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[KatieBMumsnet]

The folks at Disney On Ice have asked us to find out what you think about family days out. What's your idea of a great day out? What sort of 'fun day out' fills you with dread? What would your DC's dream day out look like? And what has them begging to be left at home?

Have you ever taken your DC to a live show like Disney on Ice (or another live show)? If so, what did they like about it? Was there anything they didn't like? If you've been to a live show, do you think you'd go again or not? Why?

Everyone who add their comments to this thread will be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win £250 of Amazon vouchers.

Thank you for your comments and good luck with the prize draw!
MNHQ

A brilliant day out for my family would go like this:
Get up early, watch a film together and play in the garden for a while.
At 10am, go to a National Trust property and let the kids run wild for a few hours with a rugby ball. Lunch at a restaurant with pudding, then walk round NT gardens for a couple of hours.
Go home, get DCs in a nice bubbly bath and wash muddy clothes.
Soup and baguette for dinner, then a nice snuggly bedtime story.
I've tried Disney/ theme parks, and they're not a nice day out (sorry).
There is too much herding and queuing, and Whiny children everywhere, beating each other up with overpriced plastic tat.

we have quite a lot of days out, as a family.

we have been to Disney on Ice a few times - the dds love it - as well as other live shows (pantos, musicals etc).

problems for us: the dreaded spinning light up toys. not because my two will want one (they will, but I am happy to say no ) but because the incessant flashing lights during the performance are really distracting - for all of us, but especially for dd1 who has ASD.

I also think programmes are way overpriced these days - the Disney ones have a few cast shots, and not much else (except advertising - so presumably a lto of cost is recouped anyway) and to expect £10 for that is ridiculous.

snacks/drinks/ice creams are also a problem for us, due to food allergies. we take our own, where we can, but sometimes that is not possible. and it is a bit sad that eg plain popcorn cannot be sold alongside the flavoured ones, or natural (not full of colourings etc) ice lollies.

so, the preparation fills me with dread (packing enough snacks, possibly enough food for lunch/tea as well) as it can be time consuming to organise.

good days out include: days where not too much is expected in terms of 'extras' (programmes, silly toys etc). good quality merchandise I dont mind paying for (although again not overpriced because we are a cpative audience), and souvenirs are great, but not tat that is soon forgotten or broken. (funnily enough, dd2 still plays with a couple of plastic/fabric roses we got at Disney shows - 2 and 3 years on!)

we go to theme parks a lot (we have Merlin passes) and find them to be good days out (after 3 trips or so we have 'paid off' the passes), and as we also get exit passes (de to dd1's ASD) it is manageable and fun for us all.

My children are 3 and 5. We have never been to a live show. I am hoping to take them to the theatre to see a Julia Donaldson show in April if we can afford it.

for us the best days out tend to be very cheap or free . Honestly so much stuff just ends up with bored children. We love the Botanic Gardens where we can feed the fish, run around and play hide and seek among the trees. We love beaches, especially with rock pool or lots of shells and fossils to find. Often just driving to a different park a bit further away is the best thing in the world. Add the occasional ice cream or cake and you have the perfect day out.

Otherwise we like things like the Discovery Museum or the Great North Museum in Newcastle with lots to look at/fiddle with for children. There is a good park within a few mins walk of the Great North Museum which is handy for once they have raced around the exhibits, exclaimed over the dinosaurs and then got bored. More expensive (in that you actually have to pay!) is Beamish Open Air Museum which always goes down well with lots of look at.

Basically we like stuff to explore and look at and capture their interest combined with space to run around. I love things like Beamish as little bits capture their attention so then once you get home you can go to the library and find some books and explore further. Or if you find a fossil on the beach you find a dinosaur book and try to work out what it was.

I'm sure as they get older we will get begged for shows, cinema etc but for now the great outdoors holds far more appeal for all of us.

Indith you should definitely see Julia Donaldson, we saw her at Edinburgh fringe a few years back, she's great at engaging an audience of all ages.

I hope we can go, just £10 a ticket, 2 adults, 2 children, one baby......

Easter holidays also sees Julia Donaldson exhibition at Seven Stories (a whole museum dedicated to childrens literature) which is also rather expensive .

(I love your ideal day out inmysparetime :) )

We have ds who is nearly 5.

We like days out that can combine things for all 3 of us rather than being 100% child orientated.

