2 Days in London - Help Please

[DD's Prince]

Y'all are awesome. These are great tips and it looks like others are benefiting from your advice as well. Our schedule only allows 2 days so we'll make the best of it. Will stick to quintessential London for this trip and then hopefully return for more at a later date. Of course, we still have ABD in Greece when we leave London so much to look forward to.

 

[Cousin Orville]

I think London is a fine city to do for just a couple of days. It's like New York. No matter how long you stay there, you can't see everything. It's a city that you can easily return to. We've enjoyed the Tower a couple of times, the British Museum is one of the best in the world. We saw the Lion King many years ago. The British Library archives was surprising impressive.

I think on this trip we will figure out getting up to the Warner Brothers Lot. The Tate Modern was also recommended to me. I looked into the Harry Potter play, but the tickets were stubhub and would be a few thousand $$ for my family to see... Uh, no thanks. We may do one of the weekend markets. There is also a restaurant I'm interested in checking out called Cereal Killer that serves cereal in a 1980's kids environment. Looks awesome if not ridiculous.

 

[sayhello]

I think London is a fine city to do for just a couple of days. It's like New York. No matter how long you stay there, you can't see everything. It's a city that you can easily return to. We've enjoyed the Tower a couple of times, the British Museum is one of the best in the world. We saw the Lion King many years ago. The British Library archives was surprising impressive.

I think on this trip we will figure out getting up to the Warner Brothers Lot. The Tate Modern was also recommended to me. I looked into the Harry Potter play, but the tickets were stubhub and would be a few thousand $$ for my family to see... Uh, no thanks. We may do one of the weekend markets. There is also a restaurant I'm interested in checking out called Cereal Killer that serves cereal in a 1980's kids environment. Looks awesome if not ridiculous.

Do you like Modern Art? Personally, I do like Modern Art, but was totally underwhelmed by the Tate Modern. Granted, it's been a few years since I was there, but it was chaotically set up, there was no flow to the exhibits, and a lot of it just didn't impress me. It's a cool building on the outside, but not so much on the inside.

Sayhello

 

[samsteele]

I stayed in a Kensington area hotel years ago for a day before a UK bus tour and jumped on the red double decker bus to downtown. Then got on one of the hop on/hop off bus loops that included a ticket entry to the Tower. That evening we went to a play in the Theater District. Definitely talk to the concierge at the front desk. 99% of international guests want to know the easiest, least $ way to get to the major sights. They should be able to tell you what bus stop is closest, etc. Have a great time!

 

[Cousin Orville]

Do you like Modern Art? Personally, I do like Modern Art, but was totally underwhelmed by the Tate Modern. Granted, it's been a few years since I was there, but it was chaotically set up, there was no flow to the exhibits, and a lot of it just didn't impress me. It's a cool building on the outside, but not so much on the inside.

Sayhello

I do like modern art. Thanks for the input. The Tate Modern seems to have a strong reputation, but I haven't heard from many who have actually been there.

 

[abdgeek]

I think London is a fine city to do for just a couple of days. It's like New York. No matter how long you stay there, you can't see everything. It's a city that you can easily return to. We've enjoyed the Tower a couple of times, the British Museum is one of the best in the world. We saw the Lion King many years ago. The British Library archives was surprising impressive.

I think on this trip we will figure out getting up to the Warner Brothers Lot. The Tate Modern was also recommended to me. I looked into the Harry Potter play, but the tickets were stubhub and would be a few thousand $$ for my family to see... Uh, no thanks. We may do one of the weekend markets. There is also a restaurant I'm interested in checking out called Cereal Killer that serves cereal in a 1980's kids environment. Looks awesome if not ridiculous.

I did a week in London last summer before the DCL Norway, Iceland, Scotland cruise that left from Copenhagen. One of the things I did was go to Warner Bros. Studio. It was easy to get to. You will have to connect from the tube to a London Midland train from Euston Station to Watford Junction. Get a direct train so that it minimizes travel time(45 min) and then get the Warner Bro's bus once you exit Watford Junction Station(bus lanes are to the left as you exit the station).

