DIVR Labs virtual reality experience review for families

What age is this venue best for?

Best for: Kids aged 7 years +, and it will naturally have an enormous appeal for any kids who have an interest in dinosaurs, but I can’t reiterate this enough, this is not just for dinosaur fans!

Still good fun for: We tested this experience with our family, who are aged from 9 to 49 years old, and all I can say is, I’m not sure who enjoyed it more – my husband or daughters! This is a fantastic family experience, something you can genuinely enjoy together.

Avoid if: If you or your child experience sensory overloads, this might not be for you, as you will need to wear a headset and headphones unit which is comfortable enough, but this headset must stay in place during the entire experience.

How much does it cost in 2023?

The experience costs £29.95 per person during off peak hours and £34.95 per person during peak hours. So, for a family of 4 at peak hours, you’re looking at just shy of £140 for a 40minute experience, which is incredibly steep, so we’d consider this a really special treat, but absolutely, wholly worth it. You can only buy tickets direct from the DIVR Labs website.

Plus, this experience is situated within Westfield London, which has the most enormous array of restaurants and places to eat, not to mention mini food pop-ups all over the shopping mall, you’re likely going to have your lunch/dinner costs too. And if your child is on social media and follows any TikTok accounts that cover food in London, there is a plethora of ‘trendy’ food places they might want to try, such as Little Moons, Wheelcake Island, Pan-n-Ice, Sushidog, to name but a few. Our normally-hard-to-feed teenager, was salivating over all the food options in Westfield London, and we did end up sampling and spending quite a bit on food afterwards. We ended our visit with an always reliable to visit to Wagamama, which cost us £60 for 4 of us.

How long will we spend at this attraction?

Once you arrive at DIVR Labs, from beginning to end, you’re looking at about 45 minutes in total. It takes a little while for the instructors to fit your head set and headphones (which are sanitised between use) and explain how the VR works, and talk you through what’s about to happen. Then you spend approximately 25minutes in the actual VR arena. Visitors to the attraction are staggered, so each group has the best VR experience

What is the Divr Labs VR Dinosaur Experience?

If you’ve never tried VR before, this is a great first experience. Via a headset and headphone unit which you wear on your head (don’t worry if you wear glasses – I do and the headset fits perfectly over them), you are transported into a virtual reality world of dinosaurs, multi-sensory experience.

Whilst wearing this headset (alongside your family wearing them too) you make your way around an arena, whilst completing ‘missions’ such as collecting artefacts and identifying dinosaurs, by scanning your hand over the objects – the more artefacts/objects you scan, the higher your ‘GB collection is at the end’.

There’s (enormously fun) peril, there’s flying through volcanoes, there’s pterodactyls, there’s swimming under water, and of course, no dinosaur experience would be complete without a T-Rex making an appearance!

What’s it like for families?

This was a huge rarity, but we went out as a family of 4, and each one of us ADORED this experience. It was so much fun to take part in something as a family unit, we laughed, we screamed, we worked together, it really was lovely to do something together and for us all of us to enjoy it! Worth noting that you can only partake in groups up to a maximum of 4 people at a time.

What shouldn’t be missed?

• Make sure to look up when you are flying on the gliders!
• Be sure to really check out the T-Rex when he almost tries to eat you (not as scary as it sounds!)
• Soak it up as the time passes really quickly.

Are there any scary/boring elements that young or sensitive children might not enjoy?

There’s nothing boring about this VR experience, and my youngest child who is 9 can be scared really easily, but she found this thrilling.

However, you do experience dinosaurs ‘up close’ as well as close encounter with a T-Rex, which could scare younger kids.

Does it cater well to children of all ages?

It’s a thrilling experience for young and old! But remember, only suitable for children age 7+.

What to bring:

Just yourselves! The arena can get quite hot and as you make your way around, you might sweat a little bit (we all did!), and you don’t really want to schlep around in coats and carry handbags, so there are free lockers on site to store your belongings in while in the VR experience. We’d definitely suggest leaving your coats behind.

What are the queues like:

Sessions are broken down in 5 minute increments, but we literally had no queues, and as it’s so new, there was hardly anyone else there. But considering there is a booking system, you really shouldn’t have any lengthy waits at all.

What to watch out for:

If any of your party have additional sensory needs, or can find things overwhelming, this is a truly immersive experience, and one which requires you to wear and headset throughout the experience, so we’d be cautious of a sensory overload. I didn’t remove my headset during the experience, but my teenager said she did to have peek at where we were, and you’ll see from the pics, you’re essentially in a really massive room, as you make your way around the arena.

