Any experience of London Aquarium with ASD child?

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Thinking of taking DS here at half term as he really wants to go. Has anyone been with ASD child/ren? Are the queues long and was your child okay there? Yes, I know everyone is different, but just wanted to know what it is like generally. Wondering whether to go and potentially have a fun day, or stay at home and hide from the world (quite a nice option at half term...)?

We have two HFA/AS boys and live not far from the London Aquarium so they've been a few times and they love it! The queues are very variable, but likely to be long at half term - get there early if you can, they're a bit better before everyone comes in from outside London on travel cards. Inside can be quite dark so if your son is prone to wandering off get him to wear something bright and distinctive, but since it's all pretty much one long tunnel it would be hard to lose him for any length of time. Have fun!

Yes, ds loves aquariums. He is prone to wondering off, but at least everyone's going in the same direction, so it was easy to find him.

If I could just work out, how to find him in Tesco!

it is very dark inside, and very hot.

dd1 normally loves aquaria, but is not fussed by the London aquarium (we have been a few times, so she is quite familiar with it).

it is very loud and echo-y too, and the corridors get really congested.

tbh, if we didn't have Merlin passes (thus can skip most of the queue to get in, and obv don't pay, as such) we wouldn't bother. the London Eye is better for us.

The London Eye was fantastic with letting us skip the queue and I even got a free carer's ticket. Do they do anything similar at the LA?

don't know, sorry, s we have Merlin passes so haven't ever asked. there is a side queue for pre-paid tickets and passes - you could ask to go into that queue due to needs (but I seem to recall that when dh asked we were told no, only to then be directed that way when we showed our cards...)

london eye is fab - they let us skip too.

Get there early and it should be fine - mine loves the LA. but if you're not sure just yet take them along to the horniman museum at forest hill SE London. It has a small acqurium, massive gardens for running and other stuff to see and do. The aquarium I would absolutely recommend (this is more for the summer hols) was Bournemouth - its small but fantastically laid out and bright. Deep breathe you'll be fine

Hi

We took dd a few month back. I'm pretty convinced that she is somewhere on the spectrum but she hasn't been diagnosed with anything.

I wasn't too concerned beforehand, but after the queue(which wasn't too bad) we went round the corner and down the stairs and it became dark and there is this sort of "calming" music on in the background. She started to become clingy and started walking backwards up the stairs and saying "no!!" After we explained to her that everything was fine and that if she carried on she was going to see Nemo and Dori she started to self soothe. Every now and then when we turned a new corner she would be a little cautious, but she really enjoyed it in the end

How severe would you say your dc is? What are his main problems? Social?Anxiety? I think that's the main point actually. It completely depends how severe your child is and what they struggle with most. If your child is very anxious in new situations and perhaps is very sensitive to noise, smell, sound, temperature etc, then I would say they may struggle a little initially, but I still wouldn't rule it out. If your ds really likes sealife, then hopefully you'll be able to give it a go.

Just read that you say you went on the London Eye. How was that? We didn't actually go on that as dd got scared just looking at it.

I'm going tomorrow with 3 girls (oldest ASD) so I'll report back on how it goes and queues etc. We did the London eye yesterday morning and didn't find it too long for the queue etc though and she loved it.

we went with ds2, the staff were great, they took us to the front of the queue & then when you walk throught the tunnel bit she took us to the front again & waited for the tunnel to almost completely empty before letting us go in & held back the people behind so that ds2 didnt ge too closed in. He loved it!

Change of plan - hospital appointment is cancelled tomorrow so not going to be near the aquarium after all. Hope it works out though if you do go.

Just to let you know that we went to the London Aquarium and all I can say is NEVER AGAIN. Despite having prebooked tickets, we had to queue in the 'priority' line which took around 40 minutes. This was mainly occupied by Merlin passholders. Most of it was spent queuing inside in a very hot and cramped hall (mainly due to the sheer volume of people).
We then went down a few levels into the aquarium. I had spent a long time preparing DS with the map and he knew that he wanted to see the turtles and penguins. However it took forever to get through the endless queue as you basically snake around the tanks in a very slow moving queue in a dark, claustophrobic and hot basement - not a good combination for anyone with ASD.
Fortunately my DS stayed by me the whole time but I would dread to think what would happen if he wandered off as it would have been extremely difficult for adults to push through. At the end of about 40 minutes, you emerge into the shop which is next to impossible to get through without bumping into displays of sweets, toys etc. By then, DS was having a massive meltdown and trying to grab things on the shelves.
Thoroughly unenjoyable experience and a complete contrast to the amazing welcome and service my DS got at the London Eye and Legoland.
I would be very surprised if anyone could tell me of a good experience they had at the aquarium with ASD children