Family activities at the Marina Centre in Great Yarmouth

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No matter what the weather is doing, it’s always good to have some indoor days out to mind. The Marina Centre in Great Yarmouth has fun activities for adults and children. 

Where is the Marina Centre?

• Marine Parade
  Great Yarmouth
  NR30 2ER
• 01493 289119
• marina.reception@freedom-leisure.co.uk

Parking at the Marina Centre

If you have booked an activity at the Marina Centre, you can get 3 hours of free parking, depending on space available at the time. Alternatively, Great Yarmouth seafront has paid parking available. 

What activities are there for families?

During our visit we participated in two great activities for families; Clip ‘n Climb and Aqua Play.  Also on offer is the Inflatazone and children’s birthday parties. Sessions can be done via the online booking system.

Clip ‘n Climb

Cost: 
Adults £14.30
Children age 4+ £11

Length of session: 1 hour

Safety information: The minimum age is 4 years old, weigh less than 150kg. Parents/Guardians (over 16 years old) must be present to sign the safety documentation on behalf of those climbing that are under the age of 16. An adult must supervise children under the age of 8, 1 adult can supervise a max of 2 children under the age of 8 and must be present during the safety briefing and the climbing session at all times. 

All about Clip ‘n Climb

We booked a session at 9:30am, which was the first one available on a Saturday morning. Upon arrival, we checked in at reception and were shown where to wait until the session started. When it was time, two members of staff showed us into the safety briefing room where we could watch a video and answer some questions to ensure we knew what we were doing. After this, everyone climbing got into their harnesses with the help from the staff. 

Inside the climbing room there are around 15-20 different walls to climb, all varying in style and difficulty. Thanks to the safety training, you can choose which wall you want to climb and clip yourself in. Erin struggled a little bit with this but staff were on hand to help anyone who needed it. She’d got the hang of it though by the end of the session. We liked the freedom you get here, not being stuck to 1 wall and waiting for someone to help you move on to something else. Rules are in place so no one walks on a mat that’s down on the floor as that means someone is up the wall and could come down quickly. 

John and Erin both really enjoyed trying out all of the different walls, and seeing which they preferred. Some walls are much harder than others, some have timers you can use and some even move around a bit as they’re on a rope ladder! In the end, Erin finally found one that she really liked and was able to climb right up to the top of the wall, just as the session ended. She felt a real sense of achievement and was really proud of herself. She’s already asking to go back!

An hour was just about the right length of time for this activity, as it can be really hard work climbing constantly for 1 hour. Erin made sure she had a few small breaks to get a drink etc. 

Aqua Play

Cost: 
Anyone age 4+ £9.80
Family tickets (4 people) £29.40

Length of session: 1 hour 15 minutes in the Aqua Play area, with up to 45 minutes in the main pool afterwards.

Safety information:
One adult can supervise a maximum of one 0-3 year old or two 4-7 year olds
One adult can supervise a maximum of one 4-7 year old and one 0-3 year old as long as one or both children are wearing armbands

All about Aqua Play

If you’re looking for something a little bit different compared to a basic swimming pool, the Marina Centre Great Yarmouth has a great Aqua Play activity. 

Your session lasts for 1 hour 15 minutes in the Aqua Play area, which includes a splash pad, fun play features such as cannons and buckets as well as some thrill seeking water flumes which go around the outside of the building. There’s a bit of something here for all ages and it was nice to see somewhere for the younger children too. The water isn’t deep anywhere here so small children will be able to sit in it safely with their parents. 

You aren’t allowed to take photos or videos in the pool area so I can’t show more than the empty area.

Visiting on a Saturday morning in the summer holidays, I was a bit worried about how busy the session would be. Nowhere was too crowded though and even the water flumes didn’t have really long queues. It was nice to have the freedom to go between Aqua Play and the leisure pools. There was a lesson going on in the learner pool so that one wasn’t available to go in but that didn’t matter. There’s loads of seats near the main pool which is great if family members want to come and watch but not swim. 

After swimming hot showers are available in cubicles which was great for us as we had other things going on for the rest of the day. The changing rooms are quite large with cubicles varying in size. There are also plenty of lockers available and some are huge in case you have a lot of stuff with you. You will need £1 for a locker but this is returned when you unlock it. 

Feeling peckish?

After the big refurb, the Marina Centre Great Yarmouth now has a gorgeous cafe where you can get hot food, snacks and drinks.

The Boardwalk Cafe is bright and spacious, with plenty of places to sit. For a leisure centre, we found the menu to be really reasonably priced, with children’s meals only costing £4. We didn’t eat here on this occasion however, we saw lots of meals coming out and the food looked fantastic. We would definitely plan to stay for lunch on another visit. 

The new Marina Centre Great Yarmouth is so much fun and we had a great time. There are some fantastic activities for families as well as offering fitness classes! We can’t wait to organise another visit soon! 

Other places to visit in Great Yarmouth: