Center Parcs - May 2016 Review

Center Parcs - May 2016 Review 

Taken from my TripAdvisor Reviews

Lake and Beach

We stayed at Center Parcs as a family of 2 adults and a 4 year old boy during the week beginning 2^nd May 2016 for a midweek break. This was our 4^th trip to Center Parcs (if you haven't been before please see my previous reviews) so we had every day, activity and restaurant planned in advance. Like last time, to make the most of the break and to effectively have a extra two days on site we travelled up on the Sunday, stay at Premier Inn and then arrived at Center Parcs 10am Monday morning. Then we stayed on site for the day on the Friday and stayed in the Premier Inn again Friday night before going Longleat Safari park on the Saturday.

Lake

Arrival

Even though you cannot access your accommodation until 3pm you can arrive at Center Parcs anytime from 10am on your arrival day. So like I said we planned to arrive at 10am. Last time when we arrived at 10am there wasn't a queue to get in but this time there were about 10 cars in front of us. It was slow moving to begin with because they only had one arrivals lodge open but after a while they opened up two more.

This time we decided to pay for the early arrival. It was £35 to get access to your lodge at 2pm instead of 3pm. However, we wont be doing this again. At just before 2pm we went to join the queue at the barrier waiting for 2pm. There were quite a few cars in the queue. 2pm came and went and the barrier didn't open. At about 2.15pm a cleaner, who just happened to be passing said that for early arrival we had to enter at a completely different part of the park which we should have been told about at the arrivals lodge. Like I said there was a big queue of cars so a lot of people were not told about this other entrance.

So we all then had to struggle to turn around and go to an entrance at the other side of the car park. When we got to the early arrival entrance there wasn't anyone there checking that you had booked early arrival so anyone could get in early if they know where they are going. This was a bit annoying, first we lost out on nearly half an hour of our early arrival and then no one even checked anyone could just drive straight in.

Our plan was to get into our lodge at 2pm and then go swimming at 3pm when everyone else was getting into their lodges. So just before 3pm we took our car back to the car park. Big mistake, the way out to the car park is the same way that everyone else drives into the parc so if was a real struggle to get back into the car park and fight our way through the hundreds of cars coming in. Like I said we wont be bothering paying the extra for early arrival again.

This was also the first time we paid extra to chose our lodge. Before, we didn't think it was worth paying the extra because we liked staying in different areas. But now after being so close to the Plaza and not being as far away as possible and having to rely on the land train we will definitely being paying the extra next time.

Accommodation

We always stay in one of the Woodland Lodges which are the cheapest and as usual we couldn't fault the lodge. Well if we were on Four in a Bed and being extra picky then we probably could have found something like one of the radiators was broken and locking the patio door was a bit of a struggle but nothing that bothered us.

Baby Owls

Activities

We booked a number of activities for each day that we were there.

Junior Pony Rides

Bikes – We hired two adult bikes, one which had a children's bike attached to the back of it. The cost was £78 in total. The only thing that bothered me is when we collected the bikes we discovered that you have to return them by 10am on departure day. We had activities booked on departure day and without bikes it was a considerably long walk up and down some very steep hills. Also the land train doesn't run until after 6pm on Fridays. But now that I know that you don't get to have the bikes on departure day, next time I wont book activities so far away.

Junior Pony Rides

Bowling – We usually do bowling on either arrival day or departure day because it is a lot cheaper. £20 for 45 minutes on Monday or Friday (you can get it for £18 at some times) but during the week the price can go up to £30 - £40 depending on the time. They were building a new bar area around the bowling area so looking forward to seeing that next time. 

Bowling

Bowling

Field Archery – My partner did this for the second time and said he really enjoyed it. It was £25 for an hour and a half.

Family Photo Shoot – Our little boy is 4 and a half and we do not have any photos of the three of us together which is why we decided to book the family photo shoot. It was £20 for a 30 minute session which included one free photo with the option to purchase additional photos. Our little boy has autism and he was extremely upset during the photo shoot because he didn't understand what was going on, plus it was his usual dinner time. However, the photographer was extremely patient with him and tried a number of different things to try to make him more relaxed. She even managed to get a few nice photos of us. So a big thank you to her. I thought she said her name was Millie but my partner said her name was Lily. So Millie or Lily, thank you very much!

