Chessington and Legoland binned - any recommendations for days out?

[CrispieCake]

We've recently had shit days out at both Chessington and Legoland. Just dreadful from start to finish. I have a fairly hyperactive 7yo and the expectation that young children will queue quietly for hours for rides that last a couple of minutes max is just unbelievable. DC is a bit of a wuss too so a couple of times we waited in line and then he decided when we got to the front that he didn't want to do the ride. So we paid a fortune to... queue. I would rather have a wisdom tooth extracted than spend another minute in places like this.

We're not badly off, but like many other families feeling the pinch a bit. We're not doing an abroad holiday this year, just a few days seaside break and day trips. I can't afford to spend £150+ for my DC to have a shit time and to come home feeling stressed and mugged.

Any recommendations for days out? Any places that you'd blacklist/put in the bin? Useful to know the ages of your DC too.

Based south-east but happy to travel/camp.

I'll start.

Bin
Legoland
Chessington
Thorpe Park

Recommend
Hobbledown
Bocketts Farm
Roarr! (Norfolk)

Woburn safari Park.
Whipsnade Zoo.

The Adventure Park at Windsor Great Park is amazing.

Wellington country park is brilliant

In my experience Legoland Denmark in Billund was much more pleasant, and nearby Lego House a fantastic day out. We’ll never go to Legoland Windsor again, it’s awful. They just let far far too many people in, pure greed.
Chatham Dockyard, the Sea Zoo on Anglesey and Hobbledown (both of them) are all a great day out and worth the ticket price.

Sundown Adventure Land would be amazing for him. Only a few rides no long queues but its so interactive and he can run around and play all day long. Its a great place designed for under 10s

Second/third etc Bewilderwood. Even on a sunny school holiday day
Port Lympne is lovely

We’ve just sone Drayton Manor with our 3yo, absolutely loved it and no more than a 5min queue on anything - bank holiday Monday!

My GC’s always enjoyed Knockhatch in Sussex:

https://knockhatch.com/

This is so reassuring!! I've always gone to attractions mid week and even then the weather is usually crap so I have a terror of going on a nice day in the summer 😂 but headed to PP on a Saturday in May and the comments like this is seriously helping my anxiety about queuing with two small children!

Not necessarily local to OP but here are some places that I think are a really enjoyable good value day out:

The National Railway Museum in York. I didn't expect it to be such fun as none of us is big into trains but it's just this huge space and you can clamber on most of the engines. It's really good. Also like the York Castle museum both are better than the Yorvik centre.

Gladstone pottery museum in Stoke on Trent was also surprisingly good. Loads of interactive pot making and painting and they fire your pots for you.

The Ironbridge gorge museums especially Blists Hill. The teens still ask to go back there mainly for the traditional fish and chips cooked in dripping which they declare are the best ever.

Bewilderwood we absolutely loved for a long time from tiny kids to pre teens

My family are not big into roller coasters but we did enjoy West Midlands and Woburn safari parks. They do like a water park too and recently had a good day out at The Wave in Coventry.

The only way I think the theme parks are reasonable is having merlin passes. It's far cheaper to go lots and pay monthly

Appreciate that's not an expense larger families can manage necessarily

I wouldn't bother with them if we didn't use them frequently unless you fork out for ride access passes

They become a cheap day out for smaller families who pay monthly for passes and live near enough to use a lot, otherwise they are hideous value

You name places that seem likely you live near enough to go to the free interactive museums? Not half as boring as a museum might sound...

Fast pass only for us or its not worth going. There are some good places though that you dont need one for like adventure island, godstone farm, kent life.

Could we please ask@mumsnet to move this out of chat and to somewhere it won’t disappear? I’d like to save it for future reference!

I have an asd kid that doesn't always cope well with the big attractions (queues, and often too busy and overwhelming) and so we try to find smaller or less busy attractions, take picnics etc. In London one of our recent days out was a tour of Tower Bridge. Great views walking over it and you get to see the engine rooms etc. Can’t remember the price but it wasn’t silly.

Sky Garden was fun for an hour and free (definitely prebook slots when they are released, I think weekly about a month ahead?) and then it’s nice to walk around the City, head to a river boat or whatever.

Tilbury Fort was a surprise hit - you drive through the industrialised parts of the Thames estuary and Essex to get there, but then you emerge onto a lovely green site, not at all busy (we went on a May weekend and there were about a dozen other people there) and with lots to climb around and explore. Its English Heritage so free
with membership but not expensive anyway. Open Wed - Sun.

We much prefer Whipsnade Zoo to London Zoo (for the space - and elephants!) and the annual pass is decent value if you can go to the zoos a couple of times, as the annual pass works at both.

Colchester zoo

We really enjoy the transport museum - a ticket lasts for 12 months, reasonably priced, lots of interactive exhibits and things to climb on for smaller children, area to eat packed lunches and well organised / good facilities etc. For our children going on the tube etc is part of the experience. Nice little coffee shops etc nearby too for adults ;)