It took a short while, but our group suddenly understood our flight attendant wasn’t actually a slightly odd member of staff, but rathr a properly funny character that I wish I’d engaged in conversation sooner. Seriously – fair play to anyone who can get a small group of baffled Brits hollering Shrektastic! at each other on a Thursday morning!
We were visiting Merlin’s newest attraction, Shrek’s Adventure, just along from the London Eye on the South Bank – and to be honest I wasn’t really sure what I was walking into; the website is rather deliberately vague, I think, and there aren’t many details of what the experience actually is. I just knew that 9yr old Bear was going to love it, and that alone was good enough to warrant a visit on our Merlin Annual Pass.
Our ‘flight’ took us to Far Far Away – and the 4D bus ride was astonishingly brilliant. We were transported over the skies of London and really felt as though we were away on a fabulous journey. And spotting Toothless flying alongside caused a huge grin to split my face, nudging Bear in excitement to make sure she spotted him (she was busy already watching Astrid on the other side), but she was the one nudging me when Po appeared on his rocket (bad idea Po).
Landing in Far Far Away was exciting (no spoilers here), and we left the magic bus to head off on foot, following our route around Far Far Away, walking from place to place, enjoying the detailed scenes as we continued the storyline between each character we met.
And we had a total blast!
I had expected to tolerate it, knowing it was aimed the kids not the parents. But we were there on a school day, and our party was made up mostly of a rowdy group of pensioners with a couple of tourist families. And we grown ups had a brilliant time, just as much as the children in our group. There’s quite a lot of fun audience participation, and ‘in’ jokes, there’s some singing, a lot of humour and some special effects to make you squeak and jump and a large amount of pensioner giggling was going on.
As you make it ‘back to London’ again you leave the attraction through a large hall of tableau from the various Dreamworks films; no photography is allowed through the attraction, but this area made up for it with fun activities and photo opportunities.
Everyone in our group had a fabulous time, from the pensioners to the mildly baffled Swedish family – each and every one of us enjoyed every second. I would have loved more of the 4D experience (come on, how often do you get to actually be inside a fabulous animated adventure?), but the sets were entrancing, the actors excellent (and it felt as though they were very comfortable ad libbing the humour to work the crowd, there were some exceptionally funny unscripted moments!), and the children were all completely engrossed with the tasks we were set.
And watch out for the little surprise in the dungeon – it totally got us all!
We’re so excited to be 2016 ambassadors for the Merlin Annual Pass – it means 12 incredible months exploring 32 Magical Worlds bursting with astonishing sights, sensational rides and extraordinary adventures to fill our year with laughter, magic and FUN!
