We don't wanna go home (Butlins (Skegness))

Member Name: Groovee

Product:	Butlins (Skegness)
Date:	25/11/03 (1971 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Lots to do, half board option, reasonable prices

Disadvantages: Can be far to travel for some people

Having just returned from Butlins at Skegness I thought I would write about our experience! This is based around having young children under the age of 5!

Butlins at Skegness is on the A52 road and is very well signed posted to find it! It's not far from Maplethorpe!

It says in the brochure that you can see the main pavilion from 7 miles away. It took us to be about 3 miles before we started to see the top of it and that was coming thru the centre of Skegness rather than the coastal route! It wasn't planned that way but the AA road directions gave us the wrong turn off and we still got to Skegness just not on the Coastal route!

OoO Butlins OoO

Butlins was formed by Billy Butlin and was a well known holiday camp! Over the years things have changed to accommodate the changes in life, but one thing that has stayed the same is the Famous 'Redcoats' who are the entertainment staff at Butlins!

We chose to go to Butlins as it looked as though there was lots to do with young children and that our 3 year old would be well catered for in the entertainment side of it! We also liked the thought of half board for a reasonable price!

*A*C*C*O*M*M*O*D*A*T*I*O*N*

There are 4 types of accommodation at Skegness. Standard, Silver, Gold and Deluxe. You can also choose to go self catering or Half board. Half board includes a breakfast and 3 course dinner.

Standard Accommodation is a basic accommodation and as you go up the levels it gets better decoration and more features. For example in Standard Accommodation you will get a TV meanwhile in Deluxe Accommodation you will get a widescreen TV and video/DVD player!

I also noticed by peering in the windows as we walked past that the furniture is of a better quality in Deluxe of that to standard.

We stayed in Deluxe and it cost us £505 for our 4 night half board stay.

The deluxe accommodation was set in it's own little cul-d
e-sac of 18 apartments! You had a little conservatory type area at the front as a front door. There was a curtain just past the tiling area in the conservatory which gave you privacy when needed.

The living area was off a reasonable size. There were 2 armchairs and a sofa and a widescreen TV with a Video/DVD player. In a small alcove bit towards the back of the room like an understairs cupboard was a fridge, with a kettle, cups, teapot and spoons. Also in the living area was a mirror which we discovered housed an iron and Ironing board!

At the back of the living area was a bedroom! It had 2 single beds in it and a wardrobe with a dressing table area. There was also a sink in that room so we used it to sterilise all the bottles etc for our son. We found having to put the children downstairs a shock. I never expected it at all! Our 3 year old was very content to sleep downstairs and loved her downstairs bedroom!

Up the stairs was the bathroom. It was a basic standard bathroom, which had a shower over the bath! There was also a lot of room to allow space to dry yourself etc. My major complaint was that there was no Window in the bathroom. I hate not having a window in the bathroom. But for a week I coped!

The main bedroom upstairs covered the size of the living area and downstairs bedroom. There was a lot of unused room in there and we ended up bringing the travel cot with our 8 month old upstairs to sleep in our room! The room had a huge wardrobe and it filled up most of the wall. There was a TV on the dressing table area as well as a hairdryer being provided. There was also a door in the bedroom. This led out to the balcony which may have been nice at night times but the balcony had a lot of cigarette ends lying about and we didn't like the mess although they did say it would be cleaned up it wasn't!

The decoration in both bedrooms was green and pink. They also had the same covers on the beds!

Outside th
e accommodation was a private Parking space which is great as it means you don't need to leave your car parked beside lots of other ones and it saves you have to walk for miles to get to it if you fancy a day out somewhere else. There is also a paved area where we sat a lot at night and talked. It was nice to be able to sit outside for once with out it raining or being too noisy.

OoO HALF BOARD MEALS OoO

There are 2 restaurants for half board meals. Ocean Drive is situated inside the Skyline Pavilion. And Coral beach is situated underneath the home of the Reds! We were at the Coral beach Restaurant! I remember reading a few reviews about Half Board at Skegness and had this worry because they all mention about getting allocated times for meals and have to sit at certain tables.

When we arrived, the sheet of paper which had out meal ticket on, said Breakfast 8-10am Dinner 4.00-6.30pm. I asked at check in about it and they said just to go along when we wanted! So on teh first night we went for 4.30pm and found it to be reasonably quiet. You hand your meal tickets in at the door and the get a hole punched in them. The girl then told us to go in and find a table anywhere.

We found a table for 4, a highchair and then We went up for dinner. The first night gave a great variety from, Fish and Chips, Roast Chicken dinner, pasta bolognaise, beef stir fry and roast beef salad. For children there was Cornish pastie or pizza with chips! There was soup for a starter but it was too hot. For pudding you could have Bannoffi pie or ice cream or treacle pudding.

