Attractions, London

Ripley’s Believe It or Not! London Review

The boys are fascinated with facts and oddities in the world, so while in London where better to quench there never ending thirst for information than at London’s Ripley’s Believe It or Not! I myself have visited a Ripley’s once before in America with my own parents about 20 years ago (gosh how did I get so old!) and I have fond memories of it being quite the experience, so I was looking forward to introducing my boys to all the weird and wacky displays!

So with their lovely god mummy from BooandMaddie in tow we arrived to a short queue to get into the attraction. Here she is with her best gurner face!

It is in an excellent spot at the heart of Piccadilly Circus and the opening hours are very generous, 10am – midnight! It is handy having an attraction open later into the evening. Usually many seem to close around 6pm so it’s hard juggling everything you want to see and do in London.

Once inside we found there was plenty of room to move around as the exhibits were nicely spaced out.

The heaviest man

A firm favourite was the heaviest man, Earl Hughes. You could stand on the weighing scales and see how you measured up. Later as a group of five we still weighed a lot less!  Not surprisingly but rather sadly the world’s heaviest man died aged just 32. Even at just six Earl weighed 92kg (14 stone!!!), fortunately my six year old weighs no where close.

The artwork section of Ripley’s was original, inspiring and more than a little surprising. Youngest loved the picture of Kate Middleton made entirely out of kisses!

Ripley's Believe It or Not

It was certainly a novel section of the attraction with soda bottle caps, toast (yes you read that correctly!) and sweets to name just a few of the different art medium used. I think its great to show children you can be creative with anything and still have amazing results.

Youngest was intrigued by the water with a glacial chill in Ripley’s Believe It or Not. It does make you shiver thinking about your whole body being immersed in something so cold. The look on his face says it all, but water this cold may well have contributed to the destruction of the Titanic according to the display! Although it did not put him off returning for another try!

Pop Up Gallery

There was also the new Wonderland themed pop up gallery with plenty to interest the children and adults alike. I spotted myself a new suitably sized wine bottle!

Ripley's Believe It or Not pop up gallery

Ripley's Believe It or Not

And there were ample photo opportunities.

Ripley's Believe It or Not

Along with all these great exhibits there are several fantastic interactive areas in Ripley’s Believe It or Not.  Early on you have a chance to become a graffiti artist using the Digital Graffiti Wall. It is timed at 50 seconds a go but proved to be very popular so ready yourself for a queue! It was worth it though as the boys enjoyed being creative.

The Mirror Maze is optional, even though I am a bit phobic of mazes the boys convinced me to give it a try. Luckily it wasn’t too long until we got out!  I always panic we will walk into the glass, so I do recommend leaving a hand outstretched to navigate safely.

Near to the end of Ripley’s Believe It or Not you can travel through the spinning Black Hole. It is quite daunting as you soon get off balance it really feels like the walkway is moving, eldest found it fun and wanted to go back on. I felt disorientated so once was more than enough for me! You can bypass this if you wanted to through a side door.

You also had one free ticket per person for the Impossible LaseRace. Hubbie took the boys in and they all had a great time ducking and diving under the lasers in the hope to beat the leader board. It was enjoyable being on the other side so I could watch their efforts and it was exciting for them experiencing something completely different.

If your wondering what other things to do in London check out some of my other posts.