Day Out: Ex-sea-lent day out at the National Sea Life Centre Birmingham

Last weekend we were kindly offered the chance to visit the wonderful Sea Life Centre in Birmingham. The main reason for this was due to myself and my husband being interested in how L would react to all of the sea creatures on show.

                            
A visit to The National SEA LIFE Centre Birmingham provides a fun and informative day out for all the family to enjoy. It is home to 16 displays featuring over 2,000 creatures, including sharks, a rescued Giant Green Sea Turtle, otters, jellyfish, piranha, octopus, rays and an adorable colony of waddling Gentoo penguins.

My first impressions were that the staff were very friendly and equipped us with a map (loved the way the venue was separated into different sections) and advise of the changing room location, and off we went...

First up was the Penguin Ice Adventure, I must admit, that as the responsible parent, I did become extremely exited about the prospect of seeing the penguins.. they were definitely not a let down!

The Antarctic landscape scenery was simply amazing and you can't help but to feel as if you have stepped right out into the South Pole. The fantastically themed Penguin Ice Adventure offers a real insight into the lives and quirky habits of these cheeky birds, whether it’s hearing the unmistakable trumpeting call as the colony communicates to one another or watching them dive in the icy water.

Once we had visited the stars of the show, we also got to have a wander around the rest of the centre.

Another new addition to the Birmingham's Sea Life Centre is the exciting Sea Stars exhibition which gives you the chance to get up close and personal with a range of starfish of different sizes and colours. 

                                          
Amy Langham, General Manager at The National SEA LIFE Centre Birmingham, comments: “Sea stars play a crucial role in maintaining the health of our seas and with around 1,500 species of starfish spread across all oceans, from tropical to polar waters, and from shallow tidal pools to depths of 620,000ft, they are amazingly complex.

                      

It is a really amazing display and thanks to the pop up bubbles and peek a boo holes, you really can get so close you can almost touch these amazing creatures. You can even touch a starfish at the rockpool or just look at them through the Starfish looking glass.                            
There are many talks which the staff members narrate during the tour, unfortunately the talks are only at set times and we did not encounter any of these. I am fairly sure they would be informative and allow your little ones to gain knowledge about the animals at the Sea Life Centre. 
If (like us) you did not get a chance to hear any of the talks about the animals, fear not! 
Throughout the whole tour, you encounter display boards which offer exciting facts, such as 'the starfish grows an extra leg if it loses one'!

We had few pushchair "crashes" in walkways as they are quite narrow and there is only room for one person/ pushchair or wheelchair at a time. But my mother-in-law who works in nursery said that when they went to Sea Life centre with kids they were offered to leave pushchairs on a ground floor, it would be so much easier for some of us!

We bypassed the activity room as L is too young for painting/drawing, however if you have toddlers, this is a perfect opportunity for them to get creative and bring a drawing/personalised souvenir home!

The second main attraction- the Ocean Tunnel.The easiest way to describe the tunnel is a magical and breath taking. We loved walking under the swimming fish and the huge shark and turtle floating around us. By far joint top of the best bits about the Sea Life Centre.

                          
There are other super sections to the Sea Life Centre, such as the different fish on show (clown fish, stingrays etc.) and also a very appealing room solely on jellyfish which was very unexpected
(dark room – brightly lit tanks).                                                      

A couple of things to note:

• Take your time going round as the centre is quite small.
•  No cafe or designated rest area, but there are a few places to sit on the way round. A cafe would be lovely with aquariums if space allowed. Although there were vending machines spread around for you to buy a bottle of pop.
• 4D cinema not very obvious (to find) – follow your map carefully
• If booking tickets online (£12.50) it will cost you less than buying at the ticket office (£20.95)

Must see event: to celebrate the launch of The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, visit Sea Life Birmingham between the 27th March and 19th April 2015 and take part in SPONGEBOB’S SPONGEHUNT! Help SpongeBob find his friends hidden throughout Sea Life Birmingham so that they can go on their most super-heroic adventure yet to find the missing Krabby Patty formula.

Disclamer: We were kindly offered a free press visit to the Sea Life centre for the purpose of this review. All thought and opinions are my own.