Well, it seems I was a bit optimistic in getting everyone out if we did not HAVE to be anywhere until afternoon. It was 11:00 before we left the cottage, leaving only enough time for lunch in the bay before our entry. Sigh. I shouldn't complain though; I was the one who made a major mistake and left our printed tickets sitting by the door of the cottage--something that I only realized 40 minutes into the hour drive! We pulled over to confirm that they were not in the trunk (nope) and tried calling to determine if we needed to use ALL of our remaining time to go back for them or could use the email confirmation there. There was no answer, so we decided to continue on, stopping at the Experience first to ask and if need be we would find a print shop in Cardiff. Thankfully the staff at the Experience were really nice and easily able to reprint the tickets for me with our booking code and last name. Phew.
Next up was finding parking at the bay--easier said than done! The carparks nearest The Doctor Who Experience and the BBC Studios (which, by the way, offer tours much of the year, but sadly not while we are here) were full. We found a very tall parking garage and Dave did a brilliant job making the tight turns to get the car all the way up to deck 11 where there were finally spaces.
With only about an hour to go, thanks to the late start, having to stop to get those tickets sorted out, and looking for parking, we bopped into the Red Dragon "mall" (all restaurants and entertainment venues) next to the car park to grab some lunch. We ended up here:
It was one of those chain pubs that seem ubiquitous in the UK, with a standardized menu of low cost but decent quality food, where you order at the bar and they bring it to your table. Food quality is somewhere between a Dennys/Friendlys and an Applebees/Ruby Tuesdays (for my American readers--Germans, sorry there is no comparison--rejoice in your lack of chain venues) and prices are such that our meal came in at a smidge under 50 pound with two drinks apiece and both kids ordering pricier meals. Here we are enjoying our lunch:
And then, it was the time we had all been waiting for--a five minute walk later, there we were:
In the main lobby is a small snack counter with drinks, cold sandwiches, cakes and jelly babies (of course), the ticket counters, clean restrooms, a free (unattended) coat room and a few displays scattered about to look at and photograph while waiting for your entry time. With the 13:30-14:00 arrival, the queue was actually opened at 13:45 and the entire group went in together at 14:00.
Here are just a couple of photos from the waiting area (there were about 6 or 8 displays I did not get, so this is far from all):
Before you get into the museum of props, etc and have free time to explore, you go through a guided, interactive group experience during which no photos can be taken. I don't want to give any spoilers, but I can say it was pretty fun--us adults (with little to no Who knowledge) were given enough background as it went to follow along pretty well, and the kids really enjoyed it as well. The whole thing takes about 20 minutes (which is just about right). There is low lighting (but it is never pitch dark), strobe and flashing light effects and some creepiness (but I would think that any kid who can handle the show could handle it just fine).
Once through the group experience, we had free time to wander the museum and look at the various props, sets, costumes, etc--that was allowed for as long as we wanted and we could take all the photos we wanted as well (the kids took loads on Rio's camera, setting up shots to avoid seeing barriers and looking like they were actually on set, etc). Here is a sampling, taken with my camera:
Early sets--I enjoyed seeing how they evolved as the budgets grew
Newspapers from the day the series premiered----which are quite notable for other reasons.
Costumes for Doctors 1-3
4-6
7, 8 and the War Doctor
9-11
The cosplay Marika really wants (Clara). I love how much of an early Star Trek feel it has.
and the cosplay Rio really wants (Captain Jack Harkness)
The kids needed more time to explore than David and I did--so he and I headed out to look at some of hte art in the bay area and then have a snack in the Norwegian Church Cafe and check out the photography exhibition upstairs (we headed into the cafe pretty quickly, the rain was coming down pretty hard and the wind made use of an umbrella totally pointless).
When the kids had had their fill, we headed back into the gift shop with them. I was impressed with the shop: there was a decent amount of stuff, much of it higher quality or more unique than what is often available elsewhere, but it was not gigantic and the prices were OK (good quality t-shirts were in the 12-15 pound range). Marika made out like a bandit scoring three new shirts:
On the way back to the car we looped around to pass by what I am told is "the entrance to Torchwood" which apparently means something to the kids and many other people.
All in all it was a nice day--The Doctor Who Experience is well done and about right for the cost. We were fortunate to be there on a day that seemed pretty slow (I would estimate from looking at queue spacing that a sold out tour has about three times as many people in it than ours did), and we all had fun.
--Hadley
No comments:
Post a Comment