Christmas and New Year at Parkdean Resorts - Where to stay and what to expect

This chap is going to be busy visiting five Parkdean Resorts at the same time

Most holiday parks tend to close over winter, or at least wind down a lot of their activities. However, a handful of Parkdean Resorts are opening over Christmas and New Year for 'Winter Wonderland' breaks.

You might not be stripping down to your trunks and jumping into the sea, but you can do things like ice skating, meeting Father Christmas or watching someone belting out a Mariah Carey song.

Here's our guide to what to expect and a summary of the five Parkdean sites offering Christmassy themed breaks.

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What happens at a 'Winter Wonderland' break?

The general idea is that the holiday parks are decorated and that the activities are given Christmas themes.

The highlights are probably breakfast with Santa, meeting reindeers, ice skating and The Big Christmas Party (some things cost extra). This may be a good moment to confess that I didn't realise reindeer were real animals until I was about 23.

At Parkdean's Warmwell Holiday Park, they make the most of their ski slope with skiing, snowboarding and donut shaped things called Ringos.

There are also lots of crafty things, such as 'festive' sand art, pottery painting, bauble making and Christmas card making. The entertainment has a strong Christmas vibe, with carol concerts, the Starland Krew doing 'Christmas in Concert' and generally lots of people wearing red Santa hats or elf ears.

You can also do lots of the activities that are available during the warmer months.

It's worth noting that there are more activities if you visit before Christmas than if you visit afterwards. This is presumably because there isn't a huge demand for making Christmas cards or decorating a bauble on Boxing Day.

You can meet Rudolph or one of his stand-ins at Parkdean's Winter Wonderland

You can expect a few classics in the entertainment venues

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Which is the cheapest Parkdean Resorts Winter Wonderland?

We looked at the price of a three night break starting from Friday December 20th 2024 and ranked them in order. Of course, you might decide to upgrade your accommodation. We just looked for the cheapest option we could find to give a general idea:

1. Parkdean Resorts Ty Mawr Holiday Park in Wales - £149​
2. Parkdean Resorts Cherry Tree Holiday Park in Norfolk - £209
3. ​Parkdean Resorts Cayton Bay Holiday Park in Yorkshire - £219
4. Parkdean Resorts Trecco Bay Holiday Park in Wales - £249
5. Parkdean Resorts Warmwell Holiday Park in Dorset - £379

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Which is the best location for Parkdean Resorts' Winter Wonderland?

The Winter Wonderland events are only held at five out of 60+ Parkdean Resorts*. They are all big resorts and are well spread out so you may just decide to go for the one that it is closest to you to avoid long drives in winter.

Alternatively, you might be deciding between two locations or fancy visiting a resort you've not been to before.

Here's our summary of the five Winter Wonderland venues, ranked by customer reviews**

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1. Parkdean Resorts Warmwell Holiday Park, Dorset - 89%

Warmwell will be the most convenient Winter Wonderland for you if you live in Cornwall, Devon, Dorset or Hampshire. 

It has the major advantage of having its own ski slope, which is rather unusual for a holiday park in the UK. That means you can have ski and snowboarding lessons, or just hurtle down a hill on an inflatable donut.

Warmwell is also one of Parkdean's more attractive holiday parks, with woodland and lakes rather than just rows of accommodation.

The main downside is that Warmwell is the most expensive of the five resorts by far. The reason for this is that Warmwell's accommodation is lodges, rather than narrower caravans. Once you take this into account, it's actually quite decent value.

For example, Warmwell's cheapest lodge for three nights from December 20th is actually cheaper than Ty Mawr's cheapest lodge for the same dates (£379 compared to £459). 

It's 10 minutes by car from Warmwell Holiday Park to the nearest beach. That's probably not a big issue in winter, whereas in summer it is rather nice to be walking distance to a decent beach. However, it is a disadvantage over some of the other Parkdean Resorts in this guide.

Feel free to tell the neighbours that you are going on a skiing holiday over Christmas (just don't mention it's in Dorset)

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2. Parkdean Resorts Cayton Bay Holiday Park, Yorkshire - 83%

Cayton Bay is best placed if you are looking for a Parkdean Resorts Winter Wonderland and you live in North East England, Yorkshire and the East Midlands.

