Advice needed on London attractions - especially queues!

[itsanewday]

We are taking dc's (14, 13, 11) to London for three nights, two days at the end of July. We are getting the train down from Scotland and have tickets for a show on Saturday afternoon. I took them to Paris last year and learnt a few things from that, primarily not to try to fit in too much, but also that a Hop-On-Hop-Off bus is the way to go. It gets you between the places you want to be going, at the same time as letting you see things, tie it all together. The requests are Madame Tussaud's, London Dungeon, Household Cavalry Museum (but really with a desire to see the horses in action) and London Eye. Of course dh is full of worthy ideas such as Natural History Museum and HMS Belfast and a million other things but he doesn't really get it, having not done Paris with us.
I have two questions, please, for those in the know. Firstly, any idea how to see the household cavalry training? Secondly, I have tesco vouchers which can save a lot of money. The disadvantage to these is that they can only be used to buy tickets on the day, not to pre-book and therefore not for priority entry. I don't have enough to get everything with them, so what are the attractions that are most worthwhile getting no-queue tickets for? I can't use Tesco for London Eye anyway, and I understand that it's worth getting priority tickets for that (taking chances on the weather).
My kids are very different (bgb) so it's quite a challenge to keep all happy at once! The main thing is not to get to a stage (with any of them or with dh!) where they're moaning about being tired / bored.
All advice gratefully received!

Bother, already off the page... Bump!

I would steer clear of Madam Tussauds and the London Dungeon. Very expensive for what they are. I would spend the best part of a day on the South Bank - London Eye, a slow walk down the river to Tate Modern. Stop for lunch at Wahaca or somewhere like that. Watching the skaters would probably appeal to your age group, as would the street performers down there. Not certain what's on at Tate Modern in the Turbine Hall at the mo but that's always cool. There's Borough Market just round the corner too which is great.

Would they be interested in a jaunt to Camden? Lots of interesting shops for teens there and a nice walk up through Regent's Park and up to Primrose Hill.

The Emirates cable cars over at the O2 are cool and I have a feeling the Olympic Park is open over the summer to visitors if that would appeal.

I like the Natural History Museum but probably wouldn't at your DC's ages. I would have preferred Tate Modern, Tate Britain or the British Museum.

DONT DONT DONT do tussauds

its is so unbelievable shit, my kids couldnt work out the point of it. - tbh i was meh about London eye too.

I would do day 1
london eye ( if you have to)
walk up to tate modern have an ice cream and 30 mins in museum
walk over wobbly Apprentice bridge with lovely view of St pauls
Climb st pauls dome and great views ( my sons loved that)
have a picnic lunch in st pauls square.
then walk to monument which you can also climb

Oh i agree with princess!! My tips are to take everything slow, stop a LOT for drinks if it is hot. Do museums but not for long.

When i took a school trip of year 10s we did a treasure hunt/quiz in national gallery which they loved, then walked around to Leicester square M and M world ( I know! they loved)
walked up regent st to Hamleys ( ditto were surprised)

agree south bank is a great stop for teen boys

the saatchi gallerty is free and freaky www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/ and is in Kensington so lots of eateries

The queues at Madame Tussauds will be hellish and so packed you won't be able to see much once you're in.

The queue for the London Eye is fast moving.

Are they too old for the duck tour? If so, then a regular boat to Greenwich and then the cable car would be good.

I don't know about the cavalry bit but you can see horse guards changing at 11am(?) just next to St James Park and then watch the horses leaving to go back down the Mall towards Buckingham Palace.

I think given their age range they probably would enjoy the London Dungeon, hideously tourist trappy though it is, and that would combine really efficiently with a trip to HMS Belfast and Tower Bridge - either to look at or to tour around if you wanted to, neither of those have serious queues.
You could then walk up the South Bank to Tate Modern (loads of places to eat en route) which is free and usually has no queues, I think teens would love the new cave spaces underneath it, carry on past the Globe to Waterloo and finish up with an evening trip on the Eye. That's a really manageable, though tiring, day for a family your ages if you start early and get into London Dungeon first thing.

Your second day could be North stuff and the Household Cavalry, but I honestly would veto Tussauds - it's just not worth it.

Madame Tussaud's is absolutely shite.

Tower of London with tour by guard is v good.

H just took ours this week, tried to do something different. They did cable car at 02 & clipper ferry & Camden.

I have been to the Dungeon twice and queued for two hours both times.

I would say go to the Tower and get a river boat cruise

Agree. Tower if London good. Crap if wet. Half a day id say

We did a speed boat trip up Thames with James Bond music with my (then) school year 9 and 4 once. Bought on last minute.

Fitted in after the St. Paul's bit of my day one.

Agree with those saying Tower of London. I wouldn't do Tussauds (unless you have it as a 'must do' thing that you need to tick off a list. It's boring though).

Tate Modern is good if you have a small gap in your itinery-wouldn't spend a lot of time there.

I think the London Eye is definitely worth it.

Covent Garden is quite buzzy if you need a lunch/snack and the weather is good to sit outside.

Agree Tussaud boring busy and tbh in a digital age just pointless

Agree NO to Tussaud's - it's awful.

My two like -
walking along the river, from Southwalk Cathedral to the Eye
The Eye is worth it if you haven't been before - book in advance
Camden if the weather is nice / bloody awful if not
Carnaby Street and the area around there
Chinatown for bubble tea
Touristy walk from Trafalgar Square (go for coffee in the Crypt at St Martins In The Fields, for atmos) or to the Portrait Gallery, and then down to Number Ten and through St James' Park etc

Not sure where else does it, but Tower of London was doing '2for1' entry if you had travelled there by train - might be worth looking into as you are going by train anyway, IYSWIM.

Although you say your DH is full of worthy ideas in fact the Science Museum is really good and interactive. When I was younger I used to love going ot it!