Visitors will 'never get bored' at Butlins with up to 40% off family breaks this summer
Spanning 3,000 square feet over four floors, the new soft play centre can now welcome up to 200 energetic little adventurers at a time, doubling the capacity of its previous space. Entrance to the play space is included in the price of a family break and day passes.
Designed for children of all ages, the Skyline Soft Play is split into three zones, each inspired by the colourful characters of the popular Butlin's Skyline Gang.Each member has a devoted section, jam-packed with slides, climbing challenges, log ramps, cargo nets and more, plus a spacious multi-sensory area for babies.
To keep parents amused while the children play, there is also a comfy new 100-seat café area where they can relax with a cuppa while the kids burn off some energy. The new soft play centre ramps up the fun following the opening of the £15 million indoor activity centre PLAYXPERIENCE - a 50,000 square feet state-of-the-art immersive gaming attraction - last year.
The West Sussex resort has another new opening alongside its soft play centre. The new Puppet Theatre showcases magical, family-friendly string puppet shows. New shows likeUnder The Sea, Jingle in the Jungle and Christmouse are just a taste of what's in store for guests this year.
Helping to keep costs down for families, the puppet shows are free for families on Butlin's breaks and day visits. The entertainment team promises guests string-pulling fun, laugh-out-loud characters, and plenty of "oohs" and "aahs" from the little ones.
This £1.8 million investment is the latest in a string of new developments across Butlin's three seaside resorts. The £15 million indoor activity centre PLAYXPERIENCE at Bognor Regis offers nine immersive gaming experiences including laser tag, a VR games arcade, escape rooms and more.
A second £2.5 million SKYPARK opened in Minehead, an inclusive and interactive playground for children of all abilities. Last year also saw a £12 million investment in new Premium Lodges at the Maple Walk village in Skegness, 128 contemporary-designed lodges located at the heart of the Lincolnshire resort.
Holiday Parks are very much a Great British institution, with millions of families joining in the fun year after year. If Butlin's isn't quite right, there are others to choose from.
Haven Holidays, for example, is known for its scenic coastal settings and caravan options. Great for nature lovers and seaside fun, Butlins still leads the pack when it comes to immersive family entertainment and themed experiences.
Alternatively, Parkdean Resorts offer a similar experience with 66 parks in popular coastal locations across the UK. Much like Haven, they feature swimming pools, on-site restaurants and a variety of family-friendly activities by the seaside.
Center Parcs is also a firm favourite among holidaymakers, offering a wide range of activities across multiple forest locations in the UK. Loved by many, the only downside is the high price tag which can get very expensive, especially during school holidays.
Guests who have already enjoyed a stay at Butlins Bognor Regis have left over 3,900 five-star reviews on TripAdvisor. One visitor said: "We had a lovely Easter break M-F at Butlins Bognor. Top quality entertainment, engaging and friendly staff, and we had the weather too. Such good fun for young and old alike. Very impressed with the new soft play, the Splash water park was fabulous and from start to finish we received nothing but exceptional customer service."
Another said: "This was our third visit to Butlins within two years, needless to say we absolutely love it...The brand new soft play and play experience are brilliant, soft play has very generous opening hours and the staff are really observant, looks like a much better replacement from the arena soft play.
One family said: "We had a fun-filled tots week, busy all day, every day. Playxperience was a new 1 for us and we all enjoyed neo games- 4yr old right up to 60s."
Not every visitor was quite so impressed. A disappointed reviewer said: "Decided to give Butlins a go for half term. Overall, for us adults, everything was a bit meh except for the entertainment, which was awesome." Another added: "Lots to do, great entertainment and things to do. The chalets are quite run down though - bedding is frayed and beds aren't that great."
Summing it up, another five-star review added: " Always things to do, never get bored. Very clean apartment. New playxperience building is very good, packed with new, fun experiences. Had great fun in laser tag. Brilliant and helpful staff."
