The ‘Lympics – Babies, kids and visiting the Olympic Park

Any trip out of the house in the last couple of weeks has taken on a very similar pattern.

Thanks to the Olympics, getting anywhere is a stop-start process of the Wee Man suddenly standing completely still in the middle of the path, then declaring authoritatively ‘on your marks, get set, GO!’ before charging off on his scooter, then realising Mummy is lagging slowly and painfully behind and stopping to scoot alongside declaring ‘don’t worry Mummy, I am winning with you’.

Unlike his little sister however – who has been to the Olympic Park thanks to the rule that babies under 12 months can accompany their ticket holding parents in without needing a ticket themselves – the closest the Wee Man has got to the Olympics so far was a trip a few days ago to ASDA in Leyton Mills to take advantage of their Baby Event. (And he was very excited to see all the flags and signs, screaming delightedly ‘look Mummy, there’s the ‘Lympics! We must be in Stratford!’. Clearly he has taken in far more information about it all than I realised).

So I’m sure he’ll be extremely pleased next week when he gets to visit the Olympic Park for real – we were lucky enough to get tickets for the Paralympic swimming and unlike the Mummy and Bubby D only trip to the athletics, this time the whole family are going.

But what is it like visiting the Olympic Park with little ones? Well, when I went with Bubby D I was pleasantly surprised.

Although it is ridiculously, RIDICULOUSLY busy (if you have a walking child with you, its worth writing your mobile number on their arm and bringing a wrist link with you if you have one) with hundreds and hundreds of people milling about – which would normally have Bubby D becoming massively overstimulated and hugely fractious – on this occasion she was simply amazed by the wide variety of things to see. People in general were very friendly and helpful and taking a pushchair and a baby through security to access the park was a simple and easy process, with the security staff and volunteers making sure she was happy and smiling and checking over the pushchair as quickly as possible. There was no problem bringing in her fruit pots, sippy cup and assortment of other baby snacks and paraphernalia, and no issue with taking the pushchair in either – although pushchairs are not allowed inside the actual venues.

The rule regarding this – and the fact that you may bring your under 12 month old in without a ticket – is that whilst in the venue babies must be securely strapped to you in a baby carrier. Pushchairs are left with the very friendly Games Makers in the buggy parks outside, watched over and tagged with their owners details to ensure no mix ups or problems. The whole process was very simple and easy for us, and Bubby D thoroughly enjoyed watching the athletics from her baby carrier, whilst I was safe in the knowledge that she was secure and so was her pushchair outside!

The baby changing facilities are good too – nice big rooms with a proper changing table, room to park up the pushchair and a toilet for parents or accompanying older siblings to use as well.

Everywhere in the Olympic Park is very accessible with ramps as well as stepped access to everything, and should you encounter any problems with anything there is always a Games Maker close by to offer a helping hand.

Despite the pushchair friendliness, you may decide you don’t want the hassle of parking it up, or manouvring it through the crowds. If you do decide to take a little one with you, and (inevitably) their feet get tired, then fear not! The Games Mobility service is on hand to provide transport around the park for anyone who finds it a little harder to walk than most and Bubby D and I took advantage of their handy mobility vehicle to have a tour of the park (the mobility buggies travel around the whole park on a circuit, with stops clearly signposted and identified on the park maps). By this point, Bubby D (who had refused to nap all day, so amazed was she by all the sights and sounds) finally dropped off as she was lulled to sleep by the gentle movement as we wound our way around the various venues.

The Olympic Park also has plenty of nice areas to sit and relax, water fountains to refill sippy cups and water bottles, and a couple of pharmacies too should you happen to forget to bring enough nappies, wipes, baby formula, suncream, teething gel…

Although as you may have heard there is an absolutely ENORMOUS McDonalds (and a slightly smaller but still pretty big second McDonalds too) there is also a good range of alternative food outlets available – Bubby D really liked the fake grass covered Innocent one, with their lovely fruit smoothies. The queues, even after the stadium had just kicked out, were still very fast moving and we had no problems getting something to eat at a fairly reasonable price.

Aside from the actual events and venues, there is plenty of other entertainment on offer around the park – we witnessed two people dressed as a London bus, a troupe of Morris dancers, a singer, a live band and some crazy Coca Cola people with coloured umbrellas and fake moustaches. The Coca Cola pin trading tent offered an opportunity to get a personalised pin with a picture of us holding the torch (the lady taking the photo was VERY patient with little ones and we came away with a fantastic snap), and there was some amazing chocolate sculpting going on in the Cadbury’s treat zone, very near to the architecturally interesting Beat Box.

Leaving the park rather later than planned (there was much much more to see than I’d ever anticipated) the park looks beautiful all lit up in the dark and there are some hidden wonders the kids will love like the water writing that drops down underneath the entrance bridge to the park.

And on leaving the park, Games Makers will point the way through special mobility lanes to the closest lifts and ramps to ensure you have a safe journey home on whichever form of transport you are using, making sure you don’t get tangled in crowds and cheering you along with shouts of ‘I SAY OLYMPICS, YOU SAY…’

…to which of course, the response is, of course ‘WOW’.