Alton Towers Sea Life Centre "Shark-Bait Reef" Review

[ChesterGemsbok]

Hi every1,
I was at Alton Towers today with a few friends, we had an exellent day even though we had thunder, lightning and one hell of a lot of Rain. Some of you may not know but Alton Towers has a brand new aquarium named "Shark-Bait Reef" which is in some Pirate Themed Area, "Mutiny Bay" i think and Mutiny Bay is fairly new too. As most of you all know that the man (not sure of his name) who owns Alton Towers also owns Thorpe Park, Madame Tussauds, Warwick Castle and a few others plus Chessington World of Adventures and Zoo.

I was going to visit the Aquarium anyway but as we left some area it started to rain heavily so we ran to the closest building possibly and it was "Shark-Bait Reef. Now i hadn't seen a map of the place, i only followed my friends who had been before and i would never be so glad to see a Zoo/Aquarium in my life. Now as it's one of Britains biggest theme park the Aquarium was pretty packed and because there was a storm outside every1 in that area ran to any building possible. I couldn't really see what species they had as the website gives nothing and every1 was so ightly packed i couldn't make out the signs also my friends had no patients for Zoos or Aquariums so we moved on (I can't really reckognise fish but the ovbious fish were Black tipped reef Sharks, Clown Fish, Lion Fish,Star Fish and thats about it and i have no clue on what species of whatever they are. I thought the place was exellent, in my opinion the best aquarium in Britain! okay mabe not the biggest but i liked it. It's really piratey and every tank is decorated well and there is plenty of room for all fish. Next time i visit i'll remeber to take my camera with me and take a few photos. Any1 should really visit the place.
ChesterGemsbok

 

[JamesB]

Good to see a review of this, sadly when I was up at Alton Towers I didn't get the time to have a look. Just to let you know Merlin owns Alton Towers and various others, its not a single guy on his own.

 

[zelda]

Maybe he meant Nick Leslau, who owns the freeholds. It's just operated by merlin now.
(though I think his buyout excluded chessington)

 

[zelda]

or even Nick Varney, the driving force behind Merlin.

 

[foz]

I thought the place was exellent, in my opinion the best aquarium in Britain! okay mabe not the biggest but i liked it. It's really piratey and every tank is decorated well and there is plenty of room for all fish.

I'm so sorry but this is aboslutley NOT the best in britain. The aqaurium is small and with few species (and basically no conservation projects) London and bristol both have far better enclosures while there are specialised aquairums that are also much better than 'shark bait reef'.

I know its your opinion and I dont mean to have a go at you, but I totally disagree.

 

[easytigger]

As most of you all know that the man (not sure of his name) who owns Alton Towers also owns Thorpe Park, Madame Tussauds, Warwick Castle and a few others plus Chessington World of Adventures and Zoo.

I assume you mean John Broome who opened Alton Towers many moons ago, as it has already been pointed out tussuads were purchased by Merlin in 2007, this included all their attractions in the UK and internationally.

The majority stakeholders in Merlin are a company called blackstock, merlin's other attractions include legoland(s) gardaland and all sealife centres, they are the 2nd biggest theme park business in the world after disney, apparently!