Reviewed by David Savage
We decided to go and visit the world famous Madame Tussauds London during the summer. There were 4 people in our party with ages ranging from 9 to 60 years old.
Madame Tussauds London’s visitors are sent on a unique, emotionally-charged journey through the realms of the powerful and famous. The museum-style ropes and poles have gone, allowing guests to truly get up, close and personal with A-list celebrities, sporting legends, political heavyweights and historical icons, reliving the times, events and moments that made the world talk about them….
Madame Tussauds has been around for over 200 years and still going strong. It first came to Great Britain as a travelling road show in 1802 and travelled around the country for 33 years showing its wax figures before finally settling for a permanent home in London in 1835. In December 2011 Madame Tussaud will be celebrating her 250th birthday, so would be a great time to visit her museum and help her celebrate.
We decided to go to Madame Tussauds by tube and this I think is the most easy and straightforward way for visitors to get there. After exiting Baker St tube station you turn left and can see the building a few hundred yards down the road.
There are several admission points depending on how you have booked your ticket, i.e. ticket on door, internet or coupons, which speeds up the process of being admitted keeping queuing times to a minimum.
Before entry our bags were searched but by very friendly, efficient and helpful staff. Upon entry you get into the lift and exit to a wall of paparazzi with camera flashes to set the scene.
When entering the main room you are greeted by extremely lifelike figures of pop stars, film stars and Bollywood legends. As there are no ropes or barriers around the figures you are able to take pictures of the figures or have your picture taken with them. Depending on how popular a figure is it can take some time but as you can walk around you can always come back to the ones you want.
There is even an X-Factor studio where you can be filmed singing before receiving pre-recorded comments from the judges.
As you walk around you see figures from:
Sports Stars: David Beckham, Christiano Ronaldo and Jessica Ennis
Royalty: Prince Charles, The Queen and Prince William & Harry
Pop Stars: Beyonce, Michael Jackson and Justin Bieber
World Leaders: Barack Obama, David Cameron and Boris Johnson
Hollywood Stars: Bruce Willis, Nicole Kidman and Angelina Jolie
Bollywood Stars: Hrithik Roshan, Salman Khan and Aishwarya Rai
Cultural Figures: Albert Einstein, Charles Dickens and Madame Tussaud
Fashion: Elle Macpherson, Kate Moss and Jean Paul Gaultier
Characters: Captain America, Wolverine and The Invisible Woman
This summer also saw the arrival of a new experience Marvel Super Heroes 4D where it ends with a 9 minute 4D animated cinema attraction with excellent special effects and great fun.
I would recommend taking the family to Madame Tussauds and is worth the entrance fee. The youngest of our party loved taking loads of pictures and interacting with the figures and loved having her picture taken on the motorbike with the eldest loving Elvis and John Wayne.
Entry into Madame Tussauds costs:
On The Day Price: Adult £28.80 Child £24.60 Family £99.00
Online Price: Adult £25.92 Child £22.14 Family £89.10 (a saving of 10%)
Other tickets are also available such as:
Late Saver upto 50% off
Combination Tickets for other attractions
Merlin Annual Pass for all Merlin attractions
Groups and school visit tickets
For details of these please see the website www.madametussauds.com/London/