If you didn’t see last weeks post then pop over and have a read here, I told you all about the fabulous caravan we stayed in and about the restaurant facilities. This post is going to cover all the fun we had using the facilities on the camp. There is something to do for everyone from water activities, sporting activities and lots of day/night entertainment for all ages to enjoy.
My boys first port of call was the arcade and the arcade at the Cala Gran has a wide variety of games to play and is well attended. The boys loved that a lot of the games are to win tickets and you collect all your tickets through put the week and exchange them for a prize and the prize shop. Its all plastic junk but its plastic junk that kids love and my boys loved trading in their tickets! There was around 10 rides for Cody to go on and they where only 50p per go, all the arcades in town are £1 per go so I was impressed with the 50p a ride. We even had some success with the teddy bear machines and won a baby olag and a minion, Skye was desperate for a minion as soon as she saw them. She didn’t understand why she just couldn’t reach and get one out of the machine, we put a couple of pounds in and had no luck and I had a 50p in my pocket which gets you 2 goes, I managed to grab one first go! Thank god for that I thought and reached down to get it out of the win shoot, well Skye watched in excitement as I pulled it out and when she saw it started to shout and scream. She clearly had wanted another and not the one we won! With her being autistic and having limited communication and understand there was no easy way for me to tell her this! So I grabbed one of the many attendants milling around the arcade, he was extremely helpful when explained the situation and he opened the machine and swapped it for her! Safe to say the minion didn’t leave her side for the rest of the week!
Inside the arcade there is a soft play area it isn’t manned and your supposed to watch your own children. Unfortunately not many parents were sticking to this rule and using it as a dumping ground while they played on the bingo machines!! This also meant the height limit was also flouted and it wasn’t safe for the little ones when you have lots of big kids tearing around it! I think it would be better to have the play area outside of the arcade environment as its to hectic, also there are 2 entrances to the play area and the back one is right infront of a door that goes into the park area. We had a few incidents where Cody legged it out of the back and outside! There is also a mini bowling alley which Dayton loved, it was only £2 a game and you get the same 10 goes you would in a normal bowling alley.
There are 3 outdoor play areas in the Cala Gran, one behind the Mash & Barrell, one near the crazy golf and one near the shops, there was a variety of equipment and it was suitable for all ages. With little swings for babies and big swings for the older children, I liked that the playground was all in one as in some the older and younger equipment is separate which can cause issues if you have children of mixed ages like me, so Haven have got it just right! Having 3 parks was a huge bonus for us as a family with children with special needs if one was a bit busy we could just go around the corner to one of the others.
I had a preconceived idea in my head that because it was half term and the Autumn that the pool would be really busy and dreaded taking the children. The get agitated in busy environments so we went a few times to check it out before going. Surprisingly every time we went it was really quiet and the children loved splashing about in the shallow end. There was also a jacuzzi and a water slide open at all times, it was really well manned with lifeguards dotted all over. It was really refreshing to see staff keeping themselves busy and keeping the changing rooms clean and tidy. Everyone looked really happy in their job to, we have visited camps all over the country not all of them Haven and we have come across some right misery guts! Everyone we met at Haven had a genuine smile, were all patient and understanding of my children’s additional needs and even took the time to ask questions and not just presume or stare.
The boys loved golf and at only £3 per game or £10 for a family of 4 you can’t grumble at the price. You get 9 holes to play and you get a little score card. We played a few times during our stay and we managed to finish on a draw of both boys winning 2 rounds each!
As part of our bloggers package we were given an activity pass, this allowed us to do lots of fun activities including archery, target shooting, climbing wall, trampolines and bike hire. There are also some great water based activities you can do, but my boys aren’t confident swimmers and didn’t fancy trying them out. We only managed to do the bike hire and the archery. Every time the weather was good enough for the trampolines we missed it! The trampolines were open for an hour each day weather permitting, there wasn’t a set hour either, so it was frustrating to miss it on all 3 opportunities we could of done it. The boys loved hiring out all the different bikes, they even do a massive family bike for upto 6 people. You can purchase a 6 item activity pass for around £30 which works out cheaper than paying individually for the activities on camp. They do advise you book as soon as you arrive and they get booked up really quickly.
We loved our time an Haven Cala Gran, the staff where all lovely and smiley there was plenty of things to keep us all busy. As the children autism we didn’t go into the club to see the night time entertainment as its too noisy and busy for them. I did pop in at around 8pm on night after goign to the shop and it was very busy, there are no seats to sit on by this time. As a Haven regular I know from experience if you want a decent seat then you need to be in for around 6pm, this is usalluy when the children’s entertainment starts anyway. They have a variety of shows from Pantomimes, fun and games and even family bingo, I loved it when I was a child and you can see the delight on all the childrens faces that they are loving it to.
Haven Cala Gran is in a really good position Fleetwood is 15 minutes bus ride to the right and Blackpool is a 30 minute ride in the other direction, the Number 14 bus runs every 10 miniutes and a really reliable service. The site is also right across the road from Farmer Parrs which is a lovely working farm woth a cafe to die for! I recommend the cream tea! All in all despite our terrible restaurant experience this is the 3rd time we have visited and its definitely in our top 3 Haven parks, definitely worth a visit.
Disclaimer: As a Haven Blogger I was provided with the holiday FOC for the purposes of review. All opinions are my own