I have experienced various haven parks over the years and although never wonderful compared to similar holiday parks abroad for family holiday they still offer accomodation for families with 4/5 kids and disabled parents.
This year we decided the best of them may be hafan y mor in wales, possibly because we have to travel from N Ireland and its handy to holyhead port.

Reservations

As we needed disabled accessible accomodation we have to ring to reserve and therefore miss out on a lot of the discounts the normal person avails of. the designated disabled officer was very pleasant and helpful and did select a good site location given the options and did return our calls as promised. However we still had to pay £10 for the phone reservation which i think is ridiculous. Typical disabled stealth tax. The confirmation arrived as promised and all was well.

Journey

Negotiating our way from the port, once we got out of it, a whole other review!, was quite easy. The haven directions are not really tailored for people travelling this route but for english travellers. The roads are very twisty and the signposting is adequate mostly even without sat nav. They are not roads for the nervous passenger but it was fine even given our fully loaded car with impatient kids.

Check in

we had an early check in especially necessary due to having wheelchair user and we needed time to locate and settle in. the car parking at reception is pretty woeful and no disabled spaces we could see. There is quite a rise into the check in and its quite disorganised and we were there for an early slot. At check in we were also given a free bag of books with novels for adults and kids which i found very useful and could apparently be exchanged somehow, details of which not advised! This actually sums up this site quite well in many ways.

Caravan

Nice location, easy to find and close to reception and pool however the main day activities were at the other end of the park inc boat, beach, football, main play areas and most families, and over a steep hill with narrow pavement. we were in the pensioner zone with the late night boom of the disco of the disco.

the van was well laid out inside with a great shower, but no sofa bed so 2 kids had to sleep on sofas. ok but not what we paid for. The hot water great and room heaters but couldnt find any way to use the fire on the cold nights. The tv video fine but very few channels, mostly welsh stations and sits very low so hard to view from most parts of the caravan. I ended up sitting on the floor to watch. The main bedroom had low beds though not suitable for lots of disabled users and too low to transfer board to in my opionion but the grab handles were good.

The wheelchair had good corridor space to move in and most things at good height. however unlike most parks the walkway was short of the mobile door and a narrow wooden ramp was supplied too narrow for our chair so my husband had to walk in and then sit in chair again. On reflection parking at the caravan was difficult as we had to park back from the ramp rather than beside it to grab onto. but we parked against it to overcome that.

the general equipment worked fine, adequate microwave and good grill cooker and fridge. I wouldnt say it was overly clean but it was okay. we did find odd items on top of wardrobes etc which should have been cleared but this could be good or bad depending on your attitude.

Park Facilities

The general advertised haven kids clubs were all in action, but having experienced them before we avoided many as you have to buy things like colouring in packes £3.50 for the art day etc. think these should be free personally. I didnt feel the show staff were particularly committed nor as hard worked as many of the other staff jobs. The toddler things are woeful and really left to the parents to do with the kids. I think the activities for under 8s are poor, and i had two in that category so it was no holiday for me.

This park suffers from having two sides with bridge in centre so tends to divide into camps. its a long drag from one to the other. the main restaurant was at the other side and the reception side restaurant only opened for a measly 2hrs a day. why bother i thought.

Everything costs excessively to do, much more than a previous haven visit. bouncy castle, small quads etc £2 mini golf £4 and£3 for child, these all add up horrendously. and these are the cheapest activities. The 3 arcades on site are scandalous with 50p rides costing £1 here. Watching the pay out rate, its no good for gamblers. If you are with kids avoid the token machines as in our wk we managed 800 enough for two pound shop plastic ponies. .

the swimming pool was the only free thing, but opened a lot less than most parks, closing at 4.30 for swimmers and before 6 totally, ridiculous in high season. the main slides were broken too. the activities here all cost approx £6 a head too. at least the lockers returned the £1. the unisex changing was challenging. they have a high narrow shelf to put ur clothes on and no seats so hard to change even one child in. the benches outside are just as hard especially if you dont want to offend other holiday makers.

the playgrounds are quite good with small football courts which were always busy and free. these were down beside the only restaurant and bar so at least the kids could play whilst awaiting food, a frequent prob on our week due to obvious understaffing.

