Oasis Whinfell (Center Parcs)

Member Name: jabbag

Product:	Center Parcs
Date:	19/05/04 (5010 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Relaxing, Enjoyable

Disadvantages: Activities expensive

Visited Oasis Whinfell in Cumbria on 26/04/04 for a 4 night midweek break. Although the earliest check-in was 3.30pm, you can arrive at 10.30am and leave your car in the main car park which we did. We headed straight for the sub-tropical pool area and found it very busy as most people head straight for the pools on the first day. There were several pools and every day certain parts were closed off for some reason which staff could never explain. The pools were much quieter throughout the rest of the week.

Headed for the main car park at 3pm and of course everyone else had the same idea and there must have been a hundred cars queuing for access to the lodges. We instead walked to our lodge and the swipe card did allow us to enter the property even though it was before 3.30pm.

The resort was fairly busy and most of the visitors were young couples with pre-school children and a lot of grandparents visiting with their children.

Our accommodation was a 2 bedroom woodland lodge which was dated internally. The second bedroom was very cramped but the lodge was clean and comfortable. It had a fireplace which you should only use a Duraflame log on (a pre-made log which you light and it then burns brightly for 2 hours). They sell them in the Center Parcs supermarket in packs of three for £6.99 but we bought them at Sainsburys for £1.85 each. We also took a DVD player with us and it worked fine, even though Center Parcs state you shouldn?t bring one with you as it won?t work with their TV.

We didn?t undertake any activities as we used the sub-tropical water park every day but there was a lot to choose from. We took in a 60s/70s/80s song show in the Green Room which was £5.25 each instead of the usual £10.50. This was very good and it was certainly worth the money.

We mainly ate in our lodge but we h
ad one meal out at the American Rock Café. Cocktails were £4.95 each, chicken fajitas was £11.95 and a large burger and chips was £8.95. We thought this was good value as the portions were very filling. The only other food prices I can remember was £7.95 for a curry at the curry house and rice was £2.25. Coffees by the pools were £1.60. We did a supermarket shop at Morrisons in Darlington beforehand but the prices in their own supermarket were on par with your local Spar shop.

We hired a bike each for 24 hours but wished we?d hired one for the stay as it?s easier to get about and explore with a bike. The rate was about £9.50 per bike per day or about double that for the 4 days. They sell locks for £1.50 each and this lock will fit 2 bikes. You must lock your bike up as when we went to hire the bikes, someone was complaining that his bike had been stolen and he hadn?t locked it up. We also saw people the worse for drink finding it highly amusing to be pinching unlocked bikes to ride back to their lodge on instead of walking.

On our last day on Friday, the Center Parcs information channel on the TV was inviting us to extend our stay for a weekend break for £150 even though that weekend was the first May Bank Holiday weekend. Although we didn?t take up the offer, we worked out that had we booked up for the weekend in advance, we would have paid more than double that. They perhaps often repeat this offer.

We paid £292 for this break which included a 25% discount found in a newspaper. The website also had various discounts for late bookings. The break was very relaxing and the park had much to see and do.

Summary: