OH MY GOD WHAT A LOAD OF S##T SKEGNESS BUTLINS IS!!! We visited Skegness Butlins in 2007 and it is the filthiest place I’ve ever been, it’s too expensive and poorly organised. My youngest son (11 years of age) actually cried at the end of our terrible first and last day trip to Butlins Skegness, […]
Continue Reading Butlins Skegness Day Trip Review
Our first and last visit to Skegness thanks to filthy Butlins!
My wife and I and 2 daughters aged 3 and 18 months went to Skegness Butlins the second week in September.
We paid for a 2 bedroomed silver apartment.
The apartment was up a metal fire escape, not good with a pushchair and 2 young children was very slippy because it was wet.
It was nothing like in the Butlins brochure the living and dining/kitchen area was very very small the whole of the room was about 15×8 feet.
Everything was filthy!
After 2 days of filth I insisted they move us, it took another day and to be fair the new apartment was nice with 3 bedrooms, new TV and we even had some grass outside.
Most of Butlins is pure hell.
Butlins is dirty, noisy and the smell was a cross between sweaty feet and candyfloss.
The only bit our kids liked was the Pingu work outs in the morning and the puppet shows.
We spent most of our time out of Butlins, there’s lots in Skegness to enjoy, but Butlins is not one of them.
Our Butlins holiday has put the wife off Skegness completely, we will never holiday in Skegness again.
Us too.
My partner lost his job last year and Butlins was all we could afford for a holiday for our two young children.
We rented a silver aprtment that sounds like the one you got it was grimmy. We didnt think to complain for a better apartment. when our youngest fell ill with a tummy bug we went home 3 day early.
Butlins ruined our summer holiday.
we will NEVER EVER vist Butlins again.
I am going to Skegness Butlins for the first time this year,but have stayed at Minehead twice and visited Bognor on a day pass.
Butlins is great for children,and all this “could have gone abroad”nonsense is more selfish adult talk rather than doing what the kids want.
We went to Florida last year as well as minehead butlins and guess what? My 8 year old cried leaving BUTLINS!!!!!because he wanted to stay so much.
There is lots to do-sport,shows,excellent splashworld,fair rides and at extra cost go karts,golf,climbing wall,high ropes.Shows are top notch for families and plenty of choice.
As for chavs? Dont you get these everywhere, abroad at home,wherever.
What would most young children want to do, sit on a sweltering beach or by a pool abroad or enjoy an action packed break at butlins?
been going skegness for 30yrs, not once had a prob! felt i had to write in due to some over exaggerant comments!
firstly when u get to butlins the opening to get in is signposted, if it took u 40mins to get into the resort u clearly got off the bus at the wrong place, when u pay to get in you get given a map of where everywhere is, u get given a time table as well of when childrens things start and where! u can get in at 10 and leave at 6pm! you pay £10 for an adult and £8 for kids well worth the money.
There are plenty of redcoats, information kiosks and friendly staff around to ask directions to places if you cannot find them!
its a lovely place with plenty of happi adults with very happi kids because of how kiddie oriantated it is!
There are two fairs on resort a kids fair and a mixed kid/adult fair, for us adults theres about 3 rides worth going on, it does need some extra rides, however they are all safe and well bolted and they are very health and safety concious there! as for the dodgems, well the name says it all! “dodge them” health and safety in a kids place is not gunna allow bumping now are they!
there are a couple of adventure parks, one near the fair and another next to a pub u can keep an eye on your kids easily and again well maintained! u dont have to stand in a “penn” to watch your kids plenty of space all around!
toilets – clean also, ok sometimes the floors of the toilets can be mucky but a cleaner cannot be on call 24/7 especially when uve got kids going in all the time!no other probs! i cant answer for the womens toilets though!
butlins is very clean and tidy, ok u get the odd sandy bit but thats due to the wind pushing the sand over from the beach, this beach has won awards for being the tidiest and nicest and i can see why, its lovely!
theres plenty of places to stop and rest when needed with benches and pubs and cafes and theres always plenty to do ie crazi golf, cinemas, bowling swimming.
swimming – lovely clean changing rooms and toilets can get overcrowded and have to queue to get changing rooms normally on a saturday or tuesday the day after people arrive in the mornings! best time to go is on a friday or monday when people are comming n going! theres no probs with the chlorine and limescale whatsoever! theres always plenty to do at these baths and cleaniness wise there as good as any! a resort would not allow so many kids to go in dirty baths now would they! the steps for queueing are completely safe no rusty bolts etc, painted, well maintained andas for queueing for th spacebowl and masterblaster plenty of roon for two queues and people to walk in between the queues!
