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?

Loads of free things that we do (I live in London and have similar age kids). Museums, galleries, playgrounds, gardens, general wandering around, usually some kind of walking trail somewhere, and instead of London Eye book free tickets to Horizon 22. Pick one paid for activity if you insist (but to be honest at that age I wouldn't bother, save it until they are older!) and do free activities for the rest. Picnics can save money, and food halls are a good plan on days you can't be bothered to picnic (just make sure you choose one with something your kids will eat - we always look for one which sells pizza slices).

Kids theatre (excluding in the West End) is often fairly reasonable in terms of price, if that's of interest. For West End, check out Magic Monday offers for Lion King and Frozen.

Think like a small child, what are your 6 and 4 year old interested in?

Many years ago I had my 10 year old cousin visit me for a week in London.

All he wanted was to go to the top of a big building and paddle in Trafalgar square. Oh and travel on the tube. But if you live in London that's not much of a treat.

City Farm with free entry https://ktcityfarm.org.uk/

The huge Hindu temple in Neasden, actually a lot of religious places will allow visitors.

Don't just go tot he park go to the park with n explorer kit https://www.amazon.co.uk/kids-explorer-kit/s?k=kids+explorer+kit

Buy one or make your own.

Another vote for Hamleys.

I don't know where you are in London or how often you explore other areas but a visit an area that is different culturally to your own and buy food you don't normally eat, take it home and cook it.

Egt my brother lives in Cornwall where 99.9% of the population is white British so when he visited me (Wolverhampton) I took him to an Indian supermarket.

Our best free days out on a nice day with a picnic when DC were younger was the viewing park at Manchester airport. London must have similar.

We’ve have Merlin passes and have had them for years, we don’t go as regular as some but I still think they are good value and it also means you can go somewhere for a few hours when it suits rather than having to spend a full day to get moneys worth. Not sure what the bad reviews are about, can only guess it’s because you now have to book rather than being able to roll up on day and sometimes all pass availability is gone. We’ve never had a problem with booking as we book a few weeks in advance anyway

Mine had Blue Peter badges. They tend to qualify you for one child free all the good educational attractions.
London museums are free. I never did the donation at the door as I always bought something in the gift shop.

Thanks - some great ideas here. We’re NW, Zone 2. I completely agree that there are lots of free options - which we’ll definitely explore too! But I really like the more touristy activities too, tbh. Obviously not everyone’s cup of tea, but it would be nice to do something that’s not £100+ for a couple of hours. I’ll investigate all the options listed, thanks!

The best cost saving is usually to get a an annual membership for 1-2 places. Then use it fully that year. Ie the palace pass use for Tower of London, Hampton court, etc two or three times that year each location . Then the next year don’t renew, and get a membership say to Kew Gardens, and go there every month for a year. Then Merlin passes another year or national trust if outside London trip. Over 5 years to get everywhere, but at a much more reasonable cost

Wicksteed Parking Kettering is perfect for the 4-6 to and not too expensive

YABU because there’s so much free stuff in London. Mine are grown up now but we had amazing times on very little money when they were those ages. Never felt the need to go to Tower of London etc.
I do feel sad that Kew Gardens isn’t the bargain it used to be though. Back in the day an annual pass was £28 and you could park on the road from 10am. Take a picnic and spend the whole day there. Free indoor play and massive outdoor play area and the palm house and indoor aquarium. No free parking now so effectively not possible.

A day out as a family of 4 is extortionate.

We buy yearly passes for a few places as it works out alot cheaper and we visit them atleast once a month. We have on for the local zoo, a play farm and a medium sized theme park, all 3 in total cost around £380 for the year.

OP it’s still free parking in Bushy Park. We would park up there and spend the day picnicking in the fenced off rhododendron gardens. Always lots to enjoy there.

Touristy things are fine but surely not every day during the holidays most families on a budget pick a couple to spread out during the holidays, I googled the London sealife centre it's £28 which Is a bit steep but doable if that's all you were paying for that week.

Sorry I mis read its £33 if you book.

But there's so many free things to do in London with kids, take a packed lunch, saves money and means you can eat whenever and not stress about finding somewhere suitable/queuing etc.

A boundless pass is good too if you are a civil servant or related to one. Gets free entry to Kew Gardens, the Wetlands and some other stuff.

At least there re a lot of free museums in the UK, especially London - most other countries charge entry fees to these.

I agree with PP who say 'look at it from the perspective of a 4 and 6 year old' - at that age, I really wouldn't have got much out of a lot of paid-for attractions. We were never taken to such places when I was little (not that there were many about - I'm 65 and lived in a village), but what I really loved were picnics in the park and visits to the seaside.

OP, I'd save the expensive venues for when they're older and can appreciate them better.

Most of my young (primary age) childhood was spent in the village playground - we could be in there for hours every day.

Re an earlier post - Sealife is £78-99 on a day in July, ie advanced booking, for 1 adult and 2 children! Anyone over 2 pays £25.

Portsmouth aquarium is nice. It’s compact, but it’s nice and the staff are very passionate. It’s also on gorgeous coastline of southsea, so take a pocket full of change for the arcades, few quid for chips or an ice cream and your set.

We did that a couple of times when dc were little and had spring birthdays. Nice day out.

There are loads of free things in London - Google is your friend!

If you want to do paid for attractions, find offers. If you travel to London by train, there's a 2-for-1 offer (have to book the attraction via the train website and then show train ticket and attraction ticket at attraction), Cadbury's chocolate and Kellogg's cereal do half price vouchers on their packaging regularly (I buy multipacks of chocolate to get the vouchers and then use the chocolate all year), Tesco club card points are just some of them.

But there really is loads to do I. London that is free or very very cheap!

It is. It’s the perfect size for smalls and you don’t need to make it an endurance to feel you get value for money

Tesco clubcard vouchers have been mentioned

Useful members:

A historic houses card
Wetlands card
Kew Gardens

Free stuff:
Science museum
Natural history museum
British museum etc

The exact reason I decided to have just one kid!
I live in London. Forget London Eye ...book tickets (free) for horizon 22. It is the highest viewing platform in the UK... 360 degrees. You need to book tickets tho as they are sold out 2 months before. Harry potter studios is incredible and the best value for money for kids ....4 and under are free.
Battersby playground is by far the best playground in London and worth taking them. Princess Diana Park is really great too.

If you live near a zoo, zoo passes are great. Had some for Chester zoo when my kids were little as we
lived not too far away. Paid for themselves after like 3 visits. We went in all weathers and took our own food. Whipsnade etc probably have their own passes.

If you live in zone 2 then why holiday in London? That's the perk of living here... you can go to anything anytime. Right now your kids would enjoy the Balloon Museum or the bubble museum or (twist museum). Why not go to story world at Stratford.
Why not go visit thomasland which isn't far or paradise wildlife park. I took the train to these, and a 5min taxi and was brilliant.

We were in London for 5 days over the New Year and my kids Loved the Natural History Museum - it’s Free and if you book on their website you skip the Q! They were excited to see Andy’s Clock from CBeebies! Not to mention all the dinosaurs etc!