I recently visited the sea life centre as I was brought a sea otter experience for my birthday. The experience also gives you entry to the aquarium throughout the day. Around an hour before my experience I had a wander around, I have been to the sea life centre on many occasions yet as always the atmosphere was lovely. They have a vast array of aquatic life and all seem to be well looked after. At 13.30 I was met by a lovely lady who was going to do a bit of a talk outside the sea otter enclosure, she gave me lots of facts about the sea otters and it was lovely chatting with her. After around 20 minutes I was met by another lovely lady who was the carer of the sea otters. We went through to the back of their enclosure, feet dipped and in I went. There is a screen between you and the otters but wow you have such an up close experience. The otters were beautiful, majestic and always on the move, they were impressive. I think the lady I was with was called Melissa, she was the most wonderful and polite person. She was full of facts and you could see how passionate she is about these creatures, which was lovely to see, I really enjoyed talking to her. I then got to give each otter an ice block full of food. It is a moment in which I will never forget, it was amazing. I had a good amount of time with the otters. I have done other animal experiences in the past and they have always felt rushed, but this was the opposite. I had loads of time to ask questions, take pictures and just watch the otters go about their day. If you're an animal lover looking for something different I would definitely recommend this experience.

We had a great time at the Sea Life Centre with the 50% off deal for people with a Birmingham postcode, it was great value! We spent around 2 hours here as there were lots of interesting things to see and read. It was especially amazing to see the octopus move as I have never seen this happen in person before! The tunnel at the end was our favourite, and a lovely member of staff was in there to answer any questions we had. The prices in the gift shop were very reasonable which we were pleasantly surprised by! I would recommend going in the week if you are able to, we went on a Wednesday afternoon so there were no crowds and we could take our time.

We took our grandchildren aged 5, 7 and under 1 to visit on a weekday when the school was closed for teacher training. The place was fairly busy but not overcrowded which was good because it does get hot and humid in parts (so wear layers). All three children were captivated by the fish and the older two loved finding the different stations to stamp their cards. We only attended the feeding of the penguins which was a bit of a non-event and was preceded by so much monotone verbal information that the children were getting fed up of waiting to see the penguins eat. Nevertheless, they enjoyed their time in the centre. Being able to crawl behind the waterfall so that it looked as if you were in with the fish was a big success with all three children. We did succumb to the temptation to buy soft toys from the shop but as they never put them down for the rest of the day we reckoned they were a good buy!

Really overpriced for an hours average entertainment. Really busy and honestly- apart from the penguins, I think my kid would have been equally amused by visiting the Webbs of Wychbold fish dept. What lets it down further is that there is a VR ride which looked exciting but which you have to pay £7 each for on top- which might have killed an extra 10 mins but after paying £75 to get in, another £21 on top felt a lot! I’d not go again. It’s a bit of a conveyer belt and the ultimate walk through the tube is good but is about 3 meters long within a herd of people - so about 5 mins tops!! Shame really. If it was a bit more reasonable in price it’d be ok- but It feels like you’re being fleeced so hard to see the joy.

This was the third time I have been as find it to be one of the better aquariums we have been to. Brought the nephews with us this time. Firstly want to say wat a fab chap the man with the long grey beard is. Not sure of name but was really keen to chat. And have noticed now another review mentioning him so clearly he loves his job!!! Sadly the lady in the rock pools where u can touch a starfish was not so keen and looked miserable and seemed to roll eyes of asking questions… We paid for the mission packs for the boys so they could do things. And they were so excited by the “top trumps” style cards and that you could collect others from the rangers (we had done this before years ago with my son when he was young too so was telling him all about it) Sadly and disappointingly for the boys there wasn’t a single “ranger” to do this. There was plenty of sea life workers around and most didn’t even have a clue what we were on about!!! And no body had anything. So that was sad. Then also they did the stamps on the way round and one was broken which also was disappointing for them as they were enjoying looking for them.

Scatter feed tour We had a lovely guide called Jodie. We went in an hour before the tour time. The tour and feeding lasted an hour. Staff on desk was very pleasent Jolie was very knowledgeable and it was very good to walk round with her We enjoyed going through all the shirt cuts and it was good to feed the fish especially the larger fish. She took us around the sea life during the tour and told us facts about other fish and creatures too including the ocean tunnel. Only critisum is my hubby has large hands and the disposal gloves only just fitted. We got to throw the mixture of small sea fish and also carried the bucket. It was for hubby birthday and Jodie gave him a birthday sticker.

I want to review this as good but it doesn't have the option to. The trouble we found was parking! If you have a car you will be fine, many multistories close by, but if going in a van with roof racks, you will need to find the NCP car park which is a small car park in some derelict property and quite frankly, didn't feel comfortable leaving the van there. Anyway, so, the Sealife centre, it was good, we loves the penguins, and the glass tunnel which also has a glass floor, not going to lie it did make me feel a bit funny, but at the same time it was very cool! My little one loved a couple of the little tunnels to crawl through. And we loved being able to stroke a starfish! Pretty cool! The annoying thing about the place is the green screens/ photo opportunties. I know its their job to try and get you to have a photo, but i'd rather be asked if we want it, rather than be made to feel like its an essential part of it. I would advise if you are going to go round there, then take your time to read all about the sealife and only take your children when they are fully interested. My little one kept running off and not giving us a second to read any information and we was out within an hour so it feltblike a lot of money for a short amount of time. I was expecting it to be a lot bigger to be honest. But the place is clean and well cared for and lots of information around. Well postioned to grab a bite to eat before or after! Lots of choices close by.

Con: Smaller than expected, was pretty disappointed in the ocean tunnel, expected it to be bigger. Place seems more interested in the money from selling tickets, place was very crowded, my toddler didn’t get a chance to look at everything and was jostled around by both older kids and adults due to the lack of space. Pro: Animals look well looked after and have nice spacious enclosures. Camera guy today was very good at his job getting good photos for the families, 5/5 for customer service for him! Scanning tickets in for entrance was fast and easy. Overall: For the ticket prices, think I’d look elsewhere as there are other sites for the same price that I’ve found to be better and have more species.

We decided to start doing alphabet dates after seeing them on TikTok so Aquarium was a great place to start. This is great for all ages. Lots to look at and do. They offer an explorer pack for children which has things they need to spot as well as a magnifying glass, lanyard, fact file and much more. There were plenty of talks, feeding times and opportunities to hold/touch the sea life if you wanted to. My personal favourite is always the otters however they can be a bit difficult to see as they prefer to hide out in their bedroom. The tunnel at the end is always breathtaking as well to be able to see the stingrays glide over the top of you.

Being used to the light airy Sea Life Centre in Hunstanton I was slightly disappointed to find that Birmingham Sea Life Centre was small with uphill slopes to climb through to see exhibits. Not great when pushing a wheelchair. I do feel all Sea Life centres are a little pricey without many offers or combination tickets or discounts for elderly. Staff throughout the centre were smiley. Would have liked to see more exhibits that visitors could interact with and on an accessible level.