During the Summer holidays, we took a trip over to Birmingham to visit the Sea Life Centre. It’s always a great day out for the family, one which we know all of us will enjoy.
Behind the Scenes Tour Tickets
This time we planned a trip with a difference, we arranged to do the Behind the Scenes tour. Upon arrival, you are given a time slot and ticket to attend the Behind the Scenes tour with a ticket upgrade of just £3.50 per person. When it’s time to start your tour you need to line up near the Behind the Scenes door near Bay of Rays and be ready to present your tickets.
Sea Life Birmingham development
Each time we visit #SeaLifeBirmingham we notice a few subtle changes to the exhibits, last time it was the removal of the handrails and floor covering in the Ocean Tunnel making it a 360-degree experience, this time the Splash Pool in the entrance hall had gained a crawl-through tunnel for the children. They thought it was hilarious to have the water pouring above their heads.
The day we visited it rained non-stop so Sea Life Birmingham was extremely busy but if you just hang back a little and show some patience then you get ample opportunity to see all the exhibits you want to and it pays to remember that your ticket is valid all day long. We always tend to have a walk around during the morning seeing the exhibits which are least busy and then head out to the Wharf area for some lunch returning in the afternoon to have a more relaxed tour of the centre.
Getting Behind the Scenes
We were greeted at the door by a resident Aquarist Guide who talked us through the process of feeding and breeding their creatures from all around the world. Some creatures are fed live food, though it was explained to us that they are only allowed to feed live invertebrates because it is supposed to be less painful for them when they are eaten.
We were talked through the feeding needs of the creatures and were even shown a few creatures which couldn’t be placed in the public viewing areas because of their nervous nature. The Mantis Shrimp have raptorial appendages which have the fastest punch in the natural world. Their punch is so powerful that it would easily break the glass on their aquarium and would split a human finger down to the bone if they got too close.
We were able to see baby sharks moving around in their Mermaid’s purses as well as getting to hold the casing of a Chambered Nautilus. The Beans didn’t even squirm or recoil when they were presented with a frozen dead chick which is used to feed the sharks.
Hubby and I were very impressed by how keen the Beans were to ask and answer questions, we were also surprised by how much they knew the answers too.
Unfortunately, Jelly Bean was a little less interested and found a little girl to play with and between them, they managed to cause some destruction by knocking over fans and dropping things on the floor. In all honesty, I think the tour is perhaps better aimed at school-age children as the pre-schoolers quickly lost interest and just wanted to look at the fish in the aquariums but the rest of the family really enjoyed it.
Sounds like you all had a great day! 🙂
Thank you Helen, we always have fun when we visit Sea Life but the Behind the Scenes Tour gave it a new perspective which was fun and informative 🙂