Hola chicos, there are so many good new attractions in and around London now it can be hard to choose which one you should do. However, I can certainly say that one of the attractions that you and your kids should definitely not miss is the amazing and so entertaining Shrek’s Adventure London which is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames beside the London Eye, opposite the Houses of Parliament.
We were so delighted to be invited to visit this new attraction in London which has only recently opened during the Summer. We didn’t need to travel far as we live in London so it was just a short journey on the Tube. The nearest Tube Station to the venue is Westminster, on the Jubilee Line (although its also a similar distance from Waterloo which may be better depending upon the rest of your journey). From there you only need to walk across Westminster Bridge and you will see it is just next to the London Aquarium – it’s very easy to find.
You can book your tickets online beforehand or at the door but I would always recommend to book ahead as you can’t be sure you will get in if its busy and the price at the door is usually more expensive. The prices online are £23.40 for Adults (16+) and £18.72 for Children. You can find the latest information on prices here. This attraction is suitable for children aged 6 to 12 and they also mention on their website that it could be “for all younger knights and princesses feeling especially brave“. This latter applies perfectly to my 5 years old daughter Bella as she loves these kind of places as she was feeling very brave to go and be part of this great adventure. My youngest one Sienna is only 1 year old so it was definitely a challenge for her but she certainly enjoyed the whole show as she had her eyes wide open the whole time! The only problem is that she wanted to go around and touch everything because she is very curious so we had to keep her calm from getting overly excited LOL. Most of the time she was very happy and very engaged with everything that she was seeing.
Immediately after we went in, they took 4 family photos of us, asking us to do different poses for each, which was quite fun in itself (and started to get us in the mood for what was to follow). After our tickets were checked, Bella was given a bracelet with a code which helped later to identify our photos. We were able to buy these photos later when the show finished (but I will explain about this later). Shortly after this you do a short queue which is when the actual adventure starts and you should leave your pushchair at this point just before joining the queue if you have one. Once you pass this point and the adventure starts you are reminded that you are not allowed to use any cameras or mobiles to take photos or videos.
At the beginning we were given a welcome speech from one of the members of staff. He was very fun and his job was to give us a few instructions and to get people in the mood of the show. The whole decoration was amazing – I was very impressed with it. There were lots of suitcases around (to give the idea of going on a journey) and it was also quite dark with lots of green matching the theme colours of Shrek. After this, we were sent to the departure area where we were about to start our magic adventure. There we found Princess Fiona who explained that we needed to take the magical 4D ‘Dreamworks’ bus in order to get to the land of Far Far Away. Donkey was our mischievous driver of the bus so already things were starting to get a little bit scary LOL!!!
Babies were not allowed to go onto the Magical Bus so Sienna and Daddy were guided to the swamp area while they waited for us. Luckily they had screens so they were still able to watch what we were seeing on the bus too. OMG guys, this part of the adventure was extraordinary! I have never felt so much like I was inside a story before than when we were on that bus! It all felt so real. We departed very quickly and ended up flying above London and then passing through clouds towards Far Far Away but we had so many interruptions along the way. We saw so many familiar faces from Dreamworks films approaching us, such as characters from Madagascar, Kung Fu Panda and How to train your Dragon as well as lots of witches too. Bella loved it, although at the end she was a little scared but it soon passed.
We landed in a strange location which seemed to be a smelly swamp where we found that Shrek has disappeared and that we needed to find him quickly before something bad happened to him. All was so exciting, isn’t it? We went through 7 different places in order to find Shrek.
Shrek’s Swamp: This is where we landed and it was very smelly. There was no sign of Shrek although we did meet Cinderella!
© Mikael Buck / Shrek’s Adventure
Rumpelstiltskin’s Carriage: Esmeralda invites you to look into her Crystal Ball.
© Mikael Buck / Shrek’s Adventure
© Mikael Buck / Shrek’s Adventure
The Poison Apple Pub: We met “Puss in Boots”!
Game Show: We met Pinocchio
© Mikael Buck / Shrek’s Adventure
Mirror Maze: Here we found the Magic Mirror
© Mikael Buck / Shrek’s Adventure
© Mikael Buck / Shrek’s Adventure London
Muffin Man’s House: Sleeping Beauty helps us to find Gingy!
© Mikael Buck / Shrek’s Adventure London
© Mikael Buck / Shrek’s Adventure
The Dangeon: We met again with the witch and Rumpelstiltskin and we finally found Shrek. Hurray!!
