Center Parcs On A Budget!

Going to Center Parcs can be an extremely pricey experience if you want it to be but my mission, on our recent stay just after Christmas, was to have a budget trip in a bid to make our mini holiday thrifty yet still massively fun! And I think, with a few treats here and there (because it was still a holiday), we have managed this quite well. My Instagram followers shared some amazing money saving hacks with me and we found a few of our own!

Now this was a return visit for us showing you that we absolutely DO rate spending money on booking (I wrote a review of our first stay here) as long as it’s not too much and choosing the right time of year helps massively with this! It’s worth it if the cost is kept down, but I’d be disappointed if we paid much more than we have done for a similar trip. And that’s just the booking… We LOVED our first holiday to Center Parcs but found that almost EVERYTHING costs a pretty penny on site. Even the supermarket is considerably more for groceries and when it comes to dining out you might as well think about selling a kidney.

But there ARE lots of ways to enjoy this type of holiday and not spend the earth doing so…

Now… My best hacks for a still fun filled, action packed holiday at Center Parcs will require a tiny bit of organisation (not usually my strong point but here I am proving it can be done) and some compromise on behalf of the children who won’t be able to DO everything or you WILL be bankrupt.

The booking:

We always choose a midweek break as it’s usually cheaper than weekends plus you get one more day. They are also less busy and likewise if you choose a week that on paper no one else is much interested in. Just after Christmas and during term time means it was a thousand pounds cheaper than the same holiday during the Easter break for our accommodation. Fewer people for the slide queues, more nights, less money – no brainer! Schools cannot impose fines unless ten consecutive sessions (5 whole days) are missed in one go and as you can’t check in until 3pm we sent our children to school on the Monday and went straight after. We also booked to come back within 28 days of our last holiday and will do the same again this year as there are benefits that save money from the off. With the ‘Come Back Soon’ offer, you receive a £25 voucher to spend on the park, anywhere you like, and with no strings at all. When booking this way you will also receive FREE cancellation and the lowest price guaranteed which means if you check regularly and the price goes down they will refund the difference!

Where to stay:

We booked a New Woodland style 3 bed lodge (last year we had the same but old style and it was pretty grotty meaning we had to complain and move) as we decided it was worth paying the extra for a fresher one – at £299 for the Monday – Friday term time break it cost just £20 more than a non refurbished one. You can book very expensive accommodation with hot tubs overlooking the water or tree houses that come complete with games rooms but this is a holiday where we like to be out of the lodge for most of the day and it seems pointless paying extra for somewhere to lay our heads! Center Parcs will charge you extra to choose your location and we strongly recommend not bothering with this at all. Of course some locations are closer to the main square but none of them are more than about a 15 minute wander and I don’t think I saw any areas I felt were substantially different to another. They’re all in the woods, mostly by some water and it doesn’t take long to walk from one side of the park to the other.

Manage expectations: 

I explained to the children that we wouldn’t be going ALL out this year as the activities on the park are way too expensive not only because we simply don’t have the money but even if we did I just don’t think they are good value and I HATE wasting money whether I am feeling flush or tightening my belt. We told them that we would be making more time to enjoy the free things on site like the fantastic playgrounds, soft play area inside The Sports Bar (where you don’t need to be a customer to play), going for walks and bike rides, enjoying nature, feeding animals and of course, making use of the fantastic swimming pool. Last year I had felt at times that I was having to get out of the pool to go and do things we had booked and paid for and frankly I’d rather have been in the pool anyway. This year was always going to be about the swimming – anyone who follows my Instagram will know that swim time is VERY important to me and my little people so we knew we would be in our element.

The pool:

Free entry with your holiday is brilliant and must be taken advantage of with the tropical paradise boasting many flumes and slides as well as a big wave pool and extensive splash play area for babies. It’s easy to waste a good few hours in one go right here as you dip inside and out whooshing down the rapids and submerging into the warm lagoon. I could happily stay poolside all day and so could the kids because the facilities are simply amazing. As well as the waves, swim, slides and relaxing areas they offer free to borrow buoyancy aids for kids which is one space saver in the case. It’s all about the rapids and cyclone for us and Jimmy LOVES the splash zone as much as the baby. Honestly you couldn’t want a better designed fun pool and this is what Center Parcs is all about as far as we are concerned! You CAN hire a cabana by the pool which looks utterly glorious and my Mum, who doesn’t swim but looks after Raffie while we go on the big slides, would love the privacy, television entertainment and enclosure of these but at £70 for 3 hours it was NOT an option on our budget. Perhaps when we win the lottery we shall have a luxury CP experience and make the comparison but for now my best advice is to find a couple of seats in the quiet areas, a play pen (of which there are many) and set up your camp there for a day of fun! There are cafes inside the pool which are, of course, massively expensive and they say you can’t bring your own food in however, we have brought snacks and drinks in for the baby and no one has said a thing so I’d highly recommend making your own!

Food and drink:

Usual high street restaurants like Bella Italia and Cafe Rouge offer the same menu as per usual but without ANY of the offers the high street invites and when it comes to CP restaurant brands like Hucks American Diner you can forget usual children’s priced menus and note that our one meal out this holiday, where we left my Mum and the baby at home, cost us near on £100 with a round of drinks at the bar and another drink at the table. Now we wouldn’t ordinarily contemplate spending this amount on a meal out with two adults and two children but we knew it would be in this region because, well, it’s Center Parcs and so as long as you know and go prepared you will be fine. Both holidays we have taken so far we bought breakfast passes for the whole family which makes eating out for breakfast 25% cheaper and we thought this would be a treat. We have decided not to do this again as the food just isn’t that great and the service is absolutely terrible – they have you over a barrel and have no need to entice repeat business as it will be new people in just a few days. We brought snacks, drinks and enough food to feed us for most meals while we were there and will do this again. It’s worth nothing the ovens are not fantastic but they SHOULD be able to deal with cooking pizzas (ours couldn’t to begin with but they fixed it) and heating up home made lasagnes. It’s actually really lovely to cosy up in the lodge, play some games and enjoy each other’s company at the end of a fun filled day!

