Matthew Finney

Review of National SeaLife Centre Birmin...

This is a rather complicated review really and bas...

This is a rather complicated review really and based on a number of personal factors, which I hope other people may find useful.

We decided to go here as a family which includes a 20 month old toddler and a 16 year old autistic son. He enjoys getting out and the sea life center did look a good place to go. If I was just reviewing for the toddler, then I would probably give this 5 stars.

There are lots of very good exhibits which are easy to move through and see the animals close up. There are some great things like little tunnels and view spots which our toddler loved to go through and see the fish. And the final ocean tunnel part is really stunning with the size of the fish in there.

But as we had our autistic son we did have some issues with the center. They do supply pictures of the attraction to help build stories for the visit, this is really good. But they do not mention how loud and echoy it can get in there. If we had known that then we may well not have visited as our son had problems with over stimulation and the amount of noise. Which meant we rushed through the attraction in a little over 45 minutes, meaning we actually traveled for longer than we went through looking at things.

I would also say there is no real places to stop in the attraction, you are lead through and there are no easy spots to stop and chill, and nowhere to eat a lunch. When we finished we had lunch outside in a nearby square on some steps. Again this would be good to know.

There were also talks and shows going on in the attraction at various times, but it was not easy to go back to any of these once you had passed an area. So did not see how we could make our way against the flow.

In general I would recommend this, just be aware of the noise levels and that it isn't a full day visit. Plus plan to eat somewhere else.