... The nearest one to us is in Birmingham. I’ve been twice before as a child, once in Blackpool and again in Birmingham. I hadn’t been in quite a few years and can’t remember it and as I had a voucher for a “buy one adult ticket get one free”, I thought I might as well make use of it.
The National ... Read review
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Advantages: Wide amont of sea creatures Disadvantages: Once you seen one fish, you seen them all!
As it’s the summer holidays, I wanted to go somewhere to cure my boredom. So I decided that me and my boyfriend should take a trip to the National Sea Life Centre. The nearest one to us is in Birmingham. I’ve been twice before as a child, once in Blackpool and again in Birmingham. I hadn’t been in quite a few years and can’t remember it and as I had a voucher for a “buy one adult ticket get one free”, I thought I might as well make use of it. ...in creatures that live in the sea. They range from different types of fish, to sharks! But before I get onto that, I’ll tell you what that building looks like on first impressions.
Firstly, I’m not from Birmingham and don’t travel there often so I weren’t sure on how to get to the centre at all, but luckily my boyfriend was good at reading signs! We caught the train there and once we had walked out of the train station there were ... more
As it’s the summer holidays, I wanted to go somewhere to cure my boredom. So I decided that me and my boyfriend should take a trip to the National Sea Life Centre. The nearest one to us is in Birmingham. I’ve been twice before as a child, once in Blackpool and again in Birmingham. I hadn’t been in quite a few years and can’t remember it and as I had a voucher for a “buy one adult ticket get one free”, I thought I might as well make use of it. The National Sea Life Centre is pretty self explanatory; it’s a big Centre which specialises in creatures that live in the sea. They range from different types of fish, to sharks! But before I get onto that, I’ll tell you what that building looks like on first impressions.
Firstly, I’m not from Birmingham and don’t travel there often so I weren’t sure on how to get to the centre at all, but luckily my boyfriend was good at reading signs! We caught the train there and once we had walked out of the train station there were already sign posts leading us the way there. Half an hour later, and having to ask a local for directions as we realised we were walking around in a circle, we finally arrived. It was opposite the National Indoor Arena, so bare that in mind if you do plan to go here because you might find it easier if you know where the NIA is. Obviously if you travelled by car you would find it easier to find. What first striked me was the queue, there must have been just over hundred people waiting to get in, half of which were children, with the queue going outside and around the side of the building. Luckily it was a nice sunny day so that didn’t bother anyone. So after all that walking, we then waited in the queue for around 25-30 minutes, the front of the building had a huge National Sea Life Centre sign at the top so it’s easy to know which building it is. When you first enter the building, there are two reception desks, we brought our tickets from one of them and the other reception desk was for people who had brought their tickets online or who had annual passes, who were able to skip the queue. There are lots of different levels to the building which all have different sea creatures on. They have different types of:
fish
turtles (really small ones and really big ones!)
jelly fish
star fish
sharks (small ones though)
sting rays
piranhas
seahorses *sea snakes
giant insect looking creatures
These are only a handful of the different types of sea creatures and sea life that you can see at the sea life centre. They have over 1,000 sea creatures, most of which have been imported over from different countries or “adopted”. Some of the creatures have been given their very own names; these are mainly the rarest form of creatures however and not all of them are given names. There are many “DID YOU KNOW” posters all around the centre, providing facts about the sea creatures, making it not only a interesting day out as you see many creatures you wouldn’t normally get the chance too, but also very informative too. Of course for many of the little ones that go there, they wouldn’t take the slightest bit of notice of the facts so it’s more for the grown ups. On that note, we went on a day where many families took their kids/grandkids here, and they seemed to enjoy it a lot! Many of the children were fascinated by the size of the fish and the giant turtles and of course the sharks! But in all fairness, so was I. There was a quiz that you could do as you went round the centre which asked questions on the creatures. There was a “FINDING NEMO” section which was pretty impressive and cute. Everyone of course has either watched finding nemo or knows of the film, and the fish from the film were at the sea life centre!! Ok, not THE fish but it was cute listening to parents telling their children how it actually was “dory” and “nemo”.
