Coral Island Blackpool Review : Days Out With Kids

Welcome to our Coral Island Blackpool review!

This May bank holiday weekend we decided on a weekend away to Blackpool. We are relatively local as it’s only an hour or so away, but when it comes to days out with kids there’s so much to do. We therefore knew we could easily fill a weekend with attractions so we opted to stay over for two nights. One of the days we visited Coral Island.

Coral Island Blackpool Location

Coral Island is really easy to find and is right near the Blackpool Tower on the Central Promenade. There is a large pay and display carpark just behind Coral Island with plenty of spaces. We decided to walk from our hotel by the South Pier but there are plenty of buses and trams if you wanted to save your legs. Coral Island is Blackpool’s largest indoor free admission family attraction and with it’s distinctive skull and parrot on its exterior, you can’t miss it!

Coral Island Blackpool Opening Times

There’s plenty of time to visit Coral Island Blackpool as it’s open from 10am until midnight. We visited in the morning and easily spent a few hours there as we stayed until after lunch.

Coral Island Blackpool Amusements

There’s plenty of slot machines and arcade games to keep the whole family entertained. My little ones love the traditional 2p pusher machines and it’s great knowing you’re not throwing too much money away! There were plenty of themed games including Jurassic Park and Star Trek. My eldest son loved the roller machines, where you roll a 2p and land it within a designated area to win tickets. All the 2p machines enabled you to collect tickets as well as the opportunity to win money so there is a double chance of winning. We saved up our tickets and managed to exchange them for a small toy each for the kids.

There are a variety of other machines, including the traditional slot machines which are great for adults. There was also a separate over 18s section but obviously we didn’t venture in there since we were with the kids!

Coral Island Blackpool Rides

Coral Island is deceptively large inside and amongst all the slot machines and games, there’s even rides for the children to enjoy.

My youngest two loved the Pirate Flyer which is almost like a monorail ride as it runs across the ceiling of Coral Island. The kids are given little guns and loved trying to shoot the pirates as we passed.

There’s also a Ghost Train and a small ride with cars and other vehicles for younger children to enjoy. My daughter had a great time on this one, but it was too young for our other two.

The boys did however love the VR experience. They shrieked with laughter and it was entertaining just watching them! Anna had a go on the pony ride/game and had no idea what she was doing but had a great time regardless!

Coral Island Blackpool Other Attractions

A highlight was definitely the Camel Derby. Our competitive sides came out for this one! The idea is to roll balls into holes, the more balls you get in the holes, the quicker your camel moves. The first past the line, wins! My eldest loves anything like this and won two out of the three games!

Coral Island Blackpool Food and drink

Kids eat free at all the restaurants within Coral Island which is a great deal. For every adult mail purchased, a children’s meal is free. There’s Captain Jack’s Bar & Grill and the Buccaneer which are restaurants selling food such as ribs, burgers and chicken. There’s also Peggy’s Snack Bar selling smaller portions of hot and cold food.

We had lunch at Fish and Chips…when in Blackpool and all that! We were impressed with the portion sizes, even the kids’ meals were generous.

Coral Island Blackpool Overall Impressions

We really enjoyed our visit to Coral Island. It was clean and tidy and where some areas of Blackpool could do with sprucing up, Coral Island was really well presented. There’s plenty to keep the whole family entertained and a great way to while away a few hours!

Disclaimer : We were offered complimentary access to the rides and lunch for the family, and were compensated for our time. As always opinions are my own.