25/08/2026
Not a theme park but this is where it started for the Tussauds Group who went on to develop Chessington, Alton Towers and Thorpe Park in the UK! The huge building lost its original cinema and entrance in during the WW2 Blitz and the separately ticketed Planetarium was built instead. Today the Planetarium building is incorporated into Madame Tussauds and used as a 360 cinema. Its basement also forms part of the Spirit of London dark ride!
Madame Tussauds has stood on its iconic Marylebone Road site since 1884, after Marie Tussaud's grandsons decided her legendary waxwork collection deserved a grander home.
The attraction has shown remarkable resilience ever since, surviving a devastating fire in 1925 that led to a major restoration and the addition of a cinema, followed by a German bomb during the Blitz in 1940 that destroyed 352 irreplaceable head moulds, though the site was rebuilt and expanded once again.
The famous green dome, once home to the London Planetarium, became a permanent fixture in 1958, shaping the modern look still recognised today.