One of the first things to see is a crab and star fish pool where visitors can touch and hold them. This is just a little area of one of the floors in the centre and as many of the youngsters wanted to touch the creatures, which specific area got fairly crowded, so I was unable to get a proper look up close.
There was also a sea horse sanctuary, with many different types of sea horses. There were little games that you could “play” while looking at them, like “find the sea horse”, even though there was a sea horse in the tank it was no where to be found! And I really didn’t realise how tiny some sea horses actually were. The turtle sanctuary was a favourite of mine; I don’t know what it is about them, but their very cute! Especially the little baby ones, even though they just sat there, not doing much, they were still very adorable. There was also an Ocean tunnel, where many of the sea creatures would swim around and above you; this is where the sharks, huge turtles and many tropical fish were. There was a part of the tunnel where the flooring was see through so you could see the fish ECT, swimming below you. An Otter family were also living at the centre, and you were able to watch them being fed.
A more recent edition to the National Sea Life Centre is the 3D cinema called PLANET EARTH which to watch cost £1.50 per person. And is basically a miniature cinema in which you watch a film about sea creatures (mainly about dolphins) and goes on for 8 minutes. The cinema holds around 100 people at a time. You get given the 3D glasses while you’re queuing up to go in. I thought this was particularly interesting as water would be sprayed out at you when ever a dolphin dived into the water and your chair would move when a group of dolphins would be playing or hundreds of bubbles would appear around you to give the effect of an actual ocean. That was also meant to be educational as well, as it was a story about how dolphins live and the creatures that live in the ocean with them, however I thought it was just a bit of fun than anything else! The children in the cinema certainly seemed to enjoy it as they round it hilarious when ever the water would be sprayed at them! There was an upgrade available to 4D cinema at an additional price.
The self tour ends with the gift shop, toilets and cafe. The gift shops have hundreds and hundreds of sea life related gifts, for example key rings, stationary, books, cups, cuddly toys and much more. I’m unsure of the prices of these however as I didn’t stick around long enough as I wasn’t intending on buying anything. The cafe looked like a very nice hygienic place to sit and have some lunch, by the time we arrived there (around 3ish) most of the “good” food had gone and it was just a few sandwiches and biscuits left so we decided not to stay in the cafe.
Overall I would recommend taking a trip to the sea life centre. As there are many sea life centres across the country, the variety of sea life may vary and differ, so bare in mind that this review is on the Birmingham Sea Life Centre. In some centres they have penguins and other creatures. I found it an enjoyable experience but it was over fairly quick. While I was queuing up at 12 mid day, people were coming out, so it’s not like a trip to the zoo or a theme park where you can spend the whole day there. The centre was clean and tidy and the staff were friendly and helpful. I presume that the creatures were well looked after as at times you would see the staff feed them but how can you tell whether a fish is happy? Anyway, I think this would appeal more to families as it would be a nice experience for children, but my boyfriend and I enjoyed it though! There was a good amount of room for push chairs and wheel chairs too. The only disadvantages of the sea life centre however are that as it is obviously sea creatures that is the attraction, it can smell of sea water in some areas and it did smell of fish, which didn’t smell very pleasant. The smell doesn’t linger however; it just depends on what area you are in and how close to the water you get. It can be fairly pricey too, in comparison to the short amount of time you actually spend here. But to compensate for that, there are many discount vouchers available so it works out cheaper whether you are a family, a huge group of you or whether it’s just two people.
ADDITONAL INFORMATION Opening times – Every day from 10am (Excluding Christmas day) - Last admission Mon – Fri. 4pm Weekends and Holidays 5pm
National Sea Life Centre The Waters Edge BrindleyPlace Birmingham B1 2HL
Advantages: A lot of variety of sea creatures to look at Disadvantages: A little pricey and can get very busy
...life so a trip to the National Sea Life Centre in Birmingham for my birthday seemed a great idea.
The first Sea Life Centre opened in 1979 in Scotland and the centres have come a long way since then with different shaped aquariums and technololgy making your experience even better.
