Sharkbait Reef by SEA-LIFE

Alton Towers is a behemoth of a place… I remember when I had my first visit (Circa 1995, maybe?) where all you would find is rides and queues (and lots of ways to spend your pocket money). Fast forward to 2015 and there has been many changes, additions and new ways to spend your (now earned with a job) money.
I have been attending Pirate weekend over the last few years at Alton Towers Splash Landings Hotel. This entails a waterpark day entry, overnight stay in the hotel, breakfast, pirate entertainment and entry into the small (bur perfectly formed) Sharkbait Reef within the park. All this for a princely sum of around £25? Bargain. These weekends are held when the main park isn’t open and we sauntered up from Birmingham at 1pm on a Friday afternoon to get our Pirate on and have a good time.
Now, we don’t always get to Sharkbait Reef as part of our visit. Firstly, the opening times are normally geared towards Saturday stayers (rather than Friday adventurers) and secondly, it can be affected by the weather. It seems as though we chose the right weekend to go this time as the Reef opened at 10am, giving us plenty of time to get down there before the minigolf tournament was due to kick off at 10:30am.
The reef is situated in the park in the pirate section. This can mean quite a walk from the hotel or a two minute drive. There is a dedicated parking section for this, but this section (Express parking) is rammed during actual park opening days.
This little Sea Life centre isn’t the biggest of the bunch, but it is well put together. From entering in via the «photo opportunity» (a giant statue of octopus tentacles), there are sharks, lots of varieties of beautiful shimmering tropical fish, jelly fish and rock pools (where you can stroke a starfish or meet some cute little shrimp). The walls are jam packed with information about the ocean and it’s inhabitants and the staff are friendly and ready to answer your questions.
The real stand out for us was the fact it was feeding time in the big tank. Have you ever seen a Ray eat broccoli before? I did for the first time ever on Saturday. It was fascinating (see photos). The walkthrough area is great for seeing the lovely creatures of the sea swimming about and interacting with each other.
You end your visit (it takes maybe… about ²⁰⁄₃₀ minutes to walk around and you (predictably) end up in the gift shop. There are numerous «budget» gifts (starting from £1) in this shop, so if your little ones are desperate for a souvenir — you could do worse than checking out the cool stuff in this shop over the other more expensive options in the park.
Whether you’re a seasoned ocean expert or a small fry looking to get up close and personal with some of the inhabitants of the sea, a quick trip around Sharkbait reef is definitely worth your while during your trip to Alton Towers.