A Redcoat Christmas

(Warning this entry is very picture and video heavy so may not be suitable for dial-up :( )

So if you have been wondering where we have been...

Sunday 23rd December

At 9am we were all set for our Christmas adventure.

I had said all along that we would upgrade to first on the train and I am so glad that I did as the train was absolutely rammed to the rafters. There were no seats at all in standard and they were standing in the aisles and in the vestibules and anywhere absolutely possible. Paying the extra £45 for First class was sooo worth it. The seats were wider there was more room and I had my eye on my luggage the whole journey.

When DS and I ventured to the train shop for our complimentary food and drinks, it was murder. It took us about half an hour to get to the other end of the train and back but we really enjoyed our little box of snacks. They only had bottled water unfortunately but that was enough for me. In our little snack box we got some TUC biscuits; a piece of fruit cake; a packet of fruit chips; a mini Kitkat chunky; and a mini carton of Orange juice.

The journey went by so quick in our luxury and soon we were pulling into Taunton where we had to change.

It turned out that our train to Minehead was a BUS. Oh and not your luxury coach that we get from Derby to Notts. A regular single decker bus that stops at all stops for locals. With 30 holiday makers on their way to Butlins and their suitcases all packed into this bus like sardines and he was stopping to let more on. There were cases falling on people’s heads and DS feeling woozy and a whinging teenager sat behind us. The journey that should have been an hour turned into an hour – AND A HALF! On the up side though the bus takes us right into Butlins and we were greeted off the bus by a very cheery Red coat.

I was like a little kid when we got off the bus. Here we were at Butlins. I had never been as a kid and it was all a wondrous mystery. We made our way to the skyline dome to check in and I was just in a daze.

The queue wasn’t long and we were seen straight away at check-in. As I feared, our apartment was at the far end of the complex and we are on the 3^rd floor.

We dumped our stuff and went out to explore. We found ourselves in the skyline dome and went for fish and chips. A few £s spent in the arcade and I treated myself to a mocha chino at Bar Rosso.

Although I said we wouldn’t, we found ourselves in the centre stage watching Chico. Even though I wasn’t really interested I have to admit he does put on a great show. He has a band and dancing girls and he really plays to the crowd. I actually enjoyed his set very much. It included some great crowd pleasers like La Vida loca, The Timewarp, a couple of his own songs and of course he finished with Chico time.

After his show he did a signing next to the stage which brought back great memories for me. The huge queue went right round the room. I joked to DD about the fact that he is only a runner up from a TV talent show – AHEM.

As the queue went down DD got up and just joined the end of it and came back with a signed picture of Chico and also boasted that he kissed her and she had her photo with him. (OK who are you and what have you done with my DD)

We stayed for the party dances and then as we were all pretty knackered, we went back to the apartment. On the way back DS spotted a Rabbit hopping about on the green. Heaven only knows where it had come from or where it disappeared to…

In my bedroom I have a huge double bed and it was so comfy with 4 huge pillows that I fell off to sleep as soon as my head hit the pillows.

Christmas Eve

I was woken this morning by my mobile ringing at 9am. I answered it but no one was there. Outside was bustling with activity so I got up.

There were Squawking Seagulls every morning but I didn't expect to hear Quacking - I looked out and there was a family of ducks waddling up the path. Calm as you like. It wasn't as if we were near a lake or a pond or anything. They became an everyday occurrence though as the week went on.

When the children were up we went out to take a walk to reception. I wanted to report that our TV Isn’t tuned right and that we have no water in the bathroom.

After going to reception we took a walk round the funfair and the children had a turn on the Dodgems. Their turn was up just in time for the Super Slam Wresting in the clubroom called Reds. DS bought a big foam finger and he really enjoyed getting stuck in and joining in with the chants and songs.

We had lunch at Burger King and then I decided to retire to the Chalet for a couple of hours while the children went off to the arcades.

In the evening we went to the on site cinema to see Enchanted. It was a lot better than I had thought it would be with a mix of Animation, CGI and live action. We went to Pizza Hut for tea and ended the evening with the Butlins Happy Holidays fun in the Centre Stage.

Redcoats Ian and Mitch sang all your favourite Christmas songs including Last Christmas; All I want for Christmas; Step into Christmas; Baby it’s cold outside; I wish it could be Christmas everyday; Merry Christmas everybody etc…

We stayed for Battle of the Sides - It was great because all the Redcoats were dressed up in tinsel and stuff...Looking like Christmas trees -

and then although I did want to see the Abba Tribute, I was knackered. So we went back to our chalet for Hot Chocolate.

CHRISTMAS DAY

I was woken at about 7am by the redcoats outside. Redcoat Chris had been saying the night before that they would be out waking everyone up at 7.45am but I thought it was a big joke but I looked out the window to see them over by the staff quarters all in fancy dress with drums and trumpets and a noisy trolley. Sure enough at 7.45am they started parading around all the blocks making as much noise as possible and shouting Merry Christmas. I wish I had known when we came that they did a trolley dash as I would have bought an extra pressie to give them.

The children were soon up and watching out the window to wave to the team. I couldn’t take any pictures because the light wasn’t good enough.