You go up with your tray to which ever counter you wish and ask for your food. There was always plenty food and I very rarely had to wait in a queue! There is always fish and chips and a salad bar, but all the other counters had something different every night.


oOo ENTERTAINMENT oOo

There are 3 entertainment area's! The Reds which is above The Coral
Beach Half Board restaurant and is family friendly and there is no smoking allowed in there! We didn't actually go here as it was upstairs and with a buggy we didn't fancy it, but it did start off with a Billy Bear or Jellykins disco every night, with a show afterwards and game shows too!

The Centre Stage is located inside the Skyline Pavilion and it is where the pantomimes are held during the day and the entertainment is similar to The Reds but is more adult orientated! The only thing is that the doors open at 7pm but people queue from 6pm to get a seat so if you are not fast you are last! I watched in amazement one night at all the people piling in! I did get the idea that one person from a group stands in line and gets the seats and the others join them later on!

The Skyline Pavilion is the main area for shops and food. Burger King, Harry Ramsdens are both sit in or take away restaurants. The Supermarket is in here too along with cinema and various other shops! Bar Rosso is also in here. The Bowling Alley is in there too and costs about £3.50 a game! In the middle is a cafe which sells sandwiches, baked potatoes, pastries, coffee and some drinks! The seating area overlooks the stage where a variety of things take place. In the morning the Reds tend to run fancy dress competitions or other activities which will keep the children amused. American Wrestling also takes place. There is a puppet show called Puppets go live when the little on strings puppets become 'live' characters! There was also the Moscow State Circus and an African group who played music and danced. The seating area can get quite busy and sometimes you have to stand to see what is happening unless you get there early and get a seat and table.

**SWIMMING POOL**

The swimming pool is near The Sun and Moon Pub! It is towards Noddy's Land on the left hand side of the Skyline pavilion if you were to stand at the front gate of Butlins. It is a free f
acility. It has fun slides and different area's of the pool. There is a small baby area with warm water, but it seemed to be crowed with unattended children or old people! There was a nice children's area right at the back of the pool, which had a little slide and splashing water. There are 2 sets of changing rooms which you have to go, up the stairs at the entrance, walk either way right to the end and then downstairs to the changing rooms. The changing rooms were also single sexed. The females ones only had one changing station and a playpen for babies which were constantly busy! The lockers in the changing rooms require a token which is for 20p which is available from the machines on the 1st floor! In the brochure which you get from butlins when you arrive, it gives you times of when special activities may be on or when you can take your own big floats and swim toys!

**NODDY LAND**

Noddy Land can be well spotted from the doors of the Skyline Pavilion and along from the swimming pool by the big Noddy which is stood outside! Inside there is a little funfair which has Noddy cars in which up to 4 children can sit in each one. They have little teacups too which spin round! There are little bugs which reminded both me and hubby of a mini rollercoster. Then they have planes which go up in the air and fly round! As you walk through the area there is a little theatre where Noddy shows are held every afternoon and you can also have your photograph taken.

**OTHER INFO**

At the other end of Butlins is the funfair. There are lots of height restrictions and we weren't sure if you were meant to pay and if so where! There were no signs! There were a variety of rides but none were really suitable for an under 5 year old! To get to the funfair you walk through an amusement arcade. This included little cars which a child could drive for £1 a time. There was also a softplay area which the height restriction was 1 meter, which meant our
more than capable 3 year old couldn't go in it no matter how much of a tantrum she threw! Just along from the funfair is a paper shop which is open from 7.30am! There was also crazy golf which cost about £1.50 a go, trampolines which were £1 for 5 minutes and a frontierland which was a climb through area. There is also a playpark, but for the size of teh resort, it was very small!

There is also a pizza takeaway and kebab shop which were great for later on snacks at reasonable prices! One of the Takeaway Staff commented on the fact it was expensive and how could all these people afford it, to which my hubby responded "you've obviously never been to Edinburgh!"

The resort doesn't seem to start to open up until about 10am which was a bit late for us as we felt that we could have been swimming at 9am, or doing something then! I'm sure lots of other parents were in the same situation of trying to amuse a child who was bored!

Butlins is based right on the beach and has it's own gate on to it. My only complaint is that it was filthy with litter everywhere! More buckets need to be placed on the beach! the beach is usually open about 9am to 9pm depending on the season, but I will warn you it is a long walk from the gate to the sea.

I was most definitely impressed with Butlins and would definitely consider going back! I just wish they had never closed the one down in Ayr, as the 6 hour drive was hard going with 2 kids! Definitely think about going there if you want a fun filled Half Board Holiday close to home!

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