Dippy's Birthday Week at Roarr Dinosaur Adventure

You know when you have had a brilliant day out when you arrive at 9.30am, leave at 6pm and the kids still want to play more. This was our experience at Roarr Dinosaur Adventure Park this week. We were asked to review the park to celebrate Dippy’s Birthday week. Our group consisted of five children and two adults – Willow (16 months), A (22 months), Adam and E (7 years) and M (10 years).

Dippy was having a Hawaiian themed party with additional activities laid on around the park. When entering the park we were given an extra programme detailing the party events.

We opted to enter the Lost World first to find the Hawaiian mythology masks hidden around the park. Just remember to either take a pen or purchase one when you enter the park as you need to write down what each of the masks represent. The masks are easy to locate and at the end of the day the children all received a Dippy Birthday Pop On Badge.

As part of Dippy’s Birthday celebrations there were several additions to the Woodland Trail. There was also an opportunity to make a birthday card for Dippy at the Secret Animal Garden. The children enjoyed Dippy’s disco laid on by the enthusiastic team.

No birthday would be complete without singing the Happy Birthday song. A highlight for Adam was giving a birthday hug to Dippy.

As well as celebrating Dippy’s Birthday, the children had three aims – to experience the Predator High Ropes, the Splash Zone and the Dinomite Indoor Play Area. All three areas require you to bring suitable clothing. Willow’s pushchair was laden with clothes to allow the children to enjoy the activities.

To take part on the Predator High Ropes, the worlds first parallel sky ropes, you need to be over 1m tall, wear closed toe shoes, have your shoulders covered and skirts are not allowed. Last summer holidays, Adam was under 1.2m and required an adult to go with him. However, this year he was above the 1.2m mark and was able to go on by himself. Adam and M opted to do the highest route possible. Adam’s highlight was the zip wire at the end.

For Dippy’s Splash Zone the children needed swimming costumes and towels. The water park consists of 31 water features including a slide and a huge bucket. Sadly (but understandably), you are not allowed to take photographs in the area but I did manage to get one of Willow enjoying the foot wash tap!

To play in the Dinomite Indoor Play area, all children needed to wear socks. If older children want to go on the red or blue slides then they need to have their arms and legs completely covered. On a hot summers day it does seem strange seeing children running around wearing jeans and hoodies but Adam loves the “death slide” and was determined to do it as many times as possible. The two toddlers enjoyed the smaller play area – although this visit we didn’t manage to get to the new Dippy-Ville. This area opened this season and BEAM interactive digital floor games and a soft play area for little ones.

During our visit we also managed to complete the stamp trail and the children received a dinosaur medal each, had a go on the indoor and outdoor go karts, played crazy golf, completed the assault course and played on the large outdoor play area.

The only one downside of our wonderful day were the wasps. There were so many of them. I am not normally worried about wasps but I managed to get stung fairly early on in the day. Willow wasn’t able to eat any fruit during the day because the wasps were crawling over everything. We did see a few wasp traps around and the bins are enclosed but we would recommend eating indoors.

Whilst waiting for the children to receive their dinosaur medals I spotted two useful offers. You can return to the park during July and August for half price – 50% off your second visit is a brilliant alternative for us as we live too far away to make a season pass affordable.

The park also now provides a free shuttle bus service throughout the summer holiday – the DinoBus. This is a fantastic opportunity for people who cant drive or who want to link the day using the train as the DinoBus picks up from Norwich Train Station.