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?

cost me a box of crunchy nut clusters as well and they’re not bloody cheap!! 😅

Using Kids pass will get 25% off the price

We’ve had the merlin discovery passes twice and had no issues. You do need to book in advance though and if you don’t turn up a couple of times you could be blocked for a while so best to make sure you only book if you can go. Libraries do lots of free stuff though.

I was very impressed by the price of attractions in NZ. And when you were inside, the cafe prices etc were very cheap - it was £2 for a half pint of cider in the Green Dragon in Hobbiton. That would have been a minimum of £5 in the UK.

I wonder how the prices compare in the Prancing Pony?

Regarding going off peak; when attractions are cheaper, go on teacher training days. It will be less crowded too.

I think Kew Gardens does, too. Maybe not as low as £1, but a big reduction.

I took MIL to Kew last year, and she got in very cheap because she's on Pension Credit, but I only got a couple of quid off the normal price for being a pensioner. I'm sure people on UC paid the same as MIL.

I was shocked by the price, because I hadn't been for years. There used to be some sort of condition when it was established that the admission charge could never be more than 3d, and on decimalisation they had to charge 1p (2.4d) because of the 3d cap. Having never paid more than 1p, I was shocked to have to fork out £20 or thereabouts.

It was still worth it though.

Booking ahead can give a discount - we had Merlin passes for a few years - £99 each - they tend to do special offers around Xmas/Jan - National trust - loads of stately homes with nice gardens, cafe and play area as well as kids activities - kids maybe free or a family pass. I have a CSSC card - it’s £4.75 a month - gives free entry to English heritage for a family - Scotland and wales too - cheaper cinema tickets - ie picturehouse in south east London normally £15.99 per month but I get in for £9 - free entry to Kew Gardens - you need to work in certain profession - civil service, health care, teaching I think and others - I’m in healthcare - it also has good discounts on other days out - theme parks, zoos plus many others - someone can refer you if they are in it. I’ve added a few friends.

I don’t live in London, and live rurally , but rarely spend money on stuff to do. Here are my tips:

I buy one annual pass a year. There’s a zoo/ farm park near me (1hr away by car) that has loads of parks (climbing frames etc ) and a softplay. It’s 100 quid a year for me and the little one and you can do stuff there come rain or shine. I’ve done this a couple of years in a row, but this year I’m getting an aquarium pass as he’s mad on fish. Then we can go whenever we want. You could also do this for a softplay or similar .

we also do lots of walking - I have an OS map subscription and we have various purposes for the walks - collecting sticks or leaves for crafting, bird watching with his kiddy binoculars, taking pics of different mushrooms etc. we take a ‘picnic’ with us (just a sandwich and fruit) and stop somewhere half way .

we go on ‘bike rides’ where we take his little bike to nearby parks and cycle (and I walk or run) for ages. We also take a ‘picnic’ and some drawing .

we fill a bag up with toys and take them to the park when the weather is nice. Sometimes we take the wooden brio track and he can play with this for hours. I have a little pop up tent (free on Facebook marketplace ) which is great for getting some shade.

we aren’t far from the beach, so in my car boot I always have the ‘beach kit’ which consists of buckets, spades, towels, blankets, a kite etc. we can usually get half to a full day, depending on weather (I got the beach kit from various car boot sales)

I also bought little rain trousers that go over his wellies( also from a car boot) so when it rains we often go puddle jumping. We also go to the beach when it rains and he enjoys playing in the sand just as much.

local (council run) pools often have free swimming times for under 16s. I have a subscription that covers all council pools in my county, so we bounce around from one pool to another taking advantage of the free sessions for tiny. We manage to get 2-4 free swing sessions a week.

Also council run leisure centres often put on free holiday time activities. Our closest leisure centre does free bouncy castle sessions in the hall or messy play as well as things like ‘football camps’.

play dates are always entertaining- last summer myself and my kids best mates parents organised to see each other every Wednesday. We would just meet in the play park and could get 3-5 hours out of that .

if I lived nearer museums, I’d be visiting at least one a week. In London, you’ve got the natural history museum, science museum etc which are free. Even for the little one, it’s entertaining. Take a packed lunch and have a rest in the garden/ on the steps after.

i then alternate ‘going out’ days with staying in days. My son knows what is happening next and it allows me to get housework done. I do toy rotation, so he can get a whole day of play out of his toys. I also get him involved in organising/ tidying his room at the end of the day - it takes up tons of time 😂

I manage to survive on no pay over the summer and I earn about min wage the rest of the year. It’s tough, but you can have a nice fun summer without spending too much . I dreaded the first summer my little one was 3 because I had no idea how I was going to keep him busy. Now I look forward to it. I do have only one kid though 😂

Apologies if something similar has already been said but there is an 'influencer' on Instagram called 'museummum' and she regularly posts an itinerary of what's on in and around London with lots of cheap and free options. I've done loads of really interesting stuff with the kids on her suggestions. Best of luck x

Who told you Merlin passes aren't good value? At 4&6 my pair loved nothing better than cycling through the theme parks. Thorpe park's beach is a particular highlight at that age - golden sand, lifeguards and shallow enough that you don't need to go in with them. We also enjoy our Kew & WWT memberships though the latter is mostly for when we're outside of London.

