London - Any tickets to pre-purchase?

[indyfranks]

We'll be in London for 5 days prior to our June cruise and have tentative plans to purchase a London Pass and Oyster Pass and then just see what all we can fit in. Are there any recommended attractions tickets or the like that I should purchase ahead of time due to them selling out or anything along those lines?

[newport dave]

Tower of London, get there about 30mins before opening to be first in line to see crown jewels.

 

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[Huntingdon1701]

Quite a few will offer a small discount for booking online - sealife, Hampton Court, London Eye (from memory) - so it's worth checking if you definitely plan on doing something. The bigger attractions are generally unlikely to sell out, but the crown jewels, Natural History Museum and London Eye can develop big queues so early or late arrival is a good idea.

 

Smaller attractions might sell out - the Mithraeum has been sold out months ahead, for instance, although it's easing now. Did you have specific things in mind?

[kctwinmommy]

Tower of London, get there about 30mins before opening to be first in line to see crown jewels.

 

Yes! We got there with the London Pass last summer, when it was still part of the Fast Pass option, and we were able to walk right into the line going in. We got there about 20 minutes after they opened (wrong tube station! LOL!). But went right to the Crown Jewels!

 

 

And also, like the other person said, the London Eye. We bought the Fast Pass tickets when we got there, which cost about 20-30 pounds more than regular tickets, but we went past the super long line and walked right on basically. It was worth it! We went there in the evening of our first full day there. So not really a sunset time, but still really nice. But crowded!!

 

With the London Pass we used it for several things, but not all had the Fast Pass option, so there were definite lines - Westminster Abbey, Churchill War Rooms...

 

 

Here's my report from our 4 days we were there...

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2561970

[wheezedr]

You also may want to see what is playing on the stage. If there is something that is an absolute must see for you, then I would buy in advance. For subsequent nights you can check the 1/2 price booth if you are just looking for some entertainment.

[MrsEmmaPeel]

We used advance purchase tickets in London in 2016 for basically everything we could; however, note that some of those advance purchase tickets were bought the night before or the morning of. Many places discount buying online, and almost everyone was happy with an online ticket shown on a phone. So, we simply bought ahead, sometimes before even leaving the US (if it was a timed exhibit that appeared to be filling) and sometimes right before we hopped on the tube there.

 

For example, we purchased our tickets to In The Heights at the King's Cross Theater before we left for London, as we knew we wanted them and we wanted top seats.

 

One cool place to visit, but you need (free or almost free) tickets ahead is the sky garden at the building known as The Walkie Talkie:

https://skygarden.london/sky-garden

[markpghpa]

I agree with Wheezedr about theater events. We are on a cruise that leaves England in a few weeks and purchased tickets for "Tina: The Musical" which is a brand-new show that has received very good reviews. The links follow:

 

 

https://tinathemusical.com/

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/19/theater/tina-turner-musical.html

 

Also check on pollstar's website at http://www.pollstar.com for concerts that may be in England.

 

Hope this helps,

Mark

[Got2Cruise]

We didn’t prepurchase tickets to the War Room and never got in because the line was ridiculous. The place is small so there is only a limited amount of people allowed in at a time.

 

But yay we did prepurchase The Tower of London, The Eye, Westminster and it made life easy. We got to the British Museum as soon as it opened and didn’t have to wait. Went directly to Rosetta Stone.

 

 

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[MrsEmmaPeel]

The war rooms were by far our worst wait back in 2016. In high season, they can get bad. And the wait is entirely uncovered, so be prepared to cover up for rain and then uncover for heat during the same ageing.

 

One word of warning about buying ahead for a time on the eye. Might not want to buy too early; weather can make a big difference in the experience. We ended up buying the day of from our flat when the forecast was good.

 

Actually, we got twice lucky: our 3 generation family of 6 had come for a big wedding annivesary, and they pulled us aside. We loaded into an empty capsule and the closed the door behind us. We had the capsule to ourselves; we just kept repeating an incredulous thank you to the staff as the doors closed . I will cherish that ride on the wheel, watching my parents point things out to their grandchildren as long as I live.

 

The other "lucky"? We started in sunshine and then got to watch a big storm roll in from the eye.

 

This is an excellent point on the British museum. Look over a map before you go. Know exactly what you want to see and go right for it straight out the gate while the masses are getting their maps from the info desk.

 

 

We didn’t prepurchase tickets to the War Room and never got in because the line was ridiculous. The place is small so there is only a limited amount of people allowed in at a time.

 

But yay we did prepurchase The Tower of London, The Eye, Westminster and it made life easy. We got to the British Museum as soon as it opened and didn’t have to wait. Went directly to Rosetta Stone.

 

 

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[kctwinmommy]

We didn’t prepurchase tickets to the War Room and never got in because the line was ridiculous. The place is small so there is only a limited amount of people allowed in at a time.