The Children unwrapped their presents and at about 11am I cooked the traditional Christmas morning breakfast – Bacon, Eggs and Sausage with Croissants and Orange juice.

The rest of the time we just slobbed around as we always do on Christmas morning. Eating chocolate and watching crappy Christmas Day TV.

I really fancied a shower but of course didn’t bring any shampoo or anything so I got dressed and went out to the supermarket to get some and thought I would just pop into the arcade for a bit. Who would believe it, Christmas day and we are playing the slots in the arcades!

I had my shower then I sat around watching Top of the Pops Christmas special eating chocolate and drinking Archers. What a way to spend Christmas afternoon.

Soon it was time to go for our Christmas lunch. We were allocated to have ours in Pizza Hut. We got there in plenty of time and soon a huge queue formed. Bob the builder came along to entertain the waiting line along with Wendy and a couple of Redcoats. As it was almost 4pm, Bob started banging on the door for them to let us in and soon we were inside and seated at our lovely table. Our waitress was Andrea.

The first course was already set – Melon with raspberry coulee. Honeydew and Gallia Melon. I don’t know which was which but I didn’t like the green one of that helps. Next course was the soup – Tomato and Basil – It was a bit spicy but perfect for Christmas as it was very warming. We had to wait quite a while for the main course. We thought we had been forgotten as all around us the tables were getting their Turkey and we were still sitting there. Finally it arrived and it was fantastic. There was Turkey with stuffing and a sausage in a blanket; roast potatoes; boiled potatoes; sprouts; carrots; roast Parsnips and gravy.

It took me a while to get through and believe it or not I was really struggling with the last few mouthfuls. I was determined to get through it though.

The next course was offered a choice. For traditionalists like me it was Christmas pudding and Brandy sauce but for the children it was a gorgeous Chocolate torte. As I looked around it seemed most children chose the chocolate.

We finished off with coffee and sadly no mince pies. When we were all fed and stuffed to the limit, we left feeling well satisfied.

We wanted to watch the Gunge show at 7pm so we hung about the Skyline until they opened up the Centre stage club. We got a good seat but we wanted to make sure we were on the right side of the club for battle of the sides later so we moved to an equally good seat on the opposite side.

The gunge show was your average – Get your dad onstage and let him make a fool of himself – kind of show. 3 dads who first of all had to dance to Kelly Marie then had to drink a pint of water through a sock. WE were the ones that started the “SUCK THE SOCK” chant then everyone else joined in.

The winning Dad and his daughter were meant to then get the chance to win all the prizes or get gunged but the whole thing was turned on its head when the compere (Redcoat leader Chris) tried to get all the Redcoats in the gunge tank but that was all turned on it’s head again when the Redcoats got Chris in the tank and gunged him – Not once…but twice. The redcoats were all a little delirious I think owing to the fact that it was Christmas day and they had been working for 12 straight hours – Not even getting Christmas lunch as they had to entertain the guests while they ate.

I was in 2 minds about staying for the Motown show but I am glad I did as it was good. Sang by the usual Butlins crew who I am warming to now.

We left after Battle of the sides (Which our side won again) as I was exhausted and couldn’t stop yawning. We stopped at the Supermarket and picked up some goodies for supper when we got back.

Boxing Day

It was a lazy day today for me. I have had this cold coming for ages and today it suddenly showed itself. My throat hurt and my head ached and my sinuses were all stuffed up. I went and bought myself some Beecham’s and made myself at home on the sofa. I couldn’t get the children to understand that just because I was staying home, didn’t mean they had to. All they seemed to do all day was argue.

In the evening the children went out to the arcades and to the Battle of the sides. I stayed in and watched TV. We did watch Ballet shoes which starred Victoria Wood and Emma Watson. It wasn’t quite DS’ thing but I think DD enjoyed watching it with me. I really enjoyed it. It was refreshing to see Emma Watson in a role other than Hermione Grainger in Harry Potter.

Later on the children fetched food. DS had a kebab and chips with a voucher from our welcome pack, Chicken and chips for me and pasty and chips for DD.

Thursday

Today we ventured out into Minehead. It isn’t a big town and the walk from Butlins along the front took half an hour with stops in the arcades. There are 2 good sized very cheap arcades along Minehead front and I was impressed that they were open at this time of year. Actually the weather was so mild that if it hadn’t been for the Christmas trees in local windows you wouldn’t have thought it was the end of December.

The town isn’t really up to much. There is a small Woolworths and a small Somerfield. Superdrug, Blockbuster, WHSmith, Subway and a load of charity shops as well as a few local shops and gift shops.

There were quite a few tea rooms and small cafes but they were all closed which wasn’t good as we were all getting quite hungry. We managed to find a small café that did take away sandwiches but DD didn’t fancy anything on the menu. I bought a Prawn Mayo baguette and DS had a Tuna Mayo Baguette. We made our way back to the resort and DD chose something for lunch before we got back to the apartment and got stuck in.

