What London activities warrant pre-ordered tickets?
 

We're leaving in a couple of days to London and we don't want to wast our time waiting in long museum/theatre lines. Are there any pre-ordered tickets you're glad you had prior to your last visit? (Or wish you had)

Ceremony of the Keys at the Tower of London. I always forget to & they have to be pre-ordered a couple months before.

www.hrp.org.uk

Ceremony of the Keys (but you may be too late - they have strict limit on the # of people).

Hit West End shows (but again you're very late for the biggest hits)

Tickets for the latter can always be bought through scalpers - for the former you can only call and ask about cancellations

For West End shows, go to www.officallondontheatre.co.uk. See what's playing and book tickets online if you wish. The official TKTS booth at Leicester Square (beware of the scalpers look-alike booths) has discount tickets for some, but not all shows. Or call a specific theatre box office in the mroning of the day you wish to see a play and ask about concessions (returned tickets, not food).

Many museums in London are free. There won't be lines at those.

just did the ceremony of the keys--was a highlight of our trip--as soon as you know that you are going, request tickets

The OP is leaving in a couple of days - Ceremony of the Keys would be impossible at this late date since they must be requested by post.

meetntaters: Museums are free and there are no queues/tickets except for soem special exhibitions.

Other than the Keys Ceremony (too late) and a very few smash hit musicals (not too late) - nothing much needs to be booked ahead.

Two sites that do require timed tickets are Buckingham Palace and the Eye. But you can get the tix after you are in London.

On our first trip to London,we checked the weather forcast the day before we left. When we saw that the weather was likely to be clear on our arrival day, we booked timed tickets on the Eye for sunset (figured out the time from timeanddate.com). Then when we got to the Eye we could pick up the tickets in the pickup kiosk and bypass the ticket queue. Then it was just a short wait in the boarding queue.

Many people advise buying admission tickets to the Tower of London at the tube station which cuts out the queue. We used 2-for-1 coupons which can only be redeemed at the official ticket booths, but the £16 savings was worth the queue.

The TKTS half price theatre tickets booth is a free standing little building at the back of the Leicester Square green park. There are many other imitation cut price ticket establishments, especially near the tube station, but don't be fooled by them. We usually order tickets for one show in advance (call the box office or purchase online). A good site for checking recommended seats is http://www.theatremonkey.com/

Our second trip to London we wanted to tour Parliament, but you had a 3 day waiting period at the time, and we were only there for 2 days. We pre-bought tickets the next time - don't know if that still holds true.

We also pre-bought tix to a Shakespearean play in the Globe, as a special treat :)

Non-residents in the UK may take tours of Parliament during August and September only (rest of the year, tours are limited to UK residents).

You can book on line (http://tinyurl.com/2s427r): there's no minimum period in advance, but tickets do go fast. Alternatively you can queue on spec.