Family Photo Shoot

Quad Bikes – My partner did quad bikes for the first time. It was £38 for one hour but he said he really enjoyed it and that they were actually riding the quad bikes for the entire hour.

Baby Owls – Last time we did An Outing with Owls (which was £10 per adult and £8 per child) but this time we decided to do Baby Owls, which is aimed at children under 5. It cost £10 each regardless of age. On arrival we had a letter saying that the location of the Baby Owls had been moved to the Village Square which is a much more convenient location than the Falconry Centre on the other side of the park. But I had allowed an hour to get from the Falconry Centre back over to the Village Square for pony rides. But this was the only hiccup in my extremely well organised minute by minute itinerary. We just had an hour to kill before we went for the pony ride.

Baby Owls

The two women who do the owl sessions are fantastic, they were the same two as when we went last September. The talk they did in the baby owl session was exactly the same as the talk for the outing with owls session we went to last year. The only difference is that in the outing with owls you all get to stand in a circle and have the owls fly to you. In the baby owls session you stay seated and just a couple of the smaller owls fly to you.

Baby Owls

Baby Owls

They were both fantastic with our son. They were aware that he had autism and were really patient with him when they were including him. At the end of the session they even gave him a big feather from one of the owls which some of the other children got upset about (sorry mums and dads) but a big thank you to Karen and the other lady (so sorry I have forgotten your name).

Baby Owls

Junior Pony Rides – They were for children aged 2 – 7 years and cost £18 for 15 minutes. My son had never seen a pony before so we had no idea how he was going to react but he loved it. The people running it were fantastic and made sure that my son had the pony that was used to children with special needs. Again a big thank you to these people!

Junior Pony Rides

Cabana – For departure day (which was my partner's birthday) I decided to treat us to a private cabana in the swimming paradise. It was £55 for 3 hours, which is the only activity that I thought was a bit steep in price but it was a special occasion and I am really glad with did book one. On the Center Parcs website and also when you arrive at the arrivals lodge you are told that on arrival day you are not allowed to use the pool until after 2pm however, on our departure day we soon realised this rule is not enforced. The pool was so busy you literally couldn't move, there was only enough space for people to stand in the pool but not actually move around. So we were definitely glad that we had our cabana and by late morning the mass of people had emptied out and the pool was practically empty for the last hour and a half. In the cabana there is a 60 inch TV, towels and a fridge with 3 bottles of water and 3 bottles of fizzy drinks. It would have been nice to have had a non fizzy drink but we will know for next time. The major disappointment with the cabana were the chairs. On the website they are advertised as 'comfortable chairs' and they have photos of chairs with padding. However, the chairs in the cabana were extremely uncomfortable wicker ones that left red marks and scratches all over you. So £55 for really uncomfortable chairs was a bit steep.

Electric Boats - £19 for 30 minutes. They didn't go very fast but it was nice not having to row. 30 minutes was plenty of time, we went around the lake a number of times and in different directions. Since the lake isn't very big I wouldn't have wanted to spend longer than 30 minutes on the boat. We have now done the electric boats twice and I think that is enough, I don't have any need to do them again.

Restaurants

The Pancake House

You can now book the Pancake House in advance! Yey, very helpful. It used to be one of the only places you could turn up to without booking so it was always hit and miss and to whether or not you got a table. When I first booked this holiday you couldn't book the Pancake House in advance however, just by pure chance, the week before our trip I noticed that you could now book in advance for some times (not all). So glad of this because we saw a number of families being turned away on both of our visits.

We love eating at the Pancake House. Each time we go in there with the aim of having a savoury item and a pudding but it never happens because one course is so filling. So now we always go in there twice. Definitely my favourite place to eat, I can't fault it. Just take note of the opening times because it isn't open every evening.

Rajinda Pradesh

The food here was really nice, I couldn't fault it. Our waitress Mischa was extremely understanding of our autistic son so thank you very much!

The Grand Cafe

We went for the Wednesday night carvery and as always it was extremely nice. Last time they had a separate children's menu (even though not all of the items are available on carvery nights). This time we asked if our son could have something from the children's menu (we wanted to ensure to give him something he would definitely eat without causing a fuss) and we were told that children can only have carvery on a Wednesday. We explained our situation and pointed out that it even said on the menu that there was a separate children's menu available. The waiter than said he would see if the chief could make a 'special exception'. Considering he then came back out of the kitchen with a bowl of pasta in less than 2 minutes it couldn't have been that much of an exception, they must have already had some prepared. He was just being difficult. But that didn't spoil our meal, the carvery was lovely and our little boy quietly ate his pasta without bothering anyone else.