Fav day out recently was the train across to Edinburgh, walk around farmers market, through grass market watching all the street performers, lunch somewhere nice, an afternoon at Scottish museum (amazing and FREE) then cake and a trip to Harvey Nicks before heading home...

I agree that the cost of live performances seems to have got out of hand these days. We are lucky that a) we only have 1 child and b) we can afford these treats but for a family of 3 kids there is little change from £100, and that's before snacks, gifts and programmes. Its only a couple of hours entertainment, which isnt very much if you are spending nigh on £150. It's a shame that by having these prices you are isolating those on lower incomes.

We are fairly short of money so for us a great day out would ideally be free or low in cost.
Last summer we had wonderful days out at the local country park with a picnic and a little bit of money for ice cream.
My son is autistic with ADHD so any days out have to be both carefully planned and appropriate for his needs. Live shows can be okay if he feels included lol and we'd definitely go to something like this again.

On the other hand we attended a live Wild DS loved it, I think because it included a lot of audicence participation and roaring/clapping/shouting.

Anything which requires DS to sit still would not be enjoyed....by him, me or anyone else .

So ideal day out for DS would be:

Cuddle with Mum and a lie in then a leisurely preparation for a day in which he could be active. A waterpark on a hot, sunny day would be ideal and he'd love it and enjoy an active day.

Well we tend to frequent many of our lovely parks. We liive in an area full of them, so lots of free out door things to do. In the summer we go to them lots, BBQ etc. kids love being outside no matter where we are. We love picnic and resteraunts.

Kids are desperate to go to Disney world but that won't happen anytime soon!.

Never been to Disney on ice but sure they would love it!

Ideal day out happening next week. We are going to Edinburgh castle, so DS can run round and be a knight for a day! Followed by a trip to the bear factory and dinner out. Maybe a trip to the museum of childhood. I agree when people say low cost and free, they tend to be our best days out!!

My DD is 2 so haven't taken her to a live show yet as feel she's a bit young. The best day out we've had was really simple; just the three of us at the beach. Parked at Old Hunstanton and walked along the sand to Hunstanton for fish and chips before walking back. Was a beautiful day and only cost us lunch and a bucket and spade!

As for attractions, I find the best ones are little wildlife parks/farms where there's lots to see, usually a park, and perhaps something interactive like feeding the animals. Tend to pay about a tenner and I think that's about right.

Don't like queuing so generally give big busy places a miss. We actually got our money back from London aquarium a while ago because there was so many people in there you couldn't even see the windows let alone what was behind them! Also don't like places that are too commercial. A little gift shop is fine but don't want to be asked to buy something every five minutes.

Another 'day out' for us would be swimming followed by picnic lunch and then a walk round the local country park, or a visit to our fave soft play centre that serves really nice food. I think if you've got good quality, cafe priced food then you're onto a winner.

Ds is 3.7 & dd will be 2 next week. They have both been going to the theatre since they were 9 months and 8 weeks as my dsis is he md of a scout & guide gang show. Problems alwAys seem to be with baby changing and whether you have to pay for babes in arms, nd booster seats.
Our perfect days out involve a trip on a steam train, picnic on the train and somewhere for he kids to run around. Thn stopping at somewhere like pizza express for tea on the way home.

My son went to his first live show in January, at 2.7. It was Bob the Builder and he loved it.

We, like so many these days, don't have a lot of money so our days out are usually trips to the park or other free activities, like the Ulster Museum here in Belfast.

We are going to try and do a live show every Christmas, perhaps a panto this year.

We've been to theatre performances but I would avoid seeing 'character' performances as the ones I've seen have been awful and very over priced.

We've been taking dd1/2 to RSC for 3 years now. £5 each for them AND good theatre. Dd2( now10) goes on about it for weeks.

My daughter loves going to the theatre, and we regularly go to the ones that do childrens puppet shows (e.g. Angel Theatre in Islignton; Albany, Deptford). She particularly loved the Charlie and Lola show which was at Peacocks I think and over christmas the Magicians Daughter.

She really enjoys the theatre I would love to take her to a disney type show and think she would love it, but as a previous poster has said, i do find the subtle pressure of having to buy cheap plastic goods a bit much! At the circus in summer we were constantly inundated with those light up things to buy then as we left giant ballons in the shape of animals. I would prefer not to have so much pressure to have to say NO! The good thing about the theatres that we go to is that there are cafes with child friendly meals (cheap and simple); normal juices etc, and so the day is more about the focus on the show and not the tat for sale.
We love shows so much we are going again tomorrow as a mid term treat.

