Butlins - As good as I remembered from my childhood! (Butlins (Skegness))

Member Name: mum2boys82

Product:	Butlins (Skegness)
Date:	06/11/08 (451 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: So much to do, loads included in the price

Disadvantages: Not everything was included in the price, not enough time to do and see everything!

We were lucky enough to get Butlins at Skegness as the location for our £9.50 sun holiday. I had high expectations having visited Minehead Butlins about 20 years earlier and loved every minuet of my time there.

Arrival
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Check in for standard accommodation was at 4pm. When you enter the grounds you are pointed in the direction of the room where you need to wait to check in, they have even painted a line on the road for you to follow so you don't get lost. The room where you have to wait is large with a bar serving drinks, there were tables and chairs so you could wait in relative comfort. You are advised on your booking confirmation letter that you can arrive any time after 12.30pm and use any facilities on site.

At 4pm the doors at the rear of the room open leading you into a small room where the Butlins staff are waiting with information packs. The staff worked through a large amount of people quickly the queue went down fairly fast. Welcome packs were handed to you with keys and directions as to where your apartment could be found. The process worked very well, much better than in some other resorts and I was surprised at how quickly they sorted everyone.

Apartments
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We had a standard self catering apartment, having done lots of self catering holidays before we went prepared with washing up liquid, tea towel etc and were pleasantly surprised to find our welcome pack contained washing up liquid (only about 15mls, but it's the thought that counts!), tea towel, wash cloth and a few tea bags, there were also 2 toilet rolls in the bathroom, what a bonus! We had a double and a twin single room, the beds were uncomfortable, creaking with every move you made (and we weren't even trying to rattle the head-board, ah hem), but hey it's a holiday in the UK, what more could you expect?

The wardrobes were plenty big enough to store a week's worth of clothes. Heaters were in every room, the electric shower was easy to use and every thing was clean on arrival.

The kitchen contained a fridge, oven, hobs, kettle and toaster. There was enough crockery and cutlery for 4 people and cooking equipment such as chopping board, pots, pans, casserole dish etc. There was a breakfast bar and stools provided for eating at.

The beds in the apartment were made when we arrived which was nice for me because this has been the first job for me to do on every holiday we have taken in the UK!

The living room area was joined to the kitchen area and contained a small TV, we didn't intend to use it much. BBC1, BBC2, ITV, channel 4 and channel 5 were tuned in, there was also a channel called Butlins TV which gave you information about what was going on at that resort.

Facilities
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There were so many facilities I hope that I have remembered to include them all, most things were free, a few cost an additional amount that I will try and point out.

Swimming pool - This was cut into a few different sections and was either 1.2m or 1.5m deep and quite a warm temperature. The changing rooms were unisex with family sized cubicles. There was often a queue first thing in the morning but was a bit more quite after lunch.

Shop - Opened early and closed late, a good selection of items and food, the price was a little high, but aren't they always?

Bars/Pubs - We didn't get a chance to use these this time so I can't comment too much. One pub had an outside play area that was good from toddler to early teens. Hubby did buy a drink or two from the bar in the Skyline and said it was normal pub price for beer.

Kids Clubs - There was so much going on through out the day that we didn't get a chance to get to their kids clubs but I do believe that there was plenty going on in these too.

Skyline - This looked like a big tent in the middle of the complex, this is where the restaurants, shops and entertainment took place. They had a cast called the Skyline Gang who sang and danced every night and sometimes during the day too, my 3-year-old boy loved these and we spent most of our time watching them! The redcoats could often be found in here too with many character meet and greets and photo opportunities going on. There was a lovely café here that sold hot and cold drinks, hot and cold food, the prices were similar to a star bucks with not quite as much quality but overall I couldn't complain.

Food Outlets - There were; fish and chip shop; Papa Johns (Pizza place where they do an all you can eat buffet at a similar price to Pizza...I mean Pasta Hut); Burger King (at service station prices); 2 restaurants linked with dinner, bed and breakfast holiday makers.

Beach Access - You could get onto the beach from inside the resort, it was lovely and clean and red coats were often out there talking to the kids. You needed to show your key at the gate to be let in, so no one could sneak in that wasn't supposed to be there!

Daytime entertainment - There were puppet shows, dancing, singing, work shops, meet and greets, fair ground rides including Bob's yard which was for kids under 1.4m tall all of the rides had really sturdy seat belts, there were also bigger rides for teens and adults with a good selection of different rides, Arcades to play for money and ticket prizes which you could take to the prize shop at the end of the week and claim various prizes (there was a good selection of prizes available), indoor soft play areas for under 3's and over 3's.

Bowling and Cinema - There was an extra cost for these that were similar to normal 'high street' prices but the films being shown were up to date releases.

Outside sports - We didn't use this as our kids are a bit too small but there was football, tennis and archery to name but a few.

Departure
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The only thing not clear in all of the literature that we were given was what to do on departure. We had to be out of the apartment by10am but we could stay and use facilities until 12noon, however it didn't say where to leave the keys. We left ours in the apartment, but you could also take them into guest services or a key box at the gate on your way out.

So a great holiday then?
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It was a lovely family holiday and I felt that there was something for everyone on the site, however nothing can ever be perfect can it? My only down point is that in the apartments there were no locks on the windows and I was a bit concerned about my children maybe being able to open a window and fall out. However to open the windows you needed to open a handle at the very top and bottom of the window and my 1 year old wasn't tall enough to get the top handle, however if you had dare devil children this could be a problem.

On a plus side the park was very clean with lots of bins dotted around, there were also plenty of vending machines selling hot and cold drinks and sweets and snacks so you would never go hungry or thirsty!

The Redcoats were really friendly and always said hello no matter where they were when you saw them, they were really good with the kids and always looked happy.

I would definitely recommend a visit, in fact we have booked again for next year with the rest of our family coming along too! There is a booking office inside of the Skyline, but with so much to do it's hard to find the time to go and book your next holiday!

This is the first holiday where we have not felt the need to go off site, there was so much to keep the children occupied and it seemed such a waste to go off site when they could be on the fair ground rides for free!

Summary: A great holiday for the whole family.