Hi everyone, following my post reviewing the
Doctor Who Experience I thought I’d share a stop-off point I had along the way.
As my route takes me through Newport on the
way to Cardiff, I had a quick check on the Doctor Who Locations website (http://www.doctorwholocations.net/) before leaving to see if
there were any spots to stop off at on my journey.
Luckily, I found out that the Hospital used in
Matt Smith’s first DW episode ‘The Eleventh Hour’ was just a short detour from
my intended route, located on the outskirts of Newport. It has also been used
for the new series 7, due to air on our screens later this year, marking the
end for the Ponds’.
Once I drove into the grounds it took quite a
while to find the hospital itself as it is hidden at the end of the winding
road amongst all the other buildings. I even asked my partner when we arrived
outside the hospital whether it was the correct building as it seemed to look
much smaller in reality than what we see on screen.
Unfortunately for us there was construction
work going on at the front of the building which meant a lot of the view is
hindered on the photos below by vans. I was also a bit apprehensive to go too
close as it is a hospital so I wanted to respect the staff and their patients.
Parking was simple though – lots of spaces
outside as the place was very quiet. I made the mistake when trying to get back
onto the motorway of following the sat-nav, which took me down country roads
which were difficult to drive through. Next time I will stick to the way I came
to avoid any nasty surprises!
More info on this location can be found HERE. My next post will be on Caerphilly Castle, also used in Doctor Who :-)
Hello
everyone, hope you’ve had a brilliant weekend. The weather has been on and off here, but I
hope the weather is good wherever you are! Where is that so-called summer?!
So on
Friday (20th July) I attended the opening of The Doctor Who
Experience in Cardiff. I had been looking forward to it since my brother
managed to secure me and the boyfriend tickets whilst we were on holiday in
June. We booked the 12 o’clock slot, which in actual fact was the time the
Experience opened to the public anyway!
We
headed from our hotel at 11am and reached the experience building about
5-10minutes later. It has a prime spot overlooking the Bay, you can’t miss it!
As we got nearer, we noticed that the outside was already busy and full of fans, and not long after we arrived a Silent and Silurian were let out of
the building to greet (and scare) the fans. I have to admit the Silent was
particularly scary; it’s probably one of my most feared DW monsters! I kept
trying to act confident, telling myself it was just a man in a suit, but the
actor was really in character – the head, leg and arm movements were all
choreographed to perfection! Below I’ve included some of my pictures of the
Silent and Silurian, so you can see for yourself just how brilliant they were. There’s also a
video I recorded whilst waiting in the queue, which I have uploaded to Youtube.
Joining
them just before the Experience opened its doors was a Dalek and a Cyberman.
Everyone had their cameras at the ready – I thought it was a brilliant way to
get the crowd excited with what was to come.
The Experience
Myself and my partner were part of the first
group to head into the Experience. I must admit, I was slightly apprehensive
with what was to come as I had no idea what I would be faced with, after never
visiting the attraction when it was in London.
From here,
I was going to produce an in-depth review of the Experience itself within the
blog post, but I don’t want it to contain any *spoilers* for those of you who
are planning to head to the site in the future.
So without giving too much away, I will preview
some of my favourite moments-
The first montage of the Experience gave me
goosebumps.
The special effects used within are
extraordinary; in parts I really did feel like I was a million miles from home.
The Doctor is as quick-witted as always.
When the Doctor told me to run, I ran for my
life. When he told me not to look back, I did just the opposite.
Whatever you do, don’t blink.
In my opinion, the Experience itself is
perfect for any age. It captures your imagination, allows an escape from
everyday life and plummets you into a journey where you feel as if you are
running alongside the Doctor.
Exhibition
After the Experience, we were walked into a
large exhibition room which contained costumes, props and artefacts from the
show, dating all the way back to when the show started in 1963. Being the first
group to enter, the room was empty, and we were lucky enough to explore each
exhibit and take photos without waiting for others to do so. Some of my favourite
exhibits included the 9th and 10th doctors TARDIS (which had a clip of 10th's regeneration scene on the screen at the side), the looking glass from ‘The
Girl Who Waited’, The Pandorica, River Song’s Diaries and the Silent ship, with
an ACTUAL silent walking around, I just had to get a picture ;) The only
downside (which was one of my own making) was that many of the exhibits were in
the Prop Room at the Doctor Who Convention which I went to in March, so I had
seen many of them before. However, it wasn’t at all a disappointment because I
still want to go to the Experience for a second time and see them all again!! You can see my post from the Convention HERE. I’ve included a few of my favourite pictures below to give you a little insight into the huge prop/exhibit room -
In my opinion, the
Exhibition part of the attraction is brilliant for any Doctor Who fan. It gives everyone a chance to stand next to their favourite props and take photos, engage with the exhibits and learn more about the programme through animated screens and displays.
Overall
All in all, I had a fantastic day at the Experience and would recommend it to anyone of any age. I am very grateful to have been given the chance to attend on the opening day. The atmosphere was all a buzz of excitement and curiosity which added to the day and being in the company of so many big fans of the show was just amazing. To follow this post, I will blog about the day before I attended the convention, where me and my partner ventured to Caerphilly to visit the sites captured in many of the 'New Who' episodes. Along with our trip to 'Leadworth Hospital' from the Eleventh Hour. More to come ;-)
Excited for Series 7 yet?...If you haven't seen them already, the new trailer and promo picture posted by the BBC for Doctor Who series 7 are bound to get you on the edge of your seat! Guess what?... the Daleks are back! In my personal opinion, the thought of Amy and Rory leaving the Doctor is upsetting because I have always felt their presence in the series would last for a longer period of time. However, I understand completely that Doctor Who relies on change to re-capture the imagination of others by constantly re-inventing and reviving itself. Back in March at the Doctor Who Convention when I met Karen Gillan whilst she signed autographs, I made sure I told her how much I was going to miss her character, and she agreed. I'm sure a lot of you feel the same, whilst many others would disagree and are looking forward to the change. I've watched the trailer about a million times already, it never gets old...whilst monitoring it closely frame by frame... I need to get out more! By 1.22mins my eyes are ready to burst in to tears.'Who killed all the daleks?'
