Parkdean Resorts Review - Our Family Stay At Clayton Bay
If you are looking for a holiday resort as a quick get away with family entertainment then this is great caravan site for you. I booked this site on a whim at 3am on a friday morning through their website, after deciding I needed a break away with my little family during half term. I went to work later that day, packed for all 5 of us that evening and we set off the next day (Saturday) after packing up the car.
We have never been to a Park Dean holiday resort before and if i'm honest I didn't have time to read all of the requirements so I ended up packing a few pots, pans and plates and cutlery. I even chucked in the sleeping bags just in case. However, I can confirm you do not need any of these things as it is all provided for you.
Check in is after 4 and we arrived at around 4.15pm. We parked in the carpark and went over to reception where we were greeted by a friendly receptionships who had already prepared an envelope with keys inside and a map to our caravan. We followed the one way system in the car and shortly arrived at our designated caravan car park.
We decided to take a walk up the path to the caravan and check it out before hauling all of our stuff over. Considering I had booked last minute I was quite surprised that we had a lovely white composite deck as I had purchased one of the cheaper caravans. We opened the door and the smell was fresh and clean and you could feel the warmth of the fire as it was freezing outside, this was a very welcome comfort. When the kids ran into the bedrooms and said that they were picking rooms, I realised that we had an extra room! Bizarre I though, so I checked my emails and realised that we had been given a free complimentary upgrade to one of the more prestigious caravans. I'm still not sure why we had an upgrade but considering it was a last minute booked holiday we were very grateful as the caravan itself was lovely with a modern design.
Once we had checked out caravan we then began to bring our suitcases out of the car to the caravan. The access to the particular caravans we where in was not great in the bad weather and later in the week when it rained really heavy the paths became flooded and we had to walk across the muddy grass which was quite interesting. We embraced it though and turned the many slips, falls and stuck in the muds into a memory - afterall the caravan park cant control the weather and the water dried up by the next day.
(Florence got stuck in the mud and had to pull her shoes out. Eventually we got to a path but by that point. she was covered in mud - she thought it was funny!)
Anyway back to day one - after settling into the caravan we decided to go an explore the site and check out where everything was. By this time it was a little over 7pm and the entertainment was about to start. We briefly walked around the site, played in the park, looked at the entertainment venue and went and got a few bits from the shop before it closed. This was enough for day one for the kids as the travel and exploration had tired them out, so we headed back to the caravan to watch a movie and get ready ready for bed.
The beds where very comfortable with fresh bedding. As I am someone with a touch of OCD I had to make sure that the beds where spotless otherwise I was dragging my sleeping bag out of the car! I can confirm that the bedding didn't have a mark on it and I left the sleeping bag in its bag. The kids slept well in their beds, but my 4 year old did end up jumping into our bed as I suspect being in a different place meant he kept waking up. However my 8 and 9 year old slept through. They both shared a room with two single beds which I was later informed that where a little on the small side from my 10 year old who had fell off once in the night.
The next day we woke up, had breakfast and headed out to explore a little more and stumbled across Sparkles in the main venue. Sparkles is a giant pink bunny who does a full show on stage for the kids. My 4 year old absolutely loved the show and asked for a picture with her after.
After this we then went swimming. The swimming pool is absolutely great for the kids as its not to deep and has slides and water fountains, however, I did notice some adults coming for a swim and getting out within five minutes after they realised the pool is only waist high. On another note, the kids had so much fun that we ended up going the next three days and on one of the days we booked a double session. That reminds me, I do recommend booking your pool slots and other activities on the app prior to arriving at the site as you may not be able to get a time slot. I had to keep refreshing the app to get all 5 of us on the swimming due to the lateness of me booking the holiday and not realising sessions had to be booked.
Monday we woke up and it was Daniels Birthday (Husband) so we wake him up to gifts and little birthday cake. After a lazy morning we head out for a double session of swimming and then after lunch head into Scarborough. Scarborough is about a 15 minute drive from Clayton bay which was really handy. There was plenty of parking and so we parked on a bridge and walked down to the sea front. The fresh air was great and the view as we walked down was fantastic. While the shops along the front where a little shabby and could do with a freshen up, the kids still liked exploring all of the gift shops. It definitely had that Blackpool feel about it, but with slight better sea front views.
Happy Birthday Daniel
Scarborough
After tea we went to the main entertainment centre and there was a family quiz and other entertainment for the evening. My advice if your ordering drinks from the centre is be prepared for the prices. For two slushes and two colas it was £15 which we didn't mind paying as a one off but to sit all night drinking you may end up with an empty pocket. As a family of non alcoholic drinkers we would much rather invest our money into the activities the next day which is exactly what we did!
We woke up on the next morning late and decided to have a slow morning with family games and tv. Once we were all ready we headed over to the activity centre where we hired out a family cart which was so much fun, although a little tiring and then did some trampolining, soft play and more swimming. The aim was to do as much cheesey family holiday stuff as possible.
As it was our final night we went a played on the arcade a little and headed to the entertainment centre. This nights entertainment was a little weird with a UV Puppet Show which was bizarre but the kids loved it and there was a lot of clapping going on and then an Abba tribute after that. Overall I have to say kudos to the entertainers, they do really work hard.
The next morning we had to be off site before 10am and so we packed up the car and left the caravan and headed to reception to hand in the keys. For a last minute booked holiday we feel that this was a successful 4 day trip. For those looking for a quick cheap getaway for all of the family I would definitely recommend.