Double check logistics to Windsor, please?

The Fortune Theatre is close to Covent Garden and, I’d guess a 10-15 minute walk from Waterloo Station. There’s lots of restaurants etc of all sizes and budgets in the area.

Just get the train back to Waterloo, walk across the bridge, pick a restaurant near the theatre (I’d get there around 6pm-ish) and let the staff know you’re going to the theatre. You should be fine.

Bill, I was using City planner to go from Windsor to Fortune Theatre and was getting all kinds of convoluted options. None of them going to Waterloo. Our hotel is by the Waterloo station. I never thought to look at how far the theatre is from Waterloo. I’m quite surprised that it’s so close.

Planners were probably sending you via Paddington instead of Waterloo.

Marco, yes, the directions were to Paddington, and then a tube or 2. Is there any reason to go thru Paddington? I’m wary of the planner now, even in the morning to get to Windsor, the cityplanner was suggesting tube to Paddington then train. Except, our hotel is a couple blocks from Waterloo??? Makes little sense

We saw Operation Mincemeat on 4 September and ate at Côte Covent Garden before the show. The food was fine, and the service was so quick that we had extra time to kill before the play.

Were you looking at the planners for today, or tomorrow? Today Waterloo to Windsor trains have been disrupted by planned engineering work.
But tomorrow they are fine- all booked as 8 or 10 car trains and advertised as using Platforms 19 to 21 in the former Eurostar station (subject to on the day platform changes). The platforms closest to the Grand Arch- the station exit you want for the theatre, and the closest platforms as you enter from the PI if taking a sensible route.
Waterloo is certainly the route I would take, not Paddington,

Paddington is probably a bit quicker, hence the planners preference for that route.

If you're still looking for a place to eat close to the Fortune Theatre, we absolutely loved the Lamb and Flag! (I think it's a less than 5 minute walk from your theatre.) Downstairs is a pub and upstairs you can enjoy dinner!

@Stuart, thank you. I was putting today (Monday) in Citymapper, it just seems to want to go thru Paddington. LNER didn’t seem to find Southwest trains, or maybe they get buried. I finally went to Trainline.

@Rebecca and Jone, thanks so much for the restaurant recommendations we will check them out.

Thank you everyone for the quick responses. We are on the train. We bought our tickets at the counter just to be certain and the employee told us we were so clever to know the best route. More like my RS forum friends are clever!

Couple of things - most London theatres were built in the 1800s and the provision of Restrooms, particularly for women, is ungenerous to say the least. (Victorian clothing meant that women were pretty much unable to use the toilet away from home). So, if you need one probably best to use one in the pub or restaurant before you get to the theatre.

All the theatre shows finish around the same time and it can be hard to get a taxi. Unless it's pouring, you should be fine to walk back to your hotel.

Enjoy the show.

By the way Citymapper seems to be working today if you specify Windsor Castle or W and E Riverside as your destination.
For LNER and I guess other National rail websites you seem to need to specify that you want W and E Riverside if travelling out of Waterloo, or Central if travelling out of Paddington.

I'm home from a wonderful trip to England thanks in part to wonderful assistance from many on the forum.

Our trip to Windsor was "interesting" for many reasons. One, trump was arriving the next day which meant we couldn't enter the dining room, but we could watch them prepare from the doorway. We also got to watch what seem to be a rehearsal for inspecting the troops, which they did for trump.

At this point, I can't remember which train station we arrived at, but we didn't have to make the transfer of trains. However, when we went back to the station, we found that the late afternoon/early evening trains were canceled due to trees falling on the tracks. We made a mad dash to the other train station. It was a bit concerning because we did have the Operation Mincemeat musical that night. We ended up having plenty of time and we ate at a restaurant in Chinatown and then found the fancy donut shop. Operation Mincemeat was fabulous.

What is it with these trees????

Our mid-June train trip from Portsmouth to Winchester was disrupted by a downed tree. Frustrating for us tourists, but there were a lot of locals who needed that line. It was disrupted for hours (although there was a bus). I can certainly empathize with you on this - and I must say I was glad I could communicate easily in English in working through this!

Glad to hear you had a good trip. Any favorite parts?????

I haven't heard of trees falling on the tracks very often, but this time of year trains are often disrupted for leaves on the line (I wonder if that may be what happened rather than trees falling on the tracks near Slough?). Not to say trees don't ever fall beside the railway line but leaves are a much more common problem.

@Cat, we ended up taking the trainline that changes trains in Slough(what does this mean, anyway?) for the way home. We were told that huge trees fell on the other line and it was going to take some time to clear them. The folks at that station didn't have much time to chat as there were advising a whole bunch of travelers how to get back to London.

@ORD, We liked a lot about England. York and Yorkshire, especially. For London, the restaurant choices, Bletchley, Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's Cathedral, Churchill War Rooms. My husband thought the Imperial War Museum was excellent and would have liked much more time. While he was at the war museum, I went to the V & A. I liked it though some of the exhibits were closed (like the fashion ones). After hearing about reserved British for years, we were amazed at how nice people were. Especially at the train stations and museums and churches. We had some great tour guides, both informative and funny. (especially the Westminster Verger tour).

I haven't heard of trees falling on the tracks very often, but this time of year trains are often disrupted for leaves on the line (I wonder if that may be what happened rather than trees falling on the tracks near Slough?)

Jules was using the route from Waterloo, but had to switch to the Paddington route.

But the same thing can happen the other way round in that the Paddington route is blocked for all sorts of reasons. When that happens anyone who has travelled on the cheaper Paddington route has temporary interavailability of tickets- that is the usual routeing rules are suspended. That only applies with physical or e tickets, not where you are paying by contactless.

Leaves on the line and trees falling are two sides of the same equation. At the time there was a lot of rain (the first decent rain in months) which is likely to have destabilised the earth on steep slopes, especially in railway cuttings leading to trees falling. Network Rail are doing a lot of work round the country to remove trees from beside the line, but it is a no win situation as that leads to it's own complaints of a barren landscape.

This would have been way more serious for homebound commuters on the Waterloo route, as they don't have the same options to re-route via Paddington. But then the locals know about the many local bus routes which serve that line, such as the 8 and the 10 to Staines (on the main line to Waterloo).