OK, 1st we consulted the Web page with its "Must See Highlights" and printed it off!. We drove up and parked at Imperial College. It was a toss up whether to go there or the 4 hr max metered parking (in fact we could have done that but with the potential hassle of having to move the car etc). It costs roughly the same (ie a fortune! 3 quid an hour). We entered via the Exhibition Road side, getting there 10 mins before opening and were 1st in the queue. The Cromwell Rd entry was a lot busier. In hindsight, this was an error on our part. Anyway, in we go and straight into the red section (Earth) and we had it to ourselves! You go into the exhibition up a 2 storey escalator thru an iron globe which the boys liked. The exhibits themselves were a bit on the 'geological' side but the boys were interested. There was lots of footage of volcanoes and scale models but the highlight was the earthquake room where you stood in a mock up of a Kobe supermarket when the quake struck. Not scary for an adult but it gave the boys an 'insight'. Tea/early lunch break (13 quid for 2 juices, 2 pkts crisps and 2 8" baguettes which were good quality). We went thru a good solar system gallery to a very clever projector'ed Earth apparently floating in space! After a walk through the gemstone gallery (boys deeply impressed, all beautifully displayed and lit), we then headed through the museum to The Main Attraction, the dinosaurs, via the Big Fossil gallery which was good (we live near the Jurassic Coast). Boys suitably impressed with the dinosaur skeleton in the Main Hall, and the stuffed bird exhibits! As an adult you may not appreciate that kids have no concept of the actual SIZE of things!
Now, it was 1pm by then and by no means 'heaving' but busy enough. We should have done this end first. Anyway, we immediately joined a rapidly forming queue as the stewards started moving the rope barriers into place. We didn't know what the queue was FOR but correctly guessed it was for the animatronic T. Rex. It moved reasonably quickly, into the dinosaur skeleton gallery then up 'scaffolding' stairs where you moved along a suspended walkway above the exhibition below. This was busy but a good idea. They've positioned dinosaur skeletons along side the walkway sort of 'floating' in the air and you could look down on the stuff below, kept the boys well entertained til we got to the end (and 2 cute little animatronic- um- velociraptors? atop a stand). You could hear the T Rex before seeing him. DS aged 6 was rather concerned and I had to carry him but I have to say the TRex was rather good! OK, it's rooted to the (lifesized) spot but the front half of its body moves in a surprisingly lifelike, roaring way! You then go back through the dinosaur gallery which was a bit 'educational' for 6 and 8 yr olds.
Next, the giant blue whale model. This was a good hall where the boys could get a real feel for the size of the many and varied animals. To be fair, their attention was lagging a bit by this stage but both were impressed by stuff they'd not seen before like manatees, and of course by the size of the whale! We whipped through the creepy crawly gallery which, imo, was a tad lame. I mean, their core audience is primary school aged kids. Where were the big spiders? There was a tarantula skin and a giant crab but I think they could have laid on the wow factor a bit more. The live colony of leaf cutter ants was interesting, tho.
Finally, I wanted to see the giant sequoia, a sapling in 500 AD. I THINK DS8 understood the significance of it!
Note, we didn't go into the Antarctic Exhibition, mainly because I think we'd had enough by then. You pay extra for that.
All in all, we were in the museum about 4 hours. I could have stayed longer myself but we had tired little legs with us!
We headed back via ducking into the Science Museum as we had another hour on the parking and DH wanted to have a look. He tried to persuade me to do the Imax but at at that sort of cash, I want the DSs to be fresh and eager! You CAN overload!
I previously posted asking whether the Science or NHM would be best for the boys. Now, the 30 mins we spent in the Science Museum were really interesting for us but purely because we could put the displays we saw (ground floor only) into context. I mean, Stevenson's Rocket? Our explanation to DS aged 8 that he was looking at a deeply significant engineering feat, the birth of the Industrial Revolution etc was a bit lost. The replica Apollo 11 landing module, ditto (I was THERE, see!), and explaining the scorch marks on the Apollo 10's re-entry module (and the breath holding of 'the radio silence') had, understandably, no contextual meaning to him.
I'm not saying "Go to the NHM instead", just that for us, the Wow factor was better met by dinosaur skeletons that the pumping engines from Bradford steel mills, circa 1884 . Personally I like heavy engineering (I'm funny like that!) but the DSs are too young.
I think we'd combine a trip to the Science Museum with an open top bus tour of London, actually.
Anyway, that was my day! If anyone wants any more specifics, please ask!