© Mikael Buck / Shrek’s Adventure London
Dreamworks Arrival Hall
After finding Shrek we were taken to the Dreamworks Arrival Hall where we were able to take photos with Shrek and some of the other famous characters from Dreamworks films. We had a lot of fun taking photos here
Travel Journal / Photos
Finally we were ready to go and collect the pushchair and see our photos. We got a fantastic ‘Travel Journal’ album which included the 4 photos that were taken of us earlier plus the option of getting digital versions of the photos online. They also added some stickers. The total cost for this is £25 but you can choose to get just the photos for less. I thought it was a little bit expensive but in some attractions you can pay this amount for just photos whereas for this price you get a fun book to take away too.
The Gift Shop
On your way out you have to pass through the gift shop. They have a lot of lovely soft toys, mugs, chocolates, T-shirts, etc. Most of the items are related to Shrek but there are other things related to other Dreamworks characters – we bought Bella a Madagascar drink dispenser. The prices here were a little bit expensive but no different to what you would expect to pay in similar gift shops at other attractions in London.
Conclusion
It was a great adventure for our girls, especially for Bella as she really enjoyed it. The highlight of the whole adventure was the 4D Bus at the beginning as it was absolutely amazing – we loved it!!!! I felt like a kid again as everything seemed so real. I guess wearing the special glasses make you feel even more like you are part of the story. I thought this part was genius.
Each place or room that we were taken to was interesting and there was always something behind it that added to the story. Bella really followed the story and it was great to actually be involved in it rather than just watching passively. In every single place a member of our group (other visitors) was given a clue that would be needed later in the story. It was kind of link solving a puzzle.
The show lasts about 90 minutes with continuous interaction so you and your children will not get bored at all. For more visitor information, including opening times you can click here.
Also, to remind you, if you bring very young children or babies like my daughter Sienna (1 year) they will not be allowed on the magic bus so one parent needs to stay with them in a separate room for about 5 minutes. This is a shame as one parent will miss the bus ride which for me was one of the best but so my hubbie was the one who had to miss out :-(. Thank you babes!! Love you!
You can book your Shrek’s Adventure Tickets here
Our Video
We also edited a video of the day. It is before and after the show as we weren’t permitted to bring cameras. If you are familiar with our family videos we always start with an intro of where are we going and end up with a wrap up telling you our thoughts of the place, so I hope that you like it.
Giveaway
I’m so happy to announce that the lovely people at Shrek’s Adventure! London have agreed to allow me to do a giveaway for a Family Ticket to one of A Moment With Franca’s lucky readers. How amazing is that!!
In order to win this unique prize you just need to enter the giveaway below. You need to complete the mandatory entry first: follow Shrek’s Adventure on Twitter. Good luck!
Family Tickets to Shrek’s Adventure London
*Terms & Conditions: Open to UK & Ireland residents. One winner will win a Family Ticket to go to the show. The tickets will be provided by Shrek’s Adventure directly. A Moment With Franca blog is not responsible for the delivery of this product. The prize only include the Family Tickets but not any travel arrangements. Giveaway closes on Monday 6th October 2015 at midnight. The winner will have 48 hours to respond once notification is sent.
*Disclaimer: We were given a Family Ticket to Shrek’s Adventure! London as well as Family Tickets to giveaway in exchange for an honest review.
Thanks for stopping by,
Love you all ❤️
Franca 💋
Linking up with:
Promoted on UK competitions at ThePrizeFinder , Loquax
This looks like a really fun day out – I didn’t know that Shrek’s Adventure had opened. Thanks for the great review 🙂
#triedtested
Thank you Catherine!! It is new. It has not been open for too long! It is a great place to bring your kids. They will love it! 🙂
I’d love to go on the Magical bus ride, sounds amazing. Looks like you had a great day.
Everything looks amazing especially the Magic Bus 🙂
Would love to win. We had tickets in the 6 weeks hold but couldn’t go due to illness so gave them away free to friends x
Oh no!! That is such a shame!! I hope you have more luck this time!! Fingers crossed!! x
we would absolutely love this
The 4D bus looks great
Esmerelda’s crystal ball!
Looks absolutely amazing! Would love to take my two children and hubby 🙂 xx
mirror maze sounds interesting! I would love to win!
I want to look into the Magic Mirror
wow my 3 would LOVE to go to Shreks Adventure, Each child in turn has been Shrek obsessed and I must have watched it at least 50 times and it never gets hold hilarious for all the family young and old alike. Would be a fabulous day for the familiy
the magical bus ride x
The Magical Bus as it looks so immersive
The magical bus ride sounds the best x
4d bus
This would be a brilliant day out for all the family
The Magical Bus 🙂 xx
Shrek’s Swamp, although it all sounds fab! I promised my boys I would take them here before the end of the year, hopefully I win tickets!
