Amusement parks, theme parks, ride photography

Attractions

Legoland Discovery Centre Manchester

April 5th, 2010 • Admin • 0 comments • Related • Filed Under

Having opened at the end of March 2010 we decided to visit the Legoland Discovery Center in Manchester with friends a week after opening. Legoland discovery center is located in the Barton Square quarter of the Trafford center and has ample parking space at Barton square. If you park at the Trafford center its a 5-10 minute walk through to Barton Square.

As you would expect from Legoland the attraction boasts a huge amount of things to do for kids of all ages and adults with a 4d cinema showing a couple of films (I personally recommend Bob the Builder) an interactive dark ride, factory tour showing the lego making process which the kids help along with and numerous models on display and areas to build and test your own creations. The attraction also has cafe serving hot and cold drinks and snacks and for the little ones a soft play area. Model making classes/tutorials are held during the day with kids been taught by the professionals how to build a variety of models.

The exterior of Legoland discovery Centre.

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The lego Factory Tour.

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The host professor brick also gets the kids to help out with the lego making process.

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At the end of the process lego blocks are produced and everyone given one to take home.

Legoland discovery Centre is full of models of which some of them took months to build.

Blackpool Tower, Winter Gardens and pleasure beach.

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London attractions.

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Oblivion at Alton Towers.

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And the towers themselves.

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They are quite dark but the scenes go from day to night every few minutes.

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Various other models.

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Coronation Street.

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There’s allot more models at Legoland Discovery Centre than I haven’t shown here as well as the build areas and testing areas for kids. I would advice booking in advance unless you have an annual pass as the centre does get very busy.

Legoland Discovery Centre also has an on site lego shop selling the full range of models from duplo to technix.

If you would like to use any pictures from this post please get in touch paul@ridemad.com. Please don’t just steal them.

Thanks for reading.

Ruthin Gaol

April 5th, 2010 • Admin • 2 comments • Related • Filed Under

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Ruthin Gaol is a old prison based in North Wales which was built in the seventeenth century and designed by architect Joseph Turner. The Gaol at Ruthin served as a Jail until 1866. The jail was extended after the prison act of 1865 to accommodate 100 prisoners then in 1877 the Gaol’s day to day running was handed over to the home office when it became H.M Prison Ruthin until its closure in 1916.

In 1926 the Gaol was sold to the local council for office and library use until in 2002 it undertook extensive restoration works in at a cost of two million pounds, after this work the Gaol opened to the public.

It may not sound like an interesting attraction to visit and its hardly advertised anywhere (hardly anyone I spoke to had heard of it).  I was fortunate to be told about the prison by someone who lives locally.

It does provide a fascinating insight into prison life. Been able to see the way prisoners lived, took a bath, what food they ate really does make you grateful you weren’t a criminal back in the day of Ruthin Gaol.

A visit to Ruthin Gaol isnt going to take a full day but its an ideal place to spend a couple of hours, the staff are all very friendly and will go out of there way to help you understand items and they also have some art supplies to give the kids something to do.