I recently took my 6 year old nephew to the London Aquarium for his birthday. He'd been wanting to go for ages and I had promised to take him at the weekend. I'm not sure if it was because it was a Saturday afternoon, or because it was raining, but the aquarium was absolutely heaving. We queued for about 45 minutes to get in, and when we were inside the aquarium there was barely room to breathe. Luckily, I'm fairly tall, and my nephew spent a lot of his time on my shoulders in order to see over the masses of people. The gift shop was a no go as the queue to pay was just unrealistic, and we didn't even contemplate looking in the café. Its a shame, as the aquarium itself was really, really good. Lots of user interactive wall displays to keep the kids busy, and the diversity of the sea life itself was enough to keep all ages fascinated for hours. You could easily tell exactly which species was which with clearly marked displays on the sides of the tanks giving a description of the fish and what oceans it can be found in. There was a good deal of environmental awareness too, and lots of tips about saving the oceans and looking after the planet - displayed in a way in which made the kids interested. I'd still recommend the aquarium, but on a day where its not so busy. Perhaps on a week day (not in half term!) the experience would be much more enjoyable.

Had been to the London Aquarium many years ago and enjoyed it so decided to take my eight-year old in half term February. Booked online with a discount, this still cost the family over £60 with priority over the standard queue. Even so, we had to queue for about 20 minutes. Once in, we were greeted by a sea of pushchairs and other buggies. Crowd management was clearly dreadful. It was hard to get a space to look through the glass windows and the narrow passages meant that progress was painfully slow. The Aquarium had clearly admitted far too many people to enjoy the experience comfortably. Under the previous owners, you could stroke the rays but now there are staff on hand to reprimand the enthusiastic children who dared to put their hands into the open top tank that had clearly been designed for this purpose. The only consolation was that later they could have a quick touch of a starfish in what looked like a large petri dish. Given the price, not a pleasant experience and you would be much better going to Nausicaä Centre National de la Mer in Boulogne in France and making a day of it. PS - There are woefully inadequate toilets halfway through - better wait until those nearer the end.

I visited a few years ago, granted it was under renovation, but it was terrible. I went back a few weeks ago and it's amazing. A super day out for kids and a lot of fun for all ages. I will definitely go back.