Saturday 7 January 2017

Our Visit to Bluestone National Park Resort - Part One!

If you follow me on Twitter or Instagram, then you will have noticed that my family and I have been at the fabulous Bluestone National Park Resort this past week. I literally cannot believe how much we have managed to cram into just five days, and definitely far too much to write about in only one blog post.

I have therefore decided to split my review over two posts with Part One covering everything about the booking process, the website, the build up to our stay, our journey, the check in process and the first impressions of both the park and our lodge.

Part Two will then cover everything you need to know about the facilities, the restaurants, the Blue Lagoon, the Adventure Centre, the activities available and also about local attractions and recommendations on where to visit nearby. If you have any particular questions though, or think I might have missed something then please don't hesitate to get in touch and I will be happy to help out with any queries you may have. So without further ado...................................

What is Bluestone National Park Resort?

Bluestone is a beautiful holiday resort set within the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park. It has 345 luxury lodges set amongst 500 acres of spectacular countryside. It is marketed as an all year round short break holiday destination, where fun can be enjoyed in all weather conditions offering guests the chance to enjoy a relaxing break, or an adventure packed fun activity holiday. As Bluestone offers so much, it is suitable for families, couples or groups of adults and caters for all ages, with over 100 activities to enjoy.


Booking our Family Holiday to Bluestone

Bluestone have an excellent user friendly website that is jam packed full of information, so you can be sure of making an informed choice before booking your holiday. There are separate sections on the accommodation, the resort, and the experience as well as local information which all help you to fully understand what Bluestone can offer to you and your family. I always fully research any destination that we are heading to on holiday using tripadvisor, blogs and the resorts own information and so it was great to have a website where I could find out literally everything including activities price lists and menu's for the restaurants which help with planning the spending money budget.

Although I booked our break through the marketing department, I did do a trial run to check their booking system out and was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was. I simply entered the number of guests and it pre selected what bedroom sized lodge I would need. It then gave me several options of a weekend, mid week break, or a full week break. Once you have chosen your duration and the dates you would like to stay, you are then presented with the prices of each accommodation that is available. One thing I really like about this, is that it also displays the prices for the week before and after, so you can see if there is a better deal (if your dates are flexible). I think that this is particularly great if you aren't limited to school holidays and are travelling with toddlers or as a group of adults so you can select the best price for your stay.

Once you have chosen your preferred accommodation and holiday dates, you simply fill in your details, and pay either the deposit or full balance to secure your booking. Shortly after booking you will receive an email with your booking confirmation number, which you will need to keep a record of in order to log in to the manage my booking area, where you can have lots of fun checking out all the activities and extras that are available during your stay and pre book everything prior to your arrival.

In between booking and arrival I received 8 emails encouraging me to log on and plan our stay. This averaged out at one a week which I felt was a reasonable amount to receive and I certainly didn't mind receiving regular reminders to get activities booked and confirmed. As you can imagine Bluestone is a very popular holiday destination and so activities get booked up very quickly. The manage my booking tool means that you can check availability, book activities, reserve a golf buggy or bikes, or even pre book a table at your preferred restaurant, so I actually appreciated these reminders to encourage me to log on and get things done.

Managing our booking

I loved being able to log on to the Manage My Booking area whenever I liked to check what activities were available during our stay. Payment has to be made in full at the time of booking the activity and so being on a budget, I booked activities on three separate occasions rather than all in one go. The booking system was very easy to use, and it would also tell you how many spaces were left when availability began to run low. I found that logging in regularly was a big benefit as I noticed new activities and experiences had been added since the first time I logged on and so I am glad that I kept checking otherwise I might have missed something that was of interest.

As well as activities you can also pre book a golf buggy for getting around the park, make reservations for dinner (there is a £5 per person deposit for this), order some groceries to have ready in the lodge for you when you arrive, or book a spa treatment. 

My only minor grumble here is that when pre booking restaurants you can view the menu on offer and we were very pleased with the menu that it showed here for the Farmhouse Grill, offering nice meals for regular family restaurant prices. However just before I went to make a reservation, I noticed that the menu displayed in the main restaurant section of the website was different with meals costing an average of £3 more per dish. I sent the reservations team an email to query this and was disappointed to find out that the menu displayed in the manage my booking area was in fact an old menu that was incorrect. I was reassured that this would be updated to prevent confusion for future customers. Unfortunately the correct menu was not to our taste or budget and so we decided against making a reservation in the end, instead opting to purchase a chippy tea for our first night, from the onsite Chippy van. I was glad that we made this decision in the end, as none of us were as hungry as we thought we would be, and it also meant that we weren't stuck to a specific time to eat, and we could grab our food once we had unpacked and were ready to relax.

