KidZania has celebrated the opening of its 19th location – KidZania London. KidZania Global President and founder Xavier López Ancona joined KidZania London President Joel Cadbury to welcome 300 local children to the kid-size city.
Since its launch in 1999, KidZania has welcomed more than 42 million visitors in 16 countries with a further seven locations under development, including Manila, Moscow and New Delhi. KidZania London has a capacity of up to 1, 700 visitors at a time and is forecast to welcome 750, 000 visitors in its first year.
“We are delighted to open the doors to what is now the 19th KidZania to open internationally, ” said Xavier López Ancona. “KidZania London will be the European Flagship for KidZania and it is only today, when you see the final City, that it is possible to gauge the scale and potential impact it will have on its visitors.
“As the capital of Great Britain, London was an obvious choice for the first KidZania in the UK. KidZania endeavours to open a child’s eyes to the world in a way that inspires and delights, and where better to experience such a city than in London – one of the world’s most vibrant, eclectic and evolving cities.”
Headquartered in Mexico, KidZania’s award winning concept for 4-14 year olds combines entertainment and education, offering children the chance to role play careers of all kinds – from firefighter to chocolatier to radio personality – all within a mini city.
KidZania London, a 75, 000 square foot city located at Westfield London, offers children the opportunity to learn over 60 unique and exciting professions from surgeons and fashion stylists to cabin crew and hotel receptionists.
Businesses represented in the mini city include Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, Bank of England, Big Yellow, Bose, British Airways, Cadbury, Compass Group, Crêpe Affaire, Dorsett Hotels, Early Learning Centre, Eat Natural, Global Golden Tours, Gourmet Burger Kitchen, H&M, Innocent, Lavazza, Mothercare, PictureAir, Pokémon, Renault, Roland, Scouts, Unilever and Vitabiotics.
The London experience also has uniquely local elements such as a garment recycling shop by H&M; a pit lane experience focused on sustainable energy by Renault, and a smoothie factory inspired by Innocent to teach kids about food origin.
KidZania London Chairman Joel Cadbury, added, “KidZania London will be an experience like no other, throughout its development we have gone to extraordinary lengths to ensure the City is as authentic and true to the real-world as possible, working with an incredible group of Industry Partners and talented content creators to build a City that we truly believe will alter the way the UK views education and entertainment, opening the eyes of future generations to a myriad of possibilities they may have otherwise never known existed.”
Kidzania London is the first location to work with timed tickets. The system supplied by Gateway is the same as used by the London Eye and the Houses of Parliament Commercial Tours. Also attending the opening today, Andy Povey, Business Development Director at Gateway Ticketing Systems UK, said, “Working with the team at Kidzania both in London and Mexico City has been a great experience. Seeing this all come together today is testament to the hard work of everyone involved, we’re looking forward to a long and successful relationship with Kidzania.”
