AD – We received complimentary entry to Roarr! Dinosaur Adventure. All opinions are our own.
Back when I moved to Norfolk in 2013 and started working at a soft play centre I heard so many things about Roarr! Dinosaur Adventure. At the time we didn’t have any children so it’s taken some time to getting around to visit. However, now that Erin is 3 and this week has been her first half term from nursery, it seemed like a great time to go and we planned to make a day of it with friends.
We arrived at just before 9:30 so the park hadn’t opened yet. There was already a few cars and people waiting to get in. There is loads of parking though so during busier weeks like this there is still plenty of space to park. Roarr! isn’t on a bus route but there is a stop about a 15 minute walk away (although the road isn’t paved).
Erin was already bouncing like a lunatic as soon as we got through the gates and she couldn’t wait to start exploring. As soon as you pass the gift shop at the entrance you can see a large wooden play area and the splash zone (not open until April) to the right and the indoor play area to the left. Erin took one look at a slide and ran straight for it.
There are various pieces of equipment to climb and Erin loved trying most of it. Being 3 and quite small though she wasn’t able to do everything on her own but this is all definitely suitable for older children. Erin, being the daredevil that she is though was determined to at least give everything a go.
We decided to go to the Dinomite Indoor Play Area quite early on in our visit before it got too busy. We don’t go to soft play very often at all so Erin pretty much took her shoes off running and couldn’t wait to get in there. There is a nice sized area for under 5’s including a ball pool, various levels to climb and duck under and also a bit of an obstacle course. Erin wasn’t content with the under 5’s area though and wanted to explore the rest of the equipment. While she was able to do most of it, I struggled with the size of some of the areas and it was hard to get around. There are also 3 really big slides which Erin obviously wanted to go on but was too small for.
Like all soft play areas, there are rules and it’s advised that all children under 15 are supervised at all times but obviously this doesn’t happen. I only saw parents in with children in the under 5’s section and unfortunately Erin got bumped into or knocked quite a lot by older children running or just not paying attention. This isn’t the fault of Roarr! but I think any rules need to be a bit more noticeable or there needs to be checks in place every now again especially in somewhere that gets so busy.
Instead of having a real plan we left the indoor play area and just wandered around, through Neanderthal Walk, past the Predator! High Ropes and down to the Secret Animal Garden.
Animals are always a good addition to any day out and Roarr! Dinosaur Adventure has a great selection. The outdoor area is quite large with animals such as snakes, lizards, rabbits, goats and even wallabies! Erin was particularly excited about these because of how they move around like kangaroos.
The Secret Animal Garden has areas both indoors and outdoors so no matter what the weather is like, there is still something to see! Erin spent quite a lot of time looking at the lizards and the snakes. She has a thing about Harry Potter so she wanted to see if she could see one as big as the one from the film!
The Secret Animal Garden is close to one of the restaurants, a window for take away fish and chips and a really large picnic area. We took this opportunity to find a bench and try to have some food. Our friend’s son wasn’t feeling too good at this point so we had a really good rest before going off to explore again. I loved how much space and seating there was outside and how clean everywhere was. I don’t think I noticed even 1 piece of rubbish laying around during our whole visit.
Roarr! Dinosaur Adventure has loads of other things for children to do! After lunch we tried to find fossils in X-tinction. There are 2 large sandpits with buried fossils and brushes available to help children find the bones. There are also elevated areas to find other bones as well. Erin wasn’t too bothered about talking about which bones belonged to which dinosaur but she did love finding them!
Another area we really enjoyed was the Lost World A-mazing Adventure. This can be found just at the back of a small under 7’s play area. We sort of started at the wrong end and actually started at the end. That didn’t matter though because Erin was able to walk around the maze, look at the dinosaurs and experience getting lost and stuck!
Due to getting a bit lost Erin and I spent quite a bit of time in this area. It was fun to be surrounded by trees, walkaways and fun things like bongos to play with along the way. We were also able to get a bit closer to some dinosaurs and Erin really liked talking about the eggs we found and why 1 was empty!
There were other areas of Roarr! Dinosaur Adventure that we just didn’t get the chance to visit. As it was half term there was also workshops available throughout the day which only cost £1 each but we didn’t have time for these. I think if this hadn’t been our first visit we could have put time aside for these things. We left around 2:30 as Erin was getting really tired and our friend’s son was feeling quite unwell. We could have easily stayed until 4pm when the park closed though if circumstances had been different.
Just before heading home we stopped off in the gift shop to pick up a toy. Most gift shops in attractions like this are overpriced and a complete rip off. I was so surprised to see how reasonable all of the prices were at Roarr! I had planned on letting Erin spend £10 and for this she could have gotten a quite large yellow dinosaur soft toy. I have no idea why but she didn’t want this and instead got a dinosaur mask for £1 and a small purple dinosaur for £3.99. There was so many things to choose from and I also noticed there was a ‘pocket money’ section for items under £5.
During February half term children get 50% off the admission price if they go to Roarr! Dinosaur Adventure in full fancy dress! I love that there are offers like this because it helps to make things super fun for the children and also for the parents to save a bit of money. Be sure to check out the website for more information: https://www.roarrdinosauradventure.co.uk/
PIN IT FOR LATER
What a great day out. Sounds like it would be suityfor children that bit older too
This sounds like a great day out for little ones. My two year old is a big fan of dinosaurs and I think in a year or so he would really get a lot out of a visit to Roarr! Thanks for sharing – I’ve added it to my days out Pinterest board too xx
What a great day out. My girls love dinosaurs. Will keep it in mind if we’re ever in the area
Oh wow this looks like such a fun family day out! My daughters love dinosaurs and I like how interact many of the activities are 🙂
This looks like a fun place to visit. My boys are dino mad and would definitely love it, especially the dino dig. Love that they have some pocket money souvenir options too.
We visited a dinosaur park near us recently and the boys loved it. I think places like this make for a great day out xx
That looks like an awesome place to take the kids. Isabelle would love the climbing and it would be great to show Freddie the animals x
This sounds like a great day out for all the family. My eldest loves dinosaurs and the other two love animals so it would be perfect for us!