Hucks

I think the only problem with Hucks is that the menu is too big! (Over 30 pages online). There were lots of different things I wanted to try. On the Hucks menu they advertise a children's buffet which says that children can eat as soon as you sit down. We thought that this was a brilliant idea but we learnt last time that it isn't actually the case. Last time we had to wait 20 minutes the waitress to take our order and provide a plate for the children's buffet and this time we had to wait almost that long again because it wasn't ready. We have eaten in Hucks 4 times and each time I have ordered the same thing and each time the portion has got bigger and bigger! This time I couldn't finish it so I think that's finally the excuse I need to look through that great big menu again and to try something else next time.

Hawtons

We like eating here for lunch, it is really filling and half the price of the dinner menu. Again our waiter was really nice. I think I read on the Center Parcs news page that they are replacing this restaurant with a different one so that is disappointing, especially since this restaurant is relatively new anyway.

Canopy Cafe

The Canopy Cafe is the cafe in the Swimming Paradise. We ate here for lunch on the day that we booked our private cabana. You order you food at the counter but then once it is ready a waitress brings it to your cabana for you very helpful! We had pizza and chips and the portion size was a lot bigger than expected and again it was very nice.

We love Center Parcs and even though some times we find things to complain about they aren't actually major complaints just little 'niggles' if we are being extra picking.

Like most people, we spent a lot of money over the 5 days. However, this didn't come as a shock. The prices for all of the activities are on the website and all of the menus for all of the restaurants are also on the website so we knew how much spending money we would need. We were hoping to go again in September (Cornwall Council lost our school application for our son so we thought an up side of him not going to school was that we could go to Center Parcs again). However, we have recently found out that our son has now got a school place for September so we are now extremely disappointed that we wont be able to go to Center Parcs again. While we are happy to pay term time prices, do activities every day and eat out every meal there is no way we can pay school holiday prices and still have such a good time.

Sorry I have gone on so much! Hopefully some people will find this helpful and if not this will probably be my last review of Center Parcs unless we win the lottery!

Longleat Safari Park Review – May 2016

Taken from my Tripadvisor Reviews

Photos and videos are from our September 2015 visit and not this May 2016 visit (except the photo and video of the Rocking Rhino)

We went at the beginning of May (after our Center Parcs holiday as always). This was our 4^th visit and it will definitely be our last for a while. The first time we went we stayed all day but now each time we go we end up leaving earlier and earlier. This time we left at about 1pm so we were glad that we used our Tesco clubcard vouchers instead of paying full price.

We arrived at 10am and was met by a large queue of cars. There was a member of staff guiding the cars. There are about 6 or 8 arrival booths (all open and staffed) but the staff member was only guiding the cars into the first two lanes. Once these lanes were completely full of cars she then let cars into the next lanes. Really annoying start to have to sit in a queue of cars for 20 minutes while watching many other cars arriving and being able to go straight through. What a stupid system.

It was almost 10.30 when we finally got through the payment booth and even that early in the day the entire car park was full so we went straight to the safari. When we got to the African Village, where you can park up and have a walk about, that car park was also complete full. Therefore, we didn't stop to see the giraffes and other animals. Like I said this was our 4^th visit and we had seen them before.

While driving around the safari, it would have been nice to have been told in advance that because the fences around the enclosures are being replaced all of the dangerous animals were either in cages or removed. While I appreciate that Longleat needed to ensure that the builders weren't eaten by a lion, it would have been nice to have been told in advance. Considering how busy the place was there would have been a lot of disappointed people and maybe it wouldn't have been so busy if people were told at the gate. All the lions were in cages, as were the tigers and cheetahs and the wolves had been completely removed.

We were still able to see the lions even though they were in cages. However, the tigers and cheetahs were a different story. Just as us and two other cars were driving up to the tigers one of those VIP jeeps came flying past us all, went off road and parked directly in front of the one and only tiger. Therefore, completely blocking it from view of anyone else and that's where he remained for a considerable amount of time after which the rest of us gave up and moved on. While I appreciate that the people of the VIP tours have paid extra to get closer to the tigers surely it shouldn't be at the expense of other visitors? Surely the driver of the jeep could have let the rest of us have a look at the tiger rather than completely blocking it from view?

