Exclusive ‘golden tickets’ for National Marine Park Open Weekend up for grabs

18th March 2022

Tickets for the National Marine Park Open Weekend at the National Marine Aquarium on 1 to 3 April sold out in just four minutes – but if you missed out, there’s now a chance to win special golden ticket experiences.

The incredible once in a lifetime experiences up for grabs are:

• Feeding Friday the Green Turtle
• Shell scrub and meet and greet with Friday the Green Turtle
• Feeding Spaghetti the Octopus
• Meet and greet Spaghetti the Octopus
• Feeding the animals in the Eddystone exhibit
• Behind the scenes tours for four people

These prizes also include access to the open weekend at the Aquarium.

Councillor Nick Kelly, Leader of Plymouth City Council, said: “We knew that the National Marine Park open weekend would be popular however we were absolutely astounded at how quickly the tickets sold out, so we’re delighted to be giving away extra opportunities to attend with some money-can’t-buy experiences to enjoy at the National Marine Aquarium.

“The open weekend will give the people of Plymouth the opportunity to learn more about our plans for the Plymouth Sound National Marine Park and to share their own thoughts, as well as hopefully inspiring a love of the ocean environment that is right on our doorstep.”

From Monday 21 March until Friday 25 March, there will be a giveaway hosted each day on Facebook Live at 12pm.

The live videos will be hosted across the National Marine Park partner pages – including Mount Edgcumbe, the National Marine Aquarium and Mount Batten Watersports and Activities Centre. They’ll also all be shared across to the Plymouth Sound National Marine Park Facebook page, so make sure to check there every day at noon.

Viewers will need to work out where the video is being filmed from and every day the first person to find them in person will win the prize. If there’s more than one of each prize up for grabs, the first commenter to guess the location correctly will also be a lucky winner.

Plymouth Live will also be giving away one of the exclusive prizes on their own channel, so keep an eye out for that.

Marcus Williams, Curator at the National Marine Aquarium, said: “We are delighted to be able to put on these exciting experiences, to allow members of the community to see the work that goes on behind the scenes at our Aquarium. We hope that connecting with our animals first-hand will showcase the hard work that we put in to caring for these stunning Ocean species.”

During the National Marine Park open weekend, the whole Aquarium will be open to explore for ticketholders, with the Ocean Discovery Rangers on hand to immerse visitors in Ocean experiences. There will also be a range of special activities to introduce and showcase all that the National Marine Park has to offer including fun and inspiring talks and shows, interactive workshops and games, immersive virtual reality experiences, ‘meet the mermaid’ sessions, crafts for toddlers and storytelling pop-ups.

The Plymouth Sound National Marine Park Horizons Project has been made possible thanks to money raised by National Lottery players with £9.5 million of funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

To find out more and to see all the latest updates, please visit www.plymouthsoundnationalmarinepark.com.