Sunday 13 March 2011

The Dr.Who Experience!

I have had great trouble keeping this secret over the past couple of weeks - I was so looking forward to seeing my daughter's face when I told her where we were going for her birthday.  This morning when she opened her cards and presents, she could finally be told...I don't think she had any idea just what was in store for her!  We travelled up to London to see the Dr.Who Experience at Olympia in Kensington.  For once, everything went like clockwork - we got up in time, we left the house on time, caught the right train, managed to negotiate the various tube stations and escalators without mishap (a big hurdle for Stacie) and got there to find we could get tickets for the next tour which started in five minutes.  I even got in free as her carer - bonus!
Seeing the Dalek and some other props and costumes was exciting enough, but then we got to go inside the interactive bit.  Unfortunately, photography was not allowed in there, but we got to see more Daleks, some Weeping Angels & Cybermen, Stacie got to drive the Tardis (which moved underfoot) and lots of other exciting things to see and do.  My son and I kept nudging each other to look at Stacie's open-mouthed expression of wonder.
After that, there was a big exhibition of costumes from the last few series - lots of monsters!
Kylie Minogue's costume - it was tiny!
We saw how they made one of these masks, right from the original clay model up to the animatronics that go inside.
The Tardis from the 1980's Dr. Who - I like this one better.

Davros and his Daleks!

We then took Stacie to the shop and said 'buy whatever you like, it's your birthday'.  After much consideration she chose a t-shirt and a sonic screwdriver that actually is a screwdriver - not too sure how much DIY will get done using that, but it's a lot of fun.

Lunch was in Chinatown - we managed to come out of the tube straight into a St.Patrick's Day parade, with a pipe band and a whole street full of people dressed in green.  Who knew it was today?

So someone will be going to bed tonight tired but very, very happy. Let's hope she doesn't have nightmares!

6 comments:

Laura Sparling said...

Happy Birthday, Stacie!

Looks like you all had a great day. I think Chris and I are going to go there soon - it looks good!

Love the photos.

Have a bit of birthday cake for me!

Laura x

Sallie said...

What a fun day for all of you. Happy Birthday to Stacie.

Magpie Magic said...

Happy Birthday Stacie! What a fab day. Wish I'd been there with you. LOL xoxo

Sue Doran said...

Sounds like super fun - I am jealous! :-)

Anonymous said...

Im so glad that you like the old style better...
We get a lot of people saying that. It was the original.
And I was the lucky chap who got the job of restoring it-so naturally what you said make me feel very happy.
I hope you enjoyed the Doctor Who Experience and exhibition!
See you again soon.
Mark

Caroline B said...

Thanks Mark, it was one of the best days out my daughter has had! Just been discussing with my son what a cool job working on Dr. Who must be - you are indeed very lucky. I used to work in BBC Design dept but only in Purchasing, couldn't make the leap into scenic design. I bet it is even more fun these days with programmes like this being made.
C.