Hunstanton - Sunny Hunny in the rain!!! (Hunstanton)

Member Name: maggiemay

Product:	Hunstanton
Date:	08/07/00 (150 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Wet weather facilities exist

Disadvantages: can be expensive for a family doing more than one thing

Yesterday I went to Hunstanton on a day trip with a coach full of pre-school children. It was pouring with rain and I had visions of a miserable time. However Hunstanton is well equipped to deal with the British weather. My son wanted to see the sharks, so a quick dash was made to the Sea Life Centre Aquarium, where we hunted some down. Having been to 3 or 4 of the other Sea Life Centres I was a bit disappointed with this one, it didn't seem quite as big, and the sharks there certainly weren't as big as the specimens in Rhyl. However there was a seal hospital attatched to it,and we were able to watch a couple of the resident seals swim round in the open air pool, and gaze through glass windows at the young seal pups that had been found, and an injured one that was receiving treatment. The admission cost is £4.99 for an adult, but children under 4 are free. There is a shop and a restaurant on site. A childrens meal with a free toy is £2.49.
From there we went to Jungle World, which is an indoor soft play area. This is themed around Jungle animals, with a slide in the shape of an crocodile. The cost is £3.50 per child age 3 and over, £2.50 for younger children, adults and oaps free. There are a couple of ball pits - one not suitable for toddlers, and lots of netting for climbing. There is a staircase to get up to the next level and a series of ariel tunnels that ultimately take you round to the slide. For the toddlers there is a seperate soft play area where there are
soft animal shapes to play on, and a seperate ball pit. There is also a cafe area, and the reception desk sells toys that are based on jungle animals .Beneath Jungle World, there is indoor ten pin bowling, and a cafe.
There is a land train that runs along the main promenade, this has a rain cover for the carriages for when it is wet. There were also trips on a really weird amphibian craft sort of half tractor, half boat, called a Duck, this went along the beach and then into the se
a, this was enclosed, and one of the trips went to the famous red cliffs and the lighthouse. There are the usual seaside amusement arcades, and an indoor fun pool complex called the Oasis center. There are some shops to look around, most of them seemed to be the discount warehouse type thing. In the afternoon as the rain eased off the funfair decided to open, there
is a seperate area for smaller children with a Rugrats train ride and a carousel ride, but you need to purchase tokens for them from the ice cream kiosk, they cost 70p each, or you could get 6 for £3.
Down the side of the Oasis centre is modern clean Toilets with a baby changing facility. Luckily just before we left the weather improved,and we were able to get onto the sand for about half an hour, so the children went home happy, but exhausted.

Summary: