KidZania - What a fantastic place for children's imaginations

We recently visited London and as part of that visit we went along to KidZania. I am so glad we had the chance to experience KidZania which is located in the Westfield shopping centre. Its such an amazing place for children aged 4-14. Imaginations really can go wild as they try some of the dream jobs they often role play at home.

KidZania is a 4 hour experience designed just for the kids. Adults stand back and watch, if your children are over 8 you can check them in and pop off shopping. I didn’t want to miss out on the experience though but would be great if you went on a regular basis.

At the start of the experience you make your way up 3 sets of escalators, or you can use the lifts. At the top you are greeted by British Airways Check in staff. The experience has been well thought out and starts the minute you walk in. You are checked in using your boarding cards (printable tickets, or email confirmation). Upon check in you are issued with a wrist band, you all have one and they are all linked together as a group. The children receive £50 KidZania pounds upon check in to get them started on their experience. They need these to do some of the activities and can earn more money taking part in other job roles. You can also save any unused pounds for the next visit or deposit them in a KidZania Bank account. We have ours safe for next time.

Each child’s wristbands is scanned at every activity they do and they also have photographers who go around taking pictures. At the end of your 4 hours you scan your wristband and you can view the pictures and buy various copies and gifts. This is a great idea because it can be difficult to get any good photos yourself due to the restrictions on adults being allowed in the activity area. I tried to take some but as you can see they are not great

There are over 60 different activities for the children to choose from. I have listed the one’s Kaitlin and Jack experienced below. You can find a full list on the KidZania website:

Window Cleaner, Innocent Smoothie maker, Vault Manager, Air conditioning Engineer, Fireman, Music Academy, Degree – Graduate, Metro Newspaper, Shop Assistant, Mission Deli Wraps, Eat Natural Bars, Hotel assistant.

The first activity they did together, which was being a Firemen, you had to pay 8 KidZania pounds to do this job. They received a talk and had to answer some fire questions before being loaded into the fire engine. They whizzed (well crawled) round the city to attend a fire. At the scene they also had medial staff and police. Neil had to be taken care of by the medical team for burns on his arm (note the cling film). The kids did a great job controlling the crowd and seeing to casualties whilst the fire was put out. I loved how all the emergency services worked together and the experience is designed that way that they all attend at the same time.

After the first activity being firemen together they knew what to do and both went off and did their own thing, meeting for the final activity of the day at the Metro Newspaper. They managed to do about 8 activities each in our 4 hour experience. Each activity usually takes around 15-30 minutes to complete. Me and Neil took turns to watch them doing different things and also enjoyed a coffee and cake in the café area located centrally to all the activities.

KidZania is designed like a little city, shops, banks, school, supermarket all things you would see in a normal city. The ground floor is like the actual city with roads and shop fronts then upstairs is were you will find all the other kind of roles like baking, TV, pilot, window cleaner. You are issued with a map when checking in so its really easy to navigate your way around.

One experience we didn’t get a chance to do and Jack was gutted about was the Pit Lane. You become an engineer and they have a formula 3 car you work on. He loves watching F1 with us so think we may have to make another trip so he can have a go at this.

Overall we had a fantastic time, we had a few tantrums to begin with because that’s just my kids but once they worked out what to do they had a great time. We have said Kaitlin (11) would of benefited from having a friend her age as most of the kids seemed to be around Jacks age (8). She did enjoy it though but would have had a better experience I think if she had a friend to giggle with. Both have said they would love to go back again.

You can eat inside KidZania we chose not to because we didn’t want to waste any of the experience sat eating. We did see people sitting eating pizza and things and I think if you lived local and visited often it would be great the food smelt delicious. Parents can also make use of the child free zone located upstairs to enjoy a coffee or just some relief from the noise. We did also see several birthday parties taking place which looked really well organised and thought out. I wish I was a kid again so I could have a party there.

So one question you are all asking is what is the cost of something like this, well that depends on if you all go in or just the kids the website advises the below regards children over 8. As we said above we went in as well to experience KidZania but next time now they know what to do I would maybe send them in to enjoy it alone.

Children aged 0-7 (inclusive) must be accompanied by a full paying adult (18+) at all times. Children aged 8 and over can enter the city unaccompanied, but an adult must be present for the admission for all children into KidZania London.

Tickets:

Family ticket booked online is £88 for 2 adults and 2 children or 1 adult 3 children.

Please note the below are starting prices and the cost varies depending on date and time slot so best to check the KidZania website for actual price.

Children 4-14 £18
Under 4’s £10
Under 1 Free
Adult £10

We can’t wait to plan our next visit and I hope you enjoy it as much as we did if you decide to go. I would recommend booking online as it is cheaper than paying in person on the day.

Do check out our review of Safestay Holland Park which is one of the partner hotels to KidZania and is one tube stop away. It was a fantastic base for exploring London and great for a larger family. Its a great way to keep costs down and we found it much better than squeezing in a hotel room made for two with put up beds that squeak all night. A hostel is something we will be considering again when travelling especially if it’s just the four of us.