The Deep Aquarium Review
The Deep Aquarium
Hull, Yorkshire
Reviewed by Emma Lydon
I visited The Deep – the world’s only submarium! – with my husband and two girls, aged 2 and 4, and as it had been a few years since our last visit we were all really excited, especially as my two little ones are budding Dr Dolittles, and The Deep did not disappoint!
We have been before but it was a while ago so we didn’t remember how to find it but even though we had no map or directions we had no trouble as it is signposted heading into Hull.
We arrived just before 10am, which is the opening time on a Sunday, had no trouble finding a car parking spot (which charges £2 but for four hours, I found this to be quite reasonable) and did not have to queue for long to get our tickets. As with a lot of venues, under 3’s go free which is always a bonus. Adults are charged at £11.50 and children at £9.50 and to say that we spent three hours in there I think that this is a fair price.
As this was the first weekend following the arrival of the new colony of Gentoo penguins (which caused much excitement in our house in the week building up to our trip!) the staff at The Deep very kindly opened the turnstiles a little early as they were expecting a lot of visitors that day and didn’t want people to have to queue any longer than necessary.
After walking through ‘The Awakening of the Seas’, which is very informative for the grown-ups and really quite interesting, but maybe not so much for my young children, we got to the ‘Lagoon of Light’ where you can see the underwater reef with lots of fish and rays at eye level for the kids. We also arrived just as a touch pool session was starting so my eldest got to touch a crab, star fish and sea urchin – the staff member holding the session really knew her stuff and made sure that all the children waiting got their turn. Onto the ‘Endless Oceans’ and Amazon Flooded Forest’ where again there is lots to learn but plenty of fish and animals for the children to see.
Halfway around there is a small snack bar with some picnic tables and this came as a welcome find as my two were ready for a sit down and an ice cream break. Along with the toilets at the beginning, there are some more here which were clean with baby changing facilities as well.
On to the penguins! We did have to queue for about ten minutes to see the penguins but there are fish tanks along the way to keep the kids entertained. Now I loved the penguins and so did the kids, but my other half did say that he was expecting more, whether it be a bigger enclosure, more penguins or a bigger viewing area I’m not sure but they certainly made the kids laugh! I actually preferred seeing them from underneath the water, which is a bit further round after the ice tunnel as you can see them whizzing about and jumping in and out of the water.
After the penguins there is a small soft play area which was good as my two were able to burn off any remaining excess energy before the trip home. With the soft play being quite close to the end of the exhibition, it means that they don’t tire themselves out with much walking still to do. The viewing tunnel, where the sharks, rays and fish are swimming overhead is good, although I think it could probably do with being a little longer as we were caught up in a bit of a bottleneck here. To come ‘Back to the Surface’ there is the choice of either coming up through the tank in a glass lift or taking the stairs, and as there was quite a queue for the lift and we were told that you could see just as much through the windows when taking the stairs, we decided on the latter as the kids couldn’t really handle another queue (only really the little one was getting hungry by this point).
There is a cafe on-site which offers a good selection of both hot and cold food, with prices for a hot adult meal being between £4.50 and £5.50, quite reasonable and good size portions. We stuck with grabbing a couple of sandwiches as we had to head off but there was plenty to choose from along with drinks and snacks. There is plenty of seating and if you head up to the seating area upstairs there is also a small outside viewing platform which gives a great view out over the sea. The gift shop is well stocked, fairly expensive but this seems to be the norm for these kind of family venues.
One thing worth mentioning, as we were leaving (early afternoon) there was really quite a big queue to get in, whether this was because of the new penguin exhibition or it is like that every week I couldn’t say but it might be worth getting there early to be on the safe side.
Overall, we had a great time at The Deep. The charges are fair, the staff are helpful and knowledgeable, the place is clean and the facilities are spot on. We will definitely be making a return trip!
Rating: 5/5 
For more information or to book tickets online (save10%) visit www.thedeep.co.uk.
