Butlins in a day (Butlins in general)

Member Name: bubblebelly

Product:	Butlins in general
Date:	30/08/00 (135 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Noddy and rides

Disadvantages: Bad catering, filthy toilets

We took two two and a half year olds to Butlins in Skegness for the day. Our main objective was to meet Noddy and friends!
Within minutes of arriving and making our way to Toyland, We met Big Ears on his 'walkabout'. Other walkbouts seemed very frequent - we met Big Ears, Noddy, Tessie Bear and Mr. Plod. A bit of cheeky behaviour from Sly or Gobbo would have gone down well but maybe they were scheduled for another day. Plays started at about 2pm and were every hour - we managed to see two of these. Short but sweet and the highlight for our two was seeing Noddy in his car.
Toyland has some rides which you can use as many times as you like. We went on a bank holiday and barely encountered any queues. They had Noddy cars, teacups, ladybird cars and Noddy areoplanes. We tried all but the planes, on the basis that they were a bit higher and faster than was suitable for two year olds.
If you're going for the day, give the swimming a miss. The changing rooms and pool toilets were filthy. Both our girls slipped and fell on floor tiles that were worn smooth. the pool's chlorine levels were very high and it was both overrated and over-crowded.
Elsewhere the toilets were also filthy, and got progressively worse as the day wore on. In one, we saw two toilet seats on the floor, and a sea of wet toilet paper. not a cleaner in sight all day.
Food was a challenge. We went to eat early, but had to wait a fair amount of time for a table. The variety was pretty poor and we cleared and wiped our own table with baby wipes!
There was plenty going on while we ate - Dennis the Menace ran by. Live dancers captivated the girls.
We endured more Noddy rides and Noddy shows, and at teatime (Burger King for convenience) we watched the Redcoats Girl Band miming badly and Noddy and his Band.
We all decided that it was definitely not a place to spend a residential holiday, but sufferable for a day, if you have two big Noddy fans in tow.

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