The Magical Bus xx
the mirror maze looks fun!!
I would love to go on the Magic Bus, sounds like such fun!
Great photos and it looks as though you had a brilliant time, I think Monkey would really enjoy this 🙂 great review #TriedTested
Thank you Clare! It was really a lot of fun!! Yes he would love it!! My girls were very entertained and enjoyed every minute. 🙂 x
The magical bus looks great but I with a lot of attractions I enjoy visiting the gifts shop just as much!
The gift shop was really nice! You are right! 😉 x
I think the kids would love Shreks Swap!!!
The bus ride, though all of ti looks amazing!1 Would love to do this before my oldest gets too old!!
Oh I am beyond jealous – this looks like the best fun! Thanks for linking up with #TriedTested
It was really fun!! The 4D bus was amazing, A whole new experience for me! I enjoyed as much as my girls did LOL Thanks for hosting #Triedandtested 🙂 x
The magic mirror maze sounds really fun
The magical bus ride
the mirror maze – they are always a lot of fun
My daughter and I would love to visit the Muffin mans house, and help to find Gingy. We both love Gingy and his gummy drop buttons.x.
The Magical bus ride sounds fab! My boys would love it.
This looks like a fantastic day out, fingers crossed for me and my son to meet shrek and donkey x
The 4D bus sounds great. My kids want to go
Magic Bus i reckon my daughter would love….great review btw thank you 4 the chance 🙂
Would love to go on the Magic Bus ride!
thank you for this information I want to go with my grandchildren the bus sounds amazing
All of it Shrek is my favorite film
mirror maze looks good
The bus ride sounds so cool x
The bus ride sounds great 🙂 but really would love to just go and do and see everything available 🙂
Wow this looks fab , the magical bus ride sure sounds exciting my kids are sure too enjoy x
Definitely the magic bus ride!
Kids would be so excited. That will be the greatest joy
The bus of course! This looks so fun, my children would really love it
It all looks AMAZING! But the magical bus looks fantastic
Magical bus ride looks fab
The 4D bus ride! Seen the advert on tv!
The Poison Apple Pub.
Got to be the 4D bus ride!
Looks like fun
The Magic bus, my son would love it
All of it! My son is a massive fan I can’t wait to see his little face light up
The mirror maze looks and sounds fab!
The Magic Bus would be great to see, as our son is studying The Naughty Bus at school at the moment!
Wow … it all looks Amazing … especially The Poison Apple Pub ♥♥ Fingers Crossed ♥♥
The mirror maze, I’m a huge fan of mazes and I bet this one is spectacular.
would have to be the bus or real life shrek 🙂
It all looks like an amazing day out, but would love to see the Magic Bus Depot.
I too have a fiesty up for anything 5 year old girl, and a daredevil 7 year old boy… who would both adore the magic bus!!
It all looks amazing but I would say The dangeon followed closely by the gift shop!!
most deffo the magic bus
Definitely the Magic Bus, looks great fun too
♥ funny Donkey and Shrek himself please ♥
The 4D bus ride!!
The Magic Bus looks awesome.
I think my niece would love all of it but the magic bus sounds amazing!
OH the kids would just love to visit here. The photos look great!
It all looks like an amazing fun time! I think we’d enjoy it more then Ronan 🙂 The magical bus sounds enchanting!!!
The magic bus looks great but would love tp see the big man himself Shrek x
Mirror Maze
This looks amazing my son is a very big fan of Shrek he would especially like the gift shop as we find it so hard to find Shrek toys. I would love the mirror maze it looks so much fun 🙂
Really good review, thank you. Regardless if I win or not I hope to take my boys there soon 🙂
I would enjoy the 4D bus ride also seeing all our favourite characters from Shrek.
I would love to look in the magic mirror! My children are very different in age but would both still love it! It’s hard to find something that they are both going to enjoy – this is it! 🙂
Shreks Swamp. xx
The Magical Bus Ride
My 1 year old would love the mirror maze as she is obsessed with her own reflection and my 5 year old would love the arrivals hall and having her photo taken with lots of different characters
The Mirror Maze looks cool 🙂
IT all looks great fun and exciting we love mazes as a family so the Mirror Maze looks great
The magic bus x
All of it !! =D
The magical bus ride 🙂
Sounds cool
Someone on their Facebook page said the Magic Bus Ride was amazing so I’m very interested in that