Today is part two in my series reviewing Butlins resorts!
When I woke up Tuesday morning, my first thought was: “Oh no, I didn’t miss breakfast, did I?!” I leapt out of bed and sighed with relief when I saw it was 6 AM. The Yacht Club opened at 8:30 and offered breakfast through 10:30, and I was dying with anticipation after the delectable dinner we had eaten the night before.
First course of breakfast
And breakfast did not disappoint! Pictured above is a traditional English fry-up at its best: two sausages, two pieces of fried bread, fried mushrooms and tomato, beans, and black pudding, served with a latte and juice. This was absolutely delicious and would become my staple breakfast throughout our stay at Butlins. But I didn’t stop there.
Second course of breakfast
A chocolate pastry and fruit bowl served with a mocha and juice. I was amazed at the quality and freshness of the food – the pastries were so flaky and still warm, like they’d been pulled right out of the oven before serving. And the variety did not disappoint; in addition to the full buffet of fry-up staples, the selection of fresh fruit, and the huge table full of pastries, there was also a big selection of cereals, oatmeal, and breads for toasting. We could have eaten there for a week and never managed to taste it all. I’ve never eaten a two-course breakfast in my life – normally, the pastry by itself would more than suffice – but this food was just SO GOOD.
After breakfast, we spent some time looking around the resort and enjoying the entertainment in the Skyline Pavilion.
A panorama Jai took from inside the Skyline – click on the picture to enlarge
That panorama was taken from the “Bob the Builder” play area. There are several play areas for little kids inside the skyline, including a giant maze/ball pit complete with miniature cars:
There are also rides just for toddlers:
This is the Puppet Castle, where we watched a few puppet shows:
In the window of the puppet castle is a charming display of animatronic puppets:
There is also a giant arcade inside the Skyline, in addition to a second separate building that also houses an arcade.
There is also an over-18s section with slot machines. Jai insisted that he wanted “To gamble a pound!”, so we had a look at the machines. Not being gamblers, we were totally clueless as to how to play any of the slot games. As we looked at the instructions on one of the machines, we noticed 1p sitting on top of it. “Hey! Look at that, you won 1p without even gambling anything!” I said. You’re supposed to quit while you’re ahead when gambling, so we did just that and left 1p richer!
There is also a huge assortment of entertainment and shows that happen on two stages: a main stage is situated in the middle of the Skyline, and the Centre Stage is upstairs. During the afternoon, the main stage in Skyline offers all sorts of shows for children. You can meet characters like Barney, Pingu, Billy The Butlins Bear, and Fireman Sam, and listen to them perform songs and tell stories. There are also various entertainment acts and music for adults that take place on the Centre Stage in the evening – there are so many shows and activities scheduled for each day that they gave us a book which listed all the various times and show descriptions.
There is a special team of staff at Butlins who are known as Redcoats. Redcoats assist guests, entertain children, and participate in the live shows, and are identifiable by their trademark red jacket. A number of former Redcoats have gone on to find success in the entertainment business, so the job is often sought after by actors-in-training.
In addition to the characters and Redcoats, Butlins has its own musical group for kids known as The Skyline Gang. They sing songs and entertain with comedy and tricks. We happened to be walking through the Skyline as they were performing “The Pirate Escapade” with a giant dog:
Outside the Skyline is a funfair, filled with rides. All of the rides that we went on were included in the stay and free to ride. (There were also a few other amusements that you could pay to get on, such as the go-karts.) Best of all, there were no lines – whenever you wanted to go on a ride, you could hop right on and ride as many times as you liked. There was a carousel, dodgems, the “Rockin’ Tug”(a big boat that spins around), and two “white knuckle” rides that launch you into the air!
This is Jai’s foot as we flew through the air!
Wheee!
The top of the Skyline, as seen from the ride
The thrill rides were fun, but after eating such a huge breakfast, we thought it would be wise to take a breather and do something a little more mild!
Me on the Dodgems
Our first afternoon was really nice and full of fun things to do. My only complaint was that when housekeeping came through our room that morning, they did everything but stock the toilet paper, so we ran out. Guest services told us they would send some over, but no one came, and we had to ask two more times before it was re-stocked. However, I would also like to point out that everyone we spoke to on staff were very nice and courteous. In fact, the last time we went to guest services to ask about the supplies, they had closed; I said to Jai, “Hmm, I wonder who we should ask?”, and a staffer who was off the clock and on her way home overheard us and stopped to help. I really appreciated her going above and beyond like that! She pointed us next door to the resort security, who got the supplies to us.
Other that that, the day was perfect. After the funfair, we went back to the room for a little bit and decided to pop open our complimentary bottle of Chaumet.
Then we went onto the balcony to enjoy our drinks:
As evening approached, it was once again mealtime, and we headed to The Yacht Club to enjoy the feast!
Every night, there were new dishes to try. For my first course, I enjoyed some mushy peas, chips, garlic bread, delicious chicken, yummy meatballs, and some stir-fry noodles and rice. There’s something underneath the garlic bread too, but I’m not sure what because we ate so many things. For my second course and dessert, I was too busy pigging out to take a picture!
After dinner, we headed back to our apartment to kick back and watch TV. We could have opted for the live entertainment offered at the Centre Stage, but we were still recovering from jet lag so we decided to take it easy and rest up for the next day’s activities!
