What makes or breaks a guided tour of a popular attraction like London is the tour guide. On our…read moredouble-decker tour of London, Joe the tour guide was wonderful - funny, engaging, knowledgeable and entertaining. That made the entire experience! I would also like to give a shout-out to Radu (the driver) - yes, he was an excellent driver, but he was also the perfect foil for Joe's boisterous and entertaining persona, and he really cared about the customers - he was polite, professional and very thoughtful, for example lingering a bit longer at a particular attraction to let a member of the tour get their pictures just right. I was very pleased with Goldent Tours as well - ease of booking, prices and plethora of choices. All in all - I would use them again and highly recommend them.

We booked despite the bad reviews because it was the only way to get Harry Potter tickets during…read moreour quickly planned trip. We read the reviews and understood we were going to need some patience. The problem with many reviews were the meeting instructions (via TripAdvisor) so we went to the Baker Street location a day early to scout it out. We could not find signage for Golden Tours. We did see a Harry Potter bus dropping off a group and assumed (wrongly) that the spot was also the meeting spot. Actually they do have a location (store front) near the Baker street stop. It is not on Baler Street. If you come out of the tube and turn away from the wax museum, you will find their store from down the next block. That is the meeting spot point for tours! Very important thing to know and find -- because you have to meet there to get your tickets beforehand. We missed our bus time despite arriving 45 minutes early. The staff was less than kind about this part of the trip and made no apologies for the lack of directions. They gave us headphones but there was no movie on our bus. We had set our expectations low for our son, due to the reviews so we didn't mind -- but there were some disappointed families near us. The bus was clean enough but no WiFi and the phone charges didn't work on most seats. The driver for this portion of our trip was great and very helpful given that he had to help us find someone on site to get our Entry tickets. Despite the set backs, we finally had tickets in hand and enjoyed the studio tour from here on out on our own. The trip back was easy enough but this bus driver was less friendly and at one point was screaming at another driver along a busy street in London. We actually found it comical and thought it added to the busy city feel, but I could see how many guests would find this very unsettling. All in all, it is OK if this is the way you can get entry tickets to something on your must see list, but if you have options - I'd try another company.

Swarm was opened in 2012 and is the UK's first winged coaster. The train runs on a central rail…read morewith prongs sticking out of both sides. The seats are attached to these prongs, allowing the riders' feet to dangle free. Sadly, the seats don't rotate on the prong in the style of X2 at Magic Mountain Swarm is located in a new area of the park close to Stealth but you can't access it directly from Stealth - you have to go on the other side of Tidal Wave to reach it. They have created a lovely new area with disaster theming - there is a blown up helicopter and fire engine but beware that the fire engine's water cannon still has enough life in it to soak unwary guests passing by! Basically, these vehicles have been damaged by an attack by aliens - the ride is built to resemble alien spacecraft. You get a good view of the ride from the queue line but also from all over the park The queue line is mazy as usual and be aware that a portion of it does go round the back of the ride where you can't see it. So, it may be longer than you realise - I found the queue line time estimate at the ride entrance to be accurate the 2 times I went on the ride. When you get to the front of the queue, you have a larger area where riders with bags etc can hand them in to be looked after. Riders who want front row seats get a special pass to take with them. Then, it's onto the main ride queue area which is hidden away. A nice touch is that the despatch booth is an upside down police criticial incident control truck. You are directed onto both sides of the loading gates by a park attendant The ride is 4 abreast with 2 seats on each side, which helps the ride capacity. Like most of the big rides at Thorpe Park, the restraints are over the shoulder with a belt clipping it onto the seat. On leaving the station, you're immediately onto the lift hill, which flips you 180 degrees at the top into the first drop. My favourite element of the ride is the second drop - if you sit at the back on the right, there's a great pop of air time as the whole train seems to pivot around that seat. It's definitely better to sit on the right as you also catch some water spray at the bottom of one of the drops, which was missing when I rode of the left hand side of the train. The ride is very smooth with 5 inversions It's a good addition to the park and it's nice to see Merlin continue to invest in new rides at this park - with a launch coaster and the only winged coaster in the UK, Thorpe Park in starting to rival Alton Tower's lineup of coasters though it can't ever hope to match Alton Towers on beauty and space Stealth is still my favourite but Swarm may be vying for my 2nd spot with Saw

10 minute queue time today so this is the big new ride at Thorpe Park for 2012. Looked forward to…read morethe chance of jumping on this from the day it was announced. Not convinced this lived up to the hype style over substance. The scene is stylishly set and the first drop is impressive all a bit smooth and slick after that there are better rides to catch here saw, stealth and colossus all hit the spot. Worth experiencing but not if the queue is longer than half an hour

This place was so hard to get tickets to a month prior. We had to book a tour to get in, which was…read morefine because we needed transportation to get there anyways. We arrived at our alotted time and took some photos out front. The entry is hype and the first part is as a group as you enter the scene from the movies. From there, it is self guided the rest of the way. There are so many photo opps and movie memorabilia. They did a good job of making it interactive with live demos and shows. There is a cafe halfway through which is a good way to know your pace. We were there for 4 hours and could have spent more time, having not even come close to reading everything. This place is both for the true fan and the casual one alike!

