October trip plan with my boys

Piccadilly Circus lights are off until the autumn for renovation/replacement works.

You might need to reschedule St Paul's Cathedral. Hampton Court Palace is a 30-minute train ride outside of London and there's so much to see and do there (especially if the weather is good and you want to explore the maze and gardens) then you could easily spent four or five hours there. So you might find that's your whole day gone...

Good to know about the lights. First Big Ben and the scaffolding, now the lights! :(

St Pauls is kinda an add-on The kids will love the climb, but I think they will get their "cathedral" fill after Westminster!

I've got some bad news for you. Platform 9 3/4 at Kings Cross isn't real.......

and before everyone screams "we know that" what I mean is that the place they have signposted on the station is not the place where the scene was filmed, it is very clearly different. Which begs the question of why so many fans who must have watched the movie still queue up to have photos taken. It is, however, very convenient for the HP souvenir shop set up next to it.....

If the boys know the scene and want to see the real location, it's between platforms 4 and 5 and they should be able to work it out. The only problem is that all of this is within the ticket control barrier area and I'm not sure how you visit without a ticket .

And before you dash off to the British Museum, the exterior scenes of "Kings Cross" with the flying car almost hitting the gothic clock tower were filmed across the road at St Pancras station. If you go outside you can see it clearly. Use the Underground station to cross under Euston Road to the south side and walk west slightly and you get the view. The interior of St Pancras has nothing to do with HP but is still very interesting, if you go to the upper level by the dining area the 19th century architecture is amazing - and the modern 180mph trains that connect St Pancras with France and Belgium are pretty cool too!

How old are your kids? We just spent a week in London in July and most of your days, would have been too much for my kids ( 12 and 9) as they really also wanted some down time.

For example, we spent 5 hours at Harry Potter Studios not including getting there and back. If you mean Churchill war rooms, we were there for 2 hours so there is no way that we could have done both in one day.

I guess a lot depends on how you like to travel. We prefer doing less but really seeing/doing than just rushing through things to tick them off our list.

Either way, I am sure that you will have a great time!

9 nights in London and in a hotel (2 rooms?), this is a very expensive trip. I'd stay in an apartment, eat some meals in, then split the time in the UK with some nights elsewhere that's cheaper, to reduce the cost and save money for the next trip. But there's nothing wrong with your plans if you have the $$$$.

Have you booked the HP Studio tour?

Thanks for the additional posts. We are using hotel points. I have purchased all the tickets for things that I need to do ahead of time - including Harry Potter :)

It is an expensive trip. I've been saving for it since my husband and I returned from London four years ago. I am feeling good going into it knowing that my out of pocket expenses while there will be food, oyster card, and souvenirs.

Frankly, this trip I have even spent time trying to figure out where we will be eating ahead of time, so I have a budget figured out for that. I found that my husband and I struggled sometimes finding the "right" place to eat when and where we needed to eat, if that makes sense. This trip I have discovered that many places to eat just pop up on the map. Food and kids in a foreign country is tough, so I am feeling more prepared with options near all our destinations that will keep the kids happy. And no.... I'm not locked into anything :) I'm ready to go with the flow, but I feel confident that no matter what schedule changes we make I will have not look panicked in front of the kids!! Ha!