At the start of the October half-term, we travelled up to Manchester to visit the Harry Potter Forbidden Forest Experience. Whilst there Merlin Attractions gifted us tickets to see the LEGOLAND Discovery Centre and Sea Life Manchester*. I was looking forward to visiting these Merlin Attractions as we would love to get Merlin Annual passes and these are some of the attractions included in the pass.
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Where is Sea Life Manchester?
The Trafford Palazzo is home to SEA LIFE Manchester. The Palazzo is located next door to the Trafford Centre. If coming via car google maps uses Trafford Centre West car park as its reference point. We got a bit lost parking our car and parked in the Trafford Centre. We reached the Trafford Palazzo easily via the connecting footbridge. Getting a chance to take in the sights of the Trafford Centre as we walked through.
7 Things We Loved About Sea Life Manchester
The Turtle Beach Talk
We have visited Sea Life centres in Great Yarmouth and Hunstanton. Each has its own charm and feature exhibition. For Sea Life Manchester I would say it’s their Turtle Beach talk that takes place as soon as you enter the centre. On this man-made beach, you learn about turtles and where they go to lay their eggs. How the babies find their way to the sea and how our city lights can confuse them. We all loved it and it was a real talking point for us.
Spotting the Turtles
After learning about turtles you can see two giant green sea turtles in the tropical ocean tank. Cammy and Ernie are the turtles who live at Sea Life Manchester. The children were amazed to see the turtles swimming around them as they walked through the tunnel.
Finding An Axolotl
During our visit to Great Yarmouth, Little E spotted two axolotls in the Sea Life Centre. Apparently, these are the in-thing on YouTube. She even asked if she could have one as a pet! During our visit to Sea Life Manchester, she found another axolotl it was a very exciting discovery.
Enjoying the Unique Viewing Areas
Sea Life centres always have great viewing areas for the children to explore. They love getting inside these to get a different view of the tanks.
Sea Life Manchester had some extra special viewing areas. The children hid inside the clown fish tank and also got to sit in a circular jellyfish tank.
Meeting The Creatures in the Rockpool
Little E has no fear when it comes to animals. She will always take advantage of getting up close and personal with them whenever she can. There was a Rockpool at this Sea Life Centre and Little E was able to stroke a starfish. She loves moments like this and will spend ages with any animal she can.
The Halloween Touches
As we were visiting Sea Life Manchester during the October half-term there were Halloween touches around. In the tanks, you might spot skeletons and bats. There were Halloween-themed photo opportunities.
Little E meet a witch and was given a candy treat.
And Ethan was obsessed with the singing pumpkins we found.
Letting Off Steam In Soft Play
Sea Life Manchester is also home to a soft play. This is the perfect place for children to let off some steam while the parents rest. There is a height restriction which meant Ethan was too tall to join in. So we didn’t stay in this area as long as we would have done in the past as Ethan doesn’t really understand that he is now getting too big for certain activities.
We had such an amazing visit to Sea Life Manchester. We would visit again if we visit Manchester again. The below video captures our time at the centre. The one thing we did miss during our visit was having a place to eat in the Sea Life centre. Others we have visited have had onsite cafes but it wasn’t a major issue. We ate at the Italian restaurant next door. And the LEGOLAND Discovery Centre has a cafe but you have to have entered to be able to eat in there. There are so many places to eat in the Trafford Centre. You just need to factor in any lunch breaks when pre-booking your entrance time.
We love sharing our days out on our blog. Make sure you visit our Days Out and Experiences post to read all about them.
DISCLOSURE – We received tickets to Sea Life Manchester as a gift. This was for the purposes of this post and to create our YouTube video. We always share our honest opinions, findings, beliefs, and experiences.
