A 37-acre zoo that primary-age legs can actually complete: elephants, gorillas, giraffes, orangutans and sea lions whose display remains the daily anchor event.
It sits in Stanley Park's shadow, so combine the two: zoo in the morning, free park and boating lake after lunch. Book online for cheaper entry; check the sea lion times on arrival and build the loop around them.
There are lion cubs and an elephant calf this year, and either would carry a visit on its own; a zoo with both at once is having a very good year. The other new thing is the Kidepo Trail at Giraffe Heights, a walkway that puts you at giraffe head height, which is the photograph everyone leaves with.
The zoo's real advantage over Chester is dose. It is 37 acres to Chester's 130, so a five-year-old can walk all of it without being carried, and you are done in a solid half day rather than surrendering the whole one. Combined with Stanley Park next door, which is free, it makes the best-value full day in Blackpool that does not involve sand.
What it costs: Advance online tickets are cheaper than the gate. A 10% newsletter signup code stacks on a future visit.
Halloween at Blackpool Zoo turns into a Wizarding Wildlife School, with classes and activities included in normal admission. An optional VIP experience for ages 5 and up costs £19.99 extra.
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★★★★★ 4.6 across 17,786 Google reviews.
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The big one. Nickelodeon Land covers the primary ages properly while the Big One and the wooden coasters wait for brave older kids. August queues are real; go in expecting them and it is a great day.
Tower Top's glass floor 380 feet up, a proper circus that still knows how to play to kids, and the famous ballroom below for a fancy ice cream. Buy the attractions you want rather than the bundle you will not use.
The UK's biggest indoor waterpark, kept at tropical temperature: proper toddler pools and mini slides at one end, big flumes at the other. Rainy-day Blackpool solved.
A solid seafront aquarium with an ocean tunnel and rockpool sessions - the reliable wet-weather hour when the beach plan falls apart.
Blackpool's grand free option: Italian gardens, a big boating lake, one of the best playgrounds on the coast and model boats on the lake. The antidote to a wristband day.
A miniature world of tiny houses, castles and villages set in an acre of gardens next to Stanley Park. Gentle, old-fashioned and quietly magic for the under-9s.
One email a week: what is on this weekend within a sensible drive, and the places worth booking before they go.