For us its anything that includes open spaces - we love Belton House (NT property) with its great outdoor play area, or a day at a nice, clean quiet beach. For attraction places we like Monkey Forest and Dinosaur Adventure Park because they both again have big places to play. Mundy Park in Derby and Sherwood Forest Visitors Centre are other places we have enjoyed. We tend to take a picnic as food out can be expensive but most times we stop off somewhere to eat on the way home.

My DS has ASD so busy places are a bit of a no-no, and they always tend to be expensive for a family of 5. We do like to swap our clubcard vouchers for days out to help with the cost.

We do enjoy going to live shows - all my children loved 'Were going on bear hunt' which was quite reasonably priced. I have taken my eldest son to see Horrible Histories which was brilliant. We go to the Panto every year and this Christmas was DD's first time. She enjoyed it until the (imo pointless) 3D part which scared her to death.

Ideal day out for me and DD is a museum these days, preferably science based ones. Then lunch somewhere nice and maybe cinema in the evening

I took her to a couple of live shows when she was little although not disney ones, just local ish things.

We love things like Alton Towers too but dread the crowds and the overpriced food - we tend to take our own food but pay more for fast passes when possible.

The only things days out/activities DD doesn't like is rock/wall climbing or anything too babyish (she is a teen)

I meant to say Thetford Forest, not Sherwood.

DD's are almost 3 and 5 and our favourite are the London museums. They are easy for us to get to and always plenty to see and do.
We always take a packed lunch with us because prices are crazy everywhere. We took them to the cinema yesterday and spent more on the drinks and snacks than we did the tickets.
I prefer days out to be something we can all enjoy and have at least a little educational value so not exactly chomping at the bit to go to Peppa Pig World or the likes.

We try to avoid buying tat unless it is for a charitable cause too.

Grandpa bought panto tickets to see Cinderella last month and despite my reservations we all had a fantastic time.

Safari parks and zoos are something we have done many times and always enjoyed. You get to be outside and if you go off-peak can avoid too many people.

We have never been to a Disney show, on ice or otherwise. I can't imagine it would appeal to my two that much or perhaps I am just hoping.

I have a 13 YO DSS, so to be fair we have a huge range of days out that are enjoyable (and also a lot that would demand he relocates to his mums for the day to avoid going).

Some of the fun things that we do that are the more expensive end of the scale are things like, Go-Karting, Go-Ape, Alton Towers water park (expensive because of the food & drink), Drayton Manor theme park and Alton Towers (although me and DH hate these, so would usually take a friend for company).

Some of the better ideal ones that we love that are more reasonable, involve getting up early, doing a picnic and heading to the Hawk Conservancy trust at Andover, or going to a RSPB reserve and spending the day walking and picnicing.

With regards to Live shows, we went to a local theatre group to see a panto, which to be fair DSS was quite bored at, he does enjoy live music though and loved seeing Tiny Tempah in concert and wants to go and see some others.

I think things like Disney on Ice are probably a bit to old for him now, but maybe some of the older productions like Lion King would be quite good.

I also agree with what someone what upthread that days out have got so expensive that now they are certainly treats rather than things we do every weekend (even the RSPB things with getting there and parking and food etc).

We love family days out. I think our best one was Sundown Adventureland as both kids loved it. There was lots of stuff they could do but it wasn't too scary (they're 4 & 2 but a bit nervous of rides and anything dressed up). The kids like places where they can run around, climb on stuff, touch stuff. They don't like characters (i.e. people dressed up as things from tv/animals etc). There are loads of great places near us (Yorkshire) but some places are far too expensive. e.g. Eureka is fab but it's £40 ish (although I think that gives you a yearly pass it's a lot to pay out at once). The Media Museum in Bradford is great. Both kids loved it, they had a picnic room so we didn't have to buy lunch, it's free entry, colouring for kids, lots of stuff to interact with.

