Madame Tussauds

Thought that it was a very good attraction. The main problem was the amount of people there - but of course - that was not their fault.

If you are thinking of going I would suggest that you try and go off peak as it would be a lot more enjoyable.

The taxi ride near the end was a nice surprise, and the children really enjoyed it!

"I went to Madame Tussaud's" is another way of saying "I was suckered into wasting one of my precious days in London." Valuable perhaps as kitsch or for ironic value, if you can afford $100 worth of irony.

Madame Tussaud's actually has a very interesting history, but it's buried beneath several reeking tons of Michael Jackson and Britney Spears memorabilia. Walking through rooms full of mannequins is something you can do for free in London at Marks and Spencer or Harrods. The Andy Warhol section was a potentially insightful peek into what this place has become - the museum of pop culture. But even that failed to break through the stifling air of celebrity adoration.

Makes sense perhaps to visit the one in Vegas, while well and truly hammered. But it is a tragedy to waste your time and money on this pit when you are in London.

I've wanted to go to Madame Tussauds since I was young, and when I found out I was going to be near London, I jumped at the chance to go. I pre-booked two combined London Eye/Madame Tussauds tickets for my husband and I.

We made sure that we were there early (about 9:30am) as I'd read alot online about it being very crowded. We arrived at the pre-booking door, but it was really busy. I guess alot of other people had the same idea as me!

Once inside, we went upstairs to the main area, but before we could even see it, we could hear the noise! It was packed, and I mean packed. This was about 9:45am!!!!! It was teeming with young continental students, who were more than happy to shove and push their way to the figures that they wanted to get snapped with.

It was really busy, and this spoiled the overall atmosphere. There are a few models in this room, but to be honest, not enough. You have Johnny Depp, John Travolta etc as well as Big Brother's Davina McCall. It seemed very geared towards extras - by this I mean that there were 'popular' figures like George Clooney, who was sitting at a table. You could go in, sit next to him, and get you pic taken...for a price, by one of the Mdme. Tussauds staff. I thought this was a bit cheap, it was quite expensive to get in, and they shouldn't have been doing this.

The next room was the movie stars; the usual Sean Connery (didn't look at all like him), Jim Carrey etc. James Dean was in a poor state of repair; he had very dirty ares on his hands which were almost rubbed away to nothing. Again, there was about 10 figures, no more.

Downstairs now to the sports/music/cuture room. I'm not a big sports fan, so most of these figures were lost on me. The culture section was ok, nothing special, and some of the models were just random...Jimi Hendrix near to Charles Dickens??! Again, the popular figures were 'pictures with a price' - here it was the queen and prince philip. The music section could be best described as being sparse. It had Michael Jackson (again, pay to get your pic taken) Freddie Mercury, the Beatles (that looked awful - moth bitten and nothing like them). Again, a bit random. Onto world leaders, where we have Yasser Arafat, alongside George W Bush and Tony Blair...and Obama, complete with pay pictures.

We headed downstairs to the chamber of horrors, but I sat this out, and looked at the 'how the figures are made' exhibition. This was interesting, but was more like a waiting room full of toddlers screaming as they waited for folks coming out of the chamber of horrors. There was also a distinct lack of information. My husband did the chamber, and the Scream section. He said the chamber of horrors was really disappointing, with next to nothing in it, and the SCREAM area was just dark and disorientating with people trying to grab you etc.

The Spirit of London is about the best part of a bad experience, although it's a bit out of place in a waxworks. It's good to see, but the train goes round very quickly.

Finally, we headed to the TV Studio area, which had literally 6 figures. Not much of a TV Studio. We were finished in Mdme Tussaud's one hour after we arrived. I was really disappointed, and had a feeling of 'was that it?'

Overall, I would say don't bother wasting your time or money. It's a great shame, it could be som much better, but it's sparse with next to nothing to see, given the price they charge. By the look of the website, it looks full of figures, but I was really surprised to see how empty it was. Go if you're happy to be pushed, bumped and banged and happy to pay extra money onto of what you've already spent. Otherwise, avoid like the plague. I really don't see why it's popular!!