The Tate Modern was one of the museums I visited while in London. Modern art isn't really my thing, but my brother told me I had to visit so I did. The museum is huge and now has two parts, the second one being accessed over a walkway which connects the two buildings. While I enjoyed what I saw, I didn't spend much time there because I was just too tired. I visited the museum after going to the Tower of London and walked from the tube station to the Tate Modern, which wasn't a short walk.

I also saw the Harry Potter play, which was excellent. There are only two certified ticket agents for the play, which are listed on their website(The Cursed Child). Although it doesn't seem as if you will go, I would be careful buying tickets from another vendor. At one point, they were releasing a certain number of tickets every Friday. I'm not sure if they're doing that, but you can always try calling the theatre directly to check on availability. There was also a place on the website to be put on a wait list for the show. I hope you get to see it.

 

[Cousin Orville]

I also saw the Harry Potter play, which was excellent. There are only two certified ticket agents for the play, which are listed on their website(The Cursed Child). Although it doesn't seem as if you will go, I would be careful buying tickets from another vendor. At one point, they were releasing a certain number of tickets every Friday. I'm not sure if they're doing that, but you can always try calling the theatre directly to check on availability. There was also a place on the website to be put on a wait list for the show. I hope you get to see it.

I believe they are still releasing a few remaining tickets on Fridays or every so often, but I would need 5 tickets for our family. I'll check it out, but it seems unlikely.

We'll be in London a few days before heading on the same cruise to Norway, Iceland & Scotland. Not to get too far off track, but I'd love to hear your thoughts on the cruise or what you enjoyed.

 

[abdgeek]

I believe they are still releasing a few remaining tickets on Fridays or every so often, but I would need 5 tickets for our family. I'll check it out, but it seems unlikely.

We'll be in London a few days before heading on the same cruise to Norway, Iceland & Scotland. Not to get too far off track, but I'd love to hear your thoughts on the cruise or what you enjoyed.

I loved the cruise. That being said, I didn't like the fact that we were told for the first time at the port that we had to surrender our passports until after Iceland. Apparently, Iceland told DCL that they wanted to view all the passports before we entered. We had to claim them on a specific day and I believe Scottish customs stamped our passports on the ship before we entered Scotland. Hopefully, that won't happen for your cruise. I just felt that DCL could have told us ahead of time.

I did a lot of research on what there was to see in each port using Frommer's and guide books before the cruise. I debated doing some things on my own, but decided it was just too much and opted for the DCL excursions instead. I loved Copenhagen and spent about three days there before the cruise to sightsee. I booked the Radisson Blu Royal Hotel on my own(cheaper than DCL rate). Great location with grocery stores, restaurants, and Tivoli Gardens(across the street). It is also one block from the train station. I tried to get a cab and the cabbie actually refused to take me because he said it was a short walk, which I knew. Taking the train from the airport into Copenhagen was really easy and I bought a 72 hour Copenhagen Card online before my trip which I picked up in the airport. It got me in free to all the things I wanted to see and included free transportation on trains, etc.

My only complaint was that there wasn't time to see everything I wanted to in each place. So that means I'll be going back at some point. To me, there wasn't much to see in Norway except in Oslo. I got to see The Scream at the National Museum, the Olympic Ski Jump, and Vigeland Sculpture Park. I really loved Iceland and did the Golden Circle, Blue Lagoon, etc. I wanted to snorkel the tectonic plates in Thingvellir, but opted not to after doing more research and the DCL excursion selling out. In Scotland I was able to cross other sites off my bucket list(cliffs of Yesnaby, Ring of Brogdar,Standing Stones(actually just one stone) of Stenness, Loch Ness, etc. Unfortunately, some of the DCL excursions I really wanted to do weren't offered for my cruise date.