We've taken our 4 yar old to a few things (Lazy Town live, panto, etc.) and they quite enjoyed it. She didn't like the smoke/bang effects at the panto though. In her words "You're not allowed fireworks inside". We'd take her again to something but I think we'd stick to things she knows the story of already (think she was a bit bored by dick Whittington cos she didn't really know what was going on - some talking was more humour that only the adults would get)

A great day out for us is (weather permitting) Somewhere with a nice walk, playpark for kids and a large nice area for picnic and playing ball etc. Days out we have been to and enjoyed (but too expensive to do often) are safari park, zoo and animal farms. In bad weather days out tend to be a trip to the shopping centre then lunch in restaurant or museum and lunch/dinner out. We have't been to any big shows as DS is too young to sit through one but I would look into it when he is a bit older and DD (4) would love it.

Some of our best days out include,

The pantomime, I always book 12 months in advance so we can get the £5 tickets.

Norwich Castle and Colchester Castle were particularly good days out for us with lots of child orientated displays and activities.

Pleasure wood Hills was ok but only value for money with bogof vouchers as its getting a bit run down for full price!

Motorcycle racing is one of their favourite days out and we usually go with my parents, the dd's have enjoyed world superbikes, British superbikes and motogp. They love the camping element too.

At the moment we have a very limited budget so our fun days out with the the dd's are usually free or cheap and include days at the beach or walks in the forest. We are very lucky to live close to Sandringham estate so we can have long walks in the woods followed by ball games and picnic on the grass area.

We haven't seen any shows on ice mainly as we cannot afford the 6 tickets required, the younger dd's would enjoy them though.

Me and DS go on lots of days out, he calls them adventures and compiles mementos such as tickets, leaflets and photos in his 'adventure book'. I love that we go out a lot together exploring and having fun, and we try do a variety of things.

We have been to Disney on Ice and thought it was fab! My son is Disney mad so he thought Disney on Ice was the best thing ever.

We have also been to theme parks, zoos, beaches, farms, forests, a rock factory, Cadbury World, sea life centre, a safari, etc and locally to parks, the Deep, museums, cinemas, theatre shows and pantos, libraries and local tourism trails.

We always go with a positive attitude (and something rainproof), we plan in advance and have fun.

I'm a fair weather person so we tend to do 'outdoor' days out mainly in summer, and indoor things more in winter. I'm lucky in that DS is just happy to be out and about and wouldn't turn his nose up at any kind of day out really.

I hate crowded places with lots of overexcited DC and too much plastic tat being sold.

Trouble is, those same places also contain a lot of the things the DC want - for example, child-centred (and ideally age-differentiated) activities at museums, zoos, safari parks, etc, etc. Whenever we try and go at "quiet" times, there is (understandably) far less of interest going on. The exception is Disneyland itself, which we all love, all the more so when there are no queues (thanks to strange school holidays which let us go when other DC are not on holiday) - a good day there is no queuing, non-stop rides, shows, etc, dinner with a character or two, and collapsing into bed at the end.

We haven't taken them to many shows (other than the ones at Disneyland Paris, which they love) but I dare say we will at some point - they both sat through the Royal Tournament (or whatever it is called nowadays) quite happily.

Haven't been to Disney on Ice - I did consider, but Wembley was nearest venue and that is such a hideous trek for us on public transport, and a nice day out for me certainly doesn't involve hours and hours on trains and tubes!

We have seen quite a few kids theatre shows and pantos with DS (first one when he was 2, now 3.8). The ones he likes best are the pantos with loads of dancing, songs, costumes and audience participation. In terms of theatre shows his favourite was Guess How Much I Love You, based on the story books. I think because he could see the characters faces under the costumes, so they seemed real and the songs were great. Although he has been VERY enthusiastic about other character shows (Bob the builder etc) before the event, while the show is on he is always asking why their mouths don't move and why they aren't the 'real' ones.

In terms of other days out, theme parks like Chessington (with a variety of rides for all ages) keep us all happy, although once DS starts school I think the weekend/holiday queues might put us off. Other things that appeal to all of us are National trust type places - especially ones with nice gardens to explore and nice cake shop at the end!

DS also loves the Science Museum, and Natural History Museum - as there is lots of interactive stuff. And dinosaur bones of course. We also go to the cinema lots, which he loves. Vue do 10am showings of kids films for £1.25 a ticket, so only costs £2.50 for both of us.

I think though that DS's ultimate day out though would just be anywhere as long as DH comes too - his first question is always, Is Daddy Coming? So the local park for all three of us would be more popular than a flight in a space rocket with just me!