Butlins is currently offering 40% off stays for 2025. These include Midweek Showtime breaks at Bognor Regis from £69 in June, Summer Holidays Feat Stephen Mulhern 3-night breaks from £352 and Justin Fletcher Tots Breaks from £79 in September.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mirror
a day ago
- Daily Mirror
Huge blow to Butlin's and Pontins as UK's best holiday park named
Brits looking for their next staycation have been urged to 'look past heavyweights' like Butlin's and Pontins after both were snubbed in the league tables for the UK's best holiday park The UK's best holiday park has been revealed - and it's bad news for the Red Coats. With the cost of living crisis still grappling cash-strapped Brits, many of us are ditching their fortnight abroad for a much more affordable staycation. In fact, data from last year showed a whopping 52 per cent of Brits were opting to holiday in the UK instead of jetting off to the likes of Spain and Greece, with 34 per cent planning for at least two staycations during 2024. Now that the school summer holidays are just around the corner, swathes of households will be searching for a last-minute break to escape the city and relax. As a result, consumer brand Which? has ranked all of the UK's holiday parks - arguing you might want to 'look past heavyweights' like Center Parcs, Butlin's and Pontins. Despite attracting around 1.5 million visitors a year, Butlin's was dealt a huge blow in the league tables - ranking fifth to last. The resort, which has three sites across the UK, scored an overall customer score of 67 per cent. Travellers gave Butlin's a meagre two stars for its value for money, food and drink offerings, and overall customer service, and three stars for its dog friendliness and variety of free facilities. When it came to the 'quality and variety of children's activities', Butlin's received a much more respectable four stars. However, it was Pontins that came scraping in at the bottom - with a 56 per cent overall customer score. "The furnishings were extremely tired, the chairs and beds were incredibly uncomfortable, and the grounds within the complex were mostly overgrown," one visitor scathed. Another agreed, fuming: "It is cheap to book and entertain children. However, the facilities available and prices were below par when actually at the resort." Taking home gold, with an impressive 87 per cent customer score, is Potters Resorts. The adult-only, all-inclusive park has just two locations (one in Norfolk and one in Essex) and prides itself on its 'award-winning hospitality' and 'West End-quality evening entertainment'. Operating for more than 100 years, visitors spent around £110 per person per night - and was hailed for its good value for money (remember this price covers your food and drinks too). "The facilities are excellent," praised one recent traveller. "Activities varied and well organised. Entertainment was outstanding. The all inclusive deal was very good value. Food superb and plentiful." UK's best holiday parks and resorts rated Potters Resorts Forest Holidays Bluestone Wales John Fowler Holiday Parks Hoburne Holidays Hoseasons Waterside Holiday Group Warner Leisure Villages Centerparcs Haven Holiday Parks Parkdean Resorts Butlin's Park Holidays UK Away Resorts Largo Leisure Parks Pontins *Which?'s league tables are based on 2,255 responses from 1,717 Which? members and the general public. The survey was carried out in February and March 2024.
BBC News
2 days ago
- BBC News
Free summer fun at Cleethorpes, Grimsby and Immingham parks
Parks across North East Lincolnshire are to host free family activities, including pond dipping, wildlife walks, bug hunting and butterfly counting, officials have will be held from 25 July to 31 August as part of Love Parks Week - a national initiative organised by Keep Britain Tidy to celebrate the importance of green spaces. North East Lincolnshire Council's ecology team will lead the Henry Hudson, portfolio holder for the environment, said: "If you don't go along to your local park very often, or you fancy seeing one of the other parks in the town that you haven't visited before, then please go along to these events." Hudson added: "We have some beautiful and historical parks that truly feed the soul, and our new coastal ranger will be on hand to give you an insight into the importance of the environmental impact these green spaces bring to our region."The summer holidays can be difficult for parents to find ways of entertaining their children, but these free events will be great fun and a little bit educational too." The following activities are planned: 25 July, 10:00 - 12:00 BST, at West Marsh Country Park, Grimsby: wildflower walk, bug hunt and butterfly count25 July, 13:00 - 14:00 BST, at Grimsby in Bloom, Duke of York Gardens: pond dipping and butterfly count 28 July, 10:00 - 12:00 BST, at Pilgrim Park, Immingham: tree aging, bug hunt and butterfly count29 July, 10:00 - 12:00 BST, at Cleethorpes Boating Lake: pond dipping and butterfly count30 July, 10:00 - 12:00 BST, at Cleethorpes Country Park: pond dipping and butterfly count31 July, 10:00 - 12:00 BST, at Ainslie Street Park, Grimsby: bug hunt and butterfly countListen to highlights from Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here. Download the BBC News app from the App Store for iPhone and iPad or Google Play for Android devices
The Independent
4 days ago
- The Independent
We swapped Disneyland for this German theme park – it could be Europe's best