In terms of communication, I had several queries prior to our stay, and every email that I sent was replied to in a friendly manner within 24 hours. This highlighted great customer service for me, and every question I asked was always answered thoroughly and provided me with the information I had requested.

Our Journey

We live in North Wales and so we had a choice of routes that we could take to venture to South West Wales. After looking through our options we decided to go via Wrexham and Oswestry and head down the A483 and A40. This gave us an estimated journey time of 3 hours 45 minutes, which was slightly longer than the other routes but it meant that we were able to avoid B roads and any single track lanes which was a big plus point for me. 

Having never travelled to South Wales before I was unsure of where we would be able to stop for a bite to eat, but I knew that there was a Premier Inn hotel on the way out of Oswestry, so we decided to stop for breakfast en route at their Table Table restaurant where we enjoyed a full cooked breakfast for 5 for only £17.98 and it was absolutely delicious too!

Once back on the road we came across several slow moving vehicles and tractors, as to be expected on country roads, and so after taking into consideration the delays and the stop for breakfast, the total journey down took us 5 hours and we arrived shortly after 2pm. The resort itself was very easy to find, and was well signposted from the main roads around Carmarthen.

Our Arrival

On arrival we immediately joined a queue of cars waiting to get into the resort. I had read that check in wasn't until 4:30pm and so I had expected to simply park up and have an explore around the resort, however to access the main long stay car park and to be able to use the facililites you can actually check in as soon as you arrive, you just can't access your accommodation til 4:30pm which makes great sense as it prevents the queues being far too long and everyone rushing to check in at the same time. There were about 5 cars in front of us and we waited approximately 10 minutes before it was our turn. The check in process was very simple and you don't even need to get out of your car, with a very easy drive through system where your welcome pack, passes and a map are all provided to you. It literally took a few minutes and then we were free to park up and enjoy the facilities until our accommodation was ready. 


Getting Around

Bluestone is a car free resort, and so you are only permitted to take your vehicle on site to unload your vehicle on arrival day, and again on to reload on your departure day. If you are a blue badge holder then you are permitted to drive on site throughout your stay, and park in the disabled spaces provided or by your lodge. There is disabled parking available in the village area, and by the Blue Lagoon.

The best and most inexpensive way to get around is by walking, we were situated about a ten minute up hill walk away from the adventure centre and The Blue Lagoon and really enjoyed the exercise and the views, however as it is on an incline, my youngest son did get tired legs, so we opted to use the free bus that is provided on several occasions aswel. This runs every half an hour and so once we had got used the timings and surroundings we generally chose to catch the bus up the hill to places, and then walk back down.

The most fun way to get around the park however is by hiring a golf buggy which costs £85 for 5 days. I enjoyed walking though and think that the golf buggy is more of a fun thing to do rather than a necessity. However had we been placed at the furthest end of the park, then it would have been something we would have considered. We were just very fortunate that where our lodge was located it wasn't too far a walk to all the facilities.

First Impressions

The lady who had checked us in was very welcoming and friendly which gave us a great first impression and made us very eager to start our Bluestone holiday. We found a parking space with ease, and met up with my parents who had arrived a couple of hours earlier. We then followed the sign posts to the Adventure Centre so that we could have a sit down, enjoy a coffee and let the kids burn off all their stored up energy from the car journey. 


Although I had seen plenty of pictures beforehand, the Adventure Centre was much larger than I had expected. The first thing that caught my children's attention was the climbing wall and the high ropes activity course that hung from the rooftop. We had a quick look in the arcade, then my two eldest children aged 9 & 10 ran off to the big adventure play area, whilst my youngest enjoyed the under 6's soft play. In addition to this was a lego area, a bouncy castle and a crazy golf course, all of which were free of charge which was great, and I was pleased to find that there were plenty of complimentary activities as well as the payable ones. After half an hour of play we headed up to the Wild Wood Cafe and purchased some drinks to enjoy, and the cappuchino was absolute perfection!


Within the rest of the building was also a Circus play area for toddlers, ample toilet facilities, and some studio rooms which were used for some of the activities. At the entrance there was also a shop that sold a wide selection of soft toys, and also a reception area where you could make bookings, amend existing ones, or simply wait for an instructor to take you to your activity.

As it got nearer to 4pm we decided to take a walk down to the Village and find our lodge. We knew we couldn't get in the actual accommodation until 4:30pm but we wanted to see where it was and what it looked like. My dad is a blue badge holder and so he was able to take his vehicle on site as disabled guests are permitted to park their vehicles by their lodge and so whilst my parents drove down, we took a nice leisurely walk and enjoyed some of the views that the park offered.



