Got a day out in York with the family planned. Was thinking of taking the kids 8 & 6 (should really get round to giving them proper names) to Jorvik on a Tesco deal. However, the reviews a bit mixed.

Anyone been recently with kids?

Not Crap. Just smells like it.

……also, it sounds like a pretty raw deal for kids 1,2,3,4,5 & 7.

Also – not as good as the Railway Museum for the kiddies.

i was impressed at the age of 9. that was nearly 30yrs ago mind

the kids will like it.

But then there is the train museum.

i went as an adult (with no kids) and thought it was quite good fun 😉

I generally struggle to think stuff like this is good, but was pleasantly surprised with Jorvik, 5 yr old daughter liked it too.
She also gets weirdly mesmerized by the video they show down in the underground bit of the minster as well.

Always a huge queue for the Jorvik centre and its not that good anyway.

Railway Museum or even the Castle Museum every time over the Jorvik.

Yes, there’s a bit of crap – genuine fossilised viking crap.
IMO, pretty good, no complaints but preferred the train museum

Always a huge queue for the Jorvik centre

Hmmm… the prospect of hanging about in a queue in mid December has been bothering me.

I didn’t think much.

Lots of animatronics, lots of ‘this is how vikings used to live’ and not really any history. Seemed to be over very quickly. The sit-on ride actually makes it worse because you can’t stop and look, and there’s no info to read or anything. You’re a bit of a passenger, then it’s all over. We didn’t queue though as we booked ahead online, and walked straight in past the non-bookers.

Jorvik Dig was much more fun for kids.

I took my eldest when she was 8 as she was studying the vikings at school. It’s a very good attraction, she enjoyed it – the car ride at least, she was less excited about the display of actual archeological finds. It will kill a couple or so hours so perfectly able to take in the railway museum too.

If you go expecting an Alton Towers type of attraction (i.m sure some do) then you will be disappointed. If you go expecting an interesting and informative couple of hours then it’s worth it.

What jambo said… I went a couple of times when I was at school and probably a couple more times for friends birthdays. It was good then but it was the mid-80s.

You can also be expected to be fleeced in the gift shop on the way out for ethically sourced, artisan produced, recyclable, genuine reproduction, child friendly, replica viking weaponry.

Or really shit wooden swords, if you prefer.

Also did I mention the smell? They’ve had a team of “experts” recreate the genuine scent of viking era York in all it’s glory, which is reproduced using chemicals and is pumped into the atmosphere throughout your “experience”.

Turns out that, a long time ago, York smelled quite strongly of shite.
Who’da thunk it? 😉

…other than that it’s quite good.

Think you can get advanced tickets that allow you to pick a time to avoid the queues

But not on Tesco.

Advanced tickets = £33.95 (inc booking fee and the right to push in)

Tesco tickets = £7.50 in vouchers + 95p

I went probably 7 or 8 years ago.

If you can get cheap tickets it’s probably worth it, but I seem to remember, having paid full price, that there wasn’t a lot there for the entry fee and it was all a bit meh.

I found it pretty awful and the four 9 year old boys i took were thoroughly underwhelmed. I also made them go round York Minster so it was a miserable day all round for them 😀

I took my son, who is 8, about three weeks ago. I think he found it OK but certainly not great. I had good memories of seeing it as a child but was disappointed this time too.
My son preferred the Castle Museum. Lots of different times lines and artifacts and it kept him interested for quite a few hours.

Dreary, overrated, expensive crap. I’d say that the Tesco voucher price is about right (£15 if you count the vouchers as doubled somewhere else).

National Railway Museum FTW.

I wanted to like the Jorvik museum (I remember the dig at Coppergate when it was happening) but was unimpressed. Overpriced for what it was.

The Castle Museum was much better value (adult tickets were valid for as many times you wanted in a year, and kids were free when we were there 2 years ago). The kids loved the Victorian street – they said it reminded them of Diagon Alley in Harry Potter.

The Railway Museum was even better value (free).

Each to his own though.

Went last weekend castle museum over the Jorvik centre for me. Chocolate place was quite interesting too