On Saturday we took Esther and William to London, to the Sea Life London Aquarium!
Under the Sea
From the Pacific to the Antarctic and even to the tropics, the Sea Life London Aquarium is home to an amazing collection of marine life. A stunning collection of unforgettable features with over 500 species in 65 displays includes green sea turtles, inquisitive seahorses, and colourful clown fish; as well as many endangered species that have been rescued and bred in captivity.
I had not been to the aquarium since taking my Year 5/6 class about 4 years ago. I was very impressed with the new ethos and design. Unsatisfied with being a spectator attraction, the Sea Life London Aquarium promises a voyage across the world’s oceans and seas in a highly immersive experience. With interactive feeding demonstrations, diving displays and touch pools, guests can get closer than ever before to the creatures of the deep, while a team of aquarists are on hand to answer all your questions. A good attraction has been made into a great one with the most recent changes and additions.
Aquarist!
The Sea Life London Aquarium is a great place to visit with small children. I worried that we would struggle with our twin buggy but there was plenty of room to walk around with the buggy and even places where we were encouraged to leave the buggy to one side and allow Esther and William to crawl through the attractions and explore the caves and tunnels that were at their level. Esther and William had a fabulous time fitting into the smallest nooks and crannies they could find.
Crawling Through a Cubby Hole
The Sea Life London Aquarium provides big windows to the world under the sea. Children can learn so much from the experts on hand to talk to them about different conservation projects and caring for the different species. There is a quiz trail for older children and arts and crafts activities too. We were guided throughout the aquarium by some very friendly pirates who also let Esther and William have cuddles with a giant cuddly shark. You can imagine how much they loved that. Their little faces were glowing with excitement. To them the aquarium was a truly magical place.
There were lots of walls at toddler height that meant Esther and William could pull themselves up to stand and look through the great glass walls to see the fishes swimming and playing in the water.
This attraction is so family friendly with toilets and baby changing on each of its floors. There is also a lift to the different levels meaning that we did not have to struggle with the buggies and the babies on the stairs. We had a wonderful time.
The Sea Life London Aquarium is a world of colour that seems made for toddlers to enjoy and explore. Esther and William loved the tunnel through the tropical waters where they could see colourful fish beside them and above them, wherever they looked it seemed there was sparkling coral and brightly coloured creatures darting and dancing for them to see. William love crawling into the little cubby holes at the sides of the tunnel to get a closer look at some of the fish.
For me the highlight was the penguins.
Penguin Rules
The latest addition to the aquarium’s ever-growing family is a colony of Gentoo penguins. A brand new Ice Adventure feature offers a journey through an icy landscape, passing dramatic spider crabs and freezing touch pools to the viewing ice cave to watch these magical creatures dive and play. I loved watching the penguins swim gracefully through the water. It was wonderful and so peaceful to behold. A real treat.
Esther loved the starfish. She has learned to say star recently so is more than a little obsessed with stars. It made her day to find a fish that looked like a star. Bless!
The finale of our visit was the shark walk. This was a great way to end our day, looking down to the deep waters below where four different species of shark swam in all their glory for us to see.
Esther and William were exhausted after all the stimulation of their adventures under the sea and they promptly fell asleep in their buggy as we walked back to Victoria to catch our train.
If you are looking for somewhere to go with your little ones this half term we heartily recommend The Sea Life London Aquarium. A fabulous day out for all the family and twin friendly too!
Situated on the banks of the River Thames in County Hall, the Sea Life London Aquarium is open 7 days a week with great value family tickets from £54 and special behind the scenes packages also available. Check www.sealife.co.uk/london for full details.
We were allowed free entry to The Sea Life London Aquarium for the purposes of the review.