We were very impressed as we made our way down to the Village which was a lovely quaint little area where the shops, restaurants, village hall, marquee and studio accommodation are located. It really is a beautiful setting, and we were fortunate to be able to see it all still lit with the Christmas decorations that hadn't yet been taken down. The lights were beautiful and twinkling and the Spa had been decorated with a beautiful huge light up bow.


I had a quick look in the Newton's Village store, which offered a wide range of food and drink, all at reasonable prices. I will be honest and say that I had expected the prices in the shop to be over inflated as with most other resorts, but was pleasantly surprised to find that most of the prices were in fact very similar to our local convenience store at home.


A short distance away from the village is the beautiful lake, we admired this from a distance as it had already began to get dark and so we thought it would be nice to take a walk around it the following day, but it looked lovely as darkness fell, and we were slightly jealous of the views that some of the lake side accommodation had.


However, we were really pleased to find that our lodge (12 Forest View) was literally a stones throw away from the village area, and was adjacent to the disabled parking area for the village which meant that it was perfectly located for my dad. It also meant that we were only a short distance from the bus stop, the park, the village, and the restaurants, and I particularly liked the fact that my dad was able to get from the lodge to the village with the use of his walking stick which also helped maintain independence and be less reliant on his vehicle which was something that we had worried about beforehand. 

The Lodge

We couldn't wait to get into our accommodation as soon as it turned 4:30pm and it's always exciting when you are staying somewhere new and you aren't quite sure what to expect. Resorts are known for using the best possible pictures of their accommodation which sadly doesn't always live up to your expectations, but we definitely didn't need to worry about this at Bluestone. Our lodge was absolutely stunning and perfect for our needs. We stayed in a Dinas Lodge which can accommodate up to 8 people and there was ample space for everyone. 


The layout of the lodge has two bedrooms at either end consisting of a double, a twin and a shower room, so a total of 4 bedrooms and 2 shower rooms. This meant that everyone in our group had their own space and I think this is a great idea for large families sharing, or two separate groups of friends together. It was all one level so there was no worry about needing to use the stairs consistently, and I really appreciated just how much space there was for my children to play.


The first thing I noticed was the large dining table which I loved! We have stayed in so many places that sleep 8 but then only have a dining table that can seat 4, but Bluestone had definitely thought this through and the dining table had plenty of room and seats to fit everyone. The kitchen was well equipped with everything we could think of, and we were surprised to find not only one under counter fridge freezer but two! This worked out really well for us, as being a large group we had lots of food and drink with us and so we used one fridge for drinks and the other for food which was great. 



Each of the bedrooms offered ample storage space, however the wardrobes only had around six hangers in each, so I would suggest taking some of your own if you have a lot of items you need to hang. I ended up folding most of the children's clothing and using the drawers, then used the hangers for blouses and shirts. There were also bedside cabinets in each bedroom with plugs just behind them so ideal for charging any devices.

A high chair and travel cot were also provided free of charge, and although we no longer use these items, they would have been a huge benefit to us a couple of years ago, as we used to end up having to take a trailer with us every time we went on holiday just to accommodate baby items such as these. I therefore wanted to give it a mention as I think this is a big plus point for families and a nice addition to have in the lodge. I also believe that stair gates are provided in the two storey lodges which again is a great extra to have included.

Our lodge had two shower rooms, although we became aware of an issue with one of them shortly after our arrival. We informed maintenance and they came out within half an hour of us reporting the problem. Unfortunately the tiles in the bathroom would need to be removed in order to fix it and so it wasn't something that they could do whilst we were there despite their best efforts, however with us having another shower we could use, it certainly wasn't a major problem for us. I was very impressed that the maintenance team were so quick in coming out to us and not only that, but they were also extremely friendly, polite and willing to help in any way they could. 

Once we had unpacked and settled in, we accessed The Chippy menu on the internet and wrote down our order. My husband walked over to place our order and came back approximately 20 minutes later. The food was great and I really enjoyed my jumbo fish cake.We were missing two sausages for the children, so my husband did have to pop back over to get these but again it wasn't a major issue and we enjoyed having our first Chippy Tea at Bluestone in the comfort of our Dinas Lodge. We had thoroughly enjoyed our first day at Bluestone, with great first impressions and we couldn't wait to explore the following day and visit the Blue Lagoon water park. Just before we went to bed after a busy first day, my husband and I took a quick walk through the village to see the lights again, whilst my mum, dad and the kids settled down for the evening. What a lovely start to our holiday!



Related posts: Our Visit to Bluestone National Park Resort - Part Two!

