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Bear Grylls Adventure Birmingham and LDC Birmingham

Matt N said:
Promising words indeed; thanks for sharing @RicketyCricket! While it doesn't look like my kind of thing, I'm sure Bear Grylls will be really impressive if Wicker Man is anything to go by! I reckon Merlin are going to really step up the theming of their attractions over the next couple of years to keep our parks on the world stage!
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Between this and Wicker I think it's fair to be optimistic for future attractions.

People are going to be very impressed!

skyscraper said:
May I ask what your role is?
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Sorry I'd rather remain anonymous but let me know if you have any questions :)
 
Laura91 said:
Went to BGA today and wow it’s fantastic we only did basecamp but the theming is next level and without giving any spoilers it really makes you face your fears!
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Glad to hear you had a good time. :) I'm hoping to go there soon and give the high ropes course a go.
 
Laura91 said:
Went to BGA today and wow it’s fantastic we only did basecamp but the theming is next level and without giving any spoilers it really makes you face your fears!
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What did you think of the escape room out of interest? It's very difficult.
 
I hit up the basecamp activity today, and am doing the indoor skydive later this evening.

Upon first impressions, the entrance and foyer are brilliant. The music inside and out suit very well, and the different doors and activities are fun to spot.

The basecamp consists of 4 activities;
- Maze
- Escape Room
- Assault Course
- Archery

The first part was the maze. Say maze, more of a room-by-room activity.
You're lead through the first door to the maze, with spiders and snakes along the way. The briefing consisted of a quick 2 minute video from Grylls himself highlighting the safety tips and what to expect. A bag is then placed on your head (very Molly Crowe-esque) to lead you around a short path. Some of the activities included a heart rate monitor after electric shock (this was broken on my run), bug eating trial, dark claustrophobic tunnels and avoiding a waterfall. Expected a little more, but it's what you make of it.

Next up was the escape room. It was so difficult?!
Wouldn't really call it an escape room in the sense that you used objects and clues to solve puzzles, but rather you solve a single puzzle. There are barely a few minutes to solve it, before you're dropped down a painful slide to the second one. Again, not much of an escape room but a challenging puzzle. Again, we failed.

The assault course was good fun, it felt like a competition. Some parts were difficult for a smol bean like me to complete, but I was determined to do it. Not really much to spoil, but I've got a few bruises.

Last was archery. There was a lot of prep and briefing for it, for only a few arrows for you to fire. Again, not much to spoil about archery.

Overall, I'd say it's worth doing the basecamp when tied in with another activity. The price for that alone isn't really great value, but it is fun nonetheless. The staff are incredibly friendly and down to earth as per, we had a good time. By far the best of the midways, and it's great that Merlin now offer something more interactive to kill a few hours.

Will report back later on the skydive!
 
You'll love the indoor skydiving, they don't normally tell you but you control your z-axis (height) with your head, look down to decend and look up to go up the chamber, they don't tell you this because they normally like to control your height with the fans, but it's something out instructor told us about when we did it (not here, it was one of those dedicated places).
 
It was brilliant!

Since posting yesterday I did iFly twice, base camp again and the high ropes.

The iFly is spectacular. I was so anxious at first but I've grown comfortable enough to stabilise and spin myself. Have a feeling I'm going to be there a lot!

The high ropes was fun, but strange. There wasn't a set route and each one had it's own twist. Stuff the rotating log on the highest level, though!

One thing that BGA has above all Merlin attractions are the staff. Whilst it's known that Merlin do have quality employees, their staff are by far the best. Incredibly professional, friendly and always made me feel at ease.

I'm really impressed with the attraction. It didn't feel so 'Merlin'. Base camp could use some more activities (particularly in the maze) and hiding the tents that felt temporary wouldn't go amiss, but I would recommend anyone to experience something. Can't wait to try the diving/snorkelling some day!
 
A bump for this thread as I notice Merlin have fiddled with things to squeeze even more money out of punters.

When BGA opened, there was a 'Basecamp' ticket for £25 which covered the assault course, the escape room, a 'Survival Maze' and a round of archery.

'Basecamp' has now quietly been scrapped - and the 'Survival Maze' closed. Instead, you must now pay for all activities individually (archery, for instance, is £25 on its own - but comes with a free go round the assault course). To do three former 'Basecamp' activities - minus the maze - now costs £55. Mildly outrageous, when you consider the higher profile bolt-ons such as the indoor skydive are upwards of £50.
 
When I did BG when it was fairly new, it always felt like the base camp was simply there to make your time longer and to feel like it was better value for money. The escape room was pointless, as was the other bits to it. The archery was okay (although a little random) and the assault course was also fine. But if you booked to do a high ropes or shark dive you just want to get on with it and not waste an hour doing stuff before hand.
 
In my brief stint there, Basecamp was planned at £25, one of the Merlin top brass visited and decided to change it to £20 just before launch. The reason for this was to get off to a good start with Trip Advisor reviews, the plan was always to ramp up the prices once this had been achieved.

But £25 per Basecamp activity is ridiculous. A complete rip off.
 
I haven't really been following this attraction, I've done all the activities elsewhere outdoors so to do them in a faux outdoor environment doesn't really appeal.

Do guests typically pay the headline price or does the standard Merlin pricing model creep in?
 
Rick said:
I haven't really been following this attraction, I've done all the activities elsewhere outdoors so to do them in a faux outdoor environment doesn't really appeal.

Do guests typically pay the headline price or does the standard Merlin pricing model creep in?
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There are many 50% off offers floating around as per, as well as the usual Merlin 20% online discount.
They tend to let you do the assault course for free if you have time to kill before your activity and it's not busy. Every time I look on their website, the pricing and packaging structures seem to change!

I tried the newer shooting range a few weeks ago. A lot of fun, but needs another round or two to justify the full price.
 
Sorry to massively bump this thread, but just looking at the website for LDC Birmingham and can’t believe the opening times for this place, is it not doing well or something?

10am-1pm? And last entry is 10.30am. So you have a massive 30min time period in which to turn up otherwise the whole day is out? What?
 
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