Center Parcs Woburn Accessibility Review

Last week, Dan & I went to Center Parcs Woburn. This was my first holiday as a mobility aid user. We booked Center Parcs on a whim & managed to get a great last minute deal on an adapted room. It was the last room available, so we were really lucky. Without this, we would’t have been able to go. We checked out the accessibility information on the Center Parcs website & it all sounded ideal. So I thought I would write a Center Parcs Woburn Accessibility Review for you, incase you are considering a trip to Center Parcs & want to know what it will be like from the point of view of a disabled person.

This is going to be a long post, so grab a drink & a snack if you want to read it all. I’ve separated the post into sections, incase you just want to find out about certain parts of Center Parcs Woburn Accessibility.

For those of you who aren’t regular readers of my blog, I am a part time wheelchair user (with an active user chair), am photosensitive & have a number of food allergies. While I will try & cover as wide a range of accessibility issues as possible, my Center Parcs Woburn Accessibility review will be from the perspective of someone with the above difficulties.

Center Parcs Woburn Accessibility: Staff

In my opinion, the understanding of staff is very important in making a space accessible. There is no such thing as a completely accessible area, as what one person needs might cause a problem for another. So it’s important for staff to understand a variety of disabilities to be able to provide accurate information & make adaptations to accommodate where appropriate & needed.

The first member of staff we came into contact with was a lovely lady called Zoe at the check in point. The thing that most impressed me about Zoe was the way in which she approached asking about my disability. Zoe asked us “Did you book the accessible room for it’s facilities or because it was the last available room?” This was a great way of asking if I’m disabled, without directly asking if I’m disabled. Zoe needed this information to know whether it was appropriate to let us know about the accessible transport, taking people who need it to different venues around the village.

The vast majority of staff were equally as understanding of both the needs of disabled people & their feelings. I did have two instances when the understanding wasn’t quite there, but I’ll discuss these in the Swimming & Adventure Golf sections.

Center Parcs Woburn Accessibility: Hotel, Room 69

The parking available for the Hotel & Spa was not ideal. There were just two disabled parking spaces outside the hotel, both of which were in use when we drove up to the hotel to unload. So we had to park in a standard car parking space.

Center Parcs is a car free zone, which is fantastic. Guests are asked to unload their things & then return their cars to the main car park by the entrance of the park. Unfortunately this also applies to disabled guests. This meant that Dan & I had to make a choice. Do we keep my mobility scooter in out room & reduce the space we have available to us or do we keep it in the car & then have difficulty accessing it if we need it?

As disabled people often have extra pieces of equipment related to our disabilities. Center Parcs Woburn accessibility would be improved if there to be designated parking close to the disabled rooms for disabled guests to use for the duration of their stay if they wish, for the purpose of being able to get to extra pieces of equipment easily & keeping rooms accessible rather than cluttered with equipment. This would need to be on the understanding that the car itself is not to be moved during the stay.

Once we got inside, I had some difficulties moving around the hotel itself. The carpet used on the floor was really hard to wheel on. The other difficulty I had was that the doors were heavy & there was no electric powered option. This meant that I needed help to move through the hotel to our room. It also made it hard for Dan. Anyone who has had to open & hold a heavy door while simultaneously pushing a wheelchair through said door will understand this issue. The carpet & doors meant that I was unable to get to the room on my own. This let Center Parcs Woburn accessibility down for me. Thankfully once we got into the room itself, things became a lot easier.

The twin room had no carpet, was spacious (enough to keep my mobility scooter in) & used spotlights, which was ideal for me. Both adapted hotel rooms are twin rooms that consist of one electric bed & one standard bed. When we were booking, this was the one thing that initially we were concerned about. As a married couple, we didn’t like the idea of sleeping in separate beds.

When we arrived, Dan found that it was possible to move the table between the two beds & push them together. Still not ideal, as you get the crack in the middle of the bed, but it was better than having the two beds separate. If you want a double bed, unfortunately you would have to consider a 2 bedroom or 4 bedroom lodge. This adds to the cost.

I didn’t think I’d use the features of the electric bed, but nights 3 & 4 my PoTS was playing up, so I used the electric bed to raise my feet & reduce symptoms. The room also had a temperature control that was the right hight for me to access from my wheelchair. This was very helpful when my PoTS was playing up, as I was able to cool the room to reduce symptoms. This was a big bonus & showed the thought that had gone into Center Parcs Woburn accessibility.

