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Blue Reef Aquarium (England)
by Evie-x-
Bluereef Aquarium is found on the seafront in Portsmouth (opens at 10am). They do have a number of other Aquariums located across the country. It is very similar to what you would find at one of Merlin's sealife attractions without the huge payout.
It is very easy to travel to by car, hovercraft or bus, the train station is ... about a mile and a half away. There is plenty of parking although it can be very busy during the summer months. Parking is paid at a parking metre and is free for blue badge holders.
The Bluereef Aquarium is very disabled/buggy friendly. As you enter the Aquarium you are greeted by friendly, helpful staff. It is here that you pay for your entry, they also stamp your hand so that can come& go all day which is useful as there a number of places that you could go out to eat.
Prices
Adult- £9.75
Child 3-12yrs £7.50
Seniors/students- £8.75
Family of four- £32.50
( please check prices as the tunnel tank has been drained due to the need for emergency maintenance so they are offering a 20% discount off the above prices)
If you live close by it would be better value to buy an annual pass as you would only need to visit three times to make it worth while. Also with the annual pass you receive 10% off in the shop.
If you have small children it would worth asking to hire a stool. It is a £1 deposit and very handy to have with you. It is here that you can pick up information on times of feeds although they do announce when they are about to start in case you forget a leaflet. Also during the school holidays there are often topic weeks. This Easter holidays was Yuck! Week which my son and his friend loved. By the entrance is also a buggy park where you can leave your buggy if you don't want to take it around with you.
There are a number of large tanks around the Aquarium the Rays being very fun as they often splash water over the side. Little ones will love climbing up the steps to a platform that overlooks the Rays. I love that the Aquarium has thought about its little guests because often it is easy for them to see the fishy residents.
Seeing the Sharks swim close to the glass can be very exciting and there are plenty of places to view them so no worries if it is a busy day. You will see a number of jelly fish, seahorses , finding nemo (clown fish) and . . .I could go on & on! There is also a tunnel tank where you walk through and can see the fish all above you. At present this is empty so check before you go if you would find it disappointing not to see it full. Half way round you will also find some reptiles and the otters who are cute but very smelly!
There is a lot for children to do apart from viewing the fishy residents. Throughout the Aquarium you will find boards for children to do rubbings (ask at desk for crayons& paper), quiz questions on the walls with wooden flaps to lift and just before the gift shop there is a large blackboard with lots of chalk for your little ones to use. My sons favourite part of the Aquarium is the outside play area. By the Otters there is a door to a large outside area. Here you will find a little splash park with fountains shooting up jets of water, boulders to climb on, play sand and little plastic seesaws. There are also picnic benches here so if it is a nice day it would be well worth bringing lunch. Also by the Otters is where you will find the toilet facilities with a large baby changing area and disabled toilets.
Near the gift shop there is a room where you can often go and listen to a talk. Last week my son got to touch a starfish and a spider crab. There is often colouring sheets and crayons in here.
A word of warning and the part which annoys me is the gift shop. It is a lovely little gift shop but you have to walk through it to exit which when you you have a five year old is no fun! There is also a £1 a go children's ride and a Hurricane experience booth £2.
The Aquarium does have a cafe but it is located out the front so you will need to exit to reach this. Also next to it is a fish and chip shop. Although you are only a fifteen minute walk from a Brewers Fayre located at the funfair. There is often an ice-cream van parked up near the D-day museum. Of course if it is a nice day you might want to have a picnic which there lots of places for such as on the common opposite or on the beach.
The Aquarium has an awful lot to offer and well worth a visit if in Portsmouth. My final tip would be to visit on a sunny day as I find it is often quieter and you can make full use of the outside play area.
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Chester Zoo
by dkm1981
Chester Zoo is fabulous! I went years ago when I was a little girl but have never got round to going back until my birthday last week - who says you have to grow old gracefully?! It was a little cold when we went, so we were a bit worried that all the animals would be hidden away, but they have designed it so well that there are lots of ... indoor places to visit.
It is really easy to get to, there are lots of brown signs from the M6. There is plenty of free parking when you get there. The car park is huge so even when it is busy, you'll find somewhere to park - you might just have a bit of a walk to the main entrance!