When we got to the cheetah enclosure there was only one cheetah visible and it was in a cage, so all the cars queued up to take turns to have a look at it. But as always you always get one idiot who doesn't want to wait their turn. A car came rushing down the over taking lane to the front of the queue and as soon as the first car in the queue moved on this car cut in front and parked in front of the cheetah with no thought to those of us who had been waiting our turn in the queue.

Like I said above the wolves had been removed, we spent ages driving slowly around their enclosure looking for them like everyone else but didn't see them. We then realised that there wasn't a staff jeep in the enclosure like usual just in case there are any problems which lead us to believe that the wolves weren't there. Later on in the adventure park I over heard someone talking to a member of staff who confirmed that the wolves had been removed due to the fence being replaced.

We then went for an early lunch in the Tropical Storm Cafe which we really enjoyed. Less than £5 each for a panini each plus a children's lunch box, very reasonable prices and friendly staff.

My son and partner went on the rocking rhino, luckily at the time there wasn't a queue because neither of them particular liked it. About 15 minutes later the queue was ridiculous so glad they managed to get on it when they did.

All of the enclosures while walking around the park are extremely small, like the penguins, meerkats etc and it was extremely busy so really big queue for most of it. There was a big queue for the train, boat, animal handling, lorikeets feeding and big crowds around all of the animal enclosures. Like I said we had been 3 times before this visit, we were all feeling tired after spending a week at Center Parcs so didn't feel like queuing for ages, with an autistic 4 year old who doesn't like waiting around just to see animals that we had seen three times before. So in the end we ended up leaving at 1pm and we don't feel any need to return anytime soon. We have always gone to Longleat Center Parcs mainly because it is across the road from Longleat Safari Park but like I said we have no desire to return. It is not set up to handle the amount of visitors that were there on this particular visit.

Leaving was a bit of a hassle. Usually the exit is the same place as the entrance however, this time, I think due to the fact we left so early, we were directed to a different exit. This exit lead us out onto a country lane and it was quite a few miles before we reached the main road.

However, please read my other reviews on Longleat because we really enjoyed it the first time, but after four visits we wont be coming again anytime soon. 

Center Parcs Review

Center Parcs Review

Wow! I haven't written on here since November 2013

This is my review of our Center Parcs Holiday September 2015 (I have taken it from my TripAdvisor Reviews).

We stayed at Center Parcs as a family of 2 adults and a 3 year old boy during the week beginning 7^th September for a midweek break. We thought that since this was the week that schools went back after the summer holiday then maybe it would be on the quiet side. However, this wasn't the case the park was completely full when we were there.

This was our third trip to Center Parcs (please see my previous reviews) so we had every day, activity and restaurant planned in advance. This time, to make the most of the break and to effectively have a extra two days on site we decided to travel up on the Sunday, stay at Premier Inn and then arrive at 10am Monday morning. Then we stayed on site for the day on the Friday and stayed in a Travelodge Friday night before going Longleat Safari park on the Saturday.

Arrival

Even though you cannot access your accommodation until 3pm you can arrive at Center Parcs anytime from 10am on your arrival day. So like I said we planned to arrive at 10am. We actually arrived at 9.56am and there wasn't a single car in front of us, by 9.58am we were all checked in and we allowed to go in. However, the girl at the arrival lodge said that because it was before 10am she wasn't allowed to give us our accommodation key so we had to collect it from guest services after 1pm. Initially we didn't see this as a problem but when we went to collect our key around 1pm from guest services we discovered that the girl from the arrival lodge had sent the wrong key to guest services, so we had to wait another hour for it to be sent down. This wasn't really that big of a deal but a bit of unnecessary hassle for the sake of being 2 minutes early. There wasn't anyone in the queue behind us when we arrived so next time we will just park the car before the arrivals lodge for 2 minutes to make sure it is after 10am when we arrive.

From our previous visits we have noticed that the Plaza is always extremely busy on arrival days. In the morning it is usually full of guest that are about to leave buying souvenirs before they leave. Then in the afternoon it is full of new guests just hanging around and waiting until 3pm when they can access their accommodation. So because of this we usually avoid the Plaza on arrival day. Instead we went to the children's play areas in the morning and then to The Pancake House for lunch. On our last two visits we have found that the Pancake House is almost empty on arrival day because everyone is in the Plaza.