*Disclaimer - We were provided with complimentary accommodation for the purpose of providing an honest review of the resort. All activities, food, and items purchased on site were at our own expense. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Sunday 1 January 2017

Happy New Year and My New Year's Resolutions!

Welcome to my first post of 2017! Happy New Year to all my followers and I hope that 2017 brings you happiness, good health and plenty of opportunities to make some magical memories.

We had a great 2016 overall with lots of travel, special family time, and big changes work wise. With this in mind, I wanted to share my New Year's resolutions. I have seen a lot of posts stating New Year, New Me, which is great if that is what you want to achieve, however I am pretty happy with the old and existing me, but just want to make a few little changes and work towards a few goals. So here are my new years resolutions:

1) Travel more

I want my children to see the world. There are so many beautiful places both within the UK and overseas and I want to try my hardest to get out and about and take them to see some of these destinations. Learning about the world, different cultures, trying new food, languages and activities are all life skills that I want my children to experience, and so I am going to work hard towards achieving this goal.



2) Do more of what we love

Whilst trying new things as a family has always been top of our agenda, I also want to revisit some of the places and attractions that we know and love. Highlights of 2016 included a tea party with Peter Rabbit in the Lake District, visiting Peppa Pig world in Hampshire, and experiencing an action packed two weeks of camping in the summer, all of which are activities that we intend on repeating again this year.



3) Make small changes to get fitter and healthier

I'm a size 14 and I'm ok with that (apart from when sale shopping and only being able to find the clothes I like in a 6 or an 8). I've had three caesareans and I love takeaways, cake, and plenty of coffee and wine, so I've learnt to accept that my figure will never be as amazing as those flashed across the media. I have no intention of cutting out any of the things I enjoy, however I do intend to get healthier and fitter where I can by making small changes such as walking instead of driving, drinking more water, and going swimming more regularly with the kids (this way it will seem more like fun than exercise!). I'm hoping that by making some small changes I may lose a little bit of weight, but more importantly feel a bit healthier in myself.



4) Tell my kids and husband that I love them every single day

This might sound like an easy one, but we've all had days where the kids have driven you insane all day, their behaviour before bedtime makes you question every parenting skill you ever thought you had, and the thought of refereeing yet another argument over the last Diarylea Dunker in the fridge makes you want to cry, but..........you love them, and it's important that they know that and hear it everyday. I sometimes forget to say it. I shouldn't and this year I won't!


Friday 16 December 2016

Our Review of the Cbeebies Magazine!

Nowadays, with all the apps available online, and the huge range of children's channels available on TV, it has become common place to allow your children to sit on the sofa, lie in bed, or even sit at the table during mealtimes to watch their favourite shows or play their chosen fun games. Whilst some of these can still be very educational for a child and also a great tool for when you need 5 minutes to yourself, I personally really enjoy getting my children to do fun activities that stretch the imagination, and encourage them to read, get creative, and enjoy being active.


Riley and I were therefore really pleased to receive a copy of Cbeebies magazine, which was absolutely jam packed full with 43 pages of fun activities, and stories for him to enjoy. He was even more thrilled when he realised that the magazine also came with a bumper selection of colouring tools including pencils, crayons and felt tip pens.


We received edition no 470 which was described on the front page as a BIG colouring issue, and they weren't wrong with plenty of colouring pages inside to keep Riley entertained. The front cover had a wintry theme and featured a whole host of popular Cbeebies characters. Riley enjoyed naming all the stars on the front, before he decided to have a quick scan through the magazine and see what was inside. I was pleased with how many colouring pages there were, as he absolutely loves art (just like his sister). His favourite was the big picture of Bing, Flop and Sula.


On the first inside page, there is a great guide for grown ups, which explains the 6 areas of learning which support early years development, as well as an introduction from the editor informing you what is inside and on which pages you can find certain activities. My son decided that working through the pages in order wasn't for him, and so we just read through it at a pace which suited him, and then worked on whichever activity he chose to do in no particular order.


The whole magazine is really eye catching and colourful which is great for kids to help keep their attention and interest. On each page, there is again a section for grown ups with suggestions for further activities to follow on from what they have just read or drawn which is a great idea.

There was a bedtime story inside based on the clangers, which was great for when we wanted to have some quiet time too as we were able to read the story in the afternoon just after lunch, and again before bedtime, which meant that the magazine was getting plenty of use throughout the day.

In the centre of the magazine, there was a selection of stickers. Unfortunately my son doesn't like to follow any particular rule with where stickers should go, and just likes to stick them anywhere within the magazine. This was ok with me though as he was happy and enjoying sticking them wherever he liked, so as he was having fun, I didn't try and make him stick them in the correct places, and the majority of the activities could still be enjoyed without them.


