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?

Yeah you can't expect if you live in London to be able to afford to go places tourists do.
Life is crazy now in Britain.

London has heaps of free/cheap stuff to do. You’re lucky. Think of those living in the back end of nowhere.

Aren't museums free well suggested donations ? You could do a few museums and maybe the aquarium, attractions everywhere are expensive but I don't think you need to .spend loads all summer holidays pick a couple of things to do and then free stuff other days.

Merlin passes are bloody brilliant! We pay £15 per month per person for the platinum passes (we also had no sign up fee - got an offer) and you're tied in for a year then it's a monthly rolling contract you can cancel at any time. We often do London dungeon/sealife/shrek experience as they're all next to each other. We also do madame tussauds and regularly go to legoland and chessington. (Our kids aren't old enough really for Thorpe park) we have also planned a trip to alton towers and have often visited the sea life in Brighton. We'll also use them on the way up to alton towers to do warwick castle and Cadbury world.
We take a packed lunch every time we go anywhere merlin and if we do buy the odd coffee etc it's 20% off. We also get discount for staying at the alton towers hotels for example but we are local enough to do legoland and chessington as day trips. They are brilliant- never any hassle booking tickets and we have more than got our moneys worth. Our 2 year old goes free anyway so we don't need a pass for him but also don't have to buy him a ticket. Re think your views is all I'm saying!

Membership of historic royal palaces gives you access to the Tower of London, Kensington palace and Hampton court.
Museum of childhood is free and tube and bus free for children. Try the DLR where they can “drive “ the train.

At 4and 6 the Docklands museum in Canary Wharf is perfect and it’s free. You can get there on the DLR from Bank Station chose the seats at the front so the dcs can try steering the train. Do that in the morning then go to Greenwich park for the best views of London also on the DLR. Then back into central London on the Thames Clipper boats which is an adventure in itself

Check out Bablands on Instagram as she posts about cheap family things to do in London. She’s very honest and will call things out when they’re crap and not worth the money. She will also link to other things in the area so you can easily do a whole day trip without doing a lot of mileage!

Disney you’re an adult at 10!

Foreign tourists.

Get this "adult" to order an alcoholic drink, and then see what they say! 😂

When I go abroad I will pay too much to go in places as I figure we will never be back. So I can see why foreign tourists pay these prices.

At 4 and 6 I’d look for free or cheap activities. Not sure about London but Facebook community pages here are good for this. The council may also offer summer activities eg libraries do crafts.
Transport can be a novelty so get bus or train to a different park with a picnic.
I did see an interesting instagram the other day where a mum had taken her dc to an indoor playground in Bulgaria? And flights plus entry was less than a similar attraction in uk.

But many countries have aquatic and animal places, as well as historical buildings, and no other European country charges what the UK does for entry fees.

Even France, Germany and the Netherlands are reasonable in comparison.

There's an American travel writer I like called Rick Steves. One of his books lists shot notes about areas of Britain. For Devon and Cornwall he says "be prepared to be ripped off" I think it's more that the whole of Britain is a tourist rip off

@penjil - agree. We looked at London zoo last time we visited London, and it was so expensive.
As a comparison, our nearest zoo is bigger than London zoo, all natural habitat etc, and it’s €18.

We pay for a pass here that covers the whole region, it includes most animal parks/ castles/ museums/ mountain cable cars/ outdoor swimming lidos, local pool/ public transport. its valid April to November, and cost me €70 last week per adult, so €140 both. Kids under 15 go free with adult. That will cover 99% of attractions we will go to for 8months of the year. We use it 3-4 times a week in summer

Elvis1956 · Today 17:41
There's an American travel writer I like called Rick Steves. One of his books lists shot notes about areas of Britain. For Devon and Cornwall he says "be prepared to be ripped off" I think it's more that the whole of Britain is a tourist rip off

I think our prices are reasonable compared to a lot of tourist attractions in America. Last November my DH and I went on an hour long land train with commentary around a cute historic town. I expected it to cost about £25 each, it was actually almost double that.

Surely London has to be one of the best place in the country, for free entry to museums, parks, etc?

The merlin passes are actually really good value, especially if you are close to lots of attractions.

We have paid £80pp in the sale for the most basic annual discovery pass. With that, we are planning 4 days at alton towers (staying at a campsite nearby), 2 days at chessington, London Eye, sealife, and maybe the Shrek thing.

It covers legoland too.

We are lucky to have Scottish holidays, so the dates fall nicely for us. But even if we had to pay more for the pass, it's well worth it.

I think there are good discounts with rail tickets too, if you need to travel.

https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/festivals-series/spring-family-fun?tab=events&type=free&type=family-young-people

Free family events at the southbank centre.

If you join Central tickets you can often get tickets for kids theatre or kids concerts for £5 per ticket.

We went to the Eden project over the summer…. Absolute rip off! Oh but don’t worry, it’s an annual pass… I don’t want a bloody annual pass, I don’t live remotely close enough to avail of that!

Just let me pay a normal price for a regular, one off entry!

We went about 4 ish years ago just before the pandemic it's such a rip and we live so far away that there is no chance we could nip back for a visit!

Eden project is a waste of money. And agreed, too far away to nip back to.

There are SO MANY amazing things that aren’t tourist money grabbers in London!

Yes! I found the same with the cereal box 2 for 1 offers lately. No saving at all!

We used this website a lot when the kids were younger and got some great deals https://www.littlebird.co.uk/ideas/family-days-out#?page=2