National SEA LIFE Centre Birmingham — Attraction in Birmingham

Absolutely disgusted with the Birmingham sea life I contacted The night before and the next day before we got into Birmingham and they said it was okay and there was no issues my daughter has autism. Both of my daughters have disability we got in there and she said we couldn’t go in till 3.20 that means we have to hang around for one hour and a half my daughter has autism and she has trouble walking a little bit I tried to explain to one of the managers or one of the workers is there anyway we can work around it and he said no and he couldn’t help any further contacted to see life and they apologise and said they was going to put a word we hang around for one hour and a half and it wasted our time in Birmingham specially on the last day of Easter holidays thank God for the small Birmingham get together on the top. We spent a couple of hours in the library and that was very helpful. When we got into sea life, I wanted the names and the woman didn’t really want to help and I was not interested to speak to a manager. All I wanted to do was go in and enjoy the rest of our day when we got in there there was a lot of adults push and shoving the children.( there was one couple her partner was taking photos. She had her boobs hanging out and she gave me and my children nasty looks posing and taking model photos inside sea life around children. She was in an orange and white dress my experience in Birmingham Sea life was disgusting and unfair, and I would like a refund as I am a carer a full-time carer for my children an emotional support worker when I went to London, they treated us with so much love and kindness my day in Birmingham today was ruined. We lost one hour and a half hanging around and did not know what to do. My daughter had a meltdown and she was very emotional and very upset. It was very traumatic and very upsetting for both of us I’m very disappointed and I wouldn’t revise any family members or anybody who’s got disability taking the children to see life The staff was not bothered and did not care and there was not willing to help very rude and very disrespectful and when I said to her, if I couldn’t make it if my daughter was too tired, she said I could not have a refund. I want a refund. I am absolutely disappointed. I don’t think my journey to Birmingham was worth it. For £56 to be treated like that it was a very horrid process and very upsetting. They need to sort and routine the sea life. When we went into London, they had three lines one line for normal people one line for disability and Children with disability, they took their time checking and letting people in There were so much respect an order, but the sea life in Birmingham very letdown very disappointed, very, very, very disappointed. It was a place for children not for adults. To push and shove children and disrespect and take photos the sea life is supposed to be for children and Who enjoy sea life and wildlife and the ocean not for people to go there to take photos and disrespect children and families Sea life needs to take the spontaneity and I would really like my funding and I will contact the sea life company on Monday to speak to him and take this further and to see if I can get my money back and to take my children somewhere a little bit more nicer And show us a little...

With three children under five, and different school holidays to Birmingham, we booked the Adult and Toddler tickets, so it was £38 for all five of us to visit.

We arrived about half an hour after our time slot, which wasn't an issue at all - the girl doing admissions was friendly and completely fine with us going to grab some lunch before coming in too, so we actually entered about an hour late.

We really enjoyed walking round and seeing the different fish, and the boys enjoyed crawling through the tunnels. We loved watching the penguins and were lucky enough to see one of the otters. I was quite disappointed though, as we arrived a few minutes before the advertised time for the 14:45 otter talk and feed only to find out that they'd already done it and the timings didn't match what the staff actually did. Please make sure that the timings are accurate!

We really enjoyed the main tunnel, and I especially loved the turtle. The kids loved the sharks! We had walked through the whole aquarium in under an hour, including a toilet break, so we took the lift upstairs again and went round a second time. Honestly, it was smaller than I expected, but fine as the kids who were pretty worn out after a morning at Legoland and then going round twice.

The place seemed clean and tidy and the toilets (and baby changing facilities) were fine. We parked our buggy in the buggy park near the exit and used a carrier for our nearly 1yr old, which made it easier to chase toddlers through crowds! Some of the signs with information about the fish were quite worn, so tricky to read, and some of the tanks had digital signs which kept changing, so the information wasn't always visible. Fine if you have lots of time to stand and wait, but with kids who aren't patient it just meant we couldn't even identify lots of the fish. A bit disappointing that Whipsnade zoo's tiny aquarium has better signage!

Overall we had a lovely visit and would come again if we're in Birmingham and we can find a good deal on tickets. I personally wouldn't have been happy with paying peak prices for it though! The adult and toddler ticket really was so much better for us. It's definitely not a whole day thing either - I can't imagine anyone spending more than three hours max unless you're wanting to ready about all of the fish in great depth.

Another thing they could do with sorting out is the pricing in the gift shop - there didn't seem to be any visible price displayed for quite a few things. I'd have been more likely to buy something had I known how much...

Visited August 2022 with the family. My 11 month old loves watching fish in pet shops and aquatic centres, so we figured the Sea Life Centre would be perfect. We prebooked our tickets online for that afternoon, parked up at the Arena North car park (the recommended South car park was full) and queued only a couple of minutes to get in.

On arrival, we needed to do a nappy change, where we were told there were facilities at the entrance. There were queues for both the ladies and gents toilets, which had their own baby change units in them, but given I was with my partner, and nappy changes have now become a two man job, the disabled facilities were available for use as well.

The Sea Life centre is suitable for pushchairs, but honestly, I left ours at home and had the baby in his carrier. It meant he could enjoy all the fish and penguins from a really good vantage point instead of lower down in the pram, and it meant getting around was much easier, especially given so many other parents bought pushchairs along. The walkways got easily crowded. I’d say, if you can leave the pram then do.

Visiting during the kids holidays meant that it was pretty busy and certain sections got quite hot. It also meant we either couldn’t see certain tanks because of the number of families crowding round or you had to queue for it which further clogged the walkways, so for a number of tanks, we had no choice but to walk by.

We thoroughly enjoyed the 360 tunnel, being able to stroke a starfish and just seeing a huge array of marine wildlife. One of my favourite sections was the coral!

In the end, we completed the centre in an hour. Now obviously, this would take longer if: 1) we were able to see all the tanks, 2) we did the 4D cinema experience, which we didn’t do because of the baby and 3) if we had an older child with us collecting the stamps on the way round and doing the activity book.

I’d definitely go back again but not during the school holidays and I’d try and use a 2 for 1 voucher given how quick we completed it. You can also add on extras such as entry to Legoland across the way so you can make more of a day of it too.

Maybe our visit felt more like a 3* but given that we didn’t experience Sea Life to its fullest, it feels unfair to rate...