To blanch at the cost of UK attractions

[Monket]

Thinking ahead to the summer holidays, entertaining a 4yo and 6yo (and newborn) in London, and everything is so expensive… I appreciate we can do some free activities, park/picnic etc, but I’d like to take them to some more attractions eg. the Aquarium, London Eye etc. The reviews of the Merlin passes are very poor, so not inclined to purchase one.

Aibu to think prices are crazy, and to ask for tips and tricks to get cheaper entry?

I'd recommend Adventure Island in Southend over the Merlin theme parks. It's smaller, but still more than enough rides to fill a day, far cheaper, and a lot less time spent queueing.

Hopefield Animal Sanctuary in Brentwood is lovely - look out for their exotic animal days.

Discover Story Centre in Stratford is fab.

Take advantage of all the free museums, galleries and lovely parks (St James has loads of wildlife and a nice play area, Olympic Park has sand and water play, Hornchurch Country Park - near tube station - feels really rural, has new play equipment, a nice cafe, cows...). You can also have a stroll around Covent Garden, South Bank, Trafalgar Square etc watching street performers.

2nd Leeds castle as its a year membership. ZSL membership covers London zoo & Whipsnade. I couldn't even cover half of Whipsnade in a day so its good value. Jump on the train to the Essex/Suffolk/Kent coast for a day at the beach.

I went to London again last year after a 13 year absence. As I was staying a short walk away from the Tower of London I looked it up as I would´ve liked to have revisited as I went 35 years ago with my aunt. I blanched that it cost 30 pounds! They must be joking! I just thought it was a ripoff. Needless to say I didn´t bother.

Even the National Trust prices make me gulp a bit. It’s not worth an annual pass for us as there aren’t that many near us, and a lot of them aren’t dog friendly.

Thanks - some ideas here to look into. We live in Zone 2, so we’ve done the museums to death - but will look into less well known ones and the galleries too. But I’d also like to do some of the big attractions with them. Just not at full price!

You could get your older one to apply for a blue Peter badge, that gets them in for free at some place, so reduces the cost.

Memberships/passes can work out quite cost effective, especially if they cover a few places (eg. NT or English heritage).

Look out for anywhere that offers free entry to under 5's, and make the most of them before 4yo's birthday.

Look out for discounts or vouchers

We went to the RAF museum at Hendon last year. It was free and really good. There were loads of families there with young children. Loads of really old planes there.

Most NT places do allow dogs in most places. Not normally in the houses themselves, but in the surrounding parkland etc they are. We normally take the dog, and as my OH isn't bothered about seeing the houses, he has a wander with the dog while me and kids go inside if we want to (depends on mood and weather!). If he does want to go in, we just split up - him and one kid and then me and the other zoom round.

NT membership does work really well for us. We save the membership fee on parking alone where we live - appreciate not the same for all locations. And if we holiday in UK, always look at NT properties / land nearby for some free days out!

Just read your update about having done loads of museums! If you haven’t heard of them, both Museum of London Docklands and the Maritime Museum both have indoor bookable activity areas for this age range. Very cheap I think around £3 a ticket (museum is free!) and they are so fab. Really jazz up the museum experience for my DS!

I’d second the cereal wrappers for 241, this is great! Especially if you combine with an attraction where the 4yo goes free.

Last summer we found a London Playgrounds book and made a HUGE deal of heading out any sunny day we were free to find a new playground. DS adored opening the book on a random page and the whole transport journey there. Great for learning about new areas of London too 😂 Know that’s not what you’re asking for, but I’ll be wholeheartedly sharing this with every London parent I come across because it was just such a nice, cheap summer 😉

Tesco's club card vouchers!

Tower of London does £1 tickers if you are on UC or other provable low income.

Going back 25+ years before you could look up prices in an instant, it drove me mad, not being able to take the kids anywhere affordable. Often, not able get through on phone to ask, then having disappointed kids if we couldn't afford entry and could only walk through free gardens etc. Particularly educational places, the very kids that need access are denied because of cost.

I think at 4 and 6 some of these places won't be worth it. There's not a lot for that age group at the Tower of London for example and Chessington etc have a dedicated area for the small ones but you're paying a lot then for a few rides.

My dc never tired of the natural history museum, maritime museum and the science museum - all free and with lots to do for kids. They enjoyed Parks visits too - Greenwich Park, Kensington Gardens and there are loads of parks with water play fountains. The Horniman Museum in Forest Hill is great and has a mini aquarium, loads of kids stuff and is in nice grounds. You could go on from there to see the dinosaurs at Crystal Palace park.

Dc loved riding on the DLR to City Farm, again loads to do and free. We used to pack a picnic or for a treat, get a Nando's.

Colchester Zoo is very good and cheaper than London Zoo but you'd obviously have to factor in transport costs.

https://www.hrp.org.uk/tower-of-london/whats-on/ceremony-of-the-keys/?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwh4-wBhB3EiwAeJsppKKJKuDP7rr2wlkYAXQ0iVvUhqSGXSClmFvqp8to0ekF5Su1eLiBMRoCSq0QAvD_BwE#gs.70q4s8

more for older ones but this was fabulous at Tower of London and only £5.

It's always been expensive. I went on holiday to dorset many times and have only ever seen Brownsea island from afar as it was too £££

Vauxhall farm/Deen city farm is very cheap, we go a lot to the london parks which are excellent. Depends which side you are but jn SW there's lots to do. You can look at when the steam day trip trains come into victoria and then get up close without getting on.

My kids love the changing of the guard/seeing the touristy stuff like parade horses in central.

London has so many free places to visit, unlike most countries. Honestly, limit paid for attractions to one and go to museums, more educational too

If you get UC you can get into some london attractions for less than £5 each.
tower of london
london zoo
transport museum and a few others.

Otherwise- look up free museums- there are so many.
we got a coach from Birmingham to Leicester and visited 3 places. All it cost was £10 in Mcdonalds 😂

We love the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust.Slimbridge is our local but they have a reserve in London. They always have loads on for the kids and if you have membership you can visit all their sites in the country

The wetlands centre is lovely

If you get annual membership it’s £78 for 1 adult and up to 6 children.
The playground has water play area, so you could go weekly in summer with swim stuff and picnic and pass hours. Also has various events on. And indoor area

https://support.wwt.org.uk/membership?_gl=11qr09dd_gaNDQxNDk2MDAzLjE3MTE1NDUxMTE._ga_3NTBT76G2J*MTcxMTU0NTExMS4xLjEuMTcxMTU0NTE4NC4wLjAuMA..

Kew Gardens is also worth membership. Can use for walks and picnics, indoor and outdoor playgrounds, cafes, Christmas events, others. It’s less busy in summer than other London parks due to not being free.
https://www.kew.org/membership/become-a-member-kew#kla-membership-options

It is incredibly expensive.

So it’s London attractions you are talking about, not UK ones?

There's so much free stuff in London I would save your money. If you think attractions are expensive now wait til they're teens and sometimes deemed an adult at 15 (ie they're not an adult but you have to pay adult prices!!!)

Adult at 13 in some places I was shocked to see 13 considered an adult 😂

Surely the London Eye is just a tourist trap I wouldn't have expected Lodoners to take their small children on it,