As the school holidays were drawing to a close, the Smithy family had one last day out together to close off the summer in style. We decided to go urban this time, so we headed into central Manchester.
We did a few different things, including buying the kids ridiculously big ice creams from Knoops, but the highlight of our day was the Manchester Museum of Illusions.
I had heard a lot about this place on social media – the photos always looked super fun – so I was excited to go check it out for myself. I wasn’t disappointed. It was loads of fun and the kids were totally engaged from the second we walked in, although I would caveat this by saying you should manage your expectations in terms of time vs money spent.
What I mean by that is you can do the whole thing properly in an hour to an hour and a half, yet it’s priced between Ā£25 and Ā£30 for adults, and kids are only a few pounds cheaper. You can get better prices through third party resellers oddly enough, but still, it’s not exactly cheap. We used LovetoVisit and paid Ā£17.85 for adult tickets, Ā£15.05 for my son, and my daughter was free as she is under 4.
Anyway, here’s my review š
A Free Flowing Playground
Your journey starts at the bottom of some escalators off Market Street, the main high street in central Manchester – I think the site used to be a Sports Direct, not that this matters.
There’s a little taster illusion at the top of the escalators and then you are into the shop where you can find the ticket desk. There are also free lockers to use here if you have stuff that you don’t want to drag around with you. Very useful.
Inside the museum itself, there are a mixture of static illusions and exhibits, big and small, which you can try, plus the kind of ‘feature’ areas, like the street scene, the upside down tram, the spinning bridge, the room of mirrors, etc.
Literally everything in there is interesting, most of it is also lots of fun, and some of it will really challenge your senses.
There is a route to follow through the museum, but you are free to go back and forth as you please, so you can get to the end then head right back to the beginning if you like. Not that it would take long. The floor space is actually pretty small, but there is a lot packed in there. My son was charging around all over the place.
This is one of the museum’s strengths. The ability to free roam safely means you can let the kids off their leads (metaphorical leads, we don’t actually keep our children on leads ššāš¦ŗ) and give them freedom to explore. Our kids were excitedly running ahead then coming back to get us and show us what they had found. The sense of discovery was really exciting for them.
The museum staggers entries so it shouldn’t ever be too crowded, but there are short queues for some of the rooms/areas. I’m talking 5 minutes or so, nothing to worry about.
All of the things you can see and do have wall mounted instructions and explanations too, so you won’t be stood wondering what something is or what you’re supposed to do with it.
Photo Opportunities
Part of the experience is snapping photos of yourselves taking part in the illusions, so make sure you keep your phone handy. Staff are on hand at some spots to help with photos, and there are phone stands perfectly positioned at others so you can set a timer.
My little girl was still a bit young for some of them, but my little boy who is 6 could do all of them except one – and even then he was only just too little.
You can get really creative with some of them too. The street scene and the upside down tram, for example, have countless ways to pose for funny photographs, and all the mirror based illusions have lots of possibilities too.
There are other illusions where you can pull funny faces to add to the scenario, or generally mess about and let your silly side out.
Some illusions are less about taking photos and more about the experience itself. The spinning bridge, for example, doesn’t spin at all, but the walls around it do. It made me feel sick and I could not walk in a straight line however much I tried. It tricks your brain into thinking you are off balance. Totally freaky. My son ran across it about seventy five times… š«£
We liked being inside the giant kaleidoscope too. We have some beautiful photos from that one.
Brilliant for Kids
Manchester Museum of Illusions is especially great for kids because you can touch and play with pretty much everything you can see, in fact it’s encouraged, so there is very little need to rein them in or tell them to “stop” every 30 seconds. They can dive in and explore in any way they want to, and the results of that exploration are genuinely entertaining.
My kids laughed a lot, were wide eyed with amazement, and loved looking at photos of themselves upside down, or looking like they were floating, or in the infinity room with hundreds of reflections of themselves.
Plus, it’s educational, and they don’t even realise. My kids wanted to know how these things work, they asked so many questions, and they experimented with puzzles that challenged their minds in ways that were new to them.
It might be pricey, but it’s a unique experience and one the family will all equally enjoy. We spent about 90 minutes in there and enjoyed every one of them, so it’s well worth it if you ask me! A great way to end the holidays before the kids go back to school.