The Doctor Who Experience thingy...
It's half-term and I've had a hectic couple of days so far this week. I took the kids out shopping yesterday and today we all schlepped to London and back for the Doctor Who Experience at Olympia.
It's been a mixed bag of a day, really. The DWE was pretty good - with one major drawback (more on that later) - and the kids thought it was awesome, which was the important thing. But tickets, train fares and a pizza afterwards hasn't left any change out of £200. For a day out. Ouch.
The DWE is "timed" - you buy a ticket for a specific time, which is a real benefit because it means that it's not at all crowded; you go through the Experience in groups of about 40 at a time and have as long as you want to mooch around the accompanying exhibition afterwards. Because there's a steady trickle of people coming through it means you can get a good look at all the exhibits and the kids get to push all the buttons and do all the activities they want to do, and that's a really positive thing, so full marks to the people who set this up for that.
BUT - brickbats to whoever it was who worked out how many "lots" of 40 they'd be able to get through in each half-hour slot. We booked for 1pm and actually, we didn't get to Olympia until about 1.20. (We left home just after 10 and had a reasonable journey - but there were a few delays at the London end which meant we got there late). Fortunately, when we got there, we found a steward outside (where there was already a massive queue for the next show) who told us to get on the end of one particular queue which was for people who had tickets for the 1pm slot. We did that, and actually went through the front door at shortly after 1.30. We then had to wait inside in the foyer for about another 15 minutes or so, then we got in the lift down to the exhibition floor and had to wait again to go through to the displays that you can look around before the show starts. You're still queueing at this point and it was all very civilized, but we must've waited out there for another 20 minutes or so. It was probably about 2.20 when we finally went into the DWE proper. Okay, so we were late getting there, but I suspect that even had we turned up on time, things would have been the same.
The interactive bit of the DWE is about 20 minutes and was a lot of fun - lots of noise and flashing lights and wobbling floors, Daleks and a great 3D video bit - oh, and Matt Smith being very goofy and sweet about his band of "shoppers" - but they really need to sort out the waiting times. Perhaps it was because it's half term and we went right at the start of the run, but let's face it, it comes down to money in the end. They're probably attempting to get 400 people through per half hour or something, and that's just too many.
One of the daftest things was listening to a couple who were part of a group behind us. As you're waiting to go in, there are lots of screens displaying and rotating images from S5... one of this group was saying "oh yes - that was the episode about Van Gogh", or "ooh! The Weeping Angels - they were scary!" and these other two were saying "oh, really? I'll have to watch this, then." It was clear they weren't just talking about specific episodes - and I can't help wondering why they were at a DW event if they've never seen the show!
Oh, well...
Like I said though, the big advantage of the timed group thing is that once you're on your way, it's not too crowded. You're not allowed to take photos in the interactive part of the thing, but you can in the exhibition - and here are a few of mine. The lighting wasn't brilliant, so some are a bit dark.
First off is a model of Matt Smith standing outside the current TARDIS, and behind are costumes worn by all the other Doctors.
Elinor's reaction to Six's outfit was along the lines of "He wore THAT? What was he thinking?! He looks like a clown!"
I swear, that was all said with no prompting from me whatsoever!
I have to say, I was itching to get my hands on the coat - the material looks really supple and soft :-)
There's a display of various gadgets, including various incarnations of the sonic screwdriver (Ten's appears to have been the prop that got fried in TEH!)
And then - oh, wibble - you're in front of part of the set of Nine/Ten's TARDIS.
You can go onto it and walk around (no fiddling with bits though!). The ratty old seat, the partially cushioned railings... it's all there. The killer though is that they had the regeneration scene playing on a loop on a big screen and I can't help it, it still turns me into a puddle. I managed to stick around long enough to have a look around and take a few pics before I started getting choked up and had to move on!
There were lots of monsters - Daleks, Cybermen, an Ice Warrior, a Zygon, Hath, Host, Judoon, Sontarans, Cat-nuns, Robot and others, and stuff for the kids to do, including a video presented by Ailsa whateverhernameis (their choreographer - I'll look her up later and edit!) showing the kids how to march like Cybermen and walk like Scarecrows. There was music to listen to and buttons to press to sound like a Dalek or Cyberman - you could have your photo taken against a green screen and then put in the TARDIS (we skipped that - too expensive!)
1960s Cyberman
Davros
Back in the days when Daleks were Daleks...
It was a long (and expensive!) day, but we all enjoyed it. Well, Mr Caz was a bit Grumpypants about the long waits, but other than that, it was a good day out.
