Poppy Cat Arrives at Nickelodeon Land, Blackpool Pleasure Beach

Last week Red Rose Daddy took the day off work and we got up bright and early to get the train to Blackpool so we could attend the the debut appearance of Poppy Cat at Nickelodeon Land in Blackpool Pleasure Beach.

Nickelodeon Land is an area inside the main theme park which features twelve rides themed around the characters and television programmes shown on Nickelodeon. They also have character visits at regular points throughout the day and the day we visited it was to see the very first appearance of Poppy Cat. For those not in the know, Poppy Cat is an animated show which features regularly in the bedtime hour on Nick Jr and features the adventures of Poppy Cat and her friends. Poppy is voiced by the brilliant Joanna Page of Gavin and Stacey fame and we're big fans of the show in our house now.


We were treated to a story and dancing with Poppy Cat and Bud absolutely loved it. I was quite surprised as he has been a little afraid of characters in suits in the past but he was utterly enthralled by Poppy Cat and her team of Pleasure Beach entertainers. He listened intently to the story read by a member of the team and watched while Poppy acted it out and joined in enthusiastically when all of the children were invited to dance along with Poppy Cat. The show took place in a seating area with bean bags for the children to sit on which was great to keep them comfortable during the story. After the show had finished there was time to have photos taken with Poppy Cat, which again, Bud was happy to do. I was really wondering what had happened to my previously fearful child by that point! I guess he must really love Poppy Cat. Poppy Cat will be appearing in Nickelodeon Land throughout the Summer, make sure you catch the show if you are visiting!


After meeting Poppy Cat we took full advantage of our complimentary wristbands and headed out into Nickelodeon Land and the wider park. This was something of a test for us as, despite my partner being a huge adrenaline junkie I'm really not. I wasn't sure what Bud would make of the rides but needn't have had any concerns and he loved going up and down and round and round. Our first ride of the day was Spongebob's Splash Dash where we got soaked through. It's OK to use your child as a human shield from the water jets, right? Other favourite rides included the Bikini Bottom Bus Tour (Bud decided this was a submarine and it was easily his favourite ride of the day, we must have been on it about ten times in total!), Fairy World Taxi Spin, Big Circus Bounce and Dora's World Voyage. A word of warning, just because your child is tall enough for the biggest ride in Nickelodeon Land - Nickelodeon Streak - it doesn't mean they will like it. We spent the day with Bex and her children from Clearly Bex. Her son is four but very tall and he was big enough, just. He really wanted to go on the ride so we did so but it was a little too fast and the drops were a little too steep for him. I'd recommend making sure your child see the ride and knows what happens on it if they are younger than around seven. He was quite upset but we made up for it with a few more rides on the Big Circus Bounce. There are character appearances throughout the day in Nickelodeon Land and we saw Patrick the Starfish and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles performing and meeting their fans for photos during our time there.


When we headed out into the wider park I wasn't expecting to find as many rides as we did that were suitable for the children but, while Red Rose Daddy was off riding the Pepsi Max Big One, Revolution and Infusion, we were enjoying the Carousel and Racing Cars (both full size and children's size), Alice in Wonderland and the Eddie Stobart Lorries.

We spent all day on the Pleasure Beach and had a wonderful day. I was impressed by how much it had to offer the under fives and I'm sure it will be somewhere that we will revisit many times in future years.

Disclaimer: We received complimentary wristbands for Blackpool Pleasure Beach in order to attend Poppy Cat's appearance, all thoughts and opinions are honest and unbiased.