I liked the Peter Rabbit workbook section which helped Riley to learn more about letters and how to write them by following over the printed letters with a pen, along with a matching game and a sticker activity.

There was a competition too for the chance to win a Talking Ubercorn and Vroomster toys and it was nice to see an opportunity for children to win such a lovely prize.


We had an enjoyable time reading through the magazine and enjoyed the activities together. I noticed that two of the pages within the magazine were taken up by full page advertisements which isn't too excessive compared to other publications. The rear page also advertised the next issue of the magazine which includes a Winter Workbook and shows you how to make your own snowman, reindeer and Santa. This edition is available now from all good newsagents and is priced at £3.99.

Disclaimer: I was provided with a complimentary copy of the magazine for the purpose of providing on honest and impartial review. All opinions are my own.

Thursday 15 December 2016

Winter Wonderland Manchester - A Review

My family and I have really been getting into the festive spirit lately, and so when we were given the opportunity to attend the official launch night of Winter Wonderland Manchester at EventCity, we literally jumped at the chance!


The mammoth 22,000 sq m exhibition space at EventCity has been transformed into an unbelieveable wonderland extravaganza, featuring over 50 family rides and attractions all under one roof - including new rides for 2016 featuring a giant carousel, and all included in one ticket price. (Excluding games and food stalls.)

We headed out there on a wet and windy Monday night, dressed warm and ready in our Christmas jumpers keen to find out more and experience the Winter Wonderland magic. We didn't need to wait long however as the attraction worked its magical wonders on us right from the very beginning, with the children delighted to be entering the event under a cascade of snow. My three year old son Riley has never experienced snowfall before, as the last heavy snow we had in our area was just before he was born, and so to see his little face light up as we walked through was amazing.


Upon entering we were immediately faced with a whole host of fairground attractions and my kids couldn't wait to jump on a ride and have some fun. They each chose a ride near the entrance to get started, and then we decided to have a good look around and find out where each attraction could be found.

In addition to the vast array of rides, there were numerous other festive treats to enjoy including a mini pantomime of Cinderella, a Christmas Circus, a fun family show featuring the fabulous Basil Brush and Mr Matt, and if that was not enough, there was of course the chance to meet Santa himself and his real reindeer too!


Having had a wander around and seen what was on offer, we immediately felt that the attraction offered excellent value for money. We had visited numerous fairgrounds over the summer which would charge around £3 a ride, which for 3 children can quickly mount up to an excessive amount of money, but there was no need to worry about that here, and my children went on some of their favourite rides three or four times. My youngest son Riley, absolutely loved the traditional carousel which is situated towards the rear of the building. It looked so grand and majestic, and he loved pretending that he was riding a real horse. One thing I would note though, is that the steps on the side are quite steep so make sure you are ready to give your children a helping hand to get on and off, and I would recommend riding on the horse with your child if they are quite young just to be on the safe side.


There was also a lovely minature version of a carousel a short distance away for toddlers too which my son also really enjoyed. I thought that this was a great idea.


My daughter Emma who is 10, is starting to show an interest in the more scarier and faster rides now, and so I really loved the fact that there were rides available for all age groups, so that none of my children felt left out or bored having to watch their siblings have fun instead of them.


Santa's grotto is fantastic, with friendly elves ready to welcome you and help make the experience all the more magical for children. Again this is included in the ticket price, but there is also the option of purchasing a gift for your child for only £3.50, but of course this is not compulsory. Real reindeer to meet and greet also assists in making this a marvellous grotto for families to enjoy. On the night we attended the queues varied in length throughout the evening, but on weekends I could imagine this being very busy, so would perhaps like to see the introduction of ticketed slots to reduce waiting times in the future.

The friendly elves can also be found throughout the attraction ready to make your children smile, pose for an "elfie" or quite simply answer any questions you may have. I thought that this was a great idea, as not only did the children love to see the elves walking round, but it also gave us parents an easily identifable person to recognise as staff should we have a query.

If however, winter is not your thing, and you would much rather the fun of the seaside, then make sure you head over to Salty Cove, where you can have a relaxing chill in a deckchair, whilst your children build sandcastles and meet the wonderful Pip Ahoy! I did find it slightly strange having a beach within Winter Wonderland, however Riley really enjoyed it, and it also gave the younger children somewhere to play, away from the more busier attractions.


I do feel as though the organisers have also really taken on board comments from previous years and have tried to cater for everyones needs. There is ample space for prams and wheelchairs, a cloakroom should you want to leave your coat or bag in a safe area, a quiet zone outside the main attraction zone and away from the hustle and bustle, and also a toddler soft play area. I found both the toddler soft play area and Salty Cove really quiet during our visit, so it was nice to take Riley away from the crowds for some quieter fun in between rides.