 

[sayhello]

@Cousin Orville, and anyone else interested in going to the WB Studios Tour -The Making of Harry Potter, I just got an announcement that they've added a new area to the tour, which opens on March 31st - The Forbidden Forest!

https://www.wbstudiotour.co.uk/forbidden-forest

"
The Forbidden Forest may be strictly off-limits to Hogwarts students, but for the first time this March, you are invited to defy Professor Dumbledore’s orders and follow the footsteps of Harry, Ron and Hermione deep into the grounds of the Forbidden Forest.

Home to an abundance of creatures, the Forbidden Forest offers shelter and protection to Hippogriffs and Acromantula among many others. It is also well known to beloved half-giant Hagrid in his role as Care of Magical Creatures professor. One of Rubeus Hagrid’s original costumes will be on display, lantern in hand, to welcome you through the Hogwarts Gates deep into the forest. Filled with 19 trees each with a diameter of over 12 feet, you will walk beneath the giant entwined roots on your journey and will even be able to control the weather using the same techniques created by filmmakers.

Amongst the imposing trees, you will encounter a full size model of Buckbeak, which is new to the tour, and have the opportunity to bow to the majestic creature. You will see up close the incredible detail and craftsmanship that went into creating the magnificent Hippogriff. Each feather had to be individually inserted and glued by the Creature Effects team who were busy adding feathers right up until the final moment Buckbeak was needed on set for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

As you venture deeper into the depths of the forest, you will come face-to-face with Aragog, the Acromantula. Emerging from his dark lair, the enormous spider will appear before you along with spiderlings from his family. Created by Nick Dudman, Creature and Make-Up Effects Designer, with help from Production Designer Stuart Craig, Aragog had a leg span of over 18 feet and was even able to crawl out of a hole and deliver dialogue in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

Officially opening on Friday 31st March, the new, must-see expansion has been designed and built by many of the crew members who worked on the hugely successful magical film series including Oscar® and BAFTA winning Production Designer Stuart Craig, Construction Manager Paul Hayes, BAFTA winning Creature and Makeup Effects Designer Nick Dudman and BAFTA winning Special Effects Supervisor John Richardson.

The Forbidden Forest will open on Friday 31st March and entrance will be included in the ticket price."

Sounds cool! I like that they keep expanding the tour.

Sayhello

 

[Cousin Orville]

@Cousin Orville, and anyone else interested in going to the WB Studios Tour -The Making of Harry Potter, I just got an announcement that they've added a new area to the tour, which opens on March 31st - The Forbidden Forest!

Great to hear. We're working on our London plans. Decided to do an AirBnB; we'll see how it goes. But definitely planning on the WB Studios Tour.

 

[crisi]

I'd recommend staying in London and seeing the quintessential London things - the tower, Westminster, St. Paul's. I definitely would not recommend the British Museum; if you must go to a museum, then visit the museum of London. Taking a bus tour around would be good to see a lot of the landmarks. We really enjoyed the WB tour, but it takes most of a day. We did that and Westminster in one of our days there. You should try to see a play one night - Shakespeare or something like wicked, and Harrods is a good place to spend a few hours in the evening. Greenwich was nice but took a while to get there and wasn't that great. I'd save things like it and Oxford for a longer trip.

The British Museum was my fourteen year old's favorite when we went. We were there twice. Different strokes.

We also went to the Treasures Room at the British Library - another freebie - but while the crowds were ten deep around the Rosetta Stone, in the British Library you could see Shakespere's folios, da Vinci's notebooks, the draft of Pride and Prejudice, a Magna Carta, a Gutenberg Bible, a Beatles lyrics on a napkin - with almost no crowds at all.

I'm a Tower of London girl. I love the intense amount of History in a small space, plus the Crown Jewels.