The Pancake House

We love eating at the Pancake House. Each time we go in there with the aim of having a savoury item and a pudding but it never happens because one course is so filling. So this time we decided to have a savoury pancake for lunch on the Monday and we went back on the Friday lunch time and had a sweet waffle each. The Pancake House is usually the only restaurant you can turn up to without booking and its the one where we were served the quickest. Definitely my favourite place to eat, I can't fault it. Just take note of the opening times because it isn't open every evening.

The Pancake House

Accommodation

Cars usually start queuing at the barrier from just after 2pm waiting for it to open at 3pm to allow access to the lodges so it can be a bit chaotic and when the barrier opens people seem to act like the lodges are first come first served.

This time when we went to book Center Parcs had increased their prices by £50 from when I checked the day before booking so my partner telephoned to book to see if he could get the price back down to what it was the day before. This didn't work but we thought it was worth a try. If you do book by phone just beware that they will add items onto your booking without telling you there is an extra charge. We never pay extra to be in a particular location because we like trying out different ones and think Center Parcs is expensive enough without paying extra. If we did have a choice we would choose the Fir Area, this may be the further away from everything but because of this it is quieter and you see more wildlife. If you don't pay extra to be near the centre then you will probably end up in the Fir Area anyway. When my partner was making the booking on the telephone the advisor asked if we preferred a particular location and my partner said Fir, he didn't know that it cost an extra £29 to specific this area and the advisor didn't tell him either. It was only when he told me the total price I realised that she had added this extra £29 plus another £30 ish for insurance without actually saying that she had done this. She had initially allocated us lodge 635 and was going to charge us £29 for doing so. I said that we didn't want to chose a particular location we were happy to be allocated at random. To which she replied 'if you don't pay extra then the computer will allocate you a villa out in the sticks'. We had already told her that is where we wanted to be anyway. The computer then randomly allocated us lodge 636! Next door to the one she tried charging us £29 for. So just beware that if you book on the phone they may add extra items to your booking without telling you that there is a charge.

As usual we couldn't fault the lodge. Well if we were on Four in a Bed and being extra picky then we probably could have found something but nothing that bothered us. The lodges in the Fir Area used to be Comfort Lodges but over the last couple of years they have all been updated to Woodland Lodges so everything in them is relatively new.

Activities

We booked activities in advance for each day we were there. My partner did field archery which he really enjoyed and had lots of fun.

We then all went on the Teddy Bears Picnic. This involved meeting at the Activities Den at 1pm. A few people were late because you are sent a map in the post before arriving and then you are given another map on arrival and the Activities Den is shown in completely different places on each of the map. It is in the middle of the park and not by the car park as shown on one of the maps. The Teddy Bears Picnic cost £10 per child, adults were free. The children were given a lunch box at the start and then made to carry it for 20 minutes while we went hunting for Rupert Bear with children complaining that they were hungry. When we found Rupert the children were then made to play games and sing songs so it was nearly 1.45 by the time they started eating. I just thought that since this was an activity aimed at toddlers it could have been organised a bit better so that they didn't have to wait so long before eating. However, for the £10 the children had a packed lunch provided, they got to meet Rupert individually, have their face painted, got given hats and a really nice Center Parcs teddy to keep.

Teddy Bears Picnic

We also booked Tots Mini Moves but my little boy is autistic and was extremely upset prior to the activity so we decided to give it a miss. We phoned guest services 10 minutes before the activity was due to start to let them know we weren't able to make it and they gave us a full refund, which was nice and totally unexpected.

We also booked the new electric boats which were £18 for 30 minutes. They didn't go very fast but it was nice not having to row. 30 minutes was plenty of time, we went around the lake a number of times and in different directions. Since the lake isn't very big I wouldn't have wanted to spend longer than 30 minutes on the boat.

Electric Boats

The next activity we did was An Outing with Owls. We all really enjoyed it. It cost £10 per adult and £8 per child for 45 minutes and we all had big owls and small owls fly to us. The two women who were doing the activity were really good and we learnt a lot and had a laugh. Would definitely recommend it.

