Sunday Stansted airport- Postal museum london time?
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Anonymous
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I fly into London Sunday at 9:30 am with my kids and my plan is to take the stansted express to Liverpool st. and transfer on the tube to the Postal museum. We will have just some carry-on's. I plan to store our carry-on's near the museum at one of those "luggage hero" spots (obviously keep important docs, meds on me).
It looks like it will be rainy on and off (basically the whole week-- I suppose it wouldn't be london if it didn't rain!). There is the St. Patricks Day festival that is highly recommended as a family activity but it looks like it will be packed with an estimated 50,000 people coming and that feels overwhelming having JUST arrived and being jet-lagged. My older child LOVES Irish stepdance and does actually take a class so I feel bad depriving them of that experience but I'm thinking something lower key would be best.... It looks like it could take 30 min-1 hour roughly to get through security/customs and the express train runs every 30 min (we already have flexible tickets) and take 50 min. I'm not sure if they have a separate customs/immigration for families with young children but I know many countries do...does anyone know if this exists? I've estimated that I need to budget probably 2-2.5 hours from landing to the Postal Museum so that would have us arriving 11:30-12. I need to pre-purchase our tickets, ESPECIALLY for the "SORTED!" play area (this is our priority). The two options are 1300 or 1500 for the play time. I don't want to risk getting all the way out there and there not being a tickets available! I saw that they have a nice cafe where we could grab lunch and "cream tea" and per the map, we should be able to go there first and have lunch before heading into the museum. Would you book the SORTED ticket for 1300 or 1500?? Our plan is to probably head to our apartment after that, check in and then maybe playground if it's not too rainy and some dinner nearby. Our apartment is another 40 min from the museum so it makes more sense to go straight there than wasting 2 hours. Trying to figure this piece out. I hate that I can't just buy a ticket for the day and use it whenever we get there. |
Anonymous
| Wow, you must really like stamps. Respect. |
Anonymous
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I have not flown into Stanstead but have never encountered a family line at LHR or LGW so I wouldn't count on one. I would plan on an hour and with luck you will get through more quickly.
I think you are probably fine for 1300 since worst case you would get to the museum around noon, right? Which gives you time for lunch and then you can go to the play area. |
Anonymous
| I would book the later one. Your flight may be delayed that day. |
Anonymous
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I'd go for the 3pm tickets. I don't know how long it takes to get through immigration at Stansted if you have an American passport (I'm British), but I'd normally allow more travel time on a Sunday due to less frequent trains and track work.
And you're a much braver person than I am. There's no way I would take my kids to a museum a few hours after a transatlantic flight. Is there any way to get tickets for the day after you arrive? Anything to do with young kids in London, at the weekend, is always crazy crowded. |
Anonymous
I mean, what would you recommend for the 1st afternoon in London on a chilly, rainy Sunday? We could go to a park and grab lunch but it looks like it might be quite rainy so I figured a nice indoor, play area that is fun would be nice along with lunch. |
Anonymous
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Hi, I blog about London museums for families at https://instagram.com and at museummum.com. I know the Postal Museum well it's great for young kids.
To answer your questions 1. There's no shorter queue with young kids unfortunately, although if there is someone Manning the queue you can ask 2. The Postal Museum ticket is for all day! It is just the time of entry to Sorted! (The under 9s play area) which is timed, and also to ride Mail Rail. Sorted! Is a separate ticket and once it is full they cannot allow any more in. Mail Rail is included in the main Postal Museum ticket and if you are late for your time they will just let you into the next time. 3. There are lots of hand on activities at both the Postal Museum and Mail Rail which are fun for kids - sorting mail on a moving carriage shooting messages to each other across the gallery with pneumatic tubes, dressing up etc. So there will be plenty to do if you get there earlier than planned. 4. It will be quieter than almost every other museum in London, I've never seen it very busy. 5. St Patrick's Day parade will be packed. So in short, book the play area for 3pm, Mail Rail for say 13:30 and then you can have a play in the Postal Museum or lunch before or after these times. If you need any more advice DM me on Instagram. Have fun! |
Anonymous
| Sorry, that should be @museummum on Instagram |
Anonymous
| How old are your kids? Sorted is really designed for very young kids even though it says 9 and under. Just do the rest of the museum and the train. |
Anonymous
My oldest is 7. It might be a touch old for my older child but i think they’ll like it. |
Anonymous
Thank you!! This is so helpful!! I will do that 
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Anonymous
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OP here.
Another question.... It looks like our 1st full day is supposed to be rainy and super windy. We were going to do a lot of walking that day all around Buckingham palace, by big ben, to the london eye, ect to get a good feel for the city but it seems like it won't be a good day for it, probably the following day is a better day. I'm thinking of perhaps going to the British museum for a few hours in the morning and then something else??? Could we go down to Covent gardens, hamley's, ect that afternoon? I'm trying to figure out what else we can do that is more inside and gives us a good feel for the city.... I'm going to wait to book any tickets for another day or two but trying to figure out plan B! |
Anonymous
| My kids would spend all day in Hamleys. They tolerated the British Museum for a bit but really loved the V&A. I think you can easily find enough indoors to do in the regent st area, with Hamleys, Liberty, wander by Picadilly and go to Fortnum & Mason etc. |
Anonymous
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OP here - It's looking like actually our 1st day will have relatively decent weather (57 and cloudy) and our first full day will be super windy and rainy. Fortunately, I haven't booked a ton so I'm thinking about changing our itinerary around.
Day 1: Debating between two options: 1) kensington palace, princess diana playground and just walking around hyde park...maybe try to join a hop on/hop off bus if we feel up to seeing more at that moment 2) Drop stuff of at a luggage hero and go to buckingham palace, st. james park, big ben, ect. day 2: Nice English breakfast in a neighborhood restaurant, British museum, then Regent street and Hamley's OR walk towards Covent gardens, grab lunch there and then walk past Piccadilly circus and onto Hamley's...I don't know the area, what would be a better route?? We do have raincoats, rain cover for stroller, waterproof boots, umbrella.... Day 3: Probably our big buckingham palace, st. james park, big ben, ect. day (weather won't be quite as nice as sunday per current forecast). If we get to london sunday and it looks like sunday is our best day, probably doing buckingham palace, big ben that day. We have 3 more days after that, 2 of which are pretty set and one of them would be the Tower London (flexible). Trying to wait and see with the weather! Big questions are what would you do for the 1st afternoon pending weather and how would you plan out our rainy day?? Thanks |
Anonymous
Why so tightly planned? Leave some room for flexibility and playing it by ear. |