marie commented that skegness is for chavs and its for people that cant afford better! dont be fooled by this comment! with kids, price of food and beer on resort it can be as pricey as anywhere else! theres only as many chavs as the next place at butlins! i think marie has more than a chip on her shoulder as calling people chavs without even knowing them and basising people on how they look shows her mentality! and by the way marie i find butlins very clean tidy and hygenic so before u comment on how people must be if they accept butlins just to let u know im just as clean and tidy as u or anyone else!
sorri to hear your 11 yr old was crying however if u ask him to be truthful if your anything like how u moan on here, id say hes crying because of u! ive never known in 30 yrs any child to cry due to butlins! i doubt the staff would of slammed the door on a young kid either! i think theres a bit of an over-exageration there by marie!
The first post is hilarious.
“A full 40mins walk from the main gate”
PMSL Its over the road about a 100yards if that at the Caravan site.
I personally am not a Butlins fan as it is always too crowded and I don’t like queuing up hours to get a seat in the venues.
But the kids adore it and that’s why we go.
We can have our grown up holidays abroad when the are older. But for now we holiday for the kids and this suits them down to the ground and if they are happy, we are happy.
These are all shocking stories! Did you complain Marie?? I would have. You definately lasted a lot longer there than I would have! Your poor children
I have been going to butlins since i was little and i have never experinced any of these problems, ,the staff are very helpfull , although i wouldnt reccomend going for only a day as you wouldnt have enough time to do everything,toilets are constintley been cleaned ,my family could afford to go abroad but we would rather go to butlins, there is lots of things to do and there is always someting new to do.
Im back at butlins in june and looking very foward to it !!
We are going back to butlins next week after a wonderful holiday last year. We left the resort twice last year to go to skegness town and to the market in ingoldmells which is well worth a visit! beach was lovely at butlins but we only went once as my son (8) doesnt like the beach very much. There was always something on for the kids, wrestling/puppet shows/character performances etc. which they loved.
The holiday last year cost us around £1,500-£2,000 including accomodation, food, spending money but we were staying in a caravan off the main resort, this time we are staying in a silver apartment with a dining package (im praying the food is nice as i have 3 fussy eaters!) and upto now, before we’ve even arrived, we’ve paid £850 (accomodation, coach, dining package) and we’re taking another £1000+ in spending money. so as you can see we could easily afford to go abroad but we have chosen not to.
Also you say you had to walk 40 minutes to get from 1 entrance to the next, it takes about 5-10 minutes max. as we walked it on our way home from the market, but i do agree, better maps and organisation are a must! we could never see where anything was supposed to be and even looking at the map now i dont think i could find a few things
We have been to butlins skegness 3 times for weekends now as well as some day trips and loved it every time!
The best parts if you have children
1.The swimming pool (kids/adults love it and we have always found it clean with no sign of damaged lockers/mirrors etc).
2. The shows in the main skyline pavillion
3. The free funfairs/indoor play areas
4. For young children the nursery with its fantastic play room.
We have always found it clean and notice every time that the cleaners are constantly working in the toilet areas etc.
In response to the original review – please note – the day visitors entrance is across the road and wouldn’t take more than 5 mins from the main entrance, if you can’t find anything or are just after ideas you can ASK any redcoat or there is a dedicated infunmation point in the skyline where they will always point you in the right direction, you don’t have to ‘look’ for picnic tables – you can eat in at the hundred or so tables in the skline, or on one of the greens, and yes as a day visitor there are obviously things you will not see as they are in the evening entertainment venues! Unfortunately for day trippers the day is geared towards those on holiday there – but not sure what else you would expect going to a holiday park??!!! They do close lots of things over tea time as most people head to their accomodation or restaurant to eat/change for the evening and the people who work there would need to do the same!
Please don’t let this totally wrong view of butlins put you off –we love it!!
its been a few years since we went, because of my husbands health pin the problems, but the wheelchair access accommodation was good, in the BUNGALOW STYLE ACCOMMODATION, BUT THE FLAT UNDER THE STEPS, WITH THE L SHAPED CORRIDOR ISNT EASY TO USE.
Id like to say one thing though, its nice to see that the rowing boats on the old sewage ponds have been taken away, and the sewage ponds filled in and grassed over. The old photo printing area isnt very pretty to view, the ‘traditional chalet’ (displayed by the beach) isnt QUITE what they really used to look like, and the monorails gone. There was a brand new state of the art swimming pool built by the beach gate, which I think has now also gone.
