Cardiff

Posted by Anura Samara, 8 December 2014

We had only booked in a short stay in Cardiff. Our original plan was to show Catherine the Dr Who Experience, but then we realised that there was also Madness concert on while we were there.

Dr Who Experience

The Dr Who Experience was our main reason for coming to Cardiff.

Although we had booked a specific entry time as required, when we arrived it was fairly quiet. Catherine was lucky enough to get on on of the studio tours to see the actual set of the current TARDIS and the staff didn’t seem to fussed about what time we would actually enter the Dr Who Experience itself after she returned.

I’ve seen the Dr Who Experience in a prior incarnation at Olympia London and of course Juliane and I went to the Dr Who 50th celebration back in 2013.

The experience starts with a guided adventure where a combination of a live human guide and a video recording of Peter Capaldi as the 12th Doctor leads you through a series of rooms resembling sets from the show. The best room was the one with the Dalek moving backwards and forwards in a menacing manner. The adventure culminates in some action on the TARDIS console, which includes a bit of movement.

You leave this bit of the ‘experience’ into what is effectively a Dr Who museum. It has all of the costumes worn by the various Doctors, as well as some of their most significant assistants/companions, a cross-section of the baddies including multiple Daleks, several versions of the TARDIS console from over the years and of course the TARDIS exteriors plus a few surprises – seeing K-9 again is always a nice surprise. Most of the things on display are originals from the show. There’s also a display board with more information on all of the Doctor’s companions from every series – quite a few I’d forgotten about and then many who I had never really known about.

Downstairs is a shop which surprisingly had less merchandise than the Dr Who Shop in Upton Park – maybe as an official BBC location, the Dr Who Experience is limited to stocking only BBC merchandise.

All up, the Dr Who Experience has just enough to interest the hard core Dr Who fan but feels strangely limited. Before you know it, you’ve seen everything and it’s time to leave.

Cardiff Bay

As with lots of other cities, Cardiff is rejuvenating it’s dock area. I guess this makes sense, as the old industries move out and open up water front areas for new attractions. It still has a feeling of being incomplete, and it’s hard to really do justice to it on a cold and overcast day, but it looks like they have done a good job.

They’ve retained some of the old buildings here, including a Norwegian church and the Pierhead plus some of the original locks, while adding lots of new buildings, including the Millenium Centre and the National Assembly of Wales – some of these newer buildings are quite striking in design. The bayside has plenty of restaurants and cafes and good walking tracks, and nearby are modern apartments. The whole area has the feel of somewhere for a great day out, with a mix of activities for kids, places to eat and just generally get outside and lots of locals seemed to be doing just that when we were there.

Categories: UK

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