needs to be a little bit more informative! --nic
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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
Nov 13th, 2002
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