Doctor Who Exhibition, Cardiff

Last Wednesday we were lucky enough to be given tickets to visit the 

Doctor Who Exhibition in  Porth Teigr, Cardiff.

What could be a better way to spend a day out in the Easter Holidays?! 

After a short 2 hour journey, we arrived at the center. As we walked through the door we met several queues. It would seem I had underestimated how many people would come to see the Doctor! We were politely asked if we had reserve tickets before we even got close to the counter. As there were so many people we had to join the back of the queue. I didn't mind as we went past the cafe counter so we got a tea to share and brownie for Big to keep us going!

There were some great things on display in the entrance hall. Like this Dalek. You can't quite see from the photo but it is made entirely of LEGO!
There was another yellow Dalek and some Doctor figurines.
"Bessie" was also on display which was a real temptation for Chaos! Bessie was the Doctors car during is time in exhile on Earth. It is a canary yellow roadster driven by the third Doctor, Jon Pertwee

It wasn't much longer until we were next in line to enter "The Experience". Our guide introduced herself and explained all the do's and don'ts.
As soon as we walked through the doors, the corridor took on the appearance of the Tardis interior. Unfortunately, no photos or recording were allowed in this bit. I understand why but it's a shame I can't share how much effort went in to it all. We were soon confronted by Daleks. In the dimly lit area with dry ice floating about, it was a bit daunting for the boys. I could feel Squish cling on a little bit tighter, at which point I wondered if he was a little bit young to be there. I made light of the whole thing and he seemed to relax a bit when he saw me laugh and smile. We were guided through this part by the Doctor via a computer link up. Somehow, he had been captured and put inside Pandorica Two...  I digress.
We ended up in the TARDIS, being given instructions on how to fly her so we could escape the Daleks. This was quite impressive, with moving floors, vibrations and noises. According to the view out of the window we did actually fly!! Combined with the moving floor it certainly felt like it too.

Having landed safely we found ourselves ushered into the display area where there were several Doctor Costumes from the first few Doctors. A rather lifelike Matt Smith was loitering near the TARDIS so my husband took the opportunity to grab a quick pic!
There were several center consoles from previous TARDIS on display. It was quite amazing to see them up close. There was also a photo area with a green screen so you could have a photo taken in or next to the TARDIS. We had a go but trying to coordinate three children with very little concentration span was nearly impossible, so we gave up.

Venturing upstairs we found some rather scary life size models. There were Sontarans, Cybermen, various Daleks and lots of lesser known enimies of the Doctor. This chap, Abzorbaloff, looks like he ate Alan Carr for his last meal! My favourite are the Silurians. They are quite pretty and I love the detail in their face make up. I also love the Ood, who are a peaceful lot and slightly odd looking with their mouth worms and glowing ball. I took a short video to show the layers of make up that go towards making up these fab creatures.

An Ood

One of the other attraction of the day was a learn to "Walk like a monster" workshop. These carried on through out the day and were run by the Choreographer, Ailsa Berk, who works with the monsters on Doctor Who. In this workshop they were learning to walk like "The Scarecrow". He is quite daunting when he aims straight for you with his head on one side.





















We also saw a workshop with John Ross, who is the comic strip illustrator for Doctor Who Adventures magazine. I wrote a separate post about chatting to him here.

It was soon time to head down for the Question and Answer session with Strax the Sontaran. My husband was quite looking forward to this part of the day. Unfortunately, by this time the boys were getting tired and restless, especially Chaos. He started to play up shortly after Strax started talking so I decided to take him downstairs so he could have a wander round. I tried to take a video of him but Squish was swinging on my trousers at the time so it isn't very clear. 

On our way out a lady asked if everything was alright and offered Chaos a Doctor Who goody bag! He was very pleased with himself and couldn't wait to investigate its contents. We met the other in the cafe downstairs before deciding to take our two very weary toddlers home. 

Playing Daleks on the train home

The boys goody bags

We all had a fantastic day and the staff at the center were all very helpful and friendly. The little ones found all the displays a bit too tempting and tried to climb on them. I think if anyone asked I would suggest taking children over three or four. Ours got frustrated that they couldn't walk about and touch things which made it a little stressful for us. We still had a great day and would definitely recommend a visit if you get the chance!