National Trisr annual membership is a good one

We went to The Tower of London this week and the £1 ticket worked, we needed UC proof and some ID. We worked out it would have been over £100 for us otherwise, totally unaffordable. We also got 50% off at the cafes.

At last something to be grateful for with Universal Credit. Its just a shit show of a system is my experience.

There are quite a few free and cheap attractions in London! 4 and 6 year olds aren't picky!

For starters, I'd suggest the Horniman Museum (lovely little aquarium in the basement), the Museum of Docklands (water and engineering based soft play), the Maritime Museum (boat based soft play) and the fountains and sand/water play at the Olympic Park.

Most of the really expensive attractions like Legoland and Historic Royal Palaces are not significantly nicer than the free or subsidised ones in my experience.

National Trust and English Heritage also good value - lots of adventure playgrounds.

Another fun thing in a year or two is Treasure Trails.

The prices have gone up so much. we went to Somerset at Easter. DH saw a steam railway and went to see how much it was to go on. £35 per adult, so essentially £100 for a family. National Trust place down the road was £45 for a location that would only have taken up half a day. Who is paying these prices?

The UK is hideously expensive, car parking, attractions, food.. all a total rip off.

I'm back in my rather impoverished seaside town now, from France, 2hrs parking £6, a rather insipid looking pasty, £5, coffee £4 (all takeaway) there were 4 of us, so £42 to park and eat rubbish.

We walked out & they wonder why the high street is dead.

We can eat drink and park in a medieval town in france for 1/2 what it costs in the UK, parking there is so much cheaper or usually free.

No wonder some UK car parking app operator has recently become a multi millionaire.

Yes really recommend these. We have done them as groups of adults and looking forward to me daughter being able to take part in a couple of years

We went to Brigham rocks in Yorkshire last year and it was £12 for the car park for the day and the cafe wasn't cheap either , £2.30 for a bottle of water. Had run out of our own in the car and needed a drink. Weather wasn't great so couldn't stay all day.
All geared up to part you with cash same as everywhere else is these days. Parking used to be free in certain places , but that's now a racket. I know places have to be maintained, but those rocks have been there millions of years and not going anywhere.
I can imagine other attractions are a lot more money though especially for families and it's all the adds on that cost

I think transport Museum is a pay-once annual ticket. So is Chatham Historic Dockyard which we loved. How about Docklands Museum, and all the other free ones?

RAF Museum in Hendon is free also

You are right attractions like that are very expensive, especially in London because they are aimed at tourists. I can't think of anything worse than taking kids that age to queue in the height of summer to go to some of those places.

What about seeing what your local library and leisure centre have on. Our library does craft days in the summer. Local splashparks / paddling pools. So many great museums and the smaller ones often put on activity sessions or trails for kids in the summer holidays. I loved the Horniman museum as a child.

Or places like this:

https://www.spitalfieldscityfarm.org/activities-for-children-young-people

London is great because you have lots of wet weather options too.

This is what you need NT membership for, family membership is £13 a month, which gets free parking and free entry to hundreds of sites across the country.

Brimham Rocks isn't the best example as you can climb over the rocks for free, but as you're in the area, at some point you might fancy visiting Fountains Abbey, which would cost a whopping £47.50 for a family day ticket, although parking is free.

Between just those two visits, that's nearly half the cost of annual membership covered, so very easy to get good value from an annual ticket.

Then you just need to make sure you take sufficient food and drink with you to avoid needing to buy from the cafe/shop.

I just took my 9month old and 3year old to the aquarium, london eye and Shrek using the Go City explorer pass, they're also right next to each other. I also took my mum and toddler to Frameless, which he absolutely loved and highly recommend for kids. We spent a few hours there even though it's a hand full of rooms. Hyde park is across the road if you have a picnic after.
They have template attraction visits on their website and you can view what you'd save before purchasing, which is what i have used to weigh up if it's worth it.

Museums are also free!

I didn't see how paying £104 for a pass saved you money, when aquarium is £28 pre booked, London eye is £30 pre-booked, and. The Shrek tour is £21? That's a total of £79.

The pass doesn't include child tickets either, so surely you were buying those too where needed? London eye is £26, aquarium £25 and Shrek tour £16 for the 3 year old. So £67.

So I'm not sure what you're getting at, you paid (possibly?) £160+ for the trip? Hardly cheap.