In order to prevent overcrowding, the organisers operate this event on a session basis to help ensure that vistors can experience all that Winter Wonderland has to offer. This is a great idea, as it helps to minimise the queuing and makes sure that you get excellent value for money by being able to visit each part of the attraction. Each session lasts for four hours, which was just about right for us, as the kids were starting to get tired, however we could quite happily return again and enjoy it for another session. If I was therefore going to make any suggestion it would be perhaps to offer the option of a 2 day ticket.


In terms of food and drink outlets, there was the usual fast food available, as well as coffee, bavarian beer, slushies and sweets. I have seen a few comments asking for more choice and healthier options, but with the Trafford Centre only over the road, there is an ample choice of restaurants right on the doorstep to suit everyones tastes, so you could always enjoy a meal there before or after the session. .

I would suggest taking some cash with you, as you will need additional money for any purchases such as gifts or merchandise, or for the games stalls and arcade area. I personally didn't spend any additional money at the attraction, but I knew my children would want to, so I set them a budget of £5 each to use on the games so that it saved any arguing or demands for money inside. They each knew how much they had to spend and this worked well for us. Fortunately they were more interested in the rides, than the fairground games, so they even came home with some change!


Overall, we had a fantastic time at Winter Wonderland, and my children couldn't wait to tell all their school friends about it the following day. I believe that it offers excellent value for money, and I think it is great that under 3's are free, even though there is plenty for them to do there. There was a huge amount to see and do, and hopefully we can fit in another visit before the 1st January to return again.

Winter Wonderland Manchester is open from Saturday 10th December through to the 1st January 2017. It is based at EventCity which is just next to the Trafford Centre and offers FREE parking. It is also easy to get there using public transport, which I did earlier in the year when attending the Digital Kids Show, and we caught the train into Manchester Piccadilly from North Wales and then the X50 bus from Piccadilly Gardens bus station which runs at regular intervals.

Group, family and individual tickets are on sale now and the event is also offering VIP corporate packages for companies who are looking to treat staff and their families to an extra special Christmas day out.

If you would like to book tickets then please visit www.winterwonderlandmanchester.com 

Alternatively you can make a booking by telephone on 0843 208 1842 or for group bookings please call 0843 208 6003. However, don't delay as some dates are already fully booked!

Full ticket information is as follows:

Adult and child (3-16): £19.50 (plus £1.50 Quaytickets booking fee)
Family: £64* (plus £1.50 Quaytickets booking fee)
OAP: £14 (plus £1.50 Quaytickets booking fee)
Child (under 3): Free
Groups: 10% discount (when booking 15+ tickets).
* (2 adults and 2 children or 1 adult and 3 children).
School rate: £9.50 per child

Session times are:

Fri 16 Dec – 10:30am – 2.30pm and 5pm – 9pm
Sat 17 – Fri 23 Dec – 11am – 3pm and 4:30pm – 8.30pm
Sat 24 Dec – 10:30am – 2.30pm
(No Afternoon session on 24 Dec and closed Christmas Day)
Mon 26 Dec – 1pm – 5pm
Tues 27 – Fri 30 Dec – 11am – 3pm and 4:30pm – 8:30pm
Sat 31 Dec – 11am – 3pm
Sun 1 Jan 2017 – 1pm – 5pm

Please note that the Santa meet and greet is only available until the 24th December.

Disclaimer: I was provided with complimentary tickets to the launch night event for the purpose of providing an honest review of the attraction. All opinions are my own.





Friday 9 December 2016

Our visit to the DreamWorks Lights Lantern Experience in Liverpool

You may have seen several posts from me lately on events in Liverpool, having recently visited Disney On Ice presents Frozen, and Santa's Magical Grotto. Well it would seem that Liverpool is definitely the place to be at the moment for festive fun, and having recently learnt about the new DreamWorks Lights Lantern Experience in St George's Hall, we decided to take a look a find out what it was all about.


The DreamWorks Lights event is a first for the UK and is part of One Magical City, which is a programme of festive activity that is taking place throughout Liverpool. DreamWorks are responsible for the feature films Shrek, Kung Fu Panda and Madagascar, which are all popular family movies, and this makes it a great experience for the whole family to enjoy. Described as a "Shrektacular" event, we couldn't wait to visit!

Joe Anderson, Mayor of Liverpool said "Bringing this event to the city is a major coup for Liverpool and is sure to pave the way for more experiences of this stature".


The venue of St George's Hall, is located directly across from Lime Street Station, which makes it easily accessible by public transport. You will have no problem finding it as even if you somehow manage to miss the big banners directing you there, you definitely couldn't miss the giant Shrek located on the roof!


