Blackpool resides on the Lancashire coast of North West England and is known for its tourism bringing in crowds from far and wide. To me, it’s much more than that and it holds lots of dear memories. When I was younger my family couldn’t afford lavish holidays abroad so instead we set up camp in the heart of Blackpool and even now when I visit I am filled with such nostalgia. Hugo has never been and Henry only a few times so when we were invited to visit Coral Island I couldn’t wait to make a few new family memories.
Coral Island Blackpool
Initially, you could assume that Coral Island is just another arcade house along Blackpool front but it is Blackpool’s largest indoor free-admission family-friendly attraction! Of course, they have an extensive collection of arcade games from 2p slots to teddy grabbers galore but they have much more to offer as well. Coral Island is completely free to enter and is accessible even with a pushchair in tow and considering it was a heatwave outside it’s good to know that it was air-conditioned throughout!
As soon as we entered Hugo’s little eyes lit up at all the sounds and lights and you could see that Henry was almost about to burst with excitement. We had a little walk around to see what we wanted to do first and Henry was mesmerised by “The Pirate Flyer.” A pirate-themed monorail that soars above the crowds on a mystical adventure. The ride takes tokens and is £2 for a single rider or £3 for two riders which is cheaper than most fairground rides and lasts a good amount of time too.
Next, it was time to hit up the Camel Derby which was £1 a go and there was a winner each time. You could also collect your winning tickets and trade them in for bigger prizes. Sadly, we just weren’t fast enough but it was a lot of fun!
On some of the games, you can win tickets which can be exchanged for prizes. The more tickets you have the bigger and better the prizes. We got quite lucky on a few games and Henry exchanged them for a few small toys his favourite being a bow and arrow set! The staff at the ticket exchange are really helpful and they asked Henry what he liked and gave him a few ideas to help him choose.
Restaurants
Under one roof you will find four different restaurants with plenty of seating and choice of food cooked fresh. They also have a “Kids Eat Free” offer which means one child’s meal is free for every paying adult in each restaurant all day. We ate at The Buccaneer which is a family bar and restaurant and the menu was filled with a good selection of dishes for both adults and children. Despite it being under the same roof as the arcade games it was surprisingly quiet and gave a good place to have some respite before we went back to the adventures. Adult meals started from £8.95 which I think for a sit-down meal is very affordable.
Currently, I am eating a dairy-free diet because of breastfeeding and I thought that my choices would be limited. The staff, however, were very knowledgeable and helpful and able to highlight which dishes contained no dairy making the whole process really easy and stress-free. The restaurant was clean and well looked after and the staff were attentive and quick to clear tables as and when people left. The food itself was lovely and arrived at the table hot and well presented.
Facilities & Staff
As you can imagine Coral Island gets quite busy but for a high traffic attraction everything is clean, tidy and well kept. There are plenty of toilets which were constantly being checked and looked after by the staff. They also have baby change facilities too. We spent almost half of the day in Coral Island so of course, I had to breastfeed a couple of times and the staff were extremely helpful. In fact, throughout the day if we had any questions the staff were always on hand to help.
Coral Island is a great place to spend a few hours with everything you need under one roof. It’s an ideal place to get shelter from the rain and in our case the heat because it was lovely and cool inside. We spent over half the day in Coral Island and made it back to the car right before the thunderstorm started! Henry had such an amazing time I have promised we will visit again soon.
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Love as always!
Mo
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*We were invited to Coral island in return for an honest review our expenses were paid and I was compensated for my time. As always all words, opinions, and views are my own.