Q1. What was your overall impression of the day and KidZania? What did you DCs think?
DD1 (7) gave the place 10/10. In 3 hours she managed to do the following activities- made her own paper in a recycling plant, held a newborn baby in a maternity unit, was a policewoman running the cordon at a fire, made her own fruit and nut bar (well, they threw away what she made and gave her one made earlier) and made her own smoothie. She could probably have got in another 1 or 2 activities but spent quite a bit of time wandering around in a daze, trying to decide what she wanted to do.
DD2 (3) enjoyed the under 4 activities- a play house, a small room with toys in and a bubble-blowing room. The website is quite clear that Zidzania is primarily aimed at 4 plus.
Every role play scenario takes in a group of kids at a time (say, 6 or 8 every 15 minutes) and an adult tells them what to do and takes them through the activity, then as your kids gets into it, the time is up and the next batch of kids go in. The children don't really make up their own games. The exception to this is the free play in the under 4 areas.
There are lots of kids going round on their own. Kids are not well known for being good queue-ers < understatement. In some places eg. outside the dentist, it was not clear where to queue. DD1 hesitated briefly and got shoved out of the way. It is a "you snooze, you lose" kind of place.
There are clocks on the doors which tell you when the next activity starts but these were not always up to date.
I think we might enjoy a second trip more because we would know what to expect. I feel that we only scratched the surface of what there is to do here. For example, we never made it into the airplane or the radio station.
Q2. How would you explain KidZania to someone who hadn’t been before?
There were about 60 different activities, all in little rooms mocked up really well with great attention to detail, so it looks like a mini-city. Everything is child size. There is banging background music (think Pharrell Williams 'Happy' on loop), no daylight (for some reason I never managed to get to the bottom of, the whole place is kept in perpetual dusk, so even the artificial lights aren't on properly) and an extremely catchy corporate song every couple of hours to which all of the staff leap into the corporate dance (I shit you not). And which will be stuck in your head for weeks afterwards. There is also liberal use of the letter Z. Signs say "Zanks" instead of thanks, for example. 
It definitely feels like the global import that it is.
There is also a lot of branding everywhere- brands I can recall 2 weeks later- British Airways (sponsor the aviation school), Cadbury (sponsor the chocolate making workshop), Golden Tours (sponsor the tours- you get my drift for the rest....), Innocent, Eat Natural, Gourmet Burger King, Big Yellow Storage company, Water Aid, Alder Hey childrens hospital.
They have clearly spent a LOT of money on this place, and it shows. It has a real wow factor. It is a bit overwhelming tbh when you go in. Hard to find your bearings, and the map has tiny tiny writing so it doesn't help much. (That would be one small thing for Kidzania to rectify). But to give it its dues, it is mindblowing. There are lots and lots of photo opps.
I had in mind this idea the whole of the family doing things together. I quite liked the idea of mending a car, being in the dentist's chair with DD1 operating on me etc. BUT it is strictly no parents in the role play areas. Fair enough I suppose, we would get in the way. BUT it became rapidly clear that that applied to DD2 (3) as well. So I had made the silly mistake of telling her in advance that she could be a pilot, mend a car etc. and she couldn't. She could watch her sister through the glass but not go in. So that went down well.
Some of the promises just weren't lived up to. The "science lab" is a galley-kitchen sized room for toddlers to blow bubbles. The "musical workshop" is a shelf with some tambourines on it. The F1 pitstop was closed. We couldn't find the bakery which features in all of the adverts on the tube (did anyone find it? does it exist?).
There are very few benches for adults around the city, and those that there are are child sized so not comfortable. There is good wifi but poor mobile reception. If you split up from an adult you have come with, you will need to email them to find them again. It would have been more enjoyable if we had been able to leave DD1 and sit in the parents room, that looked quite plush.
Q3. What was your DCs favourite part of the day?
DD1 says that she enjoyed most looking after the baby and she learned most making her own paper.
DD2 had a good time but went a bit nuts towards the end. She enjoyed a jacuzzi with fish in, which she could jump on in the bathroom of the pretend-house. The toys in the kindergarten were brand new- it was like being allowed to play with all the toys in an ELC shop. Thrilling!
DH says his favourite bit was coming out into sunlight and fresh air when we left. 
Q4. If it came up in conversation, would you recommend KidZania to friends or family to go to for a family day out?
There's no getting away from the fact that this is a very expensive afternoon out.
For our family of 4 (me, DH, DD1 (7), DD2 (3)), you're looking at £75.50 just to get in (£18 for adults, £29.50 for 4-14 yr olds, £10 for 1-3 yr olds). Parents can't go in any role play activities, so in our case that was £36 for the adults to stand around (literally) and a tenner for the little one to blow bubbles and play in a play house and with some ELC toys. You can save a couple of quid by booking on line. Here are the prices because I do think they are worth bearing in mind.
Child (4 -14 years old) £28.00 (online) £29.50 (walkup)
Adult (15+ years old) £16.50 (online) £18.00 (walkup)
Early Years (1-3 years old) £10.00 (online or walkup)
And they charge £5 to park a buggy in the cloakroom! FUCKING HELL! No wonder that there were a lot of buggies just shoved around the place in corners- I counted 8 in one place, fire-risk-o-rama.
It has come up in conversation quite a few times since I went, and I have recommended Kidzania only to specific people. A friend has a child with AS who gets sensory overload- nope. Another friend has a child who is a bolter- nope. I wouldn't recommend to shy or young children: I saw at least 4 year old sobbing at leaving their parents, and various others being shoved in unceremoniously. Your child will need to be comfortable with going into rooms without you, some of which she will still be able to see you but some of which not.
It is a bloody expensive play area if you're just taking a toddler (£26.50 for an adult and a toddler). I wouldn't recommend that unless you are REALLY stuck for something to do.
In addition, it will be difficult to marshall a mixed age group. Under 4s can't go in any of the role play activities, so you will need to have one adult dedicated to watch them. If one adult tried to take an under 4 and an over 4, it just wouldn't work at all UNLESS the over 4 was over 7 and happy to go about on their own. Also some activities (it is hard to find out which without trawling around) are only 6 plus.
I would definitely consider going again for my DD's 9th or 10th birthday, with a couple of same-aged friends and only one adult (to save cash). I saw some kids this age dashing about in pairs/ small groups and they appeared to be having a ball.
I would look very carefully at the time of day and year that I went. I quizzed some staff who told us that we were there on a day which was quieter than usual. They reckoned that there were about 600 visitors and it tops out at three times that 
. Which would be hell on wheels. Large school groups in particular would make for a quite different experience.
In summary, this review sounds possibly a bit more negative than it should. Like I say, the kids both really enjoyed themselves. We were treated very well, the goody bag was super and the dog mascot creature was hilarious. We never queued more than 20 minutes, and the staff were all perfectly pleasant. I just think that the concept will appeal to some families more than to others. I also think that the £5 to park a buggy is daylight robbery!