Doctor Who Experience 2015 – Cardiff Bay

There's a good reason why I have included '2015' in the title of this post. It's to distinguish it from the post I wrote last year on the Doctor Who Experience. If we have been to an attraction the other side of the country to us two years running then it's safe to assume we're big fans of Doctor Who. However, there is a very valid reason for our return. Last year we visited just before the Matt Smith section of the Experience closed and so of course we needed to see what the updated Peter Capaldi Experience had in store for us.

The weather was a bit different for this year's visit. So instead of strolling around Cardiff Bay we opted to take the Park and Ride bus service that takes you straight to the entrance of the Doctor Who Experience. Once again we booked our tickets in advance to get the online discount and ensure our entry time. Thankfully because it is a totally indoors the Welsh rain made no difference to us making it a truly all-weather attraction.

Once inside you can't take any photographs or videos in the first part of the Experience. This is an excellent policy as this part is interactive and you have to move along with the unfolding story. The Doctor has changed and so has the whole plot line. Some of the sets are completely new whilst others have been updated and reworked. This time our guide got involved as well.

Once the interactive part is over it's time to have a look around the props and costume section. Again this has been completely changed around. There's a few bits of really old stuff here from the Classic series. Check out that TARDIS Console!

Mainly the items are from the New series with a whole load of recent material from the last series. I lost count of the number of TARDIS, Daleks and Cybermen there are on display but it's fascinating to see how the designs have changed over the years.

Normally I would say such an attraction would only be of interest to die-hard fans but if you are in the fashion or textiles industry I would recommend a visit. You can get really close up to the exhibits and because the tickets are timed it never gets too busy. The work on some of the costumes is absolutely exquisite.

Exit is of course via the gift shop but it really is a corker. When we were there they had a sale on certain items and we were able to snap up an exclusive Doctor Who Experience T-Shirt reduced from £17 to £4.99. There are some lovely items in the shop and I was surprised at how good the pricing was overall for such merchandise. If you want to linger longer there is a café in the entrance section. We opted for a dash out into the rain and the lure of one of the many restaurants the other side of Cardiff Bay and look at Ianto's Shrine.