Sea World’s NEW Creatures of the Deep – a family review

We just visited Sea World’s Creatures of the Deep – a fantastic new attraction for families… Our family had a fabulous day at Sea World exploring the brand-new interactive attraction – Creatures of the Deep!

Creatures of the Deep is a fun, educational (but don’t tell the kids that!) adventure-filled discovery trail of present, prehistoric and mythical sea creatures.

We always love visiting Sea World because there is just so much to see and do there. Entertaining marine-life animal shows, unique play areas and thrilling rides…but Creatures of the Deep was so fascinating that we ended up spending much more time enjoying this new attraction than we had originally planned on!

The entrance to the Creatures of the Deep Discovery Centre – Let’s go Mum!

To begin your Creatures of the Deep adventure, as you enter the Sea World main entrance gates (Sea World entry tickets required), make a sharp left turn and head down the slope towards the Penguins Experience area – right next-door you’ll find the well-signposted Creatures of the Deep Discovery Centre.

There is a small kiosk located just outside of the main entrance to the exhibit – this is “Trail HQ” – don’t miss this!

At Trail HQ you pick up your kids free Creatures of the Deep trail packs, containing a Trail Guide book, collector card and a pencil to fill the book in. There are two different types of Trail Guide books, depending on your child’s age group – 3-7yrs or 8-12yrs.

This was fantastic, as Samantha, my seven year old, got the younger children’s book which was easier for her to read and draw in, and Brooke, my nine year old, got the older children’s book which was a little more challenging to fill out.

The Guide Book will lead you along the trail as you collect your stamps

The Trail Guide contains the Creatures of the Deep trail map for the kids to follow, and has information, activities and a space for a special embossing stamp that kids can add at each stop along the way. When the kids have collected all of their stamps, they can return to Trail HQ for their collector card reward!

The first part of the exhibit, the Discovery Centre, is two-stories of under-the-sea mystery. You are met at the entrance by a group of suspended, luminous jelly fish! Dangling down from overhead, they set the scene for you to step into the murky depths, deep below the ocean…

You’ll find these ethereal little jelly fish hanging around the exhibit entrance…

The atmosphere within is one of spooky half-light, swirly, shimmering blue and eerie under-the-sea sounds. Enormous sea creature models preside, gently wafting in the invisible current – prehistoric, yet life-like. This exhibit area really is quite spellbinding – click the play button for a little peek!

One of the really clever features of Creatures of the Deep is it’s child-friendly, interactive nature. Dotted along the entire exhibit trail are control panels where children (and okay, us adults too!) can press buttons that actually make these huge model animals move different parts of their bodies – flippers, tails – mouths – you name it! The kids LOVED this aspect. It really is genius engineering, considering the size of some of the models (my girls would probably still be there pressing those buttons if I let them!).

You can make these huge models move using the interactive control panel buttons

The (rather large) ammonite!

My eldest daughter Brooke has had her own little ammonite fossil for years, and loves examining and wondering about it – here she found a huge version of what this animal actually looked like! She was thrilled to see it, and we purchased a little fossil book from the Creatures of the Deep shop on the way out for her to read later – but not before getting their first Creatures of the Deep stamp in their Trail Guide books!

The Creatures of the Deep Discovery Centre is spread over two stories

When we had covered both levels of the Discovery Centre it was time to move outside and continue on our exciting expedition of the Creatures of the Deep!

A short walk around the Sea World lake we came upon a rather ominous warning sign – Enter at your own risk!  We proceeded cautiously through a pair of enormous, rusty old gates.

Enter at your own risk! The entrance gates to Creatures of the Deep

Just down the path, we caught sight of a what looked to be a large stranded ship…but what was that wrapped around its bow? LOOK OUT- there’s a big-scary-Kraken up ahead!

Beware the legendary Kraken!

You could hardly miss the Kraken – with a huge eye fixed on us, he waved his menacing tentacles at half-horrified, half-delighted children as they passed beneath him.

To find out more about the Kraken, we read his information panel – there’s one for each sea creature, which explains their significance or story to the curious children viewing them. Then it was time to find the Kraken stamp Trail Stop.

My turn! Samantha gets all enthusiastic with the Kraken stamp

By this time, all the kids on the trail knew what they were looking for, and eagerly sought-out each new creature – and their stamp station! Children just loved to lever the stamp head down firmly to emboss the page of their Trail book, and then check-out their cool new sea-creature stamp!

Onward around the bend to the too-huge-to-even-contemplate, terrifying Megalodon (that’s a giant prehistoric shark to you and me).

Argh, the terror! The Megalodon makes modern-day sharks look positively tiny!

We stared at the size of the Megalodon in awe, then screamed and jumped away laughing as he suddenly flapped his gigantic, teeth-filled mouth open – we weren’t expecting that to happen! The imposing Megalodon is very popular – particularly with the shark-loving little boys!

Up the hill a little we discovered a mystical, mythical Sea Serpent! I imagined that this would be just what Scotland’s Loch Ness Monster would look like – bumpy body and all! This one was kind-of cute, really…

Aw, just look at this adorable Sea Serpent!

Just around the corner from the Sea Serpent we walked into a fog-bank! But what could be here? A breath of wind cleared the mist enough to reveal what was a very impressive smoke-breathing dragon!

The dragon was a clear favourite with adults and kids alike – the kids because of all of the children’s stories that have dragons in them. The adults – well, I think there may just have been a few Game of Thrones fans there! Here is a quick video to show you the mystical dragon…

Another stamp for the children’s Trail books, and then around to the Whale display. Absolutely immense, they were quite beautiful to view. Actually, they were so huge I couldn’t even fit them into one photograph!

At this point, we realised we had missed a stamp – the Deinosuchus – but where was it? Ah, back up the hill and behind the Kraken according to the map. We back-tracked to where the trail divided, and all rushed up to find him. He was a huge crocodile-type beast who roared at us as we reached him, sending us scattering to the stamp point before venturing back for a photo…

Meet a prehistoric crocodile on steroids…the Deinosuchus!

The kids had all the stamps in their books now, and our Creatures of the Deep trail had come to an end – what a great fun adventure it had been!

Later, we collected their reward on our way out of the park – another collector card each! (The recommended time for reward pick-up is after 3pm). They were so thrilled when they revealed a rare silver Megaladon card – woo!

Our family absolutely loved the Creatures of the Deep attraction at Sea World – it’s an awesome new addition to what is already a great family theme park – don’t miss it!

Let’s Go! Info…

Sea World’s Creatures of the Deep attraction

To get your tickets to Sea World to see the Creatures of the Deep exhibit go to the official website here.

For further information, the Sea World Creatures of the Deep official website can be found here.

All prices are correct for July 2015
We reviewed this theme park as guests of Sea World

Have you visited the Sea World Creatures of the Deep attraction yet? Or perhaps you are thinking of going to visit it? Tell us in the comments below!