ETA: I've just seen the news that Nicholas Courtney has died :( RIP, Brigadier.
It's been a mixed bag of a day, really. The DWE was pretty good - with one major drawback (more on that later) - and the kids thought it was awesome, which was the important thing. But tickets, train fares and a pizza afterwards hasn't left any change out of £200. For a day out. Ouch.
The DWE is "timed" - you buy a ticket for a specific time, which is a real benefit because it means that it's not at all crowded; you go through the Experience in groups of about 40 at a time and have as long as you want to mooch around the accompanying exhibition afterwards. Because there's a steady trickle of people coming through it means you can get a good look at all the exhibits and the kids get to push all the buttons and do all the activities they want to do, and that's a really positive thing, so full marks to the people who set this up for that.
BUT - brickbats to whoever it was who worked out how many "lots" of 40 they'd be able to get through in each half-hour slot. We booked for 1pm and actually, we didn't get to Olympia until about 1.20. (We left home just after 10 and had a reasonable journey - but there were a few delays at the London end which meant we got there late). Fortunately, when we got there, we found a steward outside (where there was already a massive queue for the next show) who told us to get on the end of one particular queue which was for people who had tickets for the 1pm slot. We did that, and actually went through the front door at shortly after 1.30. We then had to wait inside in the foyer for about another 15 minutes or so, then we got in the lift down to the exhibition floor and had to wait again to go through to the displays that you can look around before the show starts. You're still queueing at this point and it was all very civilized, but we must've waited out there for another 20 minutes or so. It was probably about 2.20 when we finally went into the DWE proper. Okay, so we were late getting there, but I suspect that even had we turned up on time, things would have been the same.
The interactive bit of the DWE is about 20 minutes and was a lot of fun - lots of noise and flashing lights and wobbling floors, Daleks and a great 3D video bit - oh, and Matt Smith being very goofy and sweet about his band of "shoppers" - but they really need to sort out the waiting times. Perhaps it was because it's half term and we went right at the start of the run, but let's face it, it comes down to money in the end. They're probably attempting to get 400 people through per half hour or something, and that's just too many.
One of the daftest things was listening to a couple who were part of a group behind us. As you're waiting to go in, there are lots of screens displaying and rotating images from S5... one of this group was saying "oh yes - that was the episode about Van Gogh", or "ooh! The Weeping Angels - they were scary!" and these other two were saying "oh, really? I'll have to watch this, then." It was clear they weren't just talking about specific episodes - and I can't help wondering why they were at a DW event if they've never seen the show!
Oh, well...
Like I said though, the big advantage of the timed group thing is that once you're on your way, it's not too crowded. You're not allowed to take photos in the interactive part of the thing, but you can in the exhibition - and here are a few of mine. The lighting wasn't brilliant, so some are a bit dark.
First off is a model of Matt Smith standing outside the current TARDIS, and behind are costumes worn by all the other Doctors.
Elinor's reaction to Six's outfit was along the lines of "He wore THAT? What was he thinking?! He looks like a clown!"
I swear, that was all said with no prompting from me whatsoever!
I have to say, I was itching to get my hands on the coat - the material looks really supple and soft :-)
There's a display of various gadgets, including various incarnations of the sonic screwdriver (Ten's appears to have been the prop that got fried in TEH!)
And then - oh, wibble - you're in front of part of the set of Nine/Ten's TARDIS.
You can go onto it and walk around (no fiddling with bits though!). The ratty old seat, the partially cushioned railings... it's all there. The killer though is that they had the regeneration scene playing on a loop on a big screen and I can't help it, it still turns me into a puddle. I managed to stick around long enough to have a look around and take a few pics before I started getting choked up and had to move on!
There were lots of monsters - Daleks, Cybermen, an Ice Warrior, a Zygon, Hath, Host, Judoon, Sontarans, Cat-nuns, Robot and others, and stuff for the kids to do, including a video presented by Ailsa whateverhernameis (their choreographer - I'll look her up later and edit!) showing the kids how to march like Cybermen and walk like Scarecrows. There was music to listen to and buttons to press to sound like a Dalek or Cyberman - you could have your photo taken against a green screen and then put in the TARDIS (we skipped that - too expensive!)
1960s Cyberman
Davros
Back in the days when Daleks were Daleks...
It was a long (and expensive!) day, but we all enjoyed it. Well, Mr Caz was a bit Grumpypants about the long waits, but other than that, it was a good day out.
ETA: I've just seen the news that Nicholas Courtney has died :( RIP, Brigadier.