There are two food shops on site, but often found one didnt have something and had to go to the other end for it, which became annoying. some essential items were dear inc milk etc and no offers on, but we did quickly locate the nearest village supermarkets which are quite good but small, but worth the effort. However the shop staff were mostly foreign and making the simplest enquiry difficult and purchasing took some time.

There are attractive fishing lakes on site, but these were only useable for by owners. I think this is unacceptable, given the other haven lake sites have access. It is something many disabled people enjoy and excel at. Mind you the owners have to tricky locked access and no pitches to fish. A really wasted facility. Probably dont think they can charge enough for it to make it worth their time.

The Food.

food wise choice and value isnt great, burger king is a lot dearer and more limited and the fish and chip shop, equally poor, cod ok but a few chips at £6 and then charge for sauce. rip off. i could have used the battered sausages as bullets. the main restaurant/bar offered food from breakfast through dinner ending at 9pm.

The menu ended up quite boring. half breakfast, remainder all day lunch/dinner, with two theme nights weds and sun. the theme nights were good value but waiting hr for a table prob not worth it. one evening we had to ask the manager to chase food for my wilting diabetic husband.

I really craved some decent salad type items and did feel decidely fatty after all the meals. I pigged out on salad when i came home. this is definately a chip fans place.

The staff were overrun and i felt sorry for them. I do believe we put up with more than we should have really as a result. I dont feel my custom was appreciated on the whole. I had to chase my bill more often than not and could take 20mins.

Access

Over and above the issues mentioned a wheelchair user would require a fit carer with them both inside and outside the complexes. I didnt feel like the staff were generally equipped to deal with disabled nor have the mindset generally to even open a door for you.

Most activities would exclude the w/c user even from viewing. all the entertainment venues involved quite steep ramps, carpet covered making them hard to negotiate. Even the arcade machines were hard to play as no turning room. The bars are all very high and the jostling that bad it would be hard to get near them in the evening.

The beach is beautiful but totally unaccessibe as the concrete ramp that leads down ends approx 1 ft above sand. Parents with buggies had terrible trouble too, a pity as its a lovely beach with snowdonia views. There is no parking either except for the chalets beside it. My husband had to camp out in the car mostly for the day. There are no toilet nearby either which was surprising. On top of this the disabled toilets around the complex are few and far between and all up ramps meaning a carer is required. independance in general for w/c user is not an option.

General

This is apparently the most profitable haven, and i can see why. its really a money orientated operation. whilst we were there the owners flew in and were being told of the extra vans etc that were going to be squeezed in. this park is going to be ruined quickly at this rate of going. interestingly enough the one girl we met who had a great individual character, friendly, helpful and entertaining was told to take that day off so as not to meet the owners. That should tell you that fun hard workers are not appreciated. Its a pity as this could be a really great location if they werent the rip off merchants.

The w/c user would have to watch out for some hazards like the pedal carts whizzing round the paved areas and roads. these are kid driven mostly so it can be dangerous as you cant hear them coming and they have no understanding of their hazards. The doors around the place are heavy swing doors and got banged by them more than once, so care needs to be taken going in or out.

Conclusions

I think i would sooner pay higher for oasis or butlins if you can afford it, because the quality is higher. It was a good base for us to work from but not to spend all the time at. I estimate the expenditure on site cost us as much as the holiday itself for the six of us. So beware of the sales patter that is the reality. I wonder if after the euro fluctuations settle the worm will turn and they will have to back off a little.

Surprisingly there are no playstation playing facilities or free wi fi which most teenagers require these days. Easy to do and would make the whole holiday better for parties like mine, esp on the wet days, but we were really lucky weatherwise.

Its a pity that they dont seem to seriously seek customer feedback and dont see any other forum other than this to express our experiences, so cant see how things would get any better. I advise potential customers to think very carefully before booking a 'cheap' break here.