The Birmingham centre opened in 1996 and is situated in the canal district in the city centre right next to the National Indoor Arena. Its very easy to get to by car ... ...inside the centre you are inside the reception area where you get your tickets. Right behind you is the start of your experience where the first thing you see is a huge cyclinder aquarium reaching up to the ceiling full of all kinds of tropical fish. As you work your way around the centre you see different themed areas full of the types of fish you'd typically find there such as the Carribean and Australia. You are allowed to take photos in most ...
stephy666 31.08.2008
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of The National Sealife Centre
Advantages: easily accessible, no queuing, plenty to see Disadvantages: bit pricey
After a poor experience at the Blue Planet Aquarium early last year, when my new fella suggested to take me to the Birmingham Sealife Centre on our first date I agreed politely because it was nice to see someone actually trying to make an effort and do something a little bit different for a change instead of the old ..let's go for a beer!!
The Birmingham National Sealife Centre has been open since 1996 and as we all know there are many of these ... ...been to one until now. The Sealife Centre itself was first established in 1979 and opened its doors to the first aquarium in Scotland. At that particular time they open had the like of tropical fish, however of the years, the company has seen improvements and new additions to the various sealife centres.
To me this wasn't just a normal day out and I was really looking forward to going and was a little bit apprehensive because of the situation, it ...
blondgem 20.01.2008
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of The National Sealife Centre
Advantages: accessible to anyone - pushchairs, wheelchairs etc Disadvantages: can feel a bit closed in in certain areas, some parts a bit on the dark side so a bit scary for little ones
...this year’s day trip to the sea life centre in Birmingham. For both my 4 year old, and myself I paid £14.50 for both coach and entrance into the centre so I’m not 100% sure what the actual entrance fee is (sorry!). Children 2 years old and under go in free so I only had to pay £2.50 coach fare for my younger one. On arrival at the centre, I was impressed by the initial layout – there was a small tank in the reception area to occupy ... ...party, we were directed to the classroom cum party room for a talk to tell the children about a few of the animals they were likely to see. It also gave the kids a chance to actually touch a crab to see what they felt like (one of the dads had great fun scaring the moms with this one!). The talk lasted about 45 minutes and then it was time for lunch. We all went into the restaurant, which was on the next floor down (there is a lift for those with ...
frannie 15.07.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of The National Sealife Centre
Advantages: lots to see and deceptively large Disadvantages: expensive
The Sealife Centre is a fairly new addition to Birmingham’s attractions. Situated in the regenerated Brindley Place, it nestles behind Birmingham’s ICC. Be prepared to queue – we arrived at the centre’s opening time 10:00am Bank Holiday Monday and the queue was already half an hour long. I was a bit worried as Charlotte’s boredom threshold is non existent but Sidney the Shark was walking the queue with minder, handing ... ...When you walk through the door, you see tanks of fish bank up almost to the ceiling, with a ramp meandering through them. It seems as though this is it – a bit disappointing, but surprises are in store. The first port of call is a photograph with Ollie the octopus. The family perches on the plastic octopus and two photos are taken. There is no obligation to buy these – the price is £3.99 for one or £5.99 for the two. The photos can be ...
aflynn_01 30.06.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of The National Sealife Centre
Advantages: Interesting day out Disadvantages: Expensive
The Sea Life centre in Birmingham makes for a very interesting day out. There are plenty of exhibits from large (rays, sharks, turtles) to small (tiny fish and seahorses) There are huge tanks, tanks that are open so you can lean over and look into them and a tank where you walk through a tunnel in the middle.
There is also a refreshment stop on the way round with lovely views over the redeveloped canal basin.
But I have to say it is not worth paying ... ...don't know the current prices. Last year when my partner and I went we had got free tickets from the Daily Mirror and we both said that we would have felt very cheated had we had to pay full admission price.
I have been in other Sea Life centres (Scarborough, Blackpool) and they are all pretty much the same from what I can see. Very interesting but well overpriced.
So .......... if you want to go get a special offer first - there are plenty of ...
SusanLesley 05.12.2000 (09.03.2001)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of The National Sealife Centre
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