Last weekend we visited the Weymouth SEA LIFE Adventure Park to have fun and meet the new feathered friends in Fairy Penguin Island.  As it was blisteringly hot we started our afternoon in the splash zone and once we’d cooled down and grabbed an ice cream we went to find the state-of-the-art enclose which is now home to 20 very cute and teeny penguins.





The colony of fairy penguins (also known as the little blue penguins) are the smallest in the world measuring at just over 25cm tall and weighing around 1kg each.  Each one has a different coloured tag so you can look at the list and see who’s who.



The colony moved to Weymouth recently from Manly SEA LIFE in Australia and are currently the only fairy penguins In Europe.  The park invested over £100,000 into the new enclose which gives visitors the chance to get up close and personal in a whole new way.

As we entered the enclosure a member of the SEA LIFE team was there to say hi and told us some facts about the penguins which we could see chilling on the rocks and swimming around in the water.  From here you can walk outside on to an American style boardwalk and take a stroll through the enclosure where many of them were resting in their little homes while others were noisily waddling around.



After telling the kids they couldn’t have one we went off to find the Ocean Tunnel where we sat and watched stingrays, huge turtles and sharks swim overhead.  By now the kiddies we’re getting tired and they begged to go to the Caribbean Cove play area which is great for children of all ages with a huge play frame, slides, sand pit and lots of other great play equipment.



We always have a great day at Weymouth SEA LIFE which is home to more than 1,000 creatures with 13 different zones containing penguins, sharks, turtles and stingrays.  There are daily talks and feeding demonstrations at the park to further educate guests about the different species which are present.

For more information about Weymouth SEA LIFE Adventure Park please visit the website.

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Paultons Park just got even better with 2 new amazing rides in Peppa Pig World!

We were lucky enough to be invited to the recent preview event and although we have been to Paultons Park many times before I was excited for my daughter as she’s now a huge Peppa Pig fan.  The new rides ‘Grampy Rabbit’s Sailing Club’ and ‘The Queen’s Flying Coach Ride’ are much bigger and more impressive than I could possibly have expected with Grampy’s boat going through the Queen’s Castle and then her coach travels high above the river.



We started on the water and jumped into our brightly coloured boat for a gentle ride down the river towards Pirate Island.  The boat slowly spins so everyone gets to have a look around.  We came across Peppa and George having a royal picnic with the King and Queen, we journeyed through the Castle with hanging chandeliers and weaved our way to Pirate Island at the end where Emily Elephant, Suzy Sheep and more of Peppa’s friends stood.






When we got off, our ever so shy daughter spotted Peppa Pig and ran for a cuddle and we both said hello to Mummy and Daddy Pig. 



We took the time to wander around and look at all the flowers and characters before setting off on the Queen’s Flying Coach Ride.  We climbed the steps to the top of the Castle and were invited to step inside a coach to begin our journey.  The views were just incredible, we could see all over Peppa Pig World and then look down on all the other happy families on the boat ride.



While you’re there, look out for Mr Bull and his digger.  We stood watching for a while and then all of a sudden there was a big squirt of water…. that naughty Bull had hit a pipe!!!

After our fun on the new rides we jumped on George’s Dinosaur Adventure ride, Daddy Pigs Car Ride and then went for a quick run through Peppa Pig’s House to see the family.  You can easily spend a whole day in this part of the park as there are now 9 fun themed rides plus George’s Spaceship Playzone (which from experience they won’t want to leave), Mr Potato’s Playground and even a Muddy Puddles Splashzone with squirting water coming out the ground!



Little Africa is another new attraction for this year and we were pleasantly surprised with the number of animals and birds we found.  We saw meerkats, African crested porcupines, fennec fox, a huge Gambian pouched rat and a tiny African pygmy mouse.  The impressive aviary is definitely worth seeing and whilst you are standing on the platform make sure you look up as there were lots of wonderful colourful birds hiding above our heads.  There are screens and boards around to help you name the wildlife but whilst I tried to educate the kids they were too interested in running off to the next exhibit to see what they could find.



After spending ages in Little Africa we decided to stop for our picnic and attempted to get our little girl to sleep with a slow stroll over to the Lost Kingdom.  As I suspected, there’s to much for her too look at and once we were there she screamed to get out so we played in the Dinosaur themed park, met a rather large roaring dinosaur and enjoyed a couple  of the smaller rides together.

A few more rides later and we found ourselves back in Peppa Pig World enjoying a hot drink and biscuit in the new Café before heading off with 2 extremely tired and happy children.  (Mummy and Nanny were pretty pooped too!)



Paulton’s Park has over 70 rides and attractions and I promise you won’t ever hear ‘I’m bored’!  If you’ve never been before then it might be worth considering their 2 day short break where you get 2 days entry for the price of 1.*  They have rides for all ages, lots for the little one’s and several for the older thrillseekers.  There’s also plenty of play areas which are good for coffee breaks and there’s even a large splashpark with water jet, fountains, super soakers and giant tipping buckets!

For more information on Paultons Park please visit the Website.



*Any prices or special offers mentioned are correct at the time of writing.

Dorsetmums was invited to Paultons Park for the purpose of writing a review however all views are my own.