Room 69 had a balcony access. Unfortunately this was one of the difficulties I had with the room. When fully open, the heavy curtain covered more than half of the door to the balcony. So I had to have a fight with the curtain to get out of the door & onto the balcony. The pattern the lines of the balcony floor created were visually problematic for me.

Not enough room to safely use my left hand

About to have an argument with the curtain

Another difficulty I had was with the table & two chairs on the balcony. When housekeeping came in each day, they left the chairs leaning on the front legs, with the seat back leant against the table. I wish I had taken a photo of this, as I don’t think I’m explaining it very well. This took up more space on the balcony & made it harder for me to get out of the door. I felt it was a little dangerous, with the back legs of the chair sticking out. It would definitely have hurt much more if I had rolled into the end of the chair leg.

The wardrobe in the room had a good amount of space in it, as well as a safe. I couldn’t hang my clothes up myself, as the rail was too high for me. I appreciate this isn’t purely a room for wheelchair users & having a rail at the right hight for wheelchair users would be detrimental to those with back problems who would have to stoop to hang their clothes up.

For the most part, the adapted bathroom impressed me. It had all the main things that I needed, the only thing I would’ve found helpful that wasn’t there was a place to put my shower essentials. There is a shelf in the wall, but this is behind the shower chair so you need to be able to turn & reach upwards to be able to use it during your shower. The only other option I could see would have been to put things on the floor, which isn’t ideal as then you have to lean over.

The toilet was a good hight & had a rail that could be moved out of the way if desired. The bathroom had a large mirror, with a counter that was at a good height for me in my wheelchair. The bathroom also had a stool in it, which would be helpful for those less able to stand.

My main concern about the bathroom was that the emergency pull chord by the toilet was tied up, making it useless for someone who had fallen off the toilet & needed help. This may have been because it was broken, but this still means that in an emergency, help could not be called if someone was on their own.

I’ve included photos of the room & bathroom so that you can get an idea of whether the facilities would be suitable for your specific disability.

The lighting throughout the hotel was mostly spotlights, which was pretty good for me. I couldn’t access the area with the pool tables, because coloured lighting was used, but otherwise I could move round the hotel in comfort where lighting was concerned.

Center Parcs Woburn Accessibility: Moving Around The Village

We arrived at Center Parcs about 12 o’clock. As we couldn’t get into our room until 3pm, we decided to park our car in the main carpark & go for a swim. Our journey from the car park to the Subtropical Swimming Paradise had me worried. The path that lead down from the carpark, past the Plaza, was too steep for me to safely manage on my own, so Dan had to help me both down & when we returned to our car.

Once at the bottom of this steep path, we were into the area for people to park their bikes. This had quite a bumpy pattern to the pavement. Not being a cyclist I don’t know if there is a reason for this, but with my small (4″) caster wheels it was tricky. This may be an easier area for you if you have a standard wheelchair with bigger front wheels. Luckily, we only had to use this path once on the first day & again on the last day.

I needed help getting up the slope at the side of the Subtropical Swimming Paradise to Hucks. I was able to do the first bit of this myself, but then it got steeper. Other than these three places, the village was comfortable to move around. There were a few paths that had a slight angle to them, which meant I had to work a little harder on one side to go in a straight line, but this was only a little.

The only doors I came across that didn’t have an accessible electric button were in the hotel. All of the doors I encountered had a very small lip to them, which I was able to roll over without a problem.

The majority of the lighting was spot lights. This really impressed me about Center Parcs Woburn accessibility, as it is often not considered.

The journey from the Plaza to the Subtropical Swimming Paradise took 5 minutes. For those who couldn’t manage this, a transport service was available.

Center Parcs Woburn Accessibility: Subtropical Swimming Paradise

The Sub Tropical Swimming Paradise was where we spent a lot of our time. The entrance caused me some problems, as it had blue lighting in the ceiling. Luckily, the feeling was quite high, so there wasn’t a blue cast to the entrance.

We found three disabled changing rooms. Each of which were spacious. Two had fold down chairs attached to the wall, the other had a fold down chair & a bed. I thought this was great, as it didn’t assume that everyone is able to support themselves when sitting.

