Your worse nightmare! (Butlins in general)

Member Name: flossy

Product:	Butlins in general
Date:	09/09/00 (443 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: great swimming complex

Disadvantages: not aimed at under 5's

We decided to give yourselves a big treat last summer and take our then eighteen months old baby to Butlins at Bognor Regis.

We paid £300 for a five night break and its wasnt even worth half of that. On arrival we was given the key to our chalet and it was with great excitement that we opened the front door. I couldnt believe my eyes when we walked in as the chalet comprised of one small room and a toilet. You can imagine our shock as the only place we had room to put the travel cot was by the front door. To make matters worse, there was a conecting door to the room next door and we could hear everything that they said and done and even them snoring at night. The next morning we did complain and they moved us to a two bedroom chalet....so that was one thing anyway!

As I have said, my daughter was eighteen months at the time, and we really thought that there would be loads to keep her busy. How wrong we was. After the first day, we really struggled to find things to do. Butlins just doesn't cater for young children. Ok, so the noody shows were quite good but you cant sit there and watch them all day for five days! There wasnt even a set of swings for kids to play on which I find very strange indeed. The only place that we could take her was swimming. The swimming complex here is brilliant. It has flumes, slides, a wave machine and little ride where you sit on a dingy. The main problem here is the changing rooms. They are far too small and filthy. People with babies had nowhere to put them and you could count yourself lucky if you managed to get a locker!

I have been a couple of times to Butlins in the past and if all else failed you could always go into one of the clubs as they had all day entertainment. That has been done away with and the clubs dont open until 7pm and the main entertainment doesnt start until 10pm. I know that this is fine for older kids but it was terrible for us as she needed to be in bed by this time. As the ente
rtainment doesnt start until late, then of course people are coming back to their chalets late. At 3 in the morning there are still people joking around (and as the walls are made of paper you can hear everything!). I know that they are on holiday so they should be enjoying themselves but its not nice if you have been in bed for three hours!!

I came to the conclusion that Butlins is really aimed at children that are 5+. There really just isnt enough consideration put into smaller children.

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