Our time slot was for 11:30am til 12pm, and we arrived at 11:40am to find that there was no queue to get in. I presented my mobile tickets on my phone to the lady on the till which she scanned and welcomed us to the event. Immediately we noticed the huge 40ft dragon from Shrek suspended from the ceiling of the Great Hall which was amazing.

Although it was busy, it wasn't overcrowded which suggests that the organisers have planned it just right with assigning allocated time slots for arrival. There were larger crowds around some displays more than others, but we didn't struggle to get pictures of any of the lanterns.


Each display was set out nicely, and the lights were lovely and bright. The first few sets were all Kung Fu Panda themed, and looked fantastic. There are clear signs directing you which way to go, which helps to make it run in a one way system, however if you do want to go back to look a particular display, you are able to do so.


After all the Kung Fu Panda themed lights, we came across the Shrek displays which were my favourite. Shrek is one of our favourite family films, and so my kids were really excited to see all the characters.


My daughter's favourite is Donkey, and so she couldn't resist asking for a picture beside him.


Following on from Shrek, came the Madagascar displays. I love the characters from Madagascar as they are so funny, and the lights looked absolutely brilliant, whilst still displaying the humour that each one represents in the film.

Some of the larger displays throughout the attraction also had the added bonus of large projector screens showing excerpts from the movies.


At the end of the attraction, you can have your photo taken on a green screen, and then choose from a selection of backgrounds. The pictures I saw on the screen looked great, however I found that because of where it was located, it did make it slightly difficult for guests with prams to exit, as the queue was large and therefore partially blocked the way out. The photos were £6 each which I think is reasonable for a fun and unique family photo.

As with most attractions, there is a gift shop on your way out that sells a nice selection of goods and memorabilia. The products weren't cheap, but they also weren't overpriced so there was something to suit most budgets.


In total we spent just over an hour here, and really enjoyed it. For 2 adults and 2 children it costs £36 which may seem slightly expensive for an experience that isn't a full day out, however it is something unique and enjoyable and I feel that the cost is reasonable for what it is. There is also so much to do in Liverpool at the moment, so if you wanted to make it a full day out, you could easily combine it with Santa's Magical Grotto, a pantomime, or even the World Museum which is great fun and also offers free entry. There is also a small Christmas market just outside the Dreamworks Lights Lantern Experience, selling a lovely selection of goods to get you in the festive mood.

The Dreamworks Lights Lantern Experience is open daily between 10am and 7pm until Sunday 15th January. (Exceptions to this are early closing 2pm on Christmas Eve & New Year's Eve, and full day closures on Christmas Day, Boxing Day, and New Year's Day).

Entry is via allocated time slots which begin every 30 minutes, and online booking is advised to guarantee your preferred entry time and date.

Tickets cost £10 for adults and £8 for children. Babies under 12 months are free of charge. Some pay on arrival tickets will be available, but will be subject to demand.

If you would like to book your tickets, you can do so here - Dreamworks Lights Lantern Experience

Disclaimer - I was provided with complimentary access to this event in order to provide an honest review and opinion of the attraction. All opinions are my own unless otherwise stated.

Thursday 8 December 2016

Making a Kitty-in-Boots Snow Globe

The Tale of Kitty-in-Boots which is written by Beatrix Potter and illustrated by Quentin Blake, tells the tale of "A serious, well-behaved young black cat, who leads a daring double life defeating vile villains".

As a big fan of Beatrix Potter stories, my son Riley and I were really excited to learn more, and delighted when we were given the challenge of making our very own Kitty-in-Boots snow globe. We love making craft and have enjoyed creating lots of fun decorations ready for Christmas, but a snow globe was something neither of us had tried before and we couldn't wait to get started.


I was a little bit worried at first that it may be a bit too complicated for Riley to enjoy, but it was a lot easier than I first thought and other than using the scissors he was able to do everything with a little bit of help. I got everything ready that we would need and we sat down ready to start.

To begin with, I printed out the instructions as well as the cutout image of Kitty-in-Boots. We then stuck this with glue to some card and wrapped it in clear tape which helped to make the picture waterproof. We weren't able to find a small model of a Christmas tree to use, so we made our own using green card and wrapping it in clear tape again like we did with Kitty.


Once our figures were ready we attached them to the inside of the jar lid using water resistant glue, and I then also added a small piece of tape for extra support.


We then filled our jar with cold water and a drop of glycerin, and Riley then enjoyed adding his selection of glitter. We had originally opted for silver glitter, but he decided he wanted lots of colours so mixed all his glitter up before adding it to the jar.

