In London for SIX hours, need/help info please

[kc10family]

My DM is taking a trip this spring to Ireland and has a SIX-hour layover in Heathrow. We are looking into if it would be a waste of time to buy a London Pass for 1 day and have her visit the city while she waits for her flight into Dublin. She will be traveling by herself so she will make it around a bit faster, but then again she is a bit older and will be a bit cautious with things.

If any of you DIS’ers from the London area would let me know what you think, it would be the best of help for us planning her trip.

I told my mother that I would ask my friends from the DIS boards and that I knew they could help. She said... You always get the best information from those people.
Yes, this is one great "Family/Friend" group of international people. I Love It!!!<O

Thank you and have a Great Disney Day.

 

[wils]

Okay lets see what I can do to help.

Train from airport to London Paddington (15 minutes)

I'm afraid I don't know anything about the London Pass (I'm sure someone else will help you there ) There are certainly lots of things to see although, shamefully I have been to very few. Is there anything in particular she is interested in?

Does the six hours include getting through customs and boarding the flight to Dublin (if it does that could shave quite some time off!)

 

[wilma-bride]

Wils has already helped out with the train time from the Airport into central London. I would add one thing to that, which is that 6 hours is not an awfully long time to see much of London. Trying to navigate the tube system to get where you want to be can often take quite a while (a bit like Disney transport between parks ) and things are quite spread out. Your Mum's best bet would be to focus on one or maybe two things she would like to see and try to do those. Personally, I would recommend the Millennium Eye or the Natural History Museum (although a few hours may not be long enough for the museum). It really depends what she would like to do. I think the London pass, although I don't know much about it either, may be a waste of money for her as she probably won't have much time to see everything.

Bear in mind, she will need to allow plenty of time to check in for her flight to Dublin (not sure which airline but she will need to check in at least 30-40 minutes before the flight).

 

[wils]

Personally, I would recommend the Millennium Eye or the Natural History Museum

Oh I've done those 2 and both are great! In case you don't know the London Eye is a huge ferris wheel on the bank of the Thames near Big Ben and there are great views from it of the landmarks. It rotates very slowly

London Eye Website

 

[disneyholic family]

6 hours is very little time when you're dealing with international travel...
if you mean 6 hours from the scheduled landing to the scheduled departure time, you really mean only about 2 hours...since it would take her at least a half hour to get through immigration on the way in.....then another half hour to find the train to paddington and get on it...

then she'll have to leave herself an hour for the return...
and then she's supposed to leave at least 2 hours for going through check in/security on the way out..

how much time does that leave her in london?....an hour or two?..

i would never recommend that to anyone..

certainly 6 hours is too long to hang around in the airport, but it's too little time to try to squeeze in a visit to london..

and if she's coming from california, she's going to be exhausted....a better use of time would be to get an airport hotel room and get a little rest.......nicer than sitting around in an airport...

 

[kc10family]

Thank you all for the information. My mother is going to make 3 plans and see what works when she gets in.

1. If it looks like time will allow try to make it into town and see one place.
2. Ask to get on an earlier flight to Dublin
3. Hang out in the airport

With three plans.. she can't go wrong.

Thank you again so very much for everything.
Have a Great Disney Day!

 

[wils]

Sounds like a good strategy!

Love the photo of your little princesses by the way!