London tips for a weekend with my autistic 8yo

[coastergirl]

Hi

I'm just looking for a bit of advice please. This weekend I'm taking my 8yo to London. We arrive Thursday night and are going to the Harry Potter studio tour on Friday morning (special quiet session starting at 8am). Staying in the premier inn at croxley. We will be spending probably Friday afternoon, all day Saturday, and Sunday morning in central London. We have tickets for a hop on hop off sightseeing bus and river cruise on Saturday. This trip is his treat for his 9th birthday, which is next month, and I want it to be so special for him. One thing he really wants is to visit an authentic French bakery for the perfect pain au chocolat! Does anyone know one that's easy to get to? His interests are Super Mario, Harry Potter (of course), maths and puzzles. Does anybody have any suggestions of must-see places for him? Currently considering the Natural History Museum on Friday afternoon and the changing of the guard on Sunday morning. He can't wait to try the tube but is worried about busy places. I'd love to take him somewhere really cool to eat, but his food tastes are very plain so need to consider that. Any ideas or tips very welcome!

Thank you 😊

The Science Museum would be better than Natural History.
They have a gaming exhibition (you need to book tickets for that) and I bet he'd love it

That sounds perfect, thank you.

Lego shop - but you do have to queue to get in. Make sure you book natural history museum then you can walk straight in.

If you go to the Science Museum, there is a branch of Paul right by the station. They do a lovely pain au choc. There are quite a few around London.
My advice would be to pace yourself. You can stay at the Harry Potter studio tour for hours and hours easily, and it's way outside London so a loooong way away from the South Ken museums. I really wouldn't aim to do both in one day, your son will be shattered.

This is all really helpful, thank you all. The Lego shop is all for me 😊 He humours me but isn't really bothered about it.

I've been to London quite a few times and have done the studio tour twice, but it feels very different with him. I don't think he'll spend a really long time at the tour, but we'll see. I guess I need to find a balance between seeing as much as we can, and not overdoing it. We'll definitely check out Paul!

Mario, Harry Potter and pain au chocolate - I think pur sons would get on and mine would be very jealous of his lovely birthday treat!

When we were there this time last year the Lego store on Leicester Square and loads of big harry potter scenes so that might fit in well if they still do, and there wasn't much queue then.

My then 7yo loved the tube. He got really into understanding the route and watching the diagram of the line they have to keep track of stations and where we needed to get off. It wasnt overly busy either but perhaps we were lucky.

The sky garden (free but you need to book in advance) was nice for views but you'll probably see enough from boat and bus tours.

Leadenhall market is very Harry Potter and the lookout instead of the sky garden, higher and not so busy! Both near bank tube station

@Simplelobsterhat ahh, that's lovely. My boy wouldn't usually be getting such a big birthday treat, but it's something we've been talking about doing for ages, so when the studio tour decided to do the trial of a quiet session I just had to go for it! He's such a good boy, it's going to be (hopefully) a lovely weekend, just me and him. I think he going to love the tube too. I go, and he and I are very alike.

Thank you! I'll look at these.

We actually ate dinner in pizza express in leadenhall market after the sky garden, and it was a nice atmosphere, although we failed at finding the bit where one harry potter scene was filmed.

My kids like franco manca or Honest Burger - both do v good value kids meals so would recommend them. There are quite a few branches so check them out.

Agree with not trying to cram too much in. If he doesn't go to bed particularly early, then lego store queues usually much smaller later in the evening if you wanted that.

Agree with the science museum rather than natural history too. We've loved the wonderlab there.

Might be too late for this weekend, but if you haven't got an access card then that would be useful. Take a look here - https://www.accesscard.online/

Maybe it's not too late, perhaps they could do it quickly for you. If your DS struggles with queues, for example, then you could get the queue symbol on it which means you can skip the queue. There is a Facebook group called "Access Card Holders" where people add tips too.

Thanks for all these tips. I'll look properly tomorrow, today's been none stop. The access pass is on my list to do in general, but not before the weekend now. He's generally not too bad with queues themselves, it's more if it's noisy around him, or leaving things is trickier! We have the old Merlin access pass for their attractions which is still valid until April I think, so should be ok.

Thank you all!

If you think he'd enjoy the tube (when not busy) - have you considered the DLR??
44 & still love the fact its driverless and you can stand at the front.

The DLR is a good shout, thanks! And I want to go on the Elizabeth Line. We leave tomorrow after school and are both really excited. I've been looking up themed restaurants and found a Monopoly one that he might like.

Just wanted to say thanks for all the ideas and tips. We didn't manage to get to all of them, as always there just wasn't enough time. But we had a lovely weekend 😊

Ah so glad you had a lovely weekend OP what a lovely treat for you and your boy ❤️