Mother to baby boy named Daniel, I live in Wallasey with my partner of 5yrs. I take an interest in ...
Mother to baby boy named Daniel, I live in Wallasey with my partner of 5yrs. I take an interest in computers, child development and healthcare.
Member since:10.06.2005
Reviews:9
This was out first trip to Butlins having previosuly tried Pontins and Haven years ago. This time it was my partner and I and our 13mth old son. We booked on the Mother and Baby magazine week as they described it as the perfect place to take a little tot.
Travelling to - well considering it was a 5 hour journey for us and I have a habit of getting lost I think we did well as we made no wrong turns at all! You can follow the A38/30 striaght off the M5 to get right into Butlin. Word of caution if you book midweek leave very early on friday if you go near the M5 and M6 as it took 10hours to arrive home!
We were greeted by a red friendy redcoat and found the car park easily and check in was equally smooth. Our accomadtion was too small to fit the travel cot in (we had booked Silver Room) so we asked if we could upgrade. They were very helpful and for just £19 we upgraded to a 3 bedroom apartment with lots of space for our toddler.
I think a Silver Room is fine for two adults or a couple with a young
baby but defiantely not enough space for a mobile baby so pay that bit extra its worth it. We got a small portable tv wihich recieved all normal channels well and the room was very clean with good working shower and heaters. You have to take your own towels but made are made up for you and they were clean with lots of free fudge sweets dotted around them!
Best Bits The Food!! The restaurant is fantastic - so much to choose from and eat as much as you want. You can pick and mix a great fried breakfast or opt for kippers, cereal, yoghurt, toast all rounded off with fresh orange, coffee or coca cola, fanta etc.
Teatime was even better with a huge choice: battered fish and chips, roast dinners, curries, jackets potatoes, pastas. Dessert was that good we often had two! You could get fudge cake with cream, lemon meringue, hot sponge puddings with custard and for the kids as many ice lollies as they want or fruit.
You can ask for free jars of baby food although our baby just tucked into the regular food and loved nearly all of it. There are microwaves handy if you wish to warm a baby jar and also free disposible bibs and baby wipes.
Really cannot praise the food enough - if you didn't like something you could simply choose something else. The staff were very friendly and cleared your plates away quickly too.
The Splash Waterworld The outpool pool was closed as the summer was over but the indoor pool was large with lots to do. We didn't get to try a lot out as we had the baby with us but it all looked impressive. 30p charge for lockers.
The Rest...
The Funfair Seemed good enough but only a handful of rides and nothing for very young children. No extra charge for this though so good all in all.
The Crazy Golf, and Children's driving school were for an extra charge and the outdoor activites (football, archery) were not on due to the rain.
This menat we spent most of our time int he day in the Skyline Pavillion. This is a huge tent like building filled with arcades to make sure you spend your money. I was glad our son was too young to ask to try everything as it would have cost a fortune!
The children's rides are too exensive - £1 a go to sit in a bob the builder car could be very expensive for parents with many children. There was a huge trampolline but this was £4 a go and the bowling worked out quite expensive too.
The soft play area for the kids was good and had a small seperate area for the baby. Other than that there wasn't a lot the baby could do. Better for older kids I expect.
The entertainement was an expected and best suited to children or around 8 years. Drinks are expenisve as you would expect in a place like Butlins. Most of the entertainment started at around 7pm so in the daytime you did have to read the booklet carefully or you could eaisly miss out on the odd pantomine or disco.
There are plenty of places to buy snacks and drinks in the daytime and a few nice giftshops - prices are in line with what you expect in a holiday camp - higher than elsewhere.
There was a Bob the Builder yard witha few free (yes free!_ rides for children around 3 - 6 years and an adventure playground for children around 6 years plus. I did feel it would have been nice to have a playground for the younger kids - just a few swings, see saw and a slide would have been great. As it was some of the kids seemed a bit upset hey weren't tall enough to play on a lot of things.
The redcoats are very fiendly and always take the time to open doors and say good morning which help to boost the morale.
The nursery was really nice - we paid £3.50 for a 90minute seesion for our son and athough he was slightly terrified aout us leaving him the staff were great with him and the nursery was not overcrowded at all so he got lots of attention which calmed him down quickly.
The green blaize snnoker room was closed as was the Quasar so cannot comment on that.
It was also a fair walk to the loo in the daytime as we had to walk back to thr Skyline Pavillion as none of the arcades or eateries had one. Nappy changing facilties in the men's toilet as well as the women's which was a bonus (for me!) anyway.
All in all the 4 night stay went very quickly - we did enjoy ourselves but were shocked how much money we had squandered so quickly when the brochure tries to make out there is so much to do for free. We probably won't go back or will at least try a few other holiday parks before we decide!
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Was there as a child and remember loving being part of the Beaver club - I was very young then and times have changed as this would be a bit dodgy now although at the time it was perfectly innocent. I find Butlins are too busy and preferred Haven although since British Holidays took them over we are thinking of trying Park Resorts next year. They are meant to be fantastic. Belinda
emski444 24.10.2005 19:08
I have been to Butlins in Minehead a few times and can agree with a lot of what you said about the resort and prices. But I found the food abomnible, maybe they've changed supplier since I went half board last year! Good review! Emma xx
Brazed 24.10.2005 13:57
Nice review. I think we will give that a miss with Leo, I need more to do. Seems like 50% of the place was shut when you went!
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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
Oct 24th, 2005
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