King Tut at the Dome

[MyEye]

If you're thinking about taking 3/4/5 YOs, don't. I've never seen/heard so many bored children in my life.
It was also crammed and very overheated (one lady passed out). Plus there's crappy Egypto-chill musak everywhere, evoking the atmosphere of a mid-market beauty salon
Getting a leg wax would have been more fun
There you go, saved you time and money

Darn, have already bought tickets for next Feb -- my mum read me a review saying how dire it was, and what you are saying confirms it! Do you think it will have calmed down by next year??? I hate hot places and so does DS2 (5)!! Pooh.

Hopefully they'll have turned the heating down by then...
Every minute I was in there, I could feel the cash being squeeeeeezed out of me

Argh -- sounds hideous. DS1 is (like lots of kids his age) a real Egypt freak, so guess I got swept along with it all. How long does it take to go round the exhibition? Would we better off flogging tickets and going to the British Museum for the day?!

tbh, the stuff on show is well-lit, and also there's not too much of it... it's just so disneyfied...
If he's interested in the egyptians, he'll probably love it. I'm guessing the children we saw weren't
We went round in under an hour

Well, that solves the problem of whether to see King Tut or the Terracotta Army when we visit London in a couple of weeks.

'Well-lit' you are digging hard for good things to say, aren't you?! DS1 will probably love it, but DS2 is not a big fan of museums full-stop looks like we will have to do some serious bribery ('just look at the lovely historical artifacts and then we'll go to Pizza Hut!'). I guess at least we know not to wear too many layers ... did someone really pass out? That's the sort of thing I do ...

ah... but the trouble is getting tickets for the terracotta army. It looks sold out forever

Certainly no shortage of bribey lunchplaces at the Dome. What a weird place it is!

Yes, a lady collapsed by a key tut artefact. the security guard was trying to hurry a great crowd through the room where she'd fainted, 'for elf and safety, we got an ambulance coming'. this made me very tetchy, as I'd paid £20 (that's including all the extras like audio guide which was good actually and various dubious admin charges) for this ghastly experience, and I was jolly well going to take my time

I could hear her moaning over the musak. (Nah, just kidding. I'm sure she was fine.)

What about the curse? Doesn't that concern you more than how common the security guard was?

They really ought to have renamed it the Wah Wah Hut for this rather cheesy sounding display
Ds is going with school, I might send him in lightly dressed that day
He is 8 so should find the wonderful artefacts of interest, and will be in the clutches of his teachers, thereby curbing his pester power
It sounds terrible MyEye, what a huge shame
Hands up who queued for Tut at the BM in the 1970s?

Marina, I remember queuing with my parents and godparents.
I was aged 2 ish.
I remember being lifted up to see the mask in the glass case.
I don't remember weeing on my father's shoes on the underground during the same trip.
But he does.

I remember my sister going to the BM with cousins in town. I was wide-eyed at the book she bought home which had a big picture of the mask on the front page (if anyone remembers that too).

Pity about the Dome, I would like to have taken 6yo DD1 in New Year, she's into Cleo big time!

We went on Monday. I am very glad that I went (been waiting 30 years for this) but was also disappointed.

The artifacts on display are really beautiful BUT there are actually not that many (130 I think) and the most impressive items are missing. No death mask, no leopard couch, no chariot, no sarcophagus, no nested shrines etc. What looks like the death mask on all the publicity photos is actually a close-up his 'coffinette' which held his liver or something and is only 18 ins high.

I'm glad we got in for free otherwise I would have felt cheated instead of just disappointed.

No leaflets or guidebooks to take round with you. You have to pay for an audio guide or rely on the rather brief captions to the displays. Having said that, DD (8) really enjoyed her audio guide and it kept her interested.

• It was VERY HOT.
• The Dome is bloody miles from anywhere.
• The gift shop is the most amazingly tacky rip-off ever! £19.95 for a lightweight children's T shirt! £9 for a plastic ruler! £4 for a tiny fridge magnet! Even the shop staff seemed embarrassed by some of the prices. Bought an overpriced ankh pendant necklace for DD which came apart two steps outside the door.
• No loos once you enter the exhibition. Make sure you take DCs before joining the queue to get in.
• Took us around 90 mins to go round.

We are taking dd (8) in the new year but she's been daft about Ancient Egypt for years.

For anyone not too fussed about authenticity, there's a pretty good permanent exhibition in Dorchester. They have all the important artefacts (copies of course, but very good copies). They also have a gift shop, which while fairly pricey, doesn't seem as bad as what's on offer at the Dome. It's also NOT HOT! and there's an exhibition round the corner of the Terracotta Army (copies again, but hey!).

i was disappointed too. too crowded. you had to queue up to look at each display, and you can't go to the toilet once inside!

the whole thing builds up to the last room where i was expecting to see the sarcophagus. nothing.

yes. disappointed.