Hi everyone! I'm Gemma, 28, Sales & Marketing Manager from Stoke. Crikey it only seems like to minut...
Hi everyone! I'm Gemma, 28, Sales & Marketing Manager from Stoke. Crikey it only seems like to minutes when I was heading for red and now i'm off to Orange. Thanks peeps xxx
Member since:25.09.2005
Reviews:158
Members who trust:25
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 across the country and also across Europe too, although I had never actually 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 being a first date and all that. Upon arrival, we didn't have to queue at all, we walked straight up to the kiosk. Admission was £14.95 each I think for adult's in which he kindly took care of To be honest I thought this was a little expensive. Having been to the Blue Planet, which I have also reviewed that was £10 and I didn't rate it value for money at all.
The layout of the sealife centre is excellent, a lot easier to get round and I felt that this was much better and I didn't seem to miss anything. It is ideal for kids to see the like's of Nemo, as I am sure they are all familiar with after the film, Finding Nemo. Not only do they have many tanks with various forms of tropical fish in, there are a lot more attractions at the Sealife Centre.
One particular that I did fall in love with had got to be the Otters. They have quite a big area for the Otters, not many of them in there, however they seem to be friendly little creatures and very playful. I spent quite a while just standing looking at them play and had to be dragged away in the end. Haha.
There is huge aquarium for sting rays that are absolutely huges and a fascinating to watch just swimming around. Also there is a tunnel that you can walk through, which I don't think they have these at all of the sealife centres. Every hour or so a guide will come into the tunnels and give you a talk on the various species that they have that you can see in the tunnel including sharks and various other forms of fish.
There are areas for turtles and sea horses whcih are an extremely weird however cute looking creature and I enjoyed every single minutes of it.
New for that year, they had introduced a mirror maze, which is fantastic for kids as you haven't got a clue whether you are going to walk into a mirror or whether you can go straight forward. Haha. Entering the unknown, I didn't realise what it was and I was definitely not going to make a fool out of myself, I found a way in which you could tell whether you could go straight forward by the markings on the floor. Phew!
The eating area was pretty small so we didn't indulge in anything they had to offer. I taken taken for lunch somewhere nice instead.
It took around 2 hours to go around and spending plenty of time at the various attractions. I had an extremely enjoyable day out and I am so glad that we went.
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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
Jan 20th, 2008
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