Hanging out in Bikini Bottom - a trip to Nickelodeon Adventure, Lakeside

I am not ashamed to admit that every member of the Suitcase family is a huge fan of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Specifically the 2012-2017 Nickelodeon version. So, back in 2017, when I hear that Nickelodeon would be opening an indoor theme park at Lakeside shopping centre in Thurrock, we were all rather excited. Delays in construction meant that the attraction did not open until early December 2019, and we decided that it would be an ideal treat to get out of the house between Christmas and New Year.

Nickelodeon Adventure sits in the middle of The Boardwalk, Lakeside’s new leisure area, in- between a Hollywood Bowl, Puttshack Adventure Golf, a Flip Out trampoline park and various restaurants and near the (existing) cinema. The nearest car parks are multi-storeys 10 or 12, behind Debenhams which have a path around to the Boardwalk- however, at the time of our visit this didn’t seem to be clearly signposted. Having fought our way through shoppers, who mostly seemed to be in the queues for refunds, we made it around to the entrance around 3pm. Whilst discounted tickets are sometimes available online, we decided to see how busy it looked before committing and so had to join the ten minute queue in the gift shop to pay on the gate.

The attraction is spread over the first floor – there is one lift or you can take the stairs – given the number of pushchairs, I hope the lift is reliable! Once upstairs, you enter into the Paw Patrol zone. Immediately to the left as you walk in is a room to store pushchairs and with lockers for hire. This area is not staffed.

The Paw Patrol area consists of various wall puzzles and cars themed to the pups. The activities held the attention of the mini Suitcases for a few minutes, however, they grew out of watching Paw Patrol quite some time ago (thank goodness!), so we moved on. The next area supposedly ‘Nick Central’ – the theming does not jump out with any particular characters here but there are a few crawl tunnels and a Rugrats themed baby/young toddler play pen. Here you can also find the ‘Slime Café’ should you be in need of a dry sandwich, fried/microwaved food or an overpriced machine coffee so urgently that you can not wait to get back out to any of the surrounding restaurants.

The toilets are next door – these are adequate in so far as there was never a queue. They were not cleaned in the entire time we were there - despite there being a separate and reasonably appointed separate baby change, someone had left a dirty nappy next to the sinks in the ladies sometime before we arrived and when we used the facilities again before we left a couple of hours later, it was still there. Take wipes and hand gel.

We ventured forward into the main attractions. The ‘Bikini Bottom’ Sponge Bob Square Pants area is well themed, with plenty of hands on activities to play with. One of the two main attractions can be found here and takes up a significant amount of the floor space – the Sponge Bob Boating School involves driving mini boats (on wheels) around a road layout. This ride has a minimum height requirement of 1.2 metres to ride alone and 90cm to ride with an adult – presumably to reach the pedals.

Further around you reach the TMNT zone. Here there is a themed aerial carousel ride, a play/climbing frame including ball ponds. This area was by far the busiest and the play area was largely being overrun with older children throwing balls at each other, however, there was little to no queue for the ride.

One of the main attractions is the 4D theatre, showing a specially designed 3D Turtles film including moving seats (stationary seats also available), with 3D glasses and additional effects such as water sprays and smells. Unfortunately, the first time we tried to watch it, the film went wrong six seconds in and the staff did not know how to fix it. When we tried again at the end of our visit, Baby Suitcase (age 5 at the time) hated it!

Every 30 minute a different Nickelodeon character is available for photo opportunities – staff will take a photo that you can purchase in the gift shop, but you are able to take photos yourself and then make a quick exit!

So, after two and a half years of waiting for Nickelodeon Adventure to open, we finally got to visit and to be honest, having seen photos of the Nickelodeon theme park at the Mall of America, this version, fell slightly short of our expectations. However, the Suitcase Family all agreed that we had had a good time; if your child is a particular fan of TMNT, Sponge Bob, Paw Patrol et al. it is worth considering.

Visited: December 2019

Location: UK – Thurrock, Essex

Cost: Family ticket (2A2C) £37.90, Adult £7.50, Child (ages 3-12) £14.95, Under 90cm free.

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Hints and Tips

· The facilities here are good for smaller children – come during the school day to avoid too many older children.

· Older children are likely to lose interest quickly – there are various other venues nearby that may be better for older children if they are old enough to do something independently or if multiple adults are able to divide and conquer.

· The Slime Café provides food and drink including (not great) coffee. Children’s meals (nuggets with chips, burger with chips, sandwich with fruit, all with a drink) £5.50 to £6, Adults meals(pizza or burger with chips, salad or panini, all with a drink £5.50 50 £6.50). HOWEVER, the mall next door offers a great range of eateries at all price points that may provide better quality food and a less chaotic environment.

#trip #getaway #America