In the evening we went along to the Centre stage for the Battle of the sides and One big show. The room was pretty pants in the way of audience participation. A lot of people left and a lot of people had arrived but they didn’t seem to be in the party spirit. It seemed that our side only had us to make a noise and with my bad throat, that wasn’t easy. As a result our side didn’t win this time which is the first time since we have been here.

The One big show was quite impressive. It included an African group called “The mighty Jambo”. They were and acrobatic group doing such antics as limbo and human pyramids. They played the steel pans too and did a skipping display.

The show also included the Butlins crew doing a Take That Medley, A Grease Medley, A Queen Medley and joining with The mighty Jambo for a Grand finale.

Also during the evening there were interactive competitions for all the family. First of all a Dad was picked out of the audience to join the Butlins crew to sing “Greased lighting”. He was in good spirit and really tried hard. A little later a young boy was picked out to join in the guitar solo for Bohemian Rhapsody. He was excellent and really got into it. Finally they had a competition for the mums. 2 mums onstage who had to dress up as pop divas and perform. It was pretty lame really. The final winner overall was of course the young lad who won himself a DVD player.

We stayed for the end of the show and then got Burger King to take back to the apartment. It was about 11.30 by the time we got back and I was straight to bed after eating my Double Whopper J

Friday

What an awful day this was. The weather was horrific and it was a nightmare trying to walk anywhere. All the outside activities were closed down and there really wasn’t much for teens to do apart from the arcade.

We resorted to watching The Citrus brothers in the Skyline Dome. I wanted to go watch the Characters show in The Centre stage but no one wanted to come so we ended up going back to the apartment.

In the evening we went over to REDS (The home of the Redcoats) for an evening of Wrestling. DS was really excited. He had his foam finger ready to wave.

It was packed when we got there but we managed to find seats on the floor right in front of the ring.

Have I mentioned that Redcoat Paul – The host of Reds nightclub – is from Derby? Well we found out tonight that he is also indeed a Rams fan. It came about when he got everyone to BOO a boy in a Chelsea shirt. I was hoping we might get to speak to him later but as the host he skips off as soon as everything is finished.

When the Wrestling finally started, it was really exciting. Even DD got caught up in the excitement. Of course we had to cheer the good guys (The UK wrestlers) and boo the baddies (The rest of the world) The spoils were shared between the goodies and the Baddies with the UK wrestler Mikey Whiplash winning the special Heavy Weight challenge match at the end against Canadian 300lber The Barbarian.

DS managed to get the autographs of all the UK wrestlers on his program and was – It has to be said – Well Chuffed!!

We went down to the arcades after the Wrestling. DS had Burger King but DD and I decided to wait for later to eat. The Arcades were a lot busier than it had been all week. There were a lot more teenagers than had been during the rest of our stay.

When we had spent up our allocation of money for the night, I got a kebab and DD got Burger King and we went back to the apartment. I was shattered so I went to bed and left the children up watching “While you were sleeping” starring Sandra Bullock.

Saturday

As it was our last day we took a trip into Minehead to buy gifts for family and friends and pressies for ourselves.

Of course we also had to stop off in the arcades and I won quite a bit of booty – including a little tin of sweets with Bart Simpson on, 2 packs of Haribo, a Pug keyring and a little Duck pen. I also won 200 in points tokens but 200 points don’t get you much – So I got an Eeyore badge for my sister Debz.

We had lunch in a very nice restaurant called The Owls. We all had toasted Panini and DS had a Chocolate Milkshake. They were delicious.

DD also spotted this charming shop so I couldn't resist a look around...

I was loaded with bags by the time we were walking back. We got back to the room about 4pm and just wanted to chill out with a cuppa before starting the sad and arduous task of packing to go home.

As it was our last night I wanted to make it a good one. I put on my best clothes and my flashing bracelets. I put on my makeup and we were ready to go.

DD wanted to see the Gunge show and I was desperate to see the Character show at least once before we left but as we got to the centre stage the show was just ending. The place was pretty packed but we got a table near to the back on our favourite side.

The Gunge show was almost the same as the show on Christmas night. The Redcoats still did the Pass the pie game and they still made Redcoat Chris join in and they still made him get pied. This time though Redcoat Chris didn't get gunged and he succeeded in gunging all the other Redcoats - Except for Redcoat Christian who ran away.

Our Last Battle of the sides before we went home and We had to make it good. I had a real sore throat and hardly any voice left but I was determined to do my best! I only wish everyone else on our side felt the same. It was real hard work to get our side to be the best.

As it turned out there was a lot of cheating going on by the Redcoats and our side lost in the end.

It was such a shame that Saturday night wasn't that great for entertainment. We left the club at about 10.30 after the Battle of the sides as the evening show was Angie Brown. We went and spent our last lot of change in the Skyline arcade and then DD and I went to order take out Pizza from Pizza Hut. DS wanted to be awkward and get Chips.

We took one last walk around the Skyline before taking our supper back to the chalet.

I was quite sad that we were at the end of our holiday. The last few days the weather hadn't been the best but It was sad to be going back to the real world. I tried to make it last las long as possible but I knew we had to be up early in the morning to pack up and leave before 10am. Besides I also wanted to enjoy a last good night of sleep in my luxury bed.