The fun fair used to be run by trained staff, and it was run by redcoats when I last went there. I did ask a few of them questions;-to which I KNEW the answers, just to see what they said. Sadly they didnt KNOW. I then told THEM.
No one is a jack of all trades, but in order to keep costs within budget of “normal” people, economies have and still are going to be made. It is STILL good value for money, when u think how much each fairground ride costs elsewhere. True I have fond memories of the kids theatre, and the Princes ballroom, no longer in use.(or burnt down!) You pays u money and takes u choice,—–and it pays to read up whats available before u do pay out. If you felt it was so bad as some above said, then there are people to tell, and they do regular check ups anyway. Trading standards and of course the owners want to know. Billy Butlin used to do snap inspections, and pay to come in and walk round, to catch people out!!!! nice man but a bit blunt at times.
we are going for a day trip there in apx 6 weeks time. its going to be a small group of us, lets hope that the above comments are very wrong, because thats NOT like the |Butlins Camps I used to know,. and I worked there!!!
Years ago now though. Ive taken my kids there until they were too old to enjoy the place;-and we found it good fun.
Ive been there with my husbands wheelchair, three times, and found that the staff were not as knowledgeable as we had to be when I worked there, but thats no problem, there IS information available.
Ask the shop, or a bar manager.
The chap who assisted the disabled customers was a ‘real gentleman’ to my husband. he even told him which bars were “safe” to go into at night for a wheelchair user;-who was worried about MY safety not his!
Its true that many of the “old style” attractions have gone now, but things do go forward. If it isnt your style, then look it up on a computer, because there u get the unbiased and more open comments. From people who have been before.
My experience of Butlins was the antithesis of the first review on this page. The staff were friendly, the facilities excellent, and I would heartily recommend Butlins for anyone with children. I saw no issues with cleanliness, and if it’s true that this woman and her kids had to run through the changing room for fear of catching something then she needs to get a grip before her kids pick up her paranoia. Butlins is the bomb, enjoy yourself.
OMG i have been to butlins for all of my life ts amazing and the fairground is amazing im also local to butlins but why go abroad when u can go to butlins yes it maybe a little over priced but its great fun!!!!!!!!! maybe people should not be so fussy and enjoy themselves
Going in 2 weeks time. We are all looking forward to it. I am more inclined to believe all the nice positive comments about it than Marie’s!!! Sorry but your over the top negative comments have not put us off.
Pmsl ,been to butlins for the last 4 years running, n going bk in a few days for another week.kids love it!,, might I just say n this is from a so called Chav who actually holidays to Florida in between! Can I just ask you Marie ” do you work for either pontins or haven” ?…and describing one of they parks instead?..
After reading the top review from a very unhappy Marie who visited butlins skegness on a day trip i felt i had to defend butlins. I have been visiting butlins for day trips aswell as holidays every year since i was 3 im now 23. We have only ever had one problem which was the apartment we stayed is wasnt cleaned to a very high standard so we complained and within minutes cleaners were back doing the job to expectations we expected, aswell as this they gave us wine and chocs for the inconvience aswell as a £20 voucher to enjoy a meal at the sun and moon pub.
Like i say other than this we have never had any problems what so ever. We have loved butlins, so much to do for adults aswell as children and i have to say i have been suprised on many occasions by the very friendly staff, the cleaners are always in full motion too. As for the funfair yes it could do with being updated but the rides all appear to be safe and well functionable. The shows have always been very impressive and clearly shows the hard work the red coats put into there job.overall i would recommend butlins to friends and family and on man occasions i have and they have loved it too :)
The news is:
Skegness does not have a Butlins Holiday Camp!
It is situated in Ingoldmells.
Unless someone moved the town borders without telling us.
Hey detective D.P. maybe you should pass this valuable news on to Butlins head office as they are advertising their Ingoldmells Butlins Holiday Camp as being in Skegness.
what a numpty :-)
David
If folks bothered to read maps, they would see that Butlins is North of the border in Ingoldmells.
Brief history as follows:
Billy Butlin approached Skegness town council with a proposal for a cheap workers “all in” holiday camp. They laughed at him and turned him down. So he approached Ingoldmells Parish council, with the same proposal and they welcomed the idea, as it would take care of some rough coastal ground if it was developed and the rest is history.
All the locals know where it is…..