There seems to be a growing trend for those of us who can’t get to the beach to have it brought to us. Thus it was that myself, Hpops, Imp and Pixie boarded a train headed for Stratford to go to the beach. Currently at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park there is now a beach!
It has sand for castles and the like and a paddling ball complete with squeals as you enter due to the cool temperature. There are seaside rides, as well as the usual seaside food; donuts, candy floss and ice creams. There are of course the side shows as well when you can try and win unfeasibly big ducks and minion soft toys!
We went as an alternative to Southend, made our way through Westfield and soon crossed over into the park. There is a lot of building work going on as the area is developed into housing and office buildings but with the stadium in front of us and the Orbit to our left we crossed the bridge and we were looking down on the seaside scene!
There was a lack of seagulls and the sound of crashing waves but the music, lights and food all added to the atmosphere and the three children were very excited to get to the action. Entering the beach is free and there are a few changing rooms so the kids were able to get changed and go into the paddling pool! The beach was very crowded as of course space is limited and there were a few school parties visiting. However there was large range of rides, a rollercoaster, zorbing, flying chairs, dodgems, miniature golf, bouncy castles and various track based rides as well as pay as you go prize games. To access most of the rides you need to purchase tokens from one of the two booths at either end of the park – each ticket costs £1.
This is where the catch is, each of the rides is 2-4 tokens per person. That meant that for all of us to go on some os the things would cost £16 – if we went on several things then we could have had a day out at a theme park! There is of course no obligation to go on any of the rides and to use the beach and paddling pool it is completely free. It is however difficult to convince children when they see dodgems and so on not to want to go on them and most parents are familiar with pester power. There also did not seem to be a discount for purchasing multiple tokens – something which you can often do in places like Adventure Island located in Southend which means that you can go on many rides for a one off-payment, and if introduced would surely provide better value for money for thrill seekers.
I did set a limit and bought some tokens and with it they were able to go on the dodgems, flying chairs and the zorbs! There was a range of food to choose from but another way to save a few pennies would be to bring a packed lunch or even nip back to Westfield as that could proved a cheaper alternative to some of the offerings averrable. The good thing is that when the kids had finished with the amusements, armed with ducks from the hook a duck stall we headed out to the park to kills another hour or two! There is a play park near by which can be crowded but you can stroll around the base of the orbit, walk through some of the gardens or shop at Westfield.
It was fun to go and play on a beach located just a few minutes walk from places like Canary Wharf, Westfield and other attractions in the Olympic Park. The kids still want to go to Southend, they want to walk down the pier, go to Adventure Island and paddle in the salty sea but they had a fab time at the urban beach and would be to happy to go back!
