Ripley's Believe It or Not! (Blackpool, July 2012)...

So, for those of you following/reading my Blackpool reviews/vlogs, I have another one for you. Another attraction me and Simon went to in Blackpool was 'Ripley's Believe It or Not!'. The only other Ripley's in the UK is in London and me and Si went to that one a few years back. It was on the off chance really, as it was really wet and we were walking around, spotted it and decided to go in. We loved it. It's full of interesting, fascinating facts and unusual items so we were excited to have a look around the one in Blackpool.

For those of you not familiar with 'Ripley's Believe It or Not!', it is basically a museum of unbelievable and fascinating facts and unusual items. Ripley is Robert Ripley, the cartoonist, explorer, reporter, adventurer, illustrator, collector and seeker of the odd and unusual facts/items that appear in all of Ripley's attractions. You can find out more about him here.

The majority of facts and items are different in the Blackpool one, compared to the London one. So you don't have to worry about it all being the same. There is one thing I remember being the same and that was the mirror where it shows you how to roll your tongue. If you carry on round the amusement you will come to a double sided mirror where you can see people sticking their tongues out and trying to roll their tongue. It's quite funny to be honest watching people, as they obviously don't know people can see them doing it, until they get around to the other mirror side and realise :-). So, when we saw that we recognised it from the London one, but that's the only thing that stood out to me as being the same.

Ripley's in Blackpool is located on the promenade, by the Pleasure Beach on Ocean Boulevard.

Whether you are travelling by road, rail or air, it is pretty easy to find. There isn't a direct link as it is on the home-page, but if you look on the right hand side of the website homepage, you will see a map/directions. If you are travelling by car, it tells you where the nearest place to park is here. We had a weekly tram/bus pass whilst we were there, so we got the tram, which took about 5-10 mins from our guest-house.

The attraction is open daily from 10am. In the Summer/in season months, it is open every day, but when it comes to the Winter/out of season months, then there is only certain days they are open. It's best to check the dates on the website, if you are thinking of booking ahead. Or contact the attraction. It's £12 for adults and £6 for children, but you can get discount vouchers and group discounts on their website and often whilst you are in Blackpool, or even before you go, you will see 2 for 1 vouchers in magazines, papers, on the back of leaflets/receipts etc. So keep your eyes peeled because who doesn't like a discount! There is a leaflet you can grab on the way in, which has the museum layout inside, so you can see where to go/where you are going etc. However, the museum leads you from room to room, so you are sure not to miss anything :-).

There aren't any refreshment areas within the museum, but this isn't something you are going to be in all day. There is a gift shop at the end, which sells memento's to remind you of your visit to the attraction and I'm sure I remember there being a cold drink fridge aswell...if you are desperate for a drink when you come out :-). There is a funny thing inside the museum, which is a fridge that says: 'Don't forget to grab your free drink'. So you open the fridge and see lots of empty drink cans and it basically laughs in your face lol. As if you get a free drink...haha!

We went to the attraction on the 9th July 2012 (ignore the date on the pictures, my camera date/time is set wrong, I must sort it! Lol). There weren't many people in there to be honest, so you could stay and look at any of the facts/items as long as you wanted, because no one was hanging around you trying to have a look. Another couple went in the same time as us and as we were going around the museum, a few other people caught up with us. So it wasn't totally empty, but it was quiet. It took us about an hour to get around the whole thing. We didn't read every single little thing though, we just read those bits of info/facts that caught our eye. Each item has a detailed explanation by it, so you aren't left wondering what something is, it is explained for you :-). It did seem to go quite quick, whilst we were in there, but time always does when you're having fun and we enjoyed it on the whole. There are two floors, 8 galleries and 10 televisions. Here are a couple of my favourite bits of the museum...

'Can you lift both legs at the same time?'. Me and Simon had some fun with this, on many shots we took, you could see our other leg/foot, but I think I mastered it in the end...just about :-).

This was a Princess Diana piece, make solely from pennies. Some of the pennies were shaded in different colours, but I thought it was amazing that you could get a picture so spot on, with just pennies! I should try it myself lol.

There is a lot of interactive parts to the museum, for example...funny mirrors, puzzles, tongue rolling and much more! You can see some footage from our trip here, by watching my Blackpool Vlog: Day 2 YouTube video. I don't want to ruin what's inside the museum by naming most of the things, but you can take a look here at what you can expect to find.

We had a fab time learning about unusual items and finding out fascinating facts. Now we have been once, I can't say we would go again, because we already know what's in there. It's the same with the London one to be honest. Unless they both have a total refurb and have all new items in there. However, if you have never been to either, then I would deffo recommend taking the time to go and have a look. It's a good way to enjoy an hour or so, for not such a ridiculous price :-).

If there is anything else you would like to know, please ask!

Have you ever been to any of the Ripley attractions?

Thanks so much for reading. Please follow, like and comment.

Gem XxOo