 

[Calfan]

@Cousin Orville, and anyone else interested in going to the WB Studios Tour -The Making of Harry Potter, I just got an announcement that they've added a new area to the tour, which opens on March 31st - The Forbidden Forest!

https://www.wbstudiotour.co.uk/forbidden-forest
https://www.wbstudiotour.co.uk/forbidden-forest
"
The Forbidden Forest may be strictly off-limits to Hogwarts students, but for the first time this March, you are invited to defy Professor Dumbledore’s orders and follow the footsteps of Harry, Ron and Hermione deep into the grounds of the Forbidden Forest.

Home to an abundance of creatures, the Forbidden Forest offers shelter and protection to Hippogriffs and Acromantula among many others. It is also well known to beloved half-giant Hagrid in his role as Care of Magical Creatures professor. One of Rubeus Hagrid’s original costumes will be on display, lantern in hand, to welcome you through the Hogwarts Gates deep into the forest. Filled with 19 trees each with a diameter of over 12 feet, you will walk beneath the giant entwined roots on your journey and will even be able to control the weather using the same techniques created by filmmakers.

Amongst the imposing trees, you will encounter a full size model of Buckbeak, which is new to the tour, and have the opportunity to bow to the majestic creature. You will see up close the incredible detail and craftsmanship that went into creating the magnificent Hippogriff. Each feather had to be individually inserted and glued by the Creature Effects team who were busy adding feathers right up until the final moment Buckbeak was needed on set for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

As you venture deeper into the depths of the forest, you will come face-to-face with Aragog, the Acromantula. Emerging from his dark lair, the enormous spider will appear before you along with spiderlings from his family. Created by Nick Dudman, Creature and Make-Up Effects Designer, with help from Production Designer Stuart Craig, Aragog had a leg span of over 18 feet and was even able to crawl out of a hole and deliver dialogue in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

Officially opening on Friday 31st March, the new, must-see expansion has been designed and built by many of the crew members who worked on the hugely successful magical film series including Oscar® and BAFTA winning Production Designer Stuart Craig, Construction Manager Paul Hayes, BAFTA winning Creature and Makeup Effects Designer Nick Dudman and BAFTA winning Special Effects Supervisor John Richardson.

The Forbidden Forest will open on Friday 31st March and entrance will be included in the ticket price."

Sounds cool! I like that they keep expanding the tour.

Sayhello

Awesome! I've purchased tickets for early July before our British Isles cruise.

 

[Cousin Orville]

Awesome! I've purchased tickets for early July before our British Isles cruise.

We just purchased our tickets for late June before the Iceland cruise. Looks like a lot of fun.

 

[nursejackie]

For a short period in the summer months both Buckingham Palace and the Houses of Parliament are open for tours. Buckingham Palace is a more structured tour but Houses of Parliament is a audio tour but not as structured i.e. you can go your own way round. Both are wonderful and are not available for most of the year.

There are so many things to see and do in London, it would be a hard task to narrow it down. We go every year for a week (we are from England) and still find new things to see and do.

Have a great trip and hopefully, you'll want to come back and see more in the future (especially as the exchange rate is good for Americans coming here).

 

[White Rose]

Giving you something different... if your kids can handle a bit of spookiness...

Original Jack the Ripper walking tour. It is at night, dark streets etc. So fun. I think it would be age appropriate, unless your kids are closer to the high strung type. I think the recommended age was 12 and up..

Tower of London: look for a very special and interesting experience...where the Tower of London is closed every night. It is called the ceremony of the keys. You need to book that waaaaay ahead of time. I believe it is the oldest continuously running military ceremony in the world!

Also, if you want to splurge, try classic dash England dot com tours, and you will get a private driver to take you around. They had tickets to all locations so we did not pay.


We had the guide for 4 days.... we did 2 trips worth of activities because we were not waiting for a bus full of people.

Obviously you can't see it all, but below is our list:

We did Hampton court, Leeds castle, Dover castle, Stonehenge, Windsor castle, and the big stuff in London proper: Westminster abbey, St. Paul's, Tower of London, British museum, Harrods, and stuff outside the city: Bath, Canterbury, white cliffs of Dover, Stonehenge etc...

