Day 9.2: It's Bigger on the Inside

After retrieving the car and our luggage from the hotel, we drove through Cardiff and, without using precious data, Marsha managed to successfully navigate us to the Doctor Who Experience. Driving through Cardiff was interesting. We stopped for a cross-walk where one of the kids never even looked before walking right out into the street. Another kid in red pants stopped and taunted me for having to stop, then moved to the next lane and taunted that car, too.

This was the primary reason why we came to Cardiff. We'd wondered why they put a big Doctor Who attraction all the way out in Cardiff instead of London. Turns out it's right next door to the BBC studios where they shoot Doctor Who and many other BBC productions.

Other than seeing sets, props, and costumes from the show, we had no idea what to expect. We received a timed entry, which was perfect, since it was only a 30 minute wait. We were also told that photos were not allowed during the first part, but that we could take all the pictures we wanted later.

When they led us in, we entered the museum of Gallifrey (the Doctor's home planet) and received these light up crystal that we hung around our necks. We were immediately thrown into a fully immersive, interactive adventure where the TARDIS is being attacked by these space squid things. The current Doctor (Peter Capaldi), who spoke to us via video screens, needed our help. Our guide was a young woman in a Gallifrey robe, whom the Doctor referred to as "Boy-Girl in the dress."

We boarded the TARDIS and learned that we would have to help him locate three crystals and use those to fight of the thing controlling the squid. It was all pretty impressive and had everything a Doctor Who fan would want. Madison loved every minute of it. This and the Castle made the whole trip to Cardiff worth the long drive.

The rest was two big rooms on two floors  full of sets, costumes, and props. The downstairs room had three TARDIS interior sets. The original is actually the replica built for the TV movie, A Journey Through Space and Time. There were also multiple Police call boxes. I had to wonder how many of those things they've built over the years.

The second floor was largely costumes, but also had a bunch of Daleks and a few other set pieces as well. The few older costumes (from when the show had a much lower budget) were fairly simple, but the newer ones are really impressive. There were a few displays, like the Cyrbermen, where you could see the progression over the years.

The only downside was that this room wasn't air-conditioned. I don't know if it was broken or what. They had a few fans running, but the awesome displays helped make up for the heat.

One of the best displays had all the Doctor's costumes lined up side-by-side. Then the current Doctor was positioned our front next to the TARDIS. Very impressive!