These are great days for theme parks, at home and abroad. Universal Studios has announced plans to transform Bedfordshire, England, into a 700-acre movie fan's utopia. The original Legoland is now easier to reach with new flights from London Gatwick to Billund, Denmark. And Efteling in the Netherlands is opening its first fully-fledged hotel within the theme park this summer. In many others, you'll notice more creativity and technical wizardry, more commitment to sustainability and healthier food options, and an overwhelming focus on quality over quantity. More whizz-bang-pop, basically. But there's one European theme park — a colossus in roller coaster terms — that most Brits haven't even heard of. Europa-Park is located in Rust, Germany, almost at the triangulation point between Freiburg im Breisgau, Strasbourg and Basel, and, this year, it's celebrating its 50th birthday. Come for the anniversary on 12 July, and the gates will be open for 24 hours. Theme park newbies might scoff at the thought of going anywhere else apart from Europe's most-visited theme park — that's Disneyland Paris in Marne-la-Vallée, for the uninitiated — but enter into the spirit of post-Brexit travel and there's something for every mood in the Baden-Württemberg borderlands. If you don't fancy the Grimm Brothers' vibe of the fairy tale Germany area (which includes a flying theatre), there's France to explore with a Moulin Rouge-themed can-can coaster. Switzerland boasts a bobsled run, while in Iceland, there is a Norse saga wooden coaster. And there are 16 other areas of attractions to explore. Portugal has a water ride that winds through a Conquistador-era temple before climbing above a panorama of noodling rides and then plunging off a heart-stopping 30m drop. Croatia, the park's newest area, which opened last year, has Voltron Nevera, a steel jumble of inversions and corkscrews that takes as its premise Nikola Tesla's hair-raising electricity experiments. A mussed-up hairdo is guaranteed. You'll quickly learn the Germans are crazy about theme parks, so it's quite a shock to zoom into what feels like the ether on Silver Star, the park's tallest, longest and fastest coaster at 79 miles per hour. Afterwards, you'll want to calm down on Italy's easy-going pedal monorail or get a pint in Ireland (only German beers, but that's a bonus). Perhaps, it's also because of its manageable visitor numbers — six million compared to almost double that at Disneyland Paris — that Europa-Park is so gratifying. If the theme park's opening on 12 July 1975 brought a shot in the arm to a part of Germany bypassed by visitors, this anniversary year feels like a victory lap. Among the big news from the park's owners, the Mack family, is this summer's release of Grand Prix of Europe, the first feature-length film starring the park's two furry mascots, Edda and Ed Euromous. The Warner Bros.-backed animation features the likes of Hayley Atwell, Gemma Arterton, Lenny Henry and Rob Beckett, but the immediate tie-up inside the park is the new interactive 3D dark ride in the Gameplay Theatre. Other draws for the rest of this year are a calendar of new shows (the standout is the horsemanship of The Legend of Zorro in the Spanish amphitheatre), a new party piece parade and the creation of a sculpture avenue in the town of Rust. All of this somehow acts as a tribute — and portal — to the past half century. Accommodation-wise, meanwhile, new rooms are on offer at the Wild West-themed Silver Lake City, with dozens of period-detail cabins and caravan pitches, a gold rush-type bar and mini golf. This being Germany, a brewery will also arrive in 2026. Inevitably, given that there are themed lands dedicated to most of Europe — Liechtenstein has a themed balloon ride, Luxembourg has a restaurant where food arrives on looping rails, and Monaco will debut as the newest themed land in 2026 — you'll be wondering about the UK's place in things. The bad news is it's clumsily packaged as England (sorry, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland), but here there is plenty of low-hanging fruit for younger kids. After riding the spinning Hackney black cabs, it's an easy transition onto the top deck of a pendulum-swinging London double-decker. Among other things, there's a replica of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, and with a carousel of shows playing throughout the park, it's the ideal place for a breather between the freneticism of dangling upside down or racing with a VR headset on. As the coaster riding ends most evenings around 6pm, most people begin to leave, but the smart move if you're not staying overnight is to grab dinner at one of the themed restaurants in one of the six surrounding themed hotels. Highlights a short walk away are inside the medieval Spanish tower Castillo Alcazar and the pizzeria overlooking Hotel Colosseo's piazza. With tiered seating, faux arches and fountains, it's a hokey version of Rome, but one delightfully free of the same summer crowds. In short, it's a rollercoaster of a ride and well worth a trip. As it was for its first visitors 50 years ago. Mike MacEacheran travelled as a guest of Visit Germany ( and Europa-Park ( How to get there Fly to Basel with Ryanair from Stansted, easyJet from Luton and Gatwick or British Airways from Heathrow. From Basel, take a train to Freiburg Hauptbahnhof, then another to Ringsheim/Europa-Park. Alternatively, fly to Zurich from London Gatwick or Luton with easyJet or London Heathrow with British Airways or Swiss Air and then take a train direct to Ringsheim. Tickets for Europa-Park cost from £44 for adults and £37 for children aged 4-11 (€52/44). Stay at Castillo Alcazar on-site, which includes breakfast and park entry. Children under 4 stay free. Stay at El Adaluz hotel on-site, which includes breakfast and park entry. Children under 4 stay free.