Harry Potter Studios, London England, April 7…read more Our family of four with kids ages 9 and 10 visited the Warner Bros. Studio Tour London after taking the train out to Watford. Once at the station parking lot, there is a short line for the shuttle bus, and then after about 30 to 40 minutes it n the shuttle, you arrive on the grounds. After a 10 minute walk past movie statues and themed features you reach the entrance. We had a 10 am reservation which my wife worked hard to secure and it set us up for a smooth entry into one of the most anticipated stops of the trip. We were looking for something immersive for the kids and it fully delivered as a behind the scenes experience. Arrival and First Impressions From the station onward there is a clear sense of scale and planning to the operation. The shuttle system and walk up build anticipation. Once inside it quickly shifts into a structured walkthrough that feels more like stepping onto a set than visiting a traditional attraction. The Highlights The sets were the standout with Diagon Alley and Gringotts especially impressive and detailed. The kids stayed engaged the entire time which speaks to how well paced and visual the experience is. About halfway through the tour you reach the main food hall which works as a natural break and that is where you can get butterbeer which was the clear highlight for everyone. There is also a separate butterbeer bar with themed drinks and sweets that adds a fun extra layer. The butterbeer ice cream was my favorite. Interactive elements like the broomstick green screen added a fun break in the walkthrough, however, to the photos were on the expensive side. The behind the scenes sections added a lot of depth and made the experience feel much richer than just set viewing. The Challenges It is a long experience and benefits from pacing yourself especially with kids. The food court is convenient but fairly expensive. Crowds build up around popular sets and the shuttle logistics at both ends add some time to the overall day. Final Thoughts This is a must do if you are a fan of the films and it works especially well for families. The mix of sets, interactive moments, and behind the scenes detail keeps it engaging start to finish. We would absolutely return again as the kids get older and notice even more of the detail. It is a full day commitment but worth it for the level of immersion and overall experience.

As a tour operator I have found 'Violator' to be an unreliable waste of time and effort. I get…read moreendless,"Unrecognised email or password. Please try again or use the link below to reset your password."(copy/pasted from yet another futile log in attempt) messages every time I attempt to log in to Viator. Even after following their change password instructions. Same result. They can't even spell 'unrecognized'. That should be a clue to their lack of competence. Customer service is totally useless. Trip Advisor must want to destroy their own reputation by staying owner/affiliated with Viator. Trip Advisor is holding my business listing hostage from showing important information to potential customers by saying, "This experience is currently unavailable." because it is linked to my former Violator account that I closed last winter due to unreliable service. TA even shadow bans my TA listings from showing up in their searches. My listings show up on TA when using the big search engines such as Duck Duck, Google, Bing, etc. but not inside TA's internal search. TA only shows listing that book through their Violator property they run as a separate business entity. How does a combined company become the biggest reviewer and booking company in the world when they suck so bad? It's mind boggling. I looked around the web to see if the problem is me. Apparently not. The number of complaints about Viator has that company at the bottom of the BBB and Trust Pilot ratings. When I was using Viator my listings would constantly get reset to unavailable in the reservations calendar which would then show up as such in Trip Advisor's Bokun (Broken) web site and I could not get either location to reset the booking reservations. That was the last straw so, I dumped them both. $50.00+ a month for a system that does not work most of the time? Male bovine feces! I do have a Yelp account that so far I am happy with. But. Yelp needs to be more affordable with their paid advertisement structure. It is too steep for a small company trying to run on a limited seasonal budget. Yelp looks like they are trying to grow their service s offerings to businesses listed with them. Good! I truly wish Yelp success. Just don't screw it up like tRip illAdvisor, Violator & Broken have done. Be more cost effective for small seasonal businesses. You'll make it up in volume and give smaller self funded start up businesses a chance to grow. Thank you for allowing me to vent for myself and others who feel as I do about the companies railed about in this post. Just look around the web, you'll find many unhappy campers. Too many. Not just a small number. Mike T., Keystone, SoDak A note to Moderators: I realize that you may need to edit this post. Just don't delete it all. Thanks.

