REVIEW – Paw Patrol Live – The Great Pirate Adventure
Have you heard of Paw Patrol Live? Erin has been a huge Paw Patrol fan for as long as I can remember, and despite being 5 now and the variety of her favourite shows increasing, she will always happily sit and watch Paw Patrol on the TV with huge amounts of concentration. She loves the Mayor Goodway and her chicken, Ryder and Pup Pad, and of course her favourite character, Skye. Not only have we been lucky enough to road test many of the toys from the Paw Patrol merchandise range over the last 12 months, but last year we went to the first ever Paw Patrol Live – Race to the Rescue.
I had no idea what to expect from the tour last year, but we had an absolute ball. The outfits were amazing (with life size characters so fab that we almost forgot there were humans inside) and a plot that kept everyone entranced and full of anticipation the entire way through.
When we heard that Paw Patrol Live was returning for a new show in 2018 – Paw Patrol Live – The Great Pirate Adventure – Erin couldn’t wait to go and watch it again and see what this years story line had to offer. We were sent our tickets with a surprise Pirate Treasure Hunt and Erin really got into the spirit of it (even if she did struggle to say Ahoy me hearties properly!! 🙂
We headed along to the NIA last weekend which is our local concert venue here in Birmingham. This also involved a short ride on the train, but as with most children, they absolutely loved this element of the journey, and walking across to the venue through Brindley Place we had two very excited girls on our hands!
We had great seats in the venue with a fantastic view of the stage, which was made up with giant backdrops just like the imagery from the TV show. I hadn’t read too much about the theme of this years Paw Patrol Live – Great Pirate Adventure show in advance, other than that it was pirate related, so was a little bit surprised early on when the story line seemed familiar. It turn out the plot of this years Paw Patrol Live is very similar to one of the existing TV episodes (Season 1 episode 26 I think). It’s Pirate Day in Adventure Bay and Ryder and the PAW Patrol discover a secret treasure map while on a mission to rescue Cap’n Turbot from a mysterious cavern. It’s up to Chase, Marshall, Skye and all their heroic pirate pup friends to save the day and find the pirate treasure before Mayor Humdinger finds it first!
Erin also recognised the story line (whilst Neve of course didn’t have a clue), so at first I was concerned that this could be a bit of disappointment, but she actually loved seeing the story come to life, and it was actually really nice for her to be able to recognise the scenario but watch it in a totally different environment.
As per last year the outfits and choreography of Paw Patrol Live – Great Pirate Adventure were great, and the actors were VERY well cast. Ryder was very bright and enthusiastic which was somewhat infectious, and Cap’n Turbot and Skye looked and sounded just like the characters on the show. At times again we found ourselves forgetting that they were outfits – which sounds ridiculous but they really are very clever and allow the actors to move around like huge lifelike pups!
In Paw Patrol Live – Great Pirate Adventure, the story unfolds with lots of drama and excitement, holding the girls attention well, although they did start to get fidgety towards the end. The show is quite long at an hour and half in duration (with just a 15 minute interval in the middle), so a bit of bribery with snacks was required towards the end. That said, with that many children present, the atmosphere was very relaxed – I did see some children were dancing along in the aisles as opposed to at their seats, so it wouldn’t have been too much of a concern if Neve did want to get up and wonder around a little.
The sheer delight on the girls faces when Skye arrived on stage was amazing, and I would pay the entry ticket for that alone, as it was a lovely sight to see. The girls also both loved it when the giant PupPad appeared from the side of the stage, with characters standing behind it as if they were on the screen.
Overall, this years Paw Patrol Live – The Great Pirate Adventure was a fun story, with great energy, songs and music. You can fully expect to find yourself jigging along, and mini Paw Patrol fans will really love seeing their favourite characters dance and talk in front of their eyes. Many of the children in attendance had dressed up, so I felt a little guilty that we hadn’t done the same, although the girls didn’t seem to mind. As stated above, the show is quite long, so I would recommend taking some snacks along with you if you want to keep them in one place (food at the venue can be expensive).
We are looking forward to seeing what 2019 brings for PAW Patrol Live and hope that they will be back to Brum again next year! Whilst the Birmingham tour date has now passed, you can get tickets for other venues across the UK at PAW Patrol Live.
*We were invited to attend PAW Patrol Live – Great Pirate Adventure for the purpose of this review, however as always, all thoughts and opinions are my own*Â
The organization of this show was worthless. Before we went through the metal detector, a lady started yelling at us (literally) that, even though it clearly said online that we bought “seats” and it said nothing about how many people, we needed to buy tickets for our 1-year old and 3-year old. Our original plan was to just put them on our laps. Why else would you bring 2 adults to an expensive show like that? It’s not like it’s for us to enjoy. After we left the line, and yes, this made us miss out on 15 min. of the show (we were treated like dirt), we asked the people at the counter. They confirmed that we had to buy a ticket for our 3-year old, but not for our 1-year old (way to get your facts straight, staff). So she asked the guy if a 27 dollar ticket was still available. He said there wasn’t. So now we had to buy a 33 dollar ticket. (Which was either a lie or a mistake, because when we entered the arena, we saw plenty of seats that should cost the lowest). After more bickering and arguing between them, we finally made it to the show, and of course, our toddler’s seat was really far away from us. So let me get this straight, just to take our money, you just made us buy a seat somewhere on the other side of the arena that we aren’t even going to use? These people are scammers. I won’t even mention the 15 dollar popcorn or the other overpriced items they tried to upsell. My advice: Skip this show. They have no respect for their guests, and they try to squeeze every dollar out of them. It was their mistake for being unclear on their website, and it didn’t even make any sense. They didn’t give us a compensation for how much time we lost over it. My wife was crying at the counter, and my two toddlers were screaming while the metal detector lady was yelling, “Your 1-year old needs a ticket! She needs a ticket! No! Nobody goes in for free! They both need tickets! Get out of line! You need 2 more tickets!”
Eek gosh, sounds like you had a bad experience for sure! Hopefully the Uk tour was slightly better organised! X