London What to Do
There’s no limit to the things you can do during your visit. We’ve come up with a few ideas though to get you off to a flying start.
Legoland Windsor - London’s best theme park for young families
Of all the theme parks near London, Legoland Windsor is definitely the best choice for young families. The park is designed for children from 3 to 12, although accompanying adults and slightly older kids should find the place quite entertaining as well. There are over 50 rides as well as live shows, workshops, and other attractions aimed squarely at younger children, and especially those who are already fond of the iconic building-block toys.
Legoland Windsor was the second out of the four existing Lego parks, with the first and largest being in Billund, Denmark, and the two more recent additions being near San Diego, California, USA, and in Günzburg, Germany. Of course, the general theme of the whole place is the Lego toys that we all grew up with, and everything possible is meant to look like it was built from the tiny blocks.
Attractions in Legoland Windsor
As is typical of theme parks in general, Legoland Windsor has various areas within its borders that each have their own theme around which all the rides and decorations are based. Some of the more notable areas in Legoland include:
Date: June 26th, 2008 |
No Comments
Thorpe Park – The London area’s best thrill rides
Those looking for a proper theme park near London filled with thrill rides should look no further than Thorpe Park. Located about 20 miles southwest of the city center, and only a few miles south of Heathrow Airport, this is by far the easiest to reach amusement park for roller coaster junkies passing through London.
Opened on the site of a former concrete quarry in 1979, the 500-acre Thorpe Park has continued to add new rides every year as its gained in popularity. It was purchased by The Tussauds Group in 1998, which was purchased by Merlin Entertainment in 2007, so now it’s part of the world’s second largest entertainment group (after Disney), and also part of the same family that includes the London Eye, Alton Towers, and the Chessington World of Adventures, as well as the Madame Tussauds wax museums, of course.
The rides
Thorpe Park contains dozens of water rides and roller coasters, each within one of the special theme areas contained within the park. These are big and world-class thrill rides, and the names of some of the more popular ones will tell you most of what you need to know including: Stealth, Nemesis Inferno, Colossus, Tidal Wave, Rush, Samurai, Vortex, Slammer, Detonator, and X:\ No Way Out.
Date: June 15th, 2008 |
No Comments
Bike Tours of London
London is a big sprawling city with a huge variety of different areas and locations for visitors to see. One method that most people on a trip to the city don’t use to see the sights is by bicycle.
They’re missing out because although parts of London are heavily congested with traffic and not the most bicyle friendly places, if you pick the right locations and the right time bikes can be the ideal way to get around and take in a lot of what there is to see.
Date: May 3rd, 2008 |
No Comments
London Annual Events
January
New Years Day Parade
Holocaust Memorial Day
February
Pancake Day
March
St Patrick’s Day
April
The Boat Race
London Marathon
Date: September 10th, 2007 |
2 comments
Guy Fawkes Night
This time of year is boom time for anyone selling fireworks, people celebrating Diwali were firing them off for about two weeks and this weekend is Guy Fawkes Night when the rest of the UK build’s bonfires and lights up the night sky.
Date: October 31st, 2006 |
No Comments
Chessington World of Adventures - A great theme park for families
Of all the theme parks near London, Chessington World of Adventure is probably the best choice for families with a wide age range among their children. Thorpe Park is probably a better choice for teens, as it has a huge selection of thrill rides and not much else, and Legoland might be a good choice for families with only younger children. Chessington mixes these worlds together with a nice selection of rides and attractions suited for different age ranges.
The attractions at Chessington
Chessington World of Adventures has dozens of rides mixed in among 9 different theme areas that range from Beanoland to Mexicana to Mystic East to Transylvania. These include large and modern roller coasters as well as shows and other attractions well suited for younger children. They have a nice list of all of them, including height restrictions, on the official Chessington website.
Date: June 20th, 2008 |
No Comments
World Naked Bike Ride 2008 is coming up
We just spotted the video below posted on the BootsnAll Travel Videos site, and it was impossible to resist posting it here too. This is of the 2006 edition of this global event where exhibitionists ride bikes around various cities for some reason. The 2008 London World Naked Bike Ride edition is coming on June 14, and they say over 1,000 people participated in 2007.
You can clearly see that many of the bikers aren’t naked at all, and even stranger, you’ll see that about 1 minute and 40 seconds in some Royal Guards on horseback storm right …
Date: May 16th, 2008 |
1 comment
London Sightseeing Bus Tours
Taking a sightseeing bus tour is a great way for tourists and travellers, especially those new to London, to get a feel for the city, get themselves orientated, and take in some of the fantastic attractions and places that London is famous for. When someone else is doing the navigating and driving you have the chance to take in much more of what’s passing you by, and an open top bus is the ideal platform to view a city famous for its landmarks such as London.
Here’s a look at some of the main companies offering bus and sightseeing tours of London, what they consist of and how they compare on price.
Date: April 24th, 2008 |
1 comment
The Lord Mayor’s Show
One of the quirks of London is that every year there’s a huge parade through the streets of the City and I’m guessing about 99.5% of people couldn’t tell you the name of the person all the attention is for.
Sure its the Lord Mayor’s Show and the new Lord Mayor is the centre of it but what’s his or her name. I couldn’t tell you and I think very few people in the whole city could, or last year’s Lord Mayor or the one before that. The Lord Mayor of London is actually a pretty low profile job except for his one big day, in fact the most famous Lord Mayor, Dick Whittington, is a fictional character although based on a real mayor.
Date: November 10th, 2006 |
No Comments