Viator is a total scam company. As you can see from the photo we have purchased entrance into…read moreWindsor Castle from Viator but when we got there we were told we had to buy additional tickets for entrance. I reached out to Viator and they were not willing to refund or even care. Please save yourself from getting scammed. There are many other reputable tour booking companies out there that are honest

Tip: I recommend showing up at a bus tour stop to purchase your pass (ticket). I bought a two-day…read morepass and got a third day for free. That deal currently doesn't exist on the Big Bus Tours site. I find it helpful doing a bus tour in a city that you are visiting for the first time. I've done such tours in Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Shanghai, and London. Of course, it's also fun to take a tour when you've been in a city before. New York comes to mind. Anyway, I decided to get a ticket from Big Bus Tours when I was doing touristy things in Piccadilly Circus. I am normally a planner (I got a city pass to various tourist attractions), but for tours, I show up at the stop. There's a reason why I do it. You can often get a deal. I ended up getting a three-day pass, but I only paid for two days. It was nice to get an extra day for free. There were three different routes that this bus company offers. I did all three, which was great. You get a pair of headphones and you listen to the audio detailing what you are seeing. It's informative and fun. You can choose the language that you want. You hop on a double-decker bus that allows you to hop off to visit a touristy site (Buckingham Palace, Hyde Park, Big Ben, etc.) and hop back on when you're done. Naturally, if you want to stay for the full tour, it's cool, too. Top floor is best for taking photos, which I did. It was December when I was in London. I recommend wearing a hat, a warm coat, and gloves to keep warm. It can get a bit windy, but I was fine. It did rain on my last day, so I sat inside. Taking photos was fine, but you deal with the window in front of you and potential glare. It was comfortable and a great learning experience as a tourist. I recommend it if you have a chance while in London. (45)

I had about 5 hours to see London, and one of their representatives at the airport suggested I…read morecould see a lot on this bus tour. I took the train to Paddington and got on the Blue line bus, which arrived as I was walking up to the stop. Enjoyed the ride around town on the open upper deck and got off when we reached the London Eye. After visiting the area with the London Eye, I got on the Red line. My original plan was to ride the red line around to Piccadilly Circus to visit somewhere else I wanted to go then, depending on time, take more of the Red route before switching back to blue to go back to the Paddington Station. That plan didn't work out at all! Once on the red route, I was trying to follow along on the map they gave us to make sure I got off at the right place, but very few streets were labeled on the map so I was having to compare the paper map to Google maps. It became apparent that we had, at some point, looped back and repeated part of the route as we passed things that I had taken pictures of 45 minutes prior. In looking at my Google timeline later, you can see that after leaving the London Eye, we did 2 loops around stops 1,2,3, and 4. The bus driver was also honking at people and tried to drive on the wrong side of the road to pass a truck. At many stops, he just got off the bus and left us there waiting while he went off somewhere. Around noon, the driver collected his things and just left the bus for a new driver. I guess he wanted to be in a specific area when his shift ended, so he did his own route to stay in the same area rather than the one we were supposed to stay on. It took 2 hours to go from stop 19 at the London Eye to stop 6 at Piccadilly Circus. I visited the area I wanted to go, and due to the amount of time wasted on the Red route I didn't have time to take the bus again as planned. I had to take the subway back to where I started to go back to the airport.

We are visiting from America and heard about hobble down from a travel site. I have to say, I was…read moreincredibly impressed. This attraction definitely exceeded my expectations in every way. Even with Covid going on, they have managed to create an incredible experience. The photos on their website definitely do not do this place justice. In fact, their marketing could probably use some elbow grease because this place is amazing and you would have no way of knowing it unless you go! We have been in the UK for months now, and this was definitely a highlight of the trip. I brought my five-year-old son, expecting a little more than a petting zoo and themed playground. This is really so much more. I know I have great photos of lemurs stepping on my shoes, albino wallabies, exotic birds, and impressively huge bunnies. My son was also able to see meerkats and prairie dogs up close and personal which he loved. The playgrounds, or nothing short of amazing. My son loved the tiny playground in the cafe area. Imagine his surprise, when we turned a corner and saw the massive water pillow, swing rides, flying castle, high ropes.... AND A huge sand & water play area. He didn't want to leave!!! So, amazingness aside, here are my tips: - for now, don't forget your mask. They do have the café and shop that require them. - Grubby clothes for sand/water play. Are usually dust my son with a tad but of baby powder because sand won't stick to it. You may want to bring a wet bag and change of clothes. (Yo, Hobbledown managers- I would have spent a fortune on clothes Who is covered in wet sand, if you had some in your shop!) - Feel free to bring sand play toys. There are a few here but they are limited and chained to specific areas. Next time we go, we will be bringing our own Sandcastle, shovels and dam-building toys. (Again, can't believe they don't sell these in their shop!) - there's hand sanitizer & hand washing stations everywhere. No need to bring that giant bottle of hand sanitizer with you. As I said, we had an amazing time here. The staff were all friendly with the kids and the experience was an A+ in my opinion. My son has not stopped asking when we can go back.

was really excited to see the capybaras but they were actually disgusting creatures that roll…read morearound in the mud. the experience was dirty so be prepared to get your shoes and clothes muddy and gross. one of the capybaras rolled around in the mud and started shaking near me. super unsanitary and ruined my perception of capybaras, i didn't know they were such dirty animals. they do not look like the cute tiktoks. our tour guide was very good though and knew a lot about capybaras. she was nice