National Aquatic Center, Dublin

We brought the kids to the National Aquatic Center in Blanchardstown yesterday to celebrate Daragh's birthday. First of all it should be said that the place is great, we spent about 2.5 hours there and all had a good time with the flumes, pools, lazy river etc.

However I cannot help but to feel ripped-off. It cost €58 for the family...2 adults and 3 children aged 10, 7 and 5. The "standard" family apparently consists of 2 adults and 2 children and costs €46 so with my deviant crew we had to dish out an additional €12.I think that this is an entirely unreasonable amount to pay for a leisure activities like this so I decided to compare with other water parks.

A 90 minute session in the Lagan Valley LeisurePlex in Lisburn would have cost my family £18. They have sessions - which means that they do not assume that families will not opt to spend an entire day in the pool. We were all hungry and tired after 2.5 hours at the NAC. Even if we wanted to the operator does not allow people to go out to the cafe area and then re-enter so you go hungry or eat mars bars if you want to spend the whole day at the NAC. Even if you assume we need to pay for 2 sessions in Lisburn it would cost £36 (€45).

At the Olympic facility in Homebush, Sydney - a fantastic facility which I have visited - a family pass costs $20 AUD (€12) and allows for 2 adults and 3 children.

At WaterWorld2000 in the UK our session would have cost £39 (€49) but we would have gotten a lot more variety for our money as they have many more rides.

Even Dublin zoo which is a place where you could easily spend 4-5 hours costs €47.

Anyway I think they have their pricing all wrong. Clearly it is 20% more expensive than the next most expensive option. It does not have a product which is 20% better. They could go with a system which allows people to stay for a limited time. This would easily be enforced by the pool attendants, particularly those who control access to the slides. If it was costing me €30 a visit - I may go 2-3 times a year. As it is I will not go back for at least 12 months or until the sticker-shock fades - whichever comes first.

Technorati Tags: Dublin, Awuatic Center, Dublin Tourism, Dublin Family

Cars, Kids and windscreen wipers

I just got a new car - a VW Passat which I am very please with. It still awaits it's first dent/scratch but the kids have already filled it with sand off the beach and the interior has had many near-misses with Easter eggs in the past week. While on the subject can anyone explain to me why my kids insist on entering/exiting the car through the door furthest away from their seat? (eg. if they are sitting in the rear-driver side, they leave through the front-passenger door...!) - should I return them to the shop and have them re-programmed?

One thing that struck me as strange was the lack of a rear windscreen wiper. I am told that saloon cars dont generally have such a thing whereas hatchbacks do - uh? My research on the topic unearthed this commentary which does not satisfactorily explain it for me - I would have thought that hatchbacks need a wiper more than saloons because rain from the roof streams down onto the rear windscreen when the car is moving? But why not have one on saloon cars also? Am I the only person who needs one in the morning when there is dew on the rear windscreen? Am I the only one who cannot wait for the heated rear windscreen to clear the dew?