KidZania London – Review

Last Sunday we were extremely excited as we ventured into the magic world of KidZania London. We live in London and not too far from the Westfield London shopping centre where its located so it was a must for us to go and explore this new place. It was a spontaneous day out that resulted in a fantastic family moment!

Check this VIDEO first, so you can have an overall idea of KidZania before my review.

And below are a collage of photos and my review:

We booked our tickets online. You can check their ticket prices here – it was £18 per child (4 to 14 years old), £15 for adults from 15 years old, £10 for early years (1 to 3 years old) and infants are free if you pay in advance. If you pay once you are there, the price is £39 per child and £18 for adults. I though it was also interesting to know that schools can organise a trip there. I thought this would be a fantastic way to teach kids different type of jobs in a fun way.

We printed our tickets that looked like boarding passes for a flight. The whole idea is that you are flying to a magic place to fulfill all kids dreams! After changing and getting ready we got in our car and started our adventure. As soon as we arrived to Westfield we followed the signs to KidZania. It is very easy, there is no way that you could get lost – for the people that know Westfield London, KidZania is near the Marks & Spencer’s entrance. There are lots of signs from the parking zone that guide you to the specific entrance. Then you take a lift and the entrance is just next to it. Inside, you then have to take another lift up or use the escalators. After that you arrive in what looks like a British Airways Airport departures hall/check-in area. Within the departure hall there is also a huge British Airways emblazoned plane that you need to walk below, which just adds to the sense of wonder.

At the check-in desk they greet you as though you are about to take a flight. They do a check-in using your tickets and ask about any allergies, etc. We were each then given a ‘watch like’ electronic bracelet which is to keep a track of every person, making it difficult for anyone to get lost – a great idea! Bella was also given 50 Kidzo’s (KidZania’s own currency!) to spend inside. After that you are finally ready to go pas security and go inside. It really is like being in a totally different place – an life-like town for kids. You can find everything that you might expect to find in a normal town or city (Hospitals, banks, police station, sports stadium to name a few) but re-imagined for children.

You will find the Information Centre just to your right as soon as you enter. You can go there to see a full list of what jobs or activities are available. There are lots of options to choose from. You can find the whole list of activities here. From our experience the best thing to do is to go around first to check the different activities so the children get to see what activities are available and what they might want to do first.

There are establishments where your kids can earn money: Music Academy, City Clock, Dance Club, Recycling Centre, Power Company, Aviation Academy, Engineering Centre, Acting Academy, City Tour Bus, Bank, Vault, Dentist, Hospital and A&E, Garment Recycling Plant, Newspaper, Radio Station, Animation Studio, Beauty Salon, Courier Service, Hotel, Police Station, Forensic Lab, Fire Station, Fashion Studio, Supermarket, Department Store and Stadium.

If you come with babies there are also a couple of rooms that you can join. They have the RightZKeeper’s Residence where you can find a kitchen, a bathroom, a room and a living room all for kids to play like if they are in their homes. Sienna loved this room. It was full of entertainment for her and she didn’t want to leave! In front of this area there is a Kindergarten with lots of toys and activities for very young children. This was a very small room so we didn’t stay long. The Residence was much better for Sienna – she really had a blast there. Now that she is walking more, she was very keen to walk around when she could. She loved the lights that were around which she would’ve stayed staring at all day long.

Bella started with a painting class at the KZ National Painting School, then she went to Cadbury’s Chocolate Factory, then to the Fruit and Nut Bar Makery and finally to the Innocent Smoothie Factory. We spent some time, as previously mentioned, at the baby rooms to entertain Sienna.

Suggestion List to get the most of KidZania

• Check what activities are on offer first (some activities such as classes you need to pay for in Kidzo’s and some are jobs where children earn Kidzo’s). Go around and see what your child would like to do.
• Check available jobs and timings at the Information Centre.
• Each room that runs an activity has a sign outside with the capacity, duration, age suggested and charge/amount earned. Check this as it is very important. It also informs you what the activity is about and if there are any allergy warnings.
• Your ticket allows you to stay inside KidZania for 4 hours from the allotted start time which you choose when booking. With this in mind, if you would like your kids to make the most of this time doing activities, it could be better to book a slot early in the morning or just after lunch in the afternoon so as not to lose time eating.
• We naively booked a time which meant we had to take lunch whilst in there which we thought was probably not the best use of the time. Of course its nice to take a break for a snack whilst in there.
• The first floor has all the factories as well as the aviation academy. This is very popular so expect long queues. This is also the case for the fire and rescue unit, the police department, etc.
• You need to try to get a balance between activities which cost Kidzos and activities which earn Kidzos so you have money to spend.
• I think the idea works better if your child has a friend or a group of friends to do the activities with as they will feel less shy (but this of course depends on the child’s personality). My daughter Bella can be very shy with anything new or different so she was very overwhelmed at the beginning and didn’t want to do anything. Had we gone with a friend she probably would have started to do the activities sooner.
• You can try to look for activities that have smaller queues or have a larger capacity so you don’t waste time queuing. Believe it or not, the 4 hours passes very quickly.

After 4 hours you have to leave the venue through their Immigration Office LOL which I thought was very funny. To be honest, the whole idea was hilarious and kids love the idea of being grown up. I have heard about this concept before as my niece has been to a similar centre in Peru called DiverCity (KidZania itself is a Mexican company with branches in many cities around the world). My niece told me how much fun she had there so I was very intrigued to go to KidZania London to see if it really is worth it. In my opinion, overall I give it a thumbs up and we were very pleased with everything. If asked, ‘would we go back again?’, we would definitely say, ‘YES!’.

I hope this review was useful if you are thinking of going to KidZania or to help you get the most of your time there. Have you been there already? Did you like it? If you have been there I would love to know your opinion, so please leave a comment below.

Thanks for stopping by,

Love you all ❤️

Franca  💋