When we booked our tickets for The London Eye, we were given the option to bundle them with discount tickets to Madame Tussauds.

Madame Tussauds is crazy popular and extremely busy. We arrived in the early afternoon and we waited nearly an hour to enter. If I could go back and redo the day, I would have done Madame Tussauds first, before The London Eye, arriving at the museum before opening.

Why? The whole fun in visiting a wax museum is taking pictures with the figures. You're allowed to pose with them and touch them. Colin Firth! I'm grabbing some of that!

When we arrived, the whole museum was jammed. We had to wait to pose with each figure, but worse, it was often difficult to get a clean shot. Trust me, get there early.

I think of Madame Tussauds as a "Classy" wax museum. Oxymoron? Perhaps.

In the late 90's, I visited Madame Tussauds in Las Vegas and had a great time. The figures look very realistic. They are dressed in clothing worn and donated by the celebrities. These figures are approved by the celebrities themselves and they are usually flattering.

We have a Madame Tussauds in Hollywood, but I've never been. Here's the thing about Wax Museums in Hollywood...there is no reason to visit Madame Tussauds, when you can go down the street to visit the Hollywood Wax Museum. The Hollywood Wax Museum houses figures that look nothing like the celebrities. I mean NOTHING like them! They are falling apart, disfigured, and usually unflattering. I don't know how they haven't been sued. It's far more entertaining to play "guess the celebrity" and gawk at the terrible figures, than it is to view the "classy" versions at Madame Tussauds. It's extra fun if you visit a nearby pub first!

Click to read my review of our visit to the Hollywood Wax Museum

That said, we still had a great time running around taking goofy pictures. Here is a small sample of the offerings.

We were surprised to find a dark ride in the middle of the exhibit. The Spirt of London, took us on a journey through the history of the city. Here are some snaps of the ride.

In addition to The Spirit of London ride, Madame Tussauds also has a 4-D Marvel themed movie. We stayed for the entire show, but it was a little loud and intense for the kids. If you've seen a lot of 4-D movies in theme parks, this one doesn't rate. The story was terrible and visually, it was average. If the wait is long, like it was for us, skip it.

More pictures...

I spent many years working ride attractions at Universal Studios Hollywood. This picture was mandatory...

And I chatted with Steven on the set of Jurassic Park. I have some ideas for a ride...

When in England, who else are you going to meet?

But the best moment of the visit was when my seven year old Swedish step-daughter said - "I see President Obama!" and was super excited to have her picture taken with him. Isn't she the cutest presidential aide?

Madame Tussauds is enormous and we could have easily spent 3-4 hours exploring, but due to time constraints, we only visited for a few hours. We skipped the horror chamber, because I was too chicken! For the record, Zoe was very keen to check it out. Given the large amount of Historic buildings and museums in London, I wouldn't consider Madame Tussauds a "must-see", but if you've done it all, it's a fun way to spend a half-day.

Our third and final stop was at the Hollywood Wax Museum. This place is right down the road from the much more upscale Madame Tussauds, but there is zero competition as these two wax museums are nowhere in the same league. This place can best be summed up with the two word phrase, awesomely bad.

The Hollywood Wax Museum is best done with a bit (or a lot) of alcohol. Unfortunately, I had to go through the museum sober due to cold medication, but after a few beers at Pig N' Whistle, Dan really had a great time at the wax museum. I have lots of hilarious photos as evidence, but unfortunately, cannot share them on this blog to protect his identity and dignity! My silly, done sober,pictures, I will happily post, as I have no shame.

The first thing that's great about the museum, is the wax figures are so poorly done, that it is often a guessing game as to who they're supposed to represent. Sometimes you get help with the figure having been placed in a famous setting or certain costume, but really the figures usually don't look much like the actor. We had a great time guessing. I am not just talking about actors of yesteryear, but really famous contemporary actors. Clearly, the "artists" who work here, could not get hired at Tussauds. Or perhaps, the figures are first try cast-offs for Tussauds? Either way, it's much more entertaining that they don't look good.

The second great thing, is you are free to touch the figures and pose with them however you wish. This leads to much hysterical laughing and incriminating photos. Dan had a great idea that we should come back with props and costume changes to get the most out of the pictures. I don't think that we stopped laughing the entire time we were at the museum.

When you first enter, there is a mock up of The Black Pearl with Johnny and Orlando. Clearly this is a recent addition and major showcased attraction. They even have cannon blasts going off at odd intervals, just enough to make me jump.

Just past the pirates set up is the entrance for the horror chamber. No Thanks! I am huge chicken when it comes to being startled and I just knew in my gut that there was a live person pretending to be a wax figure waiting to scare me. Even though the figures look completely fake, they still give me the creeps, even the ones that are not horror related. House of Wax made a big impression on me. What if thats a real person under there??? We skipped the horror chamber,

Here I am with the first celebrity that made us go, "who is that supposed to be?".

I still don't think it looks that much like Pacino. Note how I am creeped out to get too close to it. I'm not touching that thing!

Here's a few more that don't look like the celebrity.

Jennifer Garner

This one is my favorite, because it looks nothing like Megan Fox.

Poor Brad Pitt, this is awful.

The only reason this is recognizable is due to the Titanic set up. That the guy has blond hair, is about as much of a resemblance that the figure bears to Leonardo.

Keanu.

This is recognizable as Cameron Diaz, but it is so unflattering, that I think she ought to sue the museum.

So should Drew..so, so unflattering.

Here are some silly pictures..

Me with Sandler. He sort of looks right, if you squint.

Guitar lesson with The King.

Indy! My picture with the Christian Bale figure that doesn't look like CB, didn't turn out. Harrison (definitely Indy Harrison and NOT Star Wars Harrison) is the heartthrob runner up!

Being sassy with Lucy.

lounging with Hef.

A few funny close ups.

Extreme Chan!

Wax Twilight.

This just keeps making me laugh. I think that Tobey should join the lawsuit that Cameron and Drew are starting.

Bottom Line- Have some drinks at a bar and head to The Hollywood Wax Museum. We left feeling like we had gotten more than our money's worth of entertainment. Don't have high expectations for a polished museum or great looking figures, just go to take goofy pictures.

Europe 2015- Madame Tussauds

Hollywood Tourist Traps - Part Three