There's various activities and entertainment on site such as den building, swimming lessons, fire lighting, tots and tunes (singing with one the mascots!), sensory play, treasure hunts, water walkerz , as well as evening entertainment and bingo. There's various rides and machines in the arcade covering a range of ages and interests. The food in the restaurant is pretty good offering breakfast, lunch and dinner, and staff friendly and helpful throughout. The soft play is at the back and is more aimed at toddlers (small ball pit and soft shapes and building blocks!), there's park outside at back, secure from road/car park (access is through restaurant.) with swing, slide, climbing frame and see-saw. Swimming pool is good for families although does get very busy;. Easy walk-in access, life guarded, family changing cubicles as well as individual cubicles and baby changing/disabled changing facilities and lockers for belongings and there's a plug hole flume and children's splash zone in summer.
Buses run every 15 mins from site in to town via train station, zoo and supermarkets; so it's never an issue getting to and from the attractions. We joined in with 2 morning activities with "the seaside squad" both lasting around 25 mins. Neds tots and tunes where "DJ Ned" had the children singing, dancing and doing action songs (the likes of happy and you know it, music man , etc) and Anxious sensory morning where one of the entertainers took the children around different sensory stations (one with crunchy nut cornflakes and jelly cubes to squash, one with lights, one with different textures material and one which had a baby crawl mat and some objects to feel) as well as Anxious the elephant coming out to sing a song with the children. This session could of lasted longer, the children weren't given much time at each station and there was only a few children there, if it had been busier some children would of missed out.
Whilst we were there we ofcourse went exploring and checked out some of the things Blackpool has to offer. We had bought "big tickets" covering all the biggest attractions in the area. The tower, the circus, dungeon, 4D Cinema, aquarium, Madame Tussaud's , jungle Jims and ballroom which costs approximately half the amount of what it would cost to buy individual tickets for the attractions. We managed to visit all of them except the jungle Jims soft play as it has a strict no adult rule and I'm too small to play on my own. We also went to a few other places not included in the ticket which I will also tell you about.
The dungeon, ballroom, jungle Jims, tower, cinema and circus are all in one building with the aquarium and Madame Tussaud's a short walk away. The main building also has the box office, arcade and the hangmans tavern, a burger place and coffee shop.
The staff on the reception/box office were friendly and helpful and helped us with all the information on the attractions and opening times etc but during every visit the toilets in the ladies were blocked/overflowing. On the Sunday they were dirty and every cubicle we looked in had blocked toilets. These were still backed up on the Wednesday and Saturday when we visited and several didn't even flush. There is also disabled/baby changing toilets in the arcade and a sign said the key was available from the "manager" but no idea who or where he was.
Aquarium/sealife centre
I love fish and stingrays and watching them swimming around and so I was really looking forward to visiting during our stay. We went on the Sunday afternoon and there was lots to see. When you first arrive (after getting your obligatory green screen photo taken!) there's an opportunity to learn about rock pools and touch the starfish and other creatures. I didn't want to touch them but mummy and uncle did and said they feel squishy. Then you go in to the main bit of the aquarium where there was lots of different areas with fish, sharks, sea horses , stingrays , etc until you come to the end where you will find the cafe, shop and soft play and the exit although if you brought a buggy or wheelchair you can't get out that way and have to go back the way you came which gave me a second chance to look at the fish. The aquarium has nice toilets which looked clean and had a baby changing table in there which was quite comfy to lie down on. The disabled toilet was a little dirty, the floor was wet and it smelt a bit too. We all really enjoyed our visit here and it is on our list for next time we visit the area.
