My thoughts on The Doctor Who Experience

This past weekend, I thought it was about time I got myself over to Cardiff to check out The Doctor Who Experience. Was it all I hoped for? Yes and no.

Arrival in Cardiff Bay

I was excited before the trip and intentionally stayed clear of reading reviews so I could experience it fresh without thinking “ah, this must be the bit I read in that review…”. I’m glad I did that too; there were a couple of great little moments that would have been potentially spoiled if I’d gone review hunting.

Before you even get to the Experience, there are a couple of nice touches that Cardiff Council added to the area, which got you in the mood for the imminent Doctor Who geekery ahead. If you park in any of the car parks near The Bay, you’ll see small Dalek signs on lamp posts to guide you on the Experience.

When you get near the building, you’ll see the TARDIS close by, out on a small walkway above the water. Brilliant.

The First Part of the Experience

Once inside, but before heading into the Experience proper, you can grab some coffee in the cafe and relax while listening to some Doctor Who music. Don’t miss the opportunity to check out the props littered around as you’re waiting for your group to go in. Seeing Bessie full-size was a treat, along with the full-size Triceratops model from “Dinosaurs on a Spaceship” and Daleks here and there.

We were then greeted by a very nice chap who gave us the run-down on what to expect, rules on photography and the safety stuff, then we were in.

For the first 20 minutes or so, it’s all interactive. You’re thrown into a uniquely written story featuring Matt Smith (a couple of years later, this was replaced with a new story with Peter Capaldi), guiding you through the unfolding onslaught of various Doctor Who villains.

The first room was a small cinema where you were shown what was basically an extended trailer for Doctor Who over the years. Having “This is Gallifrey” as the background music was a nice touch.

You’re then ushered into a room filled with recognisable props from the show and the TARDIS. Matt Smith gives you the synopsis of the story, then you’re straight into an actual TARDIS console with moving floors and “functioning” controls. The kids in this group were offered first dibs (rightly so) on using these, and they loved it. After that, we went through another couple of rooms with Daleks, Weeping Angels, then a final cinematic video before letting you into the free roam section to check out the props and costumes.

The first part of the tour was really good. The room with the Daleks advancing and the video of the Dalek fleet battle was well done. The walk through the forest with the Weeping Angels was creepy and atmospheric. The narrative approach to get you through those sections was superbly implemented and hats off to the Experience team; it made the first part of the visit really enjoyable.

Costumes, Props and More

After the more interactive part was done, we were left on our own to look around the various props, costumes and other stuff. I loved the costumes on display and the actual TARDIS set interior from the 9th and 10th Doctors era, but after finishing up and heading upstairs, I felt like there wasn’t as much on display as I hoped for.

It’s quite sparse in this section, and seeing as they only let a set number of people through at a time, it’s never going to get too busy while looking around. It would have been cool to have made use of the building a bit more and have a lot more design-related stuff on the walls, and make use of the ceiling, get people looking up and feeling like there’s Doctor Who stuff all around them.

The actual costumes and props themselves were very good. The numerous outfits of the Doctor were great, as were the companions. The actual TARDIS interior set from Eccleston/Tennant was amazing, and I spent a lot of time looking at it in detail.

It’s in this section that you truly feel you’re among “your people”. The place is bustling with conversation and commentary from other Doctor Who fans. It feels akin to being at a convention but it’s all Doctor Who. There were a few cosplayers, which I loved, and overall it was a lovely wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey collection of fans.

Upstairs, the Dalek’s though out the years were awesome, along with the Silence lair. Some other bits dotted around were cool, such as the other TARDIS console, a chained-up Weeping Angel and the miniature sets.

Predictably, on your way to the exit is the gift shop, and I actually found this to have some pretty good stuff. I spent more than I intended! Apart from the usual stuff you can pick up online at the BBC Shop, there were some cool t-shirts I hadn’t seen before, plus some other swag that I noticed.

Final Thoughts

So that’s my visit to the Experience. Overall, I was impressed with it, and I loved a lot of the items that were on display. The interactive part with Matt Smith was great and set the tour up nicely. The second part, where you’re free to look around, was slightly disappointing as I was expecting more stuff to get stuck into, but that’s a minor complaint when viewing the Experience as a whole.

Fans of Doctor Who will love it, but partners or friends unfamiliar with the show might find it rather dull.

Update!

I’m writing this in January 2026, after editing some articles that needed some formatting fixes after implementing our new design. I thought it was important to update this for two reasons: one, I needed to re-add some pictures and fix some grammar, and secondly, I went to the Experience a couple of times after this initial visit, where things had changed a little and way more things were added.

On later visits, I was very impressed with how much they added to the second part. Up to when it closed, there were lots of additional props and costumes, as well as the gift shop growing in scale, too.

Reading back through this article, it’s obvious I wasn’t hugely taken with the second part, where you can free roam and look at the props and costumes. On my subsequent visits, they added quite a bit more, and you needed to walk around a couple of times to read everything and take it all in.

In closing, I’m absolutely gutted that The Doctor Who Experience has closed since writing this initial review. The last time I visited was ~2016, and Cardiff was beautiful that day. Sitting in a cafe a short walk from the Experience, I clocked loads of Doctor Who cosplayers, t-shirts and hoodies. It was clear that Cardiff Bay was a hive of Doctor Who fandom.

Being inside the Experience that last time felt amazing. The place was busy (not uncomfortably so), and overhearing other fans’ reactions and their conversations brought a smile to my face.

We didn’t let it go without a fight, though. Thousands of Doctor Who fans, myself included, signed the petition (of which there were multiple) and here’s a clip of Bex Ferriday handing it over officially to the staff at the Experience.

Thank you, Bex!

There were various reasons why the Experience closed, mainly Cardiff Council not making back enough money through ticket sales to pay back the subsidy on the building. Of all the things in Cardiff to get rid of when tightening the purse strings!

The leadership on the Council should have looked at the bigger picture. When Doctor Who is going through a shaky time and we don’t have it on our screens, where do fans now flock to in order to show their love and celebration of the show?

So, as gutting and upsetting as it is that we no longer have The Doctor Who Experience, you have to move on and be thankful that we had it at all. However, anyone reading this from Cardiff Council and the BBC: bring the bloody thing back.