First, thanks to everyone for all of your help with our trip to London with our 6-year old. All of your advice was utilized and appreciated. This is the trip report for those taking children to London and as another poster put it earlier in the summer, this is also not the, "how I went to London and did not spend a fortune," we were not extravagant, but we did not try to do this as a budget trip. Having said that, I want to make one observation which I hope properly captures an earlier thread on London; the problem we observed is not that London is so expensive (of course, it can be, but we found neighborhood restaurants and good chains) in fact many things seemed comparable to New York or Washington (where we live), it's just the exchange rate stinks and so to us things are expensive (I know my economic theory is not very advanced, but some things like our theatre tickets were actually cheaper than they would bein New York). My overarching theme is that London is a great place to take kids: no language barrier, great sites, easy to get around, and there is food they will eat. All over the city in decent restaurants there are great kids' menus (for 3-5 pounds); I know of no restaurant in D.C. where for that kind of money my daughter can get a good meal and my husband and I can have real food (so I'm not talking about a Happy Meal!) so that was a great bonus. I'll go day-by-day and post this in bits.

Thanks again to everyone, your advice was all terrific.

We flew BA from BWI in World Travelller Plus (the service between Business and Coach); if you get a decent fare, I would recommend this, you get more room, faster service and a generally much more pleasant atmosphere. BTW, BA was great with mydaughter, activity pack, special meal, etc.

We had JustAirports pick us up at Heathrow, that was fine, although I will note that they never responded to numerous e-mails and I did have to call them.

I want to give an enthusiastic recommendation to our hotel, The Rubens. We were in an Executive Suite, which was perfect with a pullout couch for my daughter. The hotel is smaller with an Old English atmosphere; great breakfast, nice amenities, big, clean bathroom, turndown service and super nice staff. We also really liked the location--it is across the street from the Royal Mews (parallel to Buckingham Palace) so you can either walk to Victoria for the tube or bus or walk up to St. James's Park and it is an easy (and beautiful) walk to Westminster. We mostly took the bus (as has been noted here many times, the London buses are easy to navigate, often faster and you can see the sights). Also, since we live in D.C., the tube was not as big an attraction as it would be for a child from a place without a subway.

To be continued. . .

Our room wasn't ready when we arrived, so we did one of the hop on, hop off buses which required little energy and my daughter got to see the big sites and get excited. Since it has been several years since my husband and I had been to London it also re-oriented us. By the time, we got back to the hotel at 2:00, our room was ready, we took a fast nap and shower, and went to dinner. We ate at a pub called the King's Arms which was great. A tip for families is to look for pubs that have an upstairs dining room which is smoke free, serves food and children are welcome. It's nice because the food is good and the adults get to go to a pub.

The next morning was the Tower of London--great, not crowded, everthing there a kid could want. We ate lunch there and once again, a great rant on kids' meals--at many sites, you could build your own kids meal--sandwich, fruit, drink, dessert--okay, enough on that, but trust me, we have nothing like it.

After that we went to the Royal Mews; if you are a fan of the Royal Mews, please do not be offended, but this venue is really best for children who love horses and those who really want to see which carriage the Queen took to open Parliament in 1999. While her horses are impressive (big!), there was only one horse there and two horses being exercised around a parking lot with the workers' cars. It's expensive to get in, so make sure you're interested before you go. (My daughter thought it was great.) One note: you will spend alot of money on admissions fees--we are, of course, used to "free," at the Smithsonian, but it will add up in London. Look for deals for families.

We had dinner that night near our hotel at a chain--Bella Italia--that had good food and, you guessed, a great kids deal. Be aware that if you are eating near a theatre (Billy Elliot is at Victoria), you as a family will be probably be trying to eat the same time everyone is trying to eat pre-theatre, we got a table, but it was really crowded by the time we left.

Forget to say, that I am more than happy to answer questions.

More later,

Mary

Welcome back.
I agree with you entirely about the idea of London being expensive. I live in NYC and London is similar--prices can be very high (real estate is precious, taxes are high, unions are strong etc etc) but there are also many low-cost and moderate options for theatre, restaurants, activities, etc, if you know where to look.
BUT, due to the dollar-pound exchange rate, the prices that Londoners may be used to, seem very high to this American when I go there. I'm always calculating the prices, in my head, into dollars, and it's painful sometimes. Good thing so many musems are free, and that the theatre tickets can be had for so much less.

Good for you for taking buses! You can see so much more, and look before deciding to get off at work. I went to London many times before I was brave enough to take a bus.

Keep posting....