Once Riley was happy that he had added a sufficient amount of glitter, we placed some glue around the rim of the jar, screwed the lid on, turned it upside down and there we had it, a wonderful Kitty-in-Boots snow globe.


It was a really fun and easy activity to do, and if you would like to try making your own Kitty-in-Boots snow globe, then you can find all the instructions you need here. You will also find the list of equipment that's required, along with a really useful video tutorial that provides a step by step guide.

You can find out more about the Kitty-in-Boots book here and if you would like to purchase the book then it is available now from the following retailers:

Amazon
Hive
WHSmith 
Waterstones
Foyles





Tuesday 6 December 2016

Aquabeads - Finding Dory Playset Review & Star Wars Playset Giveaway

My son and daughter both received an Aquabeads Beginners Studio for Christmas last year, which they really enjoyed and made some wonderful patterns. My daughter found some great tutorials on YouTube that taught her how to make some fab shapes and figures, and we were all really excited when we saw that Aquabeads had brought out some Finding Dory and Star Wars Aquabeads sets to add to the collection earlier this year.


Aquabeads are unique individual beads, that you can arrange into a shape or design, which then stick together with a spray of water. They are such a fab idea and great fun for anyone with an interest in art and craft. Unlike other bead products on the market, there is no application of heat required, which helps to make it safe for children or families to enjoy together. You can create your own designs, or use the templates that are available. Add-on packs can also be purchased, including additional templates, beads, and themed sets such as 3D Animals or Crystal Charms.

Aquabeads kindly agreed to send us their Finding Dory Aquabeads set, so that we could try out this fab addition to the range which as you can see looks fantastic!

The packaging on the box was bright and colourful, and featured both Dory and Nemo. It provides you with brief three step instructions on the front that show how you simply Make, Spray and then they Stay. It also provides you with an insight into what is inside the box.


On the reverse of the box, there is a full list of what is included with the playset which is:

  • 3 x Template Sheets
  • Bead Palette
  • Design Table
  • Bead Pen
  • Sprayer
  • Layout Tray
  • Solid Beads (In a range of colours including white, black, blue, orange, red & ivory).
  • Jewel Beads (In a range of colours including Blue, Yellow, Purple, Orange & Red)
  • A set of instructions

After opening all the packaging, we selected the Dory template and placed the colours that we would need in the bead palette. There is enough space to put all the coloured beads in there, but we chose to just use the ones that were needed for this specific picture to make it easier for my youngest child Riley, who has never used Aquabeads before unlike his brother and sister. The template simply slid into the design table and we were ready to start.


We began using the Aquabeads pen to select the beads and place them on the palette, however my son found it easier and quicker to just use his fingers so we decided to use this method for the majority of the picture. The pen was very handy however, when trying to place in the last of the beads to get them in the right places.


Once we were happy that the picture was correct, we began to spray it to set it into place. Unfortunately on the first spray when I was trying to show Riley how to use it correctly, I squeezed too hard and the end flew off with water going everywhere. This was totally my fault and I should have been more gentle. Luckily I had some tissue to hand so was able to clean it up quickly before it affected the beads. I refilled the sprayer and my son took over, who was much better than me, and sprayed it gently all over the picture. We then stood the picture up at an angle as explained in the instructions and left it for an hour.


When the time was up we were able to easily peel the beads off the board and we had the perfect Dory artwork! My son was so happy with this, and he is taking it into nursery tomorrow to show his teachers.


I really enjoyed doing this with my son and I can see why it has been so popular with my other children too. It was a great activity to do together, and it was fun waiting to see the end result. All three of my children are now Aquabeads fans, which has meant a few late additions to their Christmas lists, however I am more than happy to purchase some more of these sets in order to provide them with a fun craft activity and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this product to others.


Aquabeads have also kindly provided me with a Star Wars Aquabeads set to give away to one of my readers. If you would like to enter, then please do so using the gleam form below. Good Luck!



Win a Star Wars Aquabeads Set


Terms and Conditions:
Entry is open to UK residents aged 18 or over. Any bulk/third party entries will be disqualified. The winner shall be drawn at random from all eligible entries. The winner shall be notified via email and will have 14 days to confirm that they wish to accept the prize. Should the winner fail to respond, then a new winner shall be selected at random from the remaining entries. The winner's details will be shared with the promoter for the purpose of prize fulfillment, which shall be sent directly from the promoter. Please allow up to 28 days for delivery. There is 1 (one) prize available of a an Aquabeads Star Wars Playset. 

*Disclaimer - I was provided with this product free of charge for the purpose of this review and to give my honest opinion and experience of using the product. All opinions are my own.