It would not be a school holiday if at some point I did not agree to put money into the pockets of the Madame Taussauds group and so yesterday we headed off for the ankle biters first ever visit to the waxworks. I had vague memories of visiting the place many years ago with an American girlfriend who shouted with glee in best JAP (Jewish American Princess) fashion at all of the Royal Family wax works.
For those who have been living under a rock Madame Taussauds wax works is one of the most visited London attractions and it offers an ever changing attraction as it moves with the times.
Getting There
Taussauds is located a minutes walk from Baker Street underground station which can be reached by the no less than five lines, Circle, District, Metropolitan, Bakerloo and Jubilee which pretty much means that whatever tube station you start your journey from you will only have a maximum of one change of line to make. The nearest mainline station is Marylebone with Paddington a reasonable walk whilst a number of buses will also get you there. Driving would not be recommended as in addition to the congestion charge you will also incur extortionate parking rates if you can even find a space.
Planning Your Visit
It would be an under statement to say that this venue is popular and that means that planning your trip starts well before you get there. Choosing the right visiting time is key and there is advice on the website for this, needless to say visiting during the school holidays is not the best idea as the normal large number of foreign tourists is supplemented by families on a day out.
A big benefit is to book online as then you can take advantage of the guaranteed entry time that is available. This is very useful as there are always queues outside of the venue. The entry is a little chaotic as there are a number of entrances, one for groups which is clearly marked however the entrances for pre booked tickets and day purchases are close to each other and the queues do tend to merge. This does make for a certain amount of confusion as bemused tourists and hassled parents milled about while some equally harassed staff attempted to get some order and efficiency into matters. He lack of staff certainly seemed to hamper this and a certain amount of chaos ensued.
Fortunately we were whisked straight past all of this mayhem as I had ordered an annual pass for the Taussauds group using my Tesco clubcard vouchers, this gets me and the two kids into any of the Taussauds attractions on five occasions during the year and purchased through clubcard vouchers is excellent value as effectively you get it for a quarter of the face value of £85.
Opening Times and Cost
The venue is open from 9.30 until 17.30 on weekdays and from 9.00 until 18.00 at weekends.
The cost is £23.99 for an adult and £19.99 for children with a family ticket costing £74.00. There are discounts for groups of more than ten people and also under fives get in free. These prices are reduced slightly if you do not want to visit Chamber Live however all of the other exhibits are included in the price. The price also reduces if you enter after 5.00 but that would only be advised at the weekend as you need more than an hour to get around everything.
Our Experience
Having been escorted passed the waiting masses like a celebrity family if was rather appropriate that upon exiting the lifts from the lobby you are greeted by flashing camera lights as you step into a movie premier. In this area the idea is that you get to "mingle" with the celebrities posted around the room and pose for pictures, you will "find" most of the Hollywood a-list like Brad and Angelina and a few British favorites like David Jason and Posh and Becks. I deliberately speech mark the mingle and find as the crowds in this area make it more of a treasure hunt trying to find the celebs and rather than mingle you have to push your way about. I even found myself apologizing to someone for knocking into them before realizing that it was one of the exhibits. At least you cannot say they are not life like.
One of the things that does make the crowding worse is the fact that I could find no sign of a cloak room to leave bags and coats hence you have whole parties of children with backpacks on adding to the crush.
All of the wax works are good replicas with only the odd exception and the area is very well set out. Some of the more popular characters have their own area which makes getting pictures a lot easier and at the back of the room there is a Big Brother exhibit with Davina up on stage. You can also go into the diary room and your interview with BB will be broadcast out on some screens in the rough of the room. The kids loved sitting in the BB chair, it is not a recording but a real person in the booth, you get to do a task (the Birdie Song or something similar) and even nominate the waxwork you would like to be evicted (Morinho- I train my son well) at the end you picture is taken in the chair which you can purchase later.
Tussuads do understand their business very well, they know that they are in the family entertainment business and they also recognize the need to maximize revenue from each visitor hence throughout the venue there are a number of opportunities to purchase pictures taken my the staff. These are not cheap retailing at £6.90 each with a discount for multiple buys. You can also have your image on mugs, t-shirts and key chains.
Leaving the film premiere you pass through another photo opportunity to pose with some rock stars like the ugly one from The Darkness while dressed up in head banging wig and playing air guitar however the queue for this was really long and it seemed to take a good ten minutes per person due to the dressing up and posing.
The Hollywood theme is continued in the next room with a giant model of the Hulk dominating the scene, in this area it is the stars in the roles that they are most famous for that dominate along with a few stars from the pop world. Michael Jackson has retained his place but I was surprised to see that Gary Glitter had lost his.
Next it is time for a bit of culture with a room dedicated to historical figures and politicians with a smattering of sport and rock stars as well. This room was more spacious and not so crowded and I was surprised how much the children enjoyed it, it is probably the only room that has any educational value in my opinion and we were able to discuss some of the world figures they did not really know much about like Castro, Gaddaffi and Nixon. I was also quite surprised to hear that my 12 year old had never heard of Mandela but then he had never heard of apartheid either. The most popular exhibits are the Royal Family with the two Princes having their own area and both have an in-house photographer to take the pictures.
To the rear of this area there is another chaotic desk where you can view and purchase your pictures. There is also a makeover area where a picture of yourself will be digitally altered to resemble a character of your choices, needless to say Lou from Little Britain seems to be the most popular.
Next is a descent into the dungeons for the gruesome part of the visit, you can also visit Chamber Live which has some live actors and will definitely have you screaming in terror as it is pitch dark and full of surprises. The rest of the exhibits are not really that interesting and lack any originality from things you see on most ghost trains.
From here you move onto a ride which takes you along a journey charting the history of London. The carriages are in the form of open fronted black cabs and it is an entertaining five minute ride with good visuals and soundtrack.
The final two exhibits are a Morinho section where you get a minute to choose your top team from a host of European stars and then he will comment on it, this was a bit of a waste of space in my opinion and neither of the kids was that interested. Finally you get to enter the Planetarium which is a large dome onto which a ten minute show about the planets is beamed. This was pretty interesting however I would have preferred more on the star formations and it lacked a certain wow factor in both mine and the kids' opinion.
Facilities
There are plenty of locations to purchase sweets and drinks around the venue but prices are predictably high.
For a more substantial meal the options are limited with a Costa Coffee franchise in the historical room and an outlet selling hotdogs and other snacks at the exit just past the gift shop, however outside there are numerous eating places to suit all budgets.
The toilets were clean however they were not very big in most cases so you might find yourself having to wait.
The entire venue is accessible for wheel chairs however the crowds would not make it a lot of fun if you are not very stable on your feet.
Summary
I'm not entirely convinced that what is on offer is good value given the full cost entry price.
It does provide a varied and entertaining visit but you are really only looking at about two hours of entertainment which means that you are paying just over £10 an hour, other venues would provide a days entertainment for that cover price and places like the Science Museum are free.
The over crowding is a problem and on a quieter day it would have been more enjoyable.
Having said that they do pack a lot into the areas and the kids loved to have their pictures taken and the only time I heard any moans was during the four minutes that we had to wait for the start of the show in the former Planetarium and that is from a child who thinks the service in MacDonald's is too slow.
Definitely worth a visit but only if you can avoid paying the full entry price with money off vouchers or if you have them save up your tesco clubcard vouchers and use the clubcard deals.
Thanks for reading and rating my review.
More details
Is it worth visiting?
Average
Family Friendly
Excelllent
Evaluate this review
How helpful would this review be to someone making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
very helpful
very helpful
