Next door to the Legoland Discovery Centre at the Trafford Palazzo is another Merlin attraction in the form of Manchester’s Sea Life Centre. We visited both on the same day.
Sea Life Centres tend to vary. We’ve been to the one in Scarborough a few times, most recently in 2019, and it’s branded as a ‘Sea Life Sanctuary’ as it includes a seal hospital. The Manchester Sea Life Centre, being quite far inland, is very much a tourist attraction. It’s all indoors, and whilst there are endangered species there, it doesn’t have as much of a focus on protecting wildlife not already in its collection.
Sea turtles
On entering the Sea Life Centre, you first watch an interactive film about sea turtles, and how they lay their eggs on sandy beaches. You then pass through a series of themed zones, including a glass tunnel where you can see into the largest tank. This is home to several sharks, and Ernie, the sea turtle. There’s a tank focussing on rays, a coral reef, a rockpool, and another turtle exhibit including lots of terrapins which have been captured in the UK as an invasive species. Finally, just before the exit, is a large soft play frame for kids.
This was our third visit to the Manchester Sea Life Centre, the last one being in the run up to Christmas in 2019. We’ve generally whizzed around in about an hour each time; there are usually some talks and demonstrations to pad out your visit to perhaps two hours, but it’s not a full day out. We did this and the Legoland Discovery Centre next door in one afternoon.
Accessibility
Most of the Sea Life Centre is step-free, apart from some areas used for VIP experiences. Standard disabled toilets are available inside the attraction; a Changing Places toilet is available elsewhere in the Trafford Palazzo.
You can book both the Sea Life Centre and the Legoland Discovery Centre together if you wish, and Merlin will claim that this will save you money. In my experience, it doesn’t – it was cheaper to book both separately a few days in advance. I think that’s because the combo deal includes a fully flexible ticket, rather than one for a specific date and time – if you’re able to book for a certain time slot, it’ll probably be cheaper.
There is a shop inside, but no café – just a couple of vending machines selling drinks and ice cream. There are a number of food outlets elsewhere in the Trafford Palazzo though, and loads in the Trafford Centre which claims to have Europe’s largest food court.
All the rest of the information about getting there and discounts is the same as it was for the Legoland Discovery Centre, so I won’t repeat myself. In my view, it’s not the best Sea Life Centre – the Scarborough one is much better – but as somewhere easily reachable by public transport it fit the bill.