The ticket can be bought online before you visit, or there is a ticket desk at the park gates. Tickets vary depending on the time of season and up to date price can be found on their website but to give you an idea, adult tickets range from £14 to £18 and children's tickets from £11 to £15. Infants up to two years are free and you can get discounted family tickets if there are a few of you. I'd say this is pretty good value for money because the zoo is massive and there are plenty of different animals to look at. it's definitely a day of a visit.
When you get into the zoo, you should grab a map to help you get round in a logical way. You'll definitely need to plan your trip or you'll be walking for miles and going round in circles. If you have a map, you can go in a sort of big loop and see all the animals.
I'm not going to talk about all the animals because I'll be here all day but i'll mention some of my favourite parts. All of the big hitters are here - elephants, lions, tigers and rhinos. The elephants are right in front of you as you enter and there are a couple of babies that are really cute. The enclosure is massive and there are plenty of viewing points. We loved the bat cave which is obviously very dark and has bats flying freely. They don't land on you but they fly pretty close and it is quite thrilling if you have the nerve. There are staff inside who will tell you about them and point out the bigger ones. On the whole we found the staff throughout the park extremely friendly, helpful and obviously very passionate about their work.
The orang utans are adorable and again, there are a couple of babies. The enclosure is quite warm (even on a cold day) so there are water jets spraying cool water over you. The chimpanzees are great. When we were there they were being very playful which is always fun to see. The giraffes are good and you can go inside there indoor house if it is cold, so you won't miss out. There is a weighing scale inside and you can see how much they weigh if one of them walks over it. In the days after we visited one of the giraffes had a baby, so it seems there is a bit of a baby boom going on!
There are meerkats as well, looking very cute and, rather bizarrely, located between the rhino enclosures! There is also a massive new enclosure for the jaguar at he back of he zoo, which is inside and packed full of information. It is quite a challenge to spot the cats inside, but easier to spot is the amusing sloth (like Sid from the Ice Age films) who lives nearby.
Some of the more weird and wonderful animals in the park include the rather odd painted dogs that are like hyenas but they do indeed look like they have been painted with random colours. There is also a massive bird enclosure that has menacing looking vultures and eagles, and a smaller enclosure that has free flying smaller birds in.
As with many zoos, conservation is at the forefront of Chester's ethos and you can donate money on top of the part of your entry ticket that goes towards it. There are various ways to do so, the most popular seeming to be sponsoring an animal, for which you get a plaque near the enclosure of your chosen animal. The zoo obviously takes care of it's animals and I felt like the priority was given to them over the visitors, which is of course how it should be. For example we didn't see the black rhino, presumably because it was too cold for him to be outside, which was a little disappointing, but I would prefer that than to see him/her looking uncomfortable.
One of the things I liked most about the zoo is the educational displays all around. There are some interactive displays in the monkey enclosure that show you how they educate them and there are lots of factual signs all around the park that will engage visitors old and young alike. The signs are bright and well designed so that younger visitors can enjoy them. They include lots of fascinating information about the animals and I liked that they compared information to things you could understand to give perspective - for example when describing the amount of food they all it.
The footpaths around the park are well maintained and easy to walk on in all weathers. If you are pushing a pram, you'll have no problems. There is a little monorail type thing that you can get between different parts of the zoo, For a small charge. It is high up and goes quite slowly, so you'll get good views. We didn't go on it because we enjoyed the walking but it was surprisingly busy even on a quiet day so people must have enjoyed it.
There are lots of food stalls and restaurants scattered around the zoo so there are plenty of places to get something to eat. Prices aren't cheap, but nor are they overly expensive. Food offered tends to be the basic attraction type fayre of sandwiches, burgers and chips. There are lots of places to get a snack too. I will mention that a lot of the food places were shut when we went, presumably because it was the quiet season, so bare in mind that the choice won't be as good as if you are visiting in summer. There are also lots of picnic areas if you have brought your own food. You can get your hand stamped at the gate too for re-entry so you can leave packed lunches in the car rather than having to carry them round with you all day.
Like I said Chester Zoo is great and the ticket prices are good value for money for a fun filled day out.
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