We had already watched a YouTube video but were very eager to see Kidzania London for ourselves. The concept is incredible (job role-play) but we wanted to see if the execution of it matched the hype.

Entering Kidzania is quite something. You go through a proper check-in as if boarding a flight and jetting off to somewhere exotic. You
can feel the excitement building before you even reach the main complex! Especially for the boys being handed a wad of fifty KidZos (the official Kidzania currency) to take in with them!

Security at Kidzania London

Everyone in our party was given security bracelets to ensure that our children could not leave the facility without us there with them. Technically at seven and eight my boys could have roamed freely. But I wanted to see how they got on myself and of course make notes for this blog post.

We were booked in for 10am but they did not start official check in until 10am. We were very eager and at the front of the queue but I was worried for the others much further back. Would the wait be eating into their allocated slots I wondered? I need not have worried as the time seems to be added on to the end! So you get the full four hours! The boy’s bracelets would stop scanning for activities at 2:05pm.

The cityscape and individual themed activity rooms are very realistic. It is impressive the time and effort put into creating the attraction.

In our time at Kidzania the boys became pilots, surgeons, dentists, hoteliers and policemen, they worked in a News Station, a chocolate factory and faced a thrilling time based pit lane tyre change challenge!

Friendly Staff

The staff seemed friendly and informative. It must be hard going working with so many children in one day. But they looked happy and did there best to engage with the children. They were very supportive and encouraging. My youngest bless him could not quite get the hang of the autocue controls so it was a bit up and down for my eldest reading it. However the technician always made them feel like a job well done.

A visit to Kidzania is very educational not only do they learn more about the job roles they have a chance to experience, they also get to understand the value of money, It teaches them how hard it is to earn and how easy it is to spend! However the department store at the end was a bit of a let down as the prices are so inflated. You could see children leaving frustrated. We told our boys to take the KidZos home as a memory of their day instead which they seemed to like. It might be best to align your children’s expectations about the store before they get there to try and avoid disappointment.

My only other gripe is the photography. The photographers were lovely but they are taking pictures of up to 10 children doing activities individually, which eats into your slot time allowance. You can buy pictures afterwards at £12 each. I was tempted as the boys looked very handsome as pilots but it’s a bit pricey.

Tips To Get The Most Out Of Your Kidzania London Visit

Kidzania expect you to complete between 4 and 6 activities in your visit. We managed to squeeze in 8. This is how we made the most of the experience:

Plan ahead

Look through the list of activities on the Kidzania London website with your child, narrow down a list of the ones they would most like to try to give you a reference point for when you arrive. Otherwise I can imagine it gets quite overwhelming and you can waste valuable time planning what to do when you’re already there and your four hours are quickly ticking away.

Use your time wisely

Certain experiences get quite busy so ideally book a 10am slot and dash to one of them first, we managed to do pilot before the queues got much bigger. The Fire & Rescue unit seemed very popular too.

It is probably tempting to go on the tour bus to learn more about the jobs or go to the employment office for similar information and see what jobs would most suit you. But we dived in instead. If you’re off looking around you have less time to get stuck in to activities. If you have already made a list of the activities you children would most enjoy you can just point them in the right direction straight away.

Whilst the boys were in one activity we would make a note of where to head to next on the map, we would check the queue size and plan an alternative if it looked like it would take an extra turn of waiting. Even though parents technically do not get involved in much, we wanted to make ourselves useful.

You can go to the parents room and have a more relaxing time. But with our way you can help your child squeeze in more out of Kidzania.

Bring Snacks

I had already forewarned the boys that lunch would be after 2pm. We brought a few snacks and a bottle of water each to keep them going, so we could maximise the time doing activities not eating lunch.

Department Store last

Don’t waste time browsing until your security bracelet won’t scan any new activities.

It is a shame we live so far away as I would like to come again. The boys would enjoy trying out the activities they did not manage to do this time. Our boys had a wonderful time at Kidzania and I would definitely recommend a visit. Just book in advance to save on the £1.50 per ticket walk-up booking fee.

We have since returned for the Kidzania London Halloween event.