The Blackpool Tower and 4D cinema
The tower tour and 4D cinema are one attraction, when you enter you again have your green screen photo done (we didn't get it because I was feeling sad and hungry and not in the mood to be photographed!) and then you go in to a room to await entry to the cinema. If you came in a wheelchair you can take the lift up to the other door to get in to the cinema or bypass it completely; that is what we did because mummy wanted to find somewhere to feed me as I was crying and shouting so we skipped the cinema and went up to the shop where the toilets are and then joined on the the tour afterwards. You go up in a lift where the man tells you all about the history of the tower and then you arrive at the top where there is a glass walkway that looks down on the promenade and you can also walk around the tower 360 degrees and look out over Blackpool. If you're feeling adventurous you can climb up 2 more levels right to the top of the tower as well. Once you're ready to come back down there's a lift which exits out on to the shop area where you can buy your tower souvenirs and the photos from the green screen if you had them done earlier. We thought we'd take a chance and retrace our steps back to the cinema and see if we could catch the show since we had missed it earlier. The lady spoke to us and said it was OK for us to do that and she gave 4D glasses to us (well to the adults!) the show was really good even though I didn't see it in 4D I thought it was great fun and mummy and uncle said it was good too. Another great attraction. Worth a visit as long as you aren't afraid of heights. Although worth noting that pushchairs had to be abandoned at the beginning so make sure you have a bag for your belongings , shoes on if you're a walker and reins if you need them.
The Blackpool tower dungeon
We had originally decided against visiting the dungeon as we thought it wouldn't be suitable for me. We had emailed/facebooked them prior to going to ask about children/babies visiting and were told that any age is allowed however it is recommended for over 8 years as it can be scary, dark and smelly. However we were at the tower for another attraction in the week and popped in the shop to have a look and got talking to the man there who said although it is scary at times he had seen lots of babies visit and be fine with it and that if I got scared we could leave at any stage so since we already had tickets with the big ticket we decided to give it a go the next day. When we arrived we had a bit of a wait as there was a school visiting on the first tour of the day and so we were shown to the hangmans tavern to await our go. We were told that one the characters would come get us when they were ready but this didn't happen and we very nearly missed the tour. We got a couple of green screen photos done and went on in to a very crowded room to begin the tour and then you make your way through various rooms and scenes. Several people got called up to the front to be included in the scenes and my uncle was called up to be treated for the plague. This got me very excited and I did a lot of shouting and talking about it especially when they dismissed us from the room and my uncle hadn't come back yet but the person that had taken him gave him back to me. Several of the rooms have special effects and are dark and smelly but I thought this was good fun. I won't tell you what they were or what happens as this might spoil your fun if you decide to visit. The last bit of the tour takes you down to a room with a drop tower ride and then you are dismissed to the hangmans tavern and to choose your photos. I wasn't allowed to ride the drop ride as I was way too little and Uncle couldn't as he has a poorly back so we were dismissed through another door and mummy went on to be hanged. The dungeon was great and I'd like to go again. It's not for those easily scared or offended as the characters can be mean and scary. Also you aren't allowed to take photos and you have to turn your phones off before you go in. Who invented the round table ! Sir Cumfrance! Ha ha ha!
Madame Tussaud's
We went to Madame Tussaud's whist we were in Blackpool, it wasn't very busy when we went as we
went mid-week. I wasn't allowed to take my pushchair in and had to leave it in a room by the door so my mummy had to carry me around to look at everything. It was OK I didn't mind ; I like to be carried but it got tricky when I got tired and after lots of crying fell asleep in mummy's arms. We saw loads of different fun things and posed for loads of photos. We also had some novelty photos taken by the staff there like one of us in funny hats in a giant beach chair and one of us and Spider-Man. There's a bar that's the rovers return from corrination street with the characters in there and you can have a drink in there. You pay for it when you go in at the front desk and you can choose ANY drink when you get there. There's fruit shoots, cola, cider, whisky. All sorts. You come out a different door than you go in so we had to go back in the entrance to reclaim my pushchair. It was lots of fun and I think I'd like to go back again when I'm a bit bigger.
The Ballroom
We visited the ballroom one day and mummy and uncle had afternoon tea for two (I was allowed to try some too!) it was £15 a person to have tea there and you can sit and listen to the music and watch people doing posh dances, you can even get up and dance yourself if you feel like it. The building/room is super pretty and I really enjoyed looking around at everything on the ceiling and walls. The afternoon tea was made up of sandwiches, scone with cream and jam and a selection of cakes (and tea of course!) 