We had some options when accessing the pool itself. We could either borrow a pool wheelchair, have my wheels washed, or I could walk. I had already decided before we arrived that I would spend all my time out of the pool in my wheelchair, so that I could manage as much swimming as possible.

We spoke to a member of staff, who told us that the entrance to the lazy river, the closest part of the pool to the changing rooms was “just a short walk down a small slope.” So we opted to leave my wheelchair in a staff only area & me walk to the lazy river.

The staff only area was where the pool wheelchair were kept. This area wasn’t locked though which worried me with a £2,000 wheelchair! As it was also the area where the pool wheelchairs were kept, I was concerned that another guest would ‘borrow’ my wheelchair, thinking that is was a chair for general use.

In hindsight, I should’ve asked the member of staff to clarify in meters what they consider a short walk. To me, a short walk is less than 10 meters. The distance to the lazy river was more than I could manage in one walk. Luckily, the Subtropical Swimming Paradise has chairs all around, so I was able to sit down before my legs gave way.

At this point, Dan went to check out the lay out of the Subtropical Swimming Paradise & we decided that a pool chair would be a good idea. These chairs are suitable to be pushed into the water so the person using it can stay in the chair throughout their time in the pool.

Dan went to get a pool chair, but unfortunately this was more painful than walking. The angle of the chair was very odd. I couldn’t sit back in it because of the angle & length of the seat, so I had no back support. The back wheels, which seemed to be set up to self propel were in a strange place. I would not have been able to propel myself with them. When Dan was pushing me, it was a very bumpy ride, which is not good for people with EDS. This bumpy ride may have been partly to do with the tiling on the floor & not just the chair itself. I lasted about 30 seconds with the pool chair before deciding that it was more problematic for me than walking.

The Subtropical Swimming Paradise had a main pool, a lazy river, three water slides & their water rapids. The slides & the rapids are deemed not suitable for people with joint problems. However, sometimes you have to weigh up the risks & then do the things you enjoy. So I went on everything! If I hadn’t I would’ve been disappointed in my swimming experience.

The main pool was small, so we spent very little time in it. I would suggest looking at Longleat if you are a full time wheelchair user, as the main pool is there much bigger. The lazy river is also connected to the main pool at Longleat. This means you can access it without having to get out of the pool, which you can’t do at Woburn.

The main lighting in the Subtropical Swimming Paradise is natural. There were coloured lights on the Tornado slide, so I wasn’t able to access this most of the time. However, there was a power issue & the lights were off for two of the days of our stay, so Dan & I took advantage of this & went on Tornado! In terms of getting to the slides, access is via stairs. One set of stairs for the Typhoon & two sets for the Tornado & Twister. We had to plan very carefully when I would be able to manage the stars, but I’m very glad we did.

The rapids were outside, so natural in terms of lighting. In terms of steps there were 6 or so to exit but nothing on entering. So this was easier for me than the slides. The lighting of the rapids at night was better for me than at Longleat. Longleat used coloured lighting at the entrance to the rapids. I was able to manage 18 months ago because my basilar type migraine was well medicated. I would not have been able to manage it at the moment, so was relieve that Woburn did not have coloured lighting on the rapids at night.

As I’ve said, doing any activity with EDS involved weighing up the risks involved. Unfortunately, I ended up with a couple of injuries from using the slides. Ironically, both were caused by the rafts we were riding, rather than the slides themselves.

My first injury was caused when I slipped through the hole of the double raft as we came to the landing area. I hit my hip & was thrown from the raft. The lifeguard saw what happened & came to my aid. I reassured him that I was fine (just a bruised hip) but he wasn’t convinced when he saw me limping. Dan explained that I came in a wheelchair & this is normal for me.

The second injury was more serious. I fell while getting off a single raft & hit my knee on the floor, resulting in a subluxated knee cap. The lifeguard (not the one from before) was talking to one of his colleagues & didn’t notice. This may have been a conversation about important lifeguard stuff. I managed to hobble to the nearest chair & noticed the lifeguard looking over at me while I was sat sorting my knee out. He didn’t check I was ok, but at least he was aware that I was there & hopefully would’ve helped if I needed to ask for it.