 

But yay we did prepurchase The Tower of London, The Eye, Westminster and it made life easy. We got to the British Museum as soon as it opened and didn’t have to wait. Went directly to Rosetta Stone.

 

Yeah, we got into the War Rooms, but the line was about an hour to get in, and yes, in the sun on the sidewalk. We got there around 3ish I think.

 

 

And I agree, the British Museum, get there early and go right to the Rosetta Stone if you want to see that. It was still pretty busy when we went, and we were like 15-20 minutes early before it opened. But since it's a free museum, it gets really busy.

[wheezedr]

We loved the Churchill War Rooms but ironically they were our second choice. We intended to visit the Imperial War Museum but it was closed for renovation at the time. It has since reopened. It is actually the big brother of the War museums and in addition if you have time, it is free to enter.

[pompeii]

We will be in London arriving Thursday Aug 2 and flying out Sunday Aug 5 and want to visit the Churchill War Rooms. We are planning to use the 2-4-1 vouchers with national rail tickets. I don't think we can use the vouchers to pre-purchase tickets at this location, so is our best plan to arrive before it opens and get in line? Or do the lines die down later in the day so maybe Thursday afternoon would be better? I am assuming that Thursday or Friday would be better than Saturday....?

Any help with planning is appreciated.

[kctwinmommy]

We will be in London arriving Thursday Aug 2 and flying out Sunday Aug 5 and want to visit the Churchill War Rooms. We are planning to use the 2-4-1 vouchers with national rail tickets. I don't think we can use the vouchers to pre-purchase tickets at this location, so is our best plan to arrive before it opens and get in line? Or do the lines die down later in the day so maybe Thursday afternoon would be better? I am assuming that Thursday or Friday would be better than Saturday....?

Any help with planning is appreciated.

 

I can't answer your voucher ticket question, as I don't know what those are. But, we went on a Monday in July, and got there around 3-4ish I think. We came from Westminster Abbey, in which when we left, they were closing, and they close at 3 or 3:30 most days. We had to wait in line for probably a good hour for the war rooms. Like someone else said, it's small in the passageways and such, so they control how many are going in. And it's just on the sidewalk, there's no inside area, no canopies, etc... I would think you might be better going in the morning before they open and get in line. Hopefully someone can give you their advice if they did that. I just know that later in the day, on a Monday, we still waited at least an hour!

[sunsetbeachgal]

Great info, I’m going to purchase our war room tickets in advance. Are they a timed admission? If not Do those who purchase in advance get a priority to enter, like a fast pass?

 

Thx again for the help

 

 

 

 

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[kctwinmommy]

Great info, I’m going to purchase our war room tickets in advance. Are they a timed admission? If not Do those who purchase in advance get a priority to enter, like a fast pass?

 

Thx again for the help

 

This should help...

 

https://www.iwm.org.uk/ticket-faqs

 

It appears they've realized the lines get long. And I know when we went, there were a few groups of people who must have already had tickets, as they went right to the front if I remember correctly. But there wasn't a Fast Pass option for the London Pass, which is what we had. So we had to wait...

[pompeii]

I can't answer your voucher ticket question, as I don't know what those are. But, we went on a Monday in July, and got there around 3-4ish I think. We came from Westminster Abbey, in which when we left, they were closing, and they close at 3 or 3:30 most days. We had to wait in line for probably a good hour for the war rooms. Like someone else said, it's small in the passageways and such, so they control how many are going in. And it's just on the sidewalk, there's no inside area, no canopies, etc... I would think you might be better going in the morning before they open and get in line. Hopefully someone can give you their advice if they did that. I just know that later in the day, on a Monday, we still waited at least an hour!

 

Thanks for your insight. I checked with the Imperial War Museums people and got the following answer:

 

"Thank you for contacting Customer Services. The 2-1 National rail cards can only be redeemed on the day of your visit at the admissions desk. Generally the afternoons are less busy."

So I think we'll just get tickets ahead of time on their website so we won't have to wait in line. We can get senior tickets (£15.10) that way; the 2-4-1 rail vouchers are only for full price admissions(£18.90) anyway, so the difference isn't quite as much.

 

Regarding the 2-4-1 vouchers, if you purchase a National Rail day travelcard (has to be a rail travelcard) for about £12 (which I understand costs about £5 more than using an oyster card), there are 2 for 1 admission vouchers to quite a few popular attractions. So you can make up that extra £5 and then some very easily. However, with the exception of the London Eye for which you can prepurchase a timed ticket, you need to use the vouchers at the attraction's admission desk. And the 2 for 1 deal is for regular price tickets, so for example you can't get 2 reduced senior tickets for the price of one. Here's the website: https://www.daysoutguide.co.uk/2for1-london

 

And of course if you already plan to travel to London by train, definitely look into the 2-4-1 vouchers. You might save quite a bit of money. The only place we plan to go that is not on the list is Buckingham Palace, which does not participate in high season.