A tower of memories. (Blackpool Tower)

Member Name: weebill

Product:	Blackpool Tower
Date:	18/06/09 (137 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A truly great visitor attraction.

Disadvantages: None.

Some say Blackpool is only for the kids and others say it is only for hen and stag nights and drunken louts but the truth about Blackpool is that it really is one of the few places that does have something for everyone.

When I was a much younger man I used to holiday in Blackpool regularly with my kids and now as a pensioner me and my wife visit Blackpool twice a year, once in the busy period for a long weekend with the grandkids and once during Blackpool's quieter period just the two of us so we can relax and take in the many, many happy memories that the great place holds for us.

One part of Blackpool that truly brings back good memories is the tower, Blackpool Tower was always my daughter's favourite part of Blackpool and my son loved it too. Now when we visit we firstly take in how much it has changed over the 30 odd years since my kids were little but then we also take in just how much has stayed the same and how many parts of the tower we can remember standing on the very same spot holding the hands of our very excited children.

The tower is a magical place and standing outside it you could be forgiven for thinking it is no more that a tall steel construction but inside it is a building full of magic, wonder and also history. Starting on the ground floor you have the entrance which can be crammed full of people in the busy times but also eerily empty during Blackpool's closed season.

Here you will be greeted by a friendly member of staff who will take your entry fee of you which currently (2009) is £13.95 for adults £9.95 for senior citizens like me and £10.95 for kids. Occasionally if certain attractions are closed within the tower during off peak season there will be reductions to these prices but that does not happen too often.

You may be looking at those prices and thinking they are a bit expensive but for what you get they are more than reasonable, not only do you get the many attractions and the tower top experience but this price also includes entry to the world famous Blackpool tower circus which is worth the entry fee itself.

After you have paid the first thing you will come across is the aquarium which I have to admit is not as good as it use to be but it is still a great site and a good way to spend your first half an hour in the Tower.

After the aquarium the choice is yours to either follow the towers natural path or to go wandering, for me wandering wins as I not only like to visit the main attractions but I also enjoy trailing the many corridors and reading the many signs telling of the towers history and as a visitor from the past I can still pick out where things used to be and remember standing in certain places when things were very different.

Above the aquarium and probably the next thing many will visit is the Jurassic walk, this has been many things over the years including an open play area and even a miniature zoo area for small animals like rabbits and guinea pigs, most recently before becoming the walk it is now it used to be a dinosaur ride that you used to travel through on a railway type thing.

At the end of the walk now there is a 3d cinema and the wife and I loved this as did our grandkids when they were there and it is another real example of how times have changed.

After leaving the Jurassic walk you can then pass through the pizza restaurant or even grab a bite to eat in it of course before passing through but once on the other side you will be in the world famous Blackpool tower ballroom, this place really is a sight to behold and the shows that you can catch in it free of charge can be very good too.

The ballroom has a simply enormous dance floor area and then a huge stage on which sits the Wurlitzer organ which rises through the pit at the back of the stage into full view and is played by one of the towers three resident organists to exceptional quality.

In the ballroom you can have a coffee, tea or something stronger from the large licensed coffee bar or you can simply pull up a seat and watch either a show if one is on or if not you can watch the dancers (who are mainly made up of amateur locals) as the tread the boards.

In the corridor that passes through the ballroom there is a small sweet booth that sells traditional old time sweets such as colour changing lollies from the eighties and original humbugs and cough sweets from much further back, whilst waiting to be served I could almost feel my daughters hand in mine as the memories of standing there with her came flooding back, I had to wipe a tear from my eye and squeeze my wife's hand as I saw her getting very emotional too, we never exchanged words at that moment but we both knew what the other was thinking.

Upwards and onwards from the ballroom and you have the amazing new jungle Jim`s play area for kids, when we travelled with the grandkids they absolutely loved it in here and they would have spent the whole day here if there had not been so much else to see and do.

next in line is the lifts to the top of the tower, these run all day long taking people up and down to and from the highest point in the tower, up here you will find a thing known as the" walk of faith", which is a glass floor you can walk over and look straight down at the street below (a long way below), this is not for the faint hearted and my wife to this day has still not stood on it, I have to say it is a weird feeling stepping on to it, It is as close as you will get to knowing what it feels like to step off the side of a building.

After the lifts I like to spend a while going around the Charlie Cairoli exhibition, Charlie was the original Blackpool circus clown and the exhibition has the original suits he wore and the props he used as well as tons of interesting things to read about this astonishing man.

This is the one part of the tower that might not appeal so much to the kids although my grandson was amazed by it, but for me it is an excellent experience and I get a funny feeling every time I enter the exhibition and pass by his poster then see the suits he wore, it is a bit like he is actually there.

On to the circus itself as it is today, the circus is headed by mooky the clown who does a great job of entertaining the kids whilst still cracking a few jokes that go over the kids heads and give the adults a chuckle, he is a great entertainer and some of the amazing acts that grace the tower circus every year make it an awesome spectacle for all to see.

I can still remember taking my kids when they still had animals at the circus and everyone thought that they could not survive without the animal acts but they have and I would say they have actually improved.

Entering the circus I am always still sure I can smell the animals as you used to all those years ago but I guess it is just memories playing tricks on me again, like when I took my grandson on to the arena floor at the interval to buy him ice cream and I could once again feel my own children's presence there with me as it was all those long years ago when it was them I was buying the ice cream and sweets for (nearly a tear again)!

The circus has three showings during peak season and two during off peak, you choose which circus time you want on entry to the tower, I suggest you do the late circus as it is great as a last memory of the tower and there is something a bit magical about exiting the tower into the dark Blackpool night after watching the circus (still one of the best feelings I get)!

I hope this has given you a good insight into a truly great family attraction that everyone should see and I hope my experiences and memories of the place might spur you on to visit it some time and thanks for reading the longest review I have every written!

Bill

Summary: A great family day out!