Thanks for this, Mary. I am taking my children (7 and 5) to London in December, so your report is great to read. I grew up in England and my husband also knows it well, but this will be our first visit with the kids. Looking forward to reading more...

Tania

Okay, onward; forgot to mention that after the Royal Mews we snuck in a visit to Harrod's which was fun and overwhelming--all at the same time. We used this as our toy shopping (and avoided Hanley's on the advice that it is essentially the same toys we have at double the price; based on what I saw at their shop at Terminal 4 that sounds about right); be forewarned that there are very aggressive toy hawkers in the Harrod's toy department who quickly ascertain your child's name and then demonstrate games and convince them to buy them. Again, all three games being marketed you can get at Toys 'R Us without the exchange markup. We got out of there with a Christmas bear and a very cute Harrod's Paddington bag. Interestingly, the only time in London we were confronted with Dynamic Currency Conversion was in Harrod's--the first two customers in front of me, one from Australia and one from Sweden did it; I said no, the clerk pressed me on it--was I sure, but when I said no, charge me in pounds, it was dropped.

The next day we went to the Princess Diana Playground in Kensington Gardens--quite simply the nicest playground I have ever been to--it's gated, you have to be buzzed in (no one without a child is admitted); there is a little cafe where you can have lunch (another great kids meal!) and my daughter loved it. Tania P--be sure and take your kids--it is based on Peter Pan and fantastic.

After that we went to see Peter Pan and feed the ducks (we made sure to take bread every morning from breakfast because there are always ducks to feed--they delivered a newspaper every morning in a plastic bag which we used for the bread)and then went to see the Diana Memorial Fountain/Serpentine thing; it is now open after being closed for safety concerns which is totally understandable--for a kid it is SO tempting to get in--you are now allowed to dangle your hands and feet; she loved it; hard to know what to say about it, it is kind of neat, has nothing to do with Diana and therefore kind of fits with the notion that the Royal Family doesn't really know what to do about the whole thing! Right next door is the bigger cafe where you can get a nice snack/beer/glass of wine depending on where you are in your day!

We walked from there to Horseguards where we happened upon the Dismount--a fun short ceremony that we all enjoyed-then lots of opportunity to get the obligatory Photo Op with the guards. From there we went to the Cabinet War Rooms which I had seen and think is one of the greatest museums anywhere but my husband had never seen. My daughter tolerated it (she was free so that was nice) and my husband really enjoyed it--if you haven't been, it is a remarkable time capsule and extremely well done.

That night, we ate at Bank Aldwych, which was populated by fun young people just off work; the food was great, nice atmosphere, totally nonplussed by a child because, you guessed it, they have a children's menu! We had a nice dinner--not cheap, but a fun stop.

Saturday, the plan was to go to the Changing of the Guard at Horse Guards but on our way, we happened upon the inspection for the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace so we watched that and got a flavor of that which was just enough. I have to say that the crowd was huge and my daughter never would have seen a thing of the actual event; it was a beautiful day (forgot to mention that we had amazing weather--ironically, we were there when it was pouring rain on the East Coast); then to Horse Guards again, if you have child into horses, soldiers, that is a nice manageable place.

Lunch at Spaghetti House--perfect for kids; our food was really good, too.

Then, one of the highlights of our trip, Mary Poppins. This is a terrific show, wonderfully staged, some great dance sequences and a great cast. Our daughter was fine because she has seen a lot of theatre, but the advisory on the show is for age 7+, this is a good guide for several reasons, it is not the movie and has a slighly more sophisticated story line, there are (of course) not as many special effects (but there is one really great one!) and last, but most importantly, it is long--3 hours. If you don't get a chance to see the show in London, definitely see it in New York--it's a hit.

We walked over to Covent Garden which was too frenetic for our daughter (rats!) and then went to dinner at a little hole-in-wall called Da Mario; the food was fresh and wonderful, it is run by an Italian family and was a nice find. Not much on atmosphere, but totally authentic and reasonably priced--the kind of restaurant we lack in D.C. but is much more common in New New York. It is not a big place so especially pre-theatre, a good idea to book. Highly recommended.

More later. . .

Mary

ok, I'm going to wrap this up since I've fallen behind, "what are you reading now?"

On Sunday, we went to Hampton Court--many thanks to Janis for the great suggestion--it's an easy trip from Waterloo and then a great place.

We had dinner that night at Giraffe, a mini-London chain where we had a great meal with (yup!) a good kids's menu.

thanks again to Robespierre for the awesome maps (used them everwhere), Elaine and Janis for spot on advice and many others--

happy to answer questions,

Karu