Which one is better- sea life center at Queensferry or Loch Lomond?

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As it says really! Looking to buy tickets for a birthday present for an animal loving 11 year old...she's loved Edinburgh and 5 sisters zoos but has never been to an aquarium...is one any better than the other?

My friend recently used Kellogg's vouchers for the Loch Lomond one and she said even with the vouchers it was too expensive for what it is.

We've done Queensferry a few years ago and it was a good day out.

They are both equally underwhelming.

But at Queensferry it's literally just the deep sea centre under the bridge and not much else.

At sea life (loch lomond) you also have the kids park behind it, the shore line of the loch, the shops and birds of prey centre as well. There is also occasionally pop up events like water zorbing, bouncy castle, a little train that goes round the area and a bungee jumping trampoline thing. You could check ahead if anythings on.

But in terms of the actual sea life centres, both kind of meh.

Thank you! Hmmm this was my fear, I remember going into the St Andrews one a long time ago and being distinctly underwhelmed!

I really rate the St Andrews one, do you know it now has meerkats, penguins and some kind of small monkeys in addition to lots of fish/amphibians/seals? You can go round as many times as you like too...

Loch lomond is so Meh but I liked a mooch round the shops and there is also a bird of prey centre there. But if you don't want to be in and out in 5 minutes Queensferry is better.

It is expensive (I assume aquatic animals cost a lot to keep) but I've been to Queensferry and St Andrew's and St A was great! We watched the jellyfish there for ages.

Loch Lomond is brilliant for toddlers and the octonauts were there that day!

sea life is great if you do the shark swim package - otherwise very “meh”.

if she doesn’t want to swim with the sharks, Blair Drummond is a much nicer day out.

Neither, both equally boring & not worth the money especially for an 11 year old. I second Blair Drummond.

Last time I was at Deep sea world it was all a bit manky & run down. Hardly takes any time to get around it as well.

You can do a llama walk at Almond Valley. She might be a bit old for the rest of it though.

Thank you all! She has been to Blair Drummond but it was kind of mid-covid so it might be nice to revisit without masks etc! I wish the keeper experiences etc weren't so ££££

I think Queensferry is good for younger kids, DD3 absolutely loved it when we went a few months ago, although it is a bit tired and rundown with adult eyes. I'm not sure it would entertain an older kid for as long. We went round 3-4 times and it still didn't take massively long.

Last time we went to Blair Drummond it was within our council level or whatever it was mid covid . I honestly prefer 5 sisters .

Queensferry one is shit. 30 minutes and out

Queensferry one is awful, don't waste your money. Even with a discount voucher it's overpriced.

There are some lama experiences popping up that look good. Would she like that?

Oh that's a great idea too,thank you!

At St Andrews you can do a ' feed the penguins' session. Only 2 people at a time, so plenty of penguin attention, and very reasonably priced. They also do a meerkat feeding one but I haven't done that.
Penguin feeding was fab though. Much better than at Edinburgh.

5 Sisters zoo is well worth a visit. Not too expensive and lots to see and do.

Sorry I meant alpacas not.lamas. There's this one www.thealpacatrekkingcentre.co.uk/ and another one in Fife too.

Deep Sea world in North Queensferry is shit. Very expensive and it's effectively one room plus the large walkway tank. Plus the obligatory over priced giftshop and the absolutely dire, dirty cafe. See the Tripadvisor reviews... There doesn't appear to have been any investment in the place in years.

You'd be better going to the Pets department at Dobbies

DS loved the St Andrews one & could happily spend the day going round & round which we often did no penguins or monkeys them though

We saw someone feeding the meerkats at St. Andrews, was so cute, they tried to follow the person feeding them out!

St Andrews aquarium is better than Deep Sea World. Latter only had the tunnel in its favour

Blair Drummond or the Highland Wildlife Park