Center Parcs Woburn Accessibility: Adventure Golf

We weren’t planning on doing any additional activities, but came across adventure golf. When we asked, we were told that it was wheelchair accessible, so decided to play. There was a wheelchair accessible entrance, but that was where the wheelchair accessibility ended. This really let Center Parcs Woburn accessibility down for us & while we still had a nice time, it cost me a lot of energy & caused injury.

Each holes were connected by a dusty path that had some big stones in. To get to & from each hole there was a step. Some of the path between the holes were one a slope. The worst slope was between the first & second hole. Here, I had to sit forward with my breaks on & Dan stood behind me. Yet I still felt like I would tip backwards at any moment. I was so thankful for my anti-tip at this point.

The worst part of the course

Dan had to help me round the worst of the course. But because I’m stubborn, I insisted on doing the steps that weren’t on steep slopes. That was a rookie move, as I ended up hurting my neck & shoulder. This was my biggest disappointment with Center Parcs Woburn accessibility. We wouldn’t have managed this activity with my previous, standard wheelchair.

Center Parcs have listened to feedback from their disabled customers about the Adventure Golf. They tweeted me pictures of the improvements they’ve made, getting rid of the steps to each hole and adding tarmac so that the ground is smooth and much easier to navigate. It’s fantastic that Center Parcs have listened to their disabled customers and made these changes. More companies need to do this.

The two photos of the newly tarmacked Adventure Golf were kindly provided by Center Parcs and permission was given to include them in this post.

Center Parcs Woburn Accessibility: Eating Out

We ate out at three different restaurants & cafes. I’m going to write a separate review of Huck’s, which I will link once it’s written. The other two places that we visited were Dexter’s Kitchen & The Shearing. In terms of wheelchair accessibility, I had no problems moving around either of these. When we went to Dexter’s Kitchen I had to move a chair from the table myself, as staff were behind the counter. I’m sure if I asked, someone would have done it for me. In The Shearing (a more formal setting) the staff moved a chair for me when they seated us. The staff at The Shearing were very accommodating, checking with me where I would be most comfortable before seating us. The lighting used spotlights in both places.

I couldn’t find any toilets in Dexter’s Kitchen. The Shearing had toilets, but no disabled toilets. So I had to leave the restaurant & go to the Plaza toilets round the corner. While this wasn’t a big inconvenience, it wasn’t a pleasant experience. No one wants to feel like they are any less of a valued customer because they can’t access standard toilets. I assume this would be the same situation for a parent wishing to use baby changing facilities too.

In terms of catering for my allergies, The Shearing were fantastic. We ate breakfast here every day. Because of my allergies, I ordered bacon, beans & a potato roshi. One day, Dan ordered extra toast with his breakfast, but this came on my plate. The lady bringing our food was not the one who took out order. As soon as I explained that I’m allergic to wheat & that the toast was ordered by Dan, she immediately said that she would get it sorted for me. She  brought Dan some more toast & apologised to me for the wait, explaining that the chef was making me a completely new plate of food to avoid contamination. This level of understanding is rare to find & I really appreciated it.

On another occasion, I ordered bacon & egg. It’s worth noting here that I’d had a bad night with my pain, so my brain wasn’t working very well. Dan corrected me, but the waitress had already noticed that I had asked for something I’d told her on a previous visit that I’m allergic to. I was amazed that she had not only taken note of what I was allergic to, but remembered it two days later!

For the most part, Center Parcs Woburn accessibility was very good for wheelchair users, people with photosensitivity & those with food allergies. Dan & I had a fantastic time & I’m sure will be visiting again in the future, as well as heading to other Center Parcs venues.

As someone with chronic illness, Center Parcs offers me a great holiday option. You are able to do as much or as little as you want to, often without a time frame. The only thing we booked in advance was dinner. This was great for me to pace as effectively as possible. Don’t get me wrong, I’m struggling with fatigue after the holiday, but I would’ve struggled much sooner had I not been able to take things at my own pace & nap when I needed to.

Dan and I went back to Center Parcs Woburn in August 2018. We took Elise, who was 5 months old at the time. If you want to see what we got up to, including access arrangements with the pool and my wheelchair/SmartDrive combination and the improvements to Huck’s menu for those with specific dietary requirements, I vlogged the holiday!

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Have you been to Center Parcs? How have you found Center Parcs Woburn accessibility?

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