If you are a die-hard Whovian, then you owe it to yourself to make your way to Cardiff to visit the Doctor Who Experience.
From the outside, the building looks like some kind of high tech tent that was erected over the course of about 12 hours. Who knows, maybe they need to pack it up quickly and deliver it to another planet.
This place is the world's largest collection of Doctor Who props. You won't find anything like this anywhere else. They have everything in this tent....er... Building.
It is essentially a museum of everything Doctor Who, including everything from actual Daleks to the sets from inside of the various tardises.. tardisi? How the hell do you pluralize tardis. Oh well.
When they say the Doctor Who Experience, they are actually referring to a specific part of the tour. When you enter the building, you start off in a lobby with a row of Daleks (see the first image). After purchasing a ticket, you are guided into a room where you are not allowed to use cameras.
I won't say much about this section because it spoils the surprise. But suffice it to say that you are immersed in a Doctor Who Experience. (Wow am I vague...)
After exiting this area, you are free to move around the museum and take photos of whatever you like, which is what I did.
There was certainly a lot of work put into the layout of the museum. They have reproduced the entire tardis sets, including the control panels and environment. The sets are arranged in chronological order, but not necessarily posted that way in this blog entry.
In fact, I will just post a couple of them for the sake of brevity. There are just too many to put in one post! I feel like my posts are getting a bit too long to hold people's attention. I certainly don't want to come off as self indulgent. Unless you want me to. Then I will indulge in myself. That sounds weird.
Each section has some pretty cool mood lighting as well. It really adds to the realism of feeling like you are actually there. I guess technically you are really there since well, it's not real.
Of course we had to take the obligatory pictures like we were being attacked by Daleks and Cybermen. And I definitely took a ride in the Tardis. Believe me.
I even paid my respects to the Face of Boe. I just love that - face...
I'm not really sure what I am pretending to be scared of in this photo. My acting skills need some work.
The museum has pretty much every costume and uniform used in the series. We had just recently binged watched the last several seasons, so it was a lot of fun seeing everything together like this. It was all very fresh in our minds.
I remember as an American kid, the Doctor with the scarf was the first one that I ever saw. I didn't watch the show again until the new series came out with Christopher Eccleston.
The room was full of aliens in full costume as well. All of our favorite friends and foes in all their glory.
I think that these guys creeped me out more than anything. The idea that you can only remember them while looking at them. That was a really creative villian idea!
And of course, who could forget the cute little K-9.
Believe it or not, I have only posted a very small fraction of what they have in this place. I guess you could say that the Doctor Who Experience is like an actual Tardis. Bigger on the inside!
So if you ever get a chance, or are in Cardiff, please check out this incredible museum. If you don't, she will find you.
UPDATE: I just discovered that the Doctor Who Experience was shut down and dismantled. What a shame! It was an amazing collection all in one location. I sure hope they open it again somewhere else.