To give you an idea:

• A (VERY) small milkshake by the pool costs £2.99
• A double G&T at the bar costs £10.00
• A hot chocolate on the park is around a fiver

How about something that IS good value?

• The treat shop sells ice creams for £1.50 – we liked that a LOT!

Shopping in advance:

Really, as with the food, I would recommend buying everything you need in advance including toiletries. Be organised about this and try not to forget little things like swimming goggles as these will set you back £15.99 in the swim shop! Pack dishwasher tablets, washing up liquid, bin bags, toilet rolls, anti bac wipes, squash – basically everything you would use at home and you will thank me for reminding you when you get there, realise you have forgotten your deodorant and have to pay double bubble for it in the Center Parcs market!

Some top shopping in advance tips:

• Buy light in the bag logs from B&M at £1 each instead of the ones in the Center Parcs shop which will set you back just over a tenner for 3. They are EXACTLY the same!
• When in B&M buy wild bird seed at £1 for a kg bag instead of a fiver for half the size!

Tell me something that IS worth buying in the shops at Center Parcs?

• If you go at the end of the day, around 6pm, the reduction demons have been out and about with their yellow sticker guns and THEN you can find some glorious foodie bargains like cakes for desert and sandwiches half off!

What to wear:

Going to Center Parcs you are unlikely to need anything glamorous to wear, especially if going in winter like us. Warm jumpers, dressing gowns (those lodges can be quite cold) and slippers are the order of the day while wellies, coats and trainers are perfect. pack TWO swimming costumes as spinning them in the pool costs more money (of course) and instead you can have one on the towel rail in the lodge and one on and keep swapping. Do the same with swim towels!

What else should I take to save money:

You can hire bikes on the park but it’s grossly expensive yet free to take your own. At around £30 for the week to hire one bike it’s probably cheaper to buy and keep a bike rack for your car!

What activities are best for money saving:

All the bookable activities on site cost money. A LOT of money to boot. They have things like a Go Ape style trail which is more expensive that Go Ape and children need an adult with them though the adult has to pay too. We encouraged our children to bike ride around the park, feed wildlife including deer at our own lodge on the patio, swim, walk, play in the parks and soft play areas, build sandcastles on the beach and play card games instead. We allowed them one activity each making use of our ‘come back soon vouchers’ and they chose an hour’s worth of indoor rock climbing. They LOVED it and it was LOTS of fun but at £22.50 EACH this is not inexpensive and neither is it actually WORTH the money. With £25 off this cost us £10 for each of them and I think a tenner is more in keeping with the level of fun they had!

There must be SOME activities worth the money?

• Actually bowling worked out to pretty much the same cost as anywhere else which is a turn up for the Center Parcs books. It’s cheaper in the day time (£24.50) that the evening (£32.00) and six players can play for this amount.
• The spa is utterly lovely and it IS a treat and not cheap by any stretch of the imagination but it’s a LOT cheaper to go as a twilight customer when staying on the park than just visiting for the day at any other time. For £32 I really enjoyed all the thermal rooms, the pool which is open air and the tranquility of the atmosphere – you can also liberate a few green apples from the apple bowl and feed them to the deer later – top tip, ha ha!

So to recap:

• Book off peak, in term time and mid week
• Don’t go overboard on expensive accommodation or choosing the perfect spot and paying for the privilege as you won’t be in it much but do go for a new style as old can be quite grotty
• Give the kids a heads up that they can’t do everything on offer and that you will make the most of what’s on offer for free rather than spending out
• Spend as much time in the brilliant pool as possible as this is all included in the price of your holiday
• Bring your own food for all meals including packed lunches and don’t eat out at the expensive and not particularly great restaurants
• Be organised when it comes to shopping in advance
• Old clothes and two sets of swimming gear is important
• Take your own bikes
• Make the forest, playgrounds and walking your activities as they are all FREE
• Use ‘Come back Soon’ vouchers to offset one of the expensive activities and enjoy bowling for normal prices

OBVIOUSLY you are on holiday and deserve a treat here and there but Center Parcs really can be a money pit in just minutes… Everything but EVERYTHING costs money and whether its 20 pence to spin dry each swimming costume or £25 a head in the restaurant (we’re talking for kids too) then it’s up to you entirely what you do with your money but frankly I’d rather be thrifty when I know that this place can be just as much fun on a budget. Ultimately it’s the company you keep which makes anything and we had some of the best – my Mum, our friends and their family meant we had the most fantastic break. Oh and the swimming of course… The swimming comes just second to company, it’s utterly fantastic! We will be booking to go back next year using the offer but have already missed the best opportunity by not booking last week when it was £20 cheaper than it is this… They will only offer you the lowest price from the moment you book so that was a rookie mistake after all my money saving ideas for you lot!

Here’s some of our favourite moments in pictures from our holiday last week which we fully intend on booking again for next year! Really that’s all the recommendation you need to say we loved it and I hope that you find some good info to help you be as thrifty as we have been!