We booked children's entertainment because when we were looking through the list of activities online we saw an hour of children's entertainment for £1 each but it didn't say what it was. Since usually you can't get anything at Center Parcs for £1 each we thought we would give it a go. Oh my god, I have never seen anything like it, no wonder it only cost £1 Center Parcs were probably too embarrassed to charge anymore. It was one guy who claimed to be a professional actor and children's entertainer, well I have never seen anything so bad, all of the adults were embarrassed by how bad it was and even the children didn't know how to react. He spent the whole time acting like someone who had some kind of learning disability and from talking to him before the show started he wasn't someone who had a learning disability so why he decided to act like one and make himself look so stupid is beyond me. Definitely give it a miss.

The final activity we did was 10 pin bowling. We did this on departure day at 11.30 because it is cheaper to do it on arrival or departure day. It was £18 instead of £24 for 45 mins. It was also very quiet. You get exactly 45 mins on the lane and during that time the 3 of us managed to play one whole game and then one go short of a whole second game.

Restaurants

Each restaurant we booked for 6pm however, this wasn't an appropriate time because when we got there we found out that the land train arrived at the Plaza at 5.40pm or 6pm so we either got there too early or we were late. So take the times of the train into account when booking restaurants. It arrives at the Plaza on the hour, 20 past each hour and 20 to each hour.

All the restaurants do children's meal deals for £8.99 (I think!) and for that they get two courses and a drink so a reasonable price. However, regardless of what restaurant we were in the children's meal deal menu was the same. We were always able to get my son's dessert to go which was extremely helpful however, this did confuse almost every staff member we asked.

Rajinda Pradesh

The food here was really nice, I couldn't fault it. However, it was an extremely long wait especially since there was only one other table besides us. The main criticism I have with this restaurant is when they brought out my 3 year old son's meal they put it down in front of him and the plate and food was so hot I burnt myself on the plate when I moved it away from him. I would expect staff to be a bit more aware of the temperature of children's meals and plates.

The Grand Cafe

We went for the Wednesday night carvery and it was my favourite meal of the week. Also we saw the waitress checking the temperature of my son's plate and food before bringing it out so that was extremely good! Because my son is autistic and can be a very fussy eater we looked at all the menus online before we went to see if there would be food suitable for him before we booked. On the menu for the grand cafe it said that children had the option of either a carvery or the standard children's meal deal. My son wouldn't have ate the carvery so we decided on the meal deal again. However, what it didn't say on the online menu is that the only option from the meal deal menu that they do on a Wednesday night is the pasta. If we knew that in advance then we wouldn't have order the pasta the night before in Rajinda Pradesh but my son still ate it.

Hucks

I think the only problem with Hucks is that the menu is too big! (Over 30 pages online). There were lots of different things I wanted to try. On the Hucks menu they advertise a children's buffet which says that children can eat as soon as you sit down. We thought that this was a brilliant idea but it isn't actually the case. By the time the waitress took our order, then got us a plate for the children's buffet it was 20 minutes after we sat down before I was able to go up to the children's buffet. My partner had to send his steak back twice because it wasn't cooked properly but my meal was really nice.

Hawtons

We were disappointed that the tapas restaurant had been replaced with Hawtons because the food that Hawtons offers you can get anywhere and we felt that the tapas restaurant was something different, but we decided to give it a go. We were initially booked in for 6pm on departure day but asked if we could change our booking to 5pm. This wasn't possible but we were able to change to 4.30pm and because we were then eating before 5pm we had the lunchtime menu instead of the dinner time menu. The food that we ordered from the lunchtime menu was extremely nice, very filling and half the price of the dinner menu options. We will definitely eat here again for lunch.

Land Train

Like other people have mentioned sometimes the land train was full. However, the whole time we were there a number of mini buses were driving around picking up people who were waiting at the land train stops. We were even able to wave down the minibuses and they would take us anywhere we wanted so it was never a problem.

The Land Train

We love Center Parcs and even though some times we find things to complain about they aren't actually major complaints just little 'niggles' if we are being extra picking. As soon as we got home we started saving and planning for the next trip and we are going again in May! Can't wait really looking forward to it!

First Time on a Bike

Like most people, we spent a lot of money over the 5 days. However, this didn't come as a shock. The prices for all of the activities are on the website and all of the menus for all of the restaurants are also on the website so we knew how much spending money we would need.

Sorry I have gone on so much! Hopefully some people will find this helpful.