But as you can’t see the room, just the 4D experience, it can be a little daunting at first, knowing you can walk around without ‘seeing’ where you are actually going. This just takes a short while to acclimatise to, and passes pretty quickly.

What are the food and drink facilities like?

Divr Labs is a storefront situated in Westfield London, with the arena in what would be the ‘shopping’ area, so while there isn’t an actual place to eat within Divr Labs, there are literally dozens of places to eat at within Westfield, from classics like Wagamama, Nandos, Pizza Pilgrims, Yo! Sushi, Five Guys etc.

Can you take a picnic?

If you don’t want to pay to eat in the shopping mall, there are plenty of spots inside and outside to stop and eat at.

What are the toilets like?

There are toilets located all over Westfield and Parent Rooms with baby changing facilities and breast feeding rooms. You’re really never further away than a 5 minute walk to one of the many toilet facilities located in the mall, and I say this as a parent of a child who has bowel disease and needs frequent access to toilets.

Is it pushchair-friendly?

No, it isn't (although it is wheelchair-accessible). The experience is aimed at children aged 7 years +. If you planned on visiting this experience with your family, and you have a toddler, there are alternative places within Westfield you could take your toddler, while the rest of your family unit visit the Divr Labs. There’s a little Disney themed play area called PlayWorld (situated on the ground floor, near Next), KidZania which is for children 4 years +, and various shopping hotspots to empty to your purse at, including a mini Hamleys toy store, The Works, The Entertainer and a Lego store too.

How well does it cater for visitors with disabilities and additional needs?

It is accessible to wheelchair users, depending on the wheelchair size. We checked with Divr Labs, and they have suggested if you are a wheelchair user, you should reach out in advance of making your booking, to make sure your wheelchair can be accommodated.

What to do before you go:

We’d suggest looking up on the map of Westfield where Divr Labs is located – it’s on the ground floor, near to Five Guys burger restaurant. We’d also suggest showing the video footage on Divr Labs website here to give your kids an idea of what to expect. As my daughter said to me ‘Is it going to be like being in Jurassic Park?’ The answer is yes, kind of, but with much less death!

Opening dates and times:

Launched in October 2022, Divr Labs is open 6 days a week from 10am to 9pm and on Sunday’s 12pm-6pm.

Is it worth a long car journey?

This is very hard to call. On the one hand, this was an exceptionally fun way to spend 40 minutes, albeit a costly one. But we’re not sure we’d recommend this if you have to travel for hours to get there. The good thing about Westfield London is that it’s connected to so many transport links, so getting in by train should be quite straightforward, but factoring in the cost of train tickets could make this a very costly day trip.

How to get there:

• Shepherds Bush station on the Central Line of the Tube is a few minutes walk from Westfield London.
• There’s also Shepherds Bush Rail Station, again, just a few minutes walk, which is on London Overground.
• There are parking facilities within Westfield London, which will cost you a minimum £3 for one hour but we think it will more than likely cost you at least £8.50 for a duration of 2 hours plus. If you are planning on driving, we’d suggest you check which car park would be best for you here.

Is there free parking?

Only if you are Blue Badge holder which will allow you 4 hours of free parking.

Which hotels or hotel accommodation are near to DIVR Labs?

• Find family-friendly hotels near to the attraction on Booking.com.
• Vrbo offers self-catering accommodation suitable for families.
• The Best Western Boltons Hotel is just a 10 minute drive, or a 15 minute bus ride, away from DIVR Labs.

Check out our round up of the best family-friendly hotels in London.

Nearby attractions:

DIVR Labs is situated in Westfield London, just a 30 minute tube ride away from central London. Check out our list of the 15 best days out for families in the capital.

KidZania, an interactive indoor city made for kids, is also located in Westfield London.

MadeForMums verdict:

We were absolutely bowled over by how much fun this virtual reality experience was. If this is what the Metaverse is going to be like, sign us up! It was like being in Ready Player One, but with dinosaurs.

My teenager said ‘It was awesome. I wish it had lasted longer, and I definitely want to do it again, or a different mission next time’ My husband came out with the biggest smile on his face, and overall we just thought this was exceptionally fun experience. Costly? Absolutely, but worth saving up for, especially if you have dino fans amongst you.

Possibly not worth trekking to if you have to come far from outside London, but if you are planning on visiting for the day and can afford this, it’s something you’ll be talking about for days and weeks later.

Visit the DIVR website.

See more reviews of DIVR Labs on TripAdvisor.