Its Me Chrissy J

We have been desperate to get down to London and visit some of the London Merlin attractions. With both Gaz and I having twixmas off work it was the perfect time to visit.

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I haven’t been on a bus for YEARS and it blew my mind a little that they have USB charging points in the back of all the seats! How cool is that, shame I didn’t have a cable and my phone died while we were out!

Holly and Oscar were super excited to be going on the train, Gaz not so much, he’s not a fan of how busy London can be. For me it’s home and I love it!

Holly was also pretty excited when she saw Big Ben and wanted her photo taken with it.

Tourist photos done and it was time to get onto the real reason we headed into London onto the London Merlin attractions!

Shrek Adventure

We started the day off with the Shrek Adventure. Gaz and I have done this several times before, once on our own (you know to test out whether it was suitable for the kids, honest!) and a couple of times with Chloe and Lottie, before they became too cool to do stuff with mum and dad. So we knew what to expect and we weren’t disappointed.

You aren’t allowed to take photos or videos inside and I wouldn’t want to spoil the fun anyway but I do highly recommend it! As I said Gaz and I did it without any children with us and we enjoyed it but the little ones do love being involved.

It is a walk through but it’s very interactive and Holly loved getting involved – she was chosen twice to ‘help’ out. **Spoiler** For those who have been before she did the magic bus welcome and also carried the ‘hair of a hero’ to the bakers!

Shreks Adventure Photos

We did have some photos done but it was crazy busy and we didn’t stop to view them but they were advertising packages from £20. I scanned the QR code myself on my phone and about 2 hours after our visit it popped up offering me the digital images for just £10.

So, if like me, that’s all you want anyway I thought it was a pretty good deal.

I’d recommend leaving around 1-1.5 hours for this experience. The main delay is waiting for your photos to be done before you go in.

Online advance tickets
Standard Timed Entry : from £24 per adult
Standard Anytime Entry : from £32 per adult

On the day
Standard : £32 per adult

Find out more and book tickets on the Shrek Adventure site

The London Eye

Holly and I did do The London Eye back when we went to see Frozen the Musical but Oscar hasn’t been on it before.

It was BUSY, everytime we go on it, I can not believe the amount of people who visit! As we are Platinum Merlin Passholders we do get to use the Fast Track lane but even so it was around a 30 minute wait to board.

Be prepared you will need to have your bag searched and you will have a metal detector wand waved across you. They also randomly select bags to be scanned so this can take additional time.

Photo Opp

Again there is a photo opportunity but you can politely decline it and move onto the next part of the queue. If you are taking a pushchair on with you it does need to be folded up by the time you reach this point.

The pods continue to move while you board. If you have any mobility issues make them aware so they can slow / stop the pod while you board.

Inside each pod is a bench seat big enough for around half of the people in the pod but most people want to stand and look out / take pictures so I have never struggled to sit down if I need too.

The full rotation takes around 30 minutes. (it feels so much longer!) So again allow around 1-1.5hrs for this experience depending on the queues.

Ticket Prices

Online advance tickets
Standard : from £25.50 per adult
Fast Track : from £48 per adult
Champagne Experience : from £53 per adult

On the day
Standard : £45 per adult

Find out more and book tickets on The London Eye site.

Guest Information: The London Eye is closed for maintenance from 8th January – 4th February 2024. The London Eye River Cruise operates as usual.

Sea Life Centre

We have been to quite a few Sea Life Centres now and to be honest they are all pretty similar. Weymouth continues to be our favourite!

The Sea Life Centre London does have a really cool addition when you first enter. They have a glass floor which looks into the shark tank which we all really liked.

They also have a walk through tunnel (which sets my vertigo off like crazy so I get through as quickly as possible!) and you can see sharks and massive sea turtles along with lots of other fish.

Nemos!

Oscar was excited to spot the Nemos and a Dory. They didn’t seem to have many seahorses which is unusual we normally get to see quite a few of them.

The staff were giving out Nemo masks so of course Holly and Oscar wanted one. Thankfully they were free!

The Rainforest Adventure

Sea Life London has a rainforest section which includes a crocodile, Piranhas and even a Chilean rose tarantula.

Holding shark Eggs

Holly really wanted to touch all the things in the tank and today they had shark egg pouches for you to hold.

They have handwashing stations before and after this section.

Penguins

Oscar has recently developed a bit of an obsession with penguins. They were the only animals we saw at Chessington on Tuesday. So he was very happy when he realised they were here too.

This little penguin came right up to the window which made him so happy! They also have this little dome you can stand in so it feels like you are in the penguin enclosure, just a shame they were all down the other end.

Jellyfish

My personal favourite at the Sea Life Centres are the jellyfish. I would love to have a tank full of them with LED backlights changing colour like they have!

They have one you can control and just swipe your finger on the colour wheel and the tank changes to that colour, which is pretty cool!

Oscar found the animated projection on the floor far more interesting than the real jeallyfish though.

We were in here for around an hour, but if you wanted to really enjoy it, read everything listen to the talks through the day you could easily spend half a day in here.

Ticket Prices

Online advance tickets
Standard Timed Entry : from £24.50 per adult
Standard Anytime Entry : from £32.50 per adult

On the day
Standard : £40 per adult

Find out more and book tickets on the Sea Life London Aquarium site

Multi-attraction tickets & Merlin Annual Passes

If you think you would like to do multiple attractions you can get a multi attraction pass which you can visit multiple attractions within a 90 day period. You can mix and match the attractions that suit you and you can find more information on the Big City Saver Ticket site.

Of course if you think you would like to visit more than once, or visit any other Merlin attractions I would highly recommend signing up for a Merlin Annual Pass. You can visit any of the attraction links above and purchase a pass or visit the Alton Towers site for more information. 

Our visits to the London Merlin attractions today would have cost over £450! So having an annual pass is great for us.

For reference Gaz and I have Platinum passes and Holly & Oscar have Gold passes. You don’t all have to have the same level but I would recommend having at least 1 Platinum or Gold as you get free parking at Alton Towers, Chessington, Thorpe Park and Warwick Castle.

More Tourist Things…

Lastly we got to see the Queen’s guards (or I guess the King’s guards now!) and Holly wanted a photo with the Trafalgar fountain. Everything was fenced off as they are preparing for the New Years Eve events.

It was all too much for Oscar. He was soon napping on Gaz’s head as we walked back to catch the train.

We had such a great day out doing all the London Merlin attractions. I do highly recommend Merlin passes to everyone! They save us so much money on days out and you also get discount at Moto services and TGI Fridays!

Find out more about Merlin Annual Passes here and let me know if you sign up!

ChrissyJ xxx