London Dungeons - Is it too scary for an almost 7 year old...?

[krazykoolkazza]

Just wondering if anyone has been and what they think of it.

My DS is almost 7 and we've been looking at the website and he's very keen to go. It looks great and they've got a section on the Great Fire of London which he's been learning about at school this term so I think he'd enjoy it.

I know it depends on the individual child but DH and I will be with him and he 's not a namby pamby type by any means but I'd hate to think he started bawling and wanted to leave after we'd paid all that money

Has anyone had a fab time or an awful experience there, how old were the children you took and what did they make of it?

Well - I wouldn't dream of it to be honest. But I've seen the people waiting to go in (NB MASSIVE queues, like Tussaud's, you have to be prepared for that) and there were lots of quite young children. So I might be in a minority. But really it is horrible - we went to the place just down the road from that where they have a WWII museum & there is a lifesize bomb site, & there were some figures among the rubble - those caused quite a bit of (understandable) upset (my two were 7 and 6 then).

Remember going to The chamber of horrors at m tussauds.......was petrified!

My DH took DS (10) a few months ago and he wasn't particularly happy with the whole thing apparently...although he isn't a "hard" boy but he is quite streetwise IYSWIM.

Wouldn't with a 7 year old

From what I remember of seeing it as an adult (without children) I would say it would be way too much for there. There are all sorts of really horrible things about torture etc which were very nasty.

It's not just that it's scary, it's also horrible.

personally I would not take a 7 year-old.

Are you looking for suggestions for a good day out in London?

Much better places, imo.

I think she's too young. I found it unpleasant even as an adult.

I haven't been to the London dungeon but I went to the York one and it was pretty horrific, and I liked horror movies back then. It's just so much worse seeing what people really did to each other. York has a Guy Fawkes bit and there's horrible screaming when the torture is talked about. I would imagine if it's the Great Fire there might be something similar to illustrate how in agony people were burning to death.

I wouldn't take a child of mine till they were in their teens.

I live very near to the London Dungeons and it is beyond me why so many people go there, especially when they stand in a queue for 1-2 hours on a sunny day, just to go into a dark overpriced hole! There are so many other places to go nearby, especially at this time of year. All along the South Bank there are different kid's activities which are either free or reasonably priced and much more fun, IMO. Not sure when you are going but the Design Museum has a kids' day this Saturday. There's the Unicorn Children's Theatre nearby now, children's activities at Tate Modern, HMS Belfast (not my favourite but), London Aquarium, London Eye of course, etc, etc.

I'm glad I read this thread as I was also considering taking my 2 dd's there.

DD went when she was 3.5 or 4 and loved it (I thought it was yukky but we had some friends over from the US and they wanted to go). It's quite gruesome, but DD likes that sort of thing (she also has a bit of a passion for Jake and DInos Chapman and was gutted when the Saatchi gallery closed because it was her fave place 'in the world' apparently).
The British Museum is amazing, overlooked far too often IMO and is well worth a visit (make sure you have plenty of time though, there's a lot to see).