The resort isn't right on the beach, but it's only a walk of about 15-20 minutes so it's not too far. Just make sure you put on long johns, two coats, a scarf and a woolly hat. Scarborough is about 10 minutes away in the car.

Cayton Bay has a decent indoor swimming pool with a flume and seven-lane slide. This would have made it an ideal location for the original S Club 7 line-up to film a music video where they all hold hands and slide into the pool.

The range of onsite activities is impressive and includes include mini golf, high ropes, table tennis and a decent playground.

It's also got one of Parkdean Resorts Woof Parks. These are dog agility courses and are generally a sign that the park is particularly dog friendly.

Cayton Bay has an indoor swimming pool that you can use during the Winter Wonderland break

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3. Parkdean Resorts Cherry Tree Holiday Park, Norfolk - 83%

Cherry Tree in Norfolk gets similar review scores to Cayton Bay, with a rating of 4/5 on TripAdvisor or 4.3/5 on Google reviews. Its rating has improved in the last couple of years, as it was on 78% when we last did our comparison of every Parkdean Resorts. It is a little smaller than Cayton Bay but still has plenty to keep you occupied.

The indoor swimming pool at Cherry Tree is a fairly basic one. It's fine for a splash but it doesn't have the slides and flume that you get at Cayton Bay or Trecco Bay. There is an outdoor swimming pool at Cherry Tree but you won't be using that in December!

One notable downside is that you can't walk to the nearest beach at Great Yarmouth. As mentioned earlier, this will be less of a big deal in winter than it would be in summer where you might fancy an evening stroll without getting in the car. 

If you want to visit the beach at Great Yarmouth then you'll need to drive for about 10 minutes. For the uninitiated, Great Yarmouth is one of those classic English seaside resorts with amusements and brightly coloured signs offering candy floss. It's similar to somewhere like Blackpool, Skegness or Weston Super Mare.

Cherry Tree is a convenient holiday park if you live in East Anglia, or parts of the East Midlands. It's a couple of hours from Peterborough and Cambridge or about three hours from North London and Leicester.

This chap is making the most of the indoor swimming pool at Cherry Tree Holiday Park

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4. Parkdean Resorts Ty Mawr Holiday Park, North Wales - 81%

Our final two holiday parks that offer Winter Wonderland are both in Wales. Ty Mawr is in North Wales, so it's a good to visit from the North West of England. Liverpool is about an hour away. Manchester is about 1 hour 20 minutes by car.

You can walk down to a stony beach in five minutes or get in the car and drive for 10 minutes to Rhyl, which is a much busier resort.

The choice of things to do onsite is excellent and includes high ropes, an indoor swimming pool, football and adventure golf.

Ty Mawr is another Parkdean site with a Woof Park, so your dog can leap around and get some exercise whilst on holiday. 

Parkdean Resorts Ty Mawr Holiday Park is convenient if you live in Liverpool or Manchester

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5. Parkdean Resorts Trecco Bay Holiday Park, South Wales - 78%

Trecco Bay is a little behind the others on reviews scores, but it is notable as being the largest Parkdean Resorts in the UK.

This means that the facilities onsite are on a larger scale than most holiday parks. For example, the swimming pool at Trecco Bay is one of Parkdean's bigger and better ones.

You also get things climbing walls, a big choice of places to eat out, a decent amusement arcade and high ropes.

The beach is on the doorstep of the park. However, bear in mind that it's a large site so if you end up at the far end of Trecco Bay Holiday Park then you will have a walk of about 10 minutes to the beach.

Trecco Bay's swimming pool is probably the best of the five locations offering Winter Wonderland breaks

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*There are also a couple of other Parkdean Resorts holiday parks that offer Christmas and New Year breaks (Fallbarrow and White Cross Bay in the Lake District). These don't have the full range of 'Winter Wonderland' activities but they are two of the Parkdean Resorts with the best review scores and would make a good base if you want some winter walks.

**We calculated this by adding together the Google Reviews and TripAdvisor scores and turning it into a percentage.