 

[calypso726]

We just were in London for a weekend trip just the weekend before last. We got tickets to see both parts of the Harry Potter and the Cursed Child play on Saturday so that was the sole purpose of the tips. We've been to London before and have done many of the must sees suggested so we had no plans and decided to wing it with regards to seeing anything else while we were there. We left Thursday night and arrived Friday morning. We stayed on points at the Radisson Blu Mercer in Covent Garden and would happily go back again. The staff was amazing, the accommodations were great and the hotel is situated in a 5 minute walking distance from the British museum, theaters etc. Since we had not visited the British museum before, we decided to go there Friday afternoon. Later we walked around the West End and just took in the sights. Saturday before the show we ate at the Lamb and Flag pub which is a historic pub and even managed to get free drink codes online before getting there. Then we went to the show which is in 2 parts so that took up the rest of the day and evening. Sunday morning we flew back home.

I agree with a PP who said London is like New York, you can go over and over and not see everything as there is so much to choose. I thought our day and a half was a great success considering I made no plans other than getting there and seeing the play which takes up the afternoon and evening. It was my 5th time in London and I finally got to cross a British museum visit off the list and a famous pub (I love pub food) with zero planning.

As for things I have done before and would do again, Tower of London, Harry Potter studio, Ceremony of the Keys, Stonehenge, Harry Potter play, Westminster Abbey, Thames river tour.

 

[Cousin Orville]

We just were in London for a weekend trip just the weekend before last. We got tickets to see both parts of the Harry Potter and the Cursed Child play on Saturday so that was the sole purpose of the tips.

Did you buy your theater tickets first to see what weekend you could get and then book a trip around that? Very exciting you got tickets!

So far we have our tickets for the WB Studios and just picked up tickets to 42nd Street which opens next month. Very excited to see that.

 

[calypso726]

Did you buy your theater tickets first to see what weekend you could get and then book a trip around that? Very exciting you got tickets!

So far we have our tickets for the WB Studios and just picked up tickets to 42nd Street which opens next month. Very excited to see that.

Yes, I got the tickets first. They are sold out until the 12th of never so I needed to secure tickets first. We just made sure we were far out enough that we would have decent award availability for flights and hotel availability to stay on points. Loved the play!!!!

 

[hilarys]

This thread is so helpful. We are arriving in London two days ahead of our London/Paris trip in June. We will have Saturday late afternoon/evening, all day Sunday and Monday up to the kick-off dinner at 5pm on our own. The studio tour is now on our radar as our daughter (12) just picked up the books about 3 weeks ago and is now obsessed. I am thinking of booking a tour for Monday morning. I think 3 to 4 hours will be fine for us since she is a new fan and my son isn't a fan at all. Using the self transportation that everyone has described here how long does it take to get from London to the Studios? It sounds easy enough to do but I also want to be time efficient. I am considering booking a high tea at the Landmark before our kick-off dinner after the morning studio tour.

Also, thoughts on the London Eye on our arrival day - maybe early evening? It does not look like that is included in our ABD tour.

Cousine Orville, that Cereal Killer Cafe looks fun. Might need to try to work that in.

Thanks everyone.

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

Yes, I got the tickets first. They are sold out until the 12th of never so I needed to secure tickets first. We just made sure we were far out enough that we would have decent award availability for flights and hotel availability to stay on points. Loved the play!!!!

Can I ask how you got tickets? My dh and I both "lined up" online for the last release a few weeks ago; he was number 18,000 in line and I was number 33,000 (they said anyone over 10,000 didn't have much hope of getting tickets). Needless to say after hours "in line" neither of us got tickets.

The concierge at the Four Seasons Hyde Park told me tell me they had a reputable re-seller of HP tickets but it would be double the price. No thanks!

We'd be willing to plan a weekend trip around tickets as well. We just can't get tickets