Sun £9.50 holidays – Haven Hafan Y Mor review

Seeing that the Sun had their £9.50 holidays deal going on (collect ten tokens and book for from £9.50 per person, for a three night long weekend or four night midweek break), we got some friendly relatives to help us out with collecting the tokens and then booked to go to Haven Hafan Y Mor holiday park in North Wales. We love the Sun holidays deal – a lot of people turn up their noses when I mention it but we have always had a brilliant time and we wouldn’t be able to afford to go away otherwise. As a child I had many fantastic holidays staying in a static caravan with extended family, and I hope that the Wee Man and Bubby D will be left with equally fond recollections. Judging by the Wee Man’s excited jabbering about last years holiday when we told him we had booked a new one, he’s definitely a Sun Holidays fan!

Arriving in Hafan Y Mor we were greeted by friendly entrance staff who directed us to the reception for check in. Since everyone was checking in, the queues were quite long and not moving too quickly…and when I did get to the front I was told that our caravan wasn’t ready yet (we had arrived a little early) but to make use of all the park facilities and pop back later. A little bit annoying, but the sun was shining and there were lots of activities on offer to occupy us while we waited.

So we went exploring. The first thing the Wee Man saw was ‘dooper dooper pool’ (the large swimming pool complex complete with wave pool, giant slide and flumes) and he was ecstatic. Straight on our holiday to do list!

Passing through the adventure gold course, we found a series of mini fountains already full of semi naked kids running around and screaming in delight. The Wee Man and Bubby D were quick to join them, becoming thoroughly soaked, but thoroughly happy! Next to the fountains was the caravan sales area, and I couldn’t resist having a quick look at what’s on offer if you choose to invest. The Wee Man came and had a peek too, and luckily for me he decided he liked the cheapest one!

Then Grandma and Grandad arrived, so we decided to take advantage of the beautiful sunny afternoon and make our way to the beach. And it couldn’t have been more perfect. Paddling, ice creams, dam building and sandcastle construction all had the hours whizzing by until suddenly we realised it was 7pm! Time to go and get the keys…

We paid a £10 deposit to get an extra set (so that Grandma and Grandad weren’t forced to spend their every minute beholden to us) and then went to discover which caravan was our home for the week. We’d been allocated a 3 bed standard plus caravan, due to having RolyDog with us as well (dogs are only allowed in standard and standard plus accommodation) and although I’ve stayed in many similar before you never know quite what you’re going to get until you actually see it!

We were very happy. There was one double room which we gave to Grandma and Grandad, a twin room for the kids, and a second twin room with a removable bedside table that meant we could push the beds together to make a second double for the Other Half and I. Plus of course a bathroom, kitchen and living area, all fully equipped (well, except someone had obviously wandered off with some forks at some point, there were only four! But luckily I’d brought kids cutlery with me so we were ok) with everything we might need during our stay. The beds are very narrow, so as an adult you might find twin beds tricky to get comfortable in, but for the kids they were perfect. Bubby D had never slept in an adult bed before, but the rooms are so tiny that there is no space to put up a travel cot (except in the spacious front room, but that was our evening adult space!) so we decided to give a ‘big girls bed’ a go, with the aid of some magic bumpers I’d packed.

Having got all the beds ready, the ladies in the party were dispatched to get some food. This wasn’t difficult as there are lots of supermarkets in the area (we went to ASDA, and ALDI too), as well as a Spar on site which has just about everything you might need to cook up a reasonable dinner.

Next morning it was time to check out dooper dooper pool – and it just about lived up to the Wee Man’s expectations. He was disappointed that he could only go on one of the slides – the others all required you to be a swimmer and no flotation devices allowed – and this was something that wasn’t clear when we booked. Luckily he LOVED the slide he was allowed on, and would happily have spent hours and hours on it if he could. With a height limit of a metre, Bubby D was well under the limit for even that slide, so there was nothing like that she could try. But she really, really liked the toddler pool area, which had mini rapids, two tiny concrete slides and a pirate treasure chest in it. I liked the adult ‘rapids’, although it was more like a slow river really, with a little bit of current from time to time helping to push you around. The spa pools were all covered over bar one which was a shame but luckily for us the pool was never over full so we did get to go in once. The main wave pool was fun, and Bubby D and the Wee Man enjoyed bobbing up and down in the ‘pretend sea’, chasing after the dive sticks we’d taken in with us.

The changing rooms are very much on the small side if you go in the family area. We struggled to get two wriggly kids changed easily – and then when I went in search of the toilets, I found that there are individual male and female changing rooms too! These are much more spacious, and so we decided to take a child each for future pool visits and use those instead.

After a fun day out, we decided to try the early evening entertainment and went to the Boardwalk. There was a story telling session on for the kids with a bit of interacting, and the Wee Man took part in that whilst Bubby D was drawn to the flashy arcade machines. She was content to march around all the various lights and beeps, but once the Wee Man had finished watching the show he very much wanted to try some games. I can see how it would get expensive if you spent more than half an hour there – even with the 2p slider machines as a firm favourite! We limited it to one two player car game and then a ride on one of the mini carousels which was far better value, as three kids could ride for £1. There were shops selling flashy things, sweets and toys all around the edge of the arena which we managed to keep the kids away from, as they were quite highly priced. We also saw a Papa Johns pizza which had a good kids meal deal available AND delivery to the caravan if you spent over £10 – something we noted for later in our stay.

And then the rain came.

It was Wales, so we were expecting that, and it meant that we got to visit dooper dooper pool two or three more times! I was impressed that it was always clean and tidy, no matter what time we visited. There was also a pottery barn on site which provided another good rainy day activity opportunity.

The caravan was roomy enough in the living area that we didn’t feel cooped up too much, and although it did get a little cold and we couldn’t work the ignition on the gas fire, we managed to find some matches and soon got it lit that way instead.

And then the rain stopped.

Which meant we could check out a few more of the outside activities on offer. The site is MASSIVE and on the other side of it, near to the lovely private beach area, there is a big kids adventure playground with spotty slides galore, sports area, and rowing lake. This is also where the apartment blocks are, and having had a little peek in some windows they actually look quite nice. The kids also tried the smaller play area next to the Starbucks and Adventure Golf, and it had enough equipment to keep them occupied whilst the adults enjoyed a bit of a sit down and a drink.

All too soon our four nights were up and it was time to pack our bags. Check out was really easy – we handed in our keys and then we were off, although we did have the option of using the facilities til 6pm if we’d wanted as the entertainment passes stay valid all day.

But Snowdon was calling!

All in all it was a brilliant holiday, and we’d definitely stay in Hafan Y Mor again.