travel to london from suffolk this weekend

mummyoftwoboys

hi
I'm a massive martin fan and have been lurking here for a while especially in OS moneysaving!
I'm looking for some advice. for my sons fifth birthday this weekend we are going to london from suffolk to see the dinosaurs. We are staying in central london ( his presnet from his nanny) overnight on saturday.
In the past I've gone by train as parking in central london always seems very expensive.... but fares seem really expensive for 2xadults and kids:eek:

Is there a cheaper way of getting there? we've got a car so could we drive park somewhere overnight cheaply or tavel the last part of the journey on the tube/train?
What about cheap ish child friendly places to eat ( otherwise it may have to be macdonalds!)
i hope this makes sense!
thanks in advance
Lucy

susancs

Hi there are a lot of 2 for 1 deals listed on the site for eating out:-
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/deals/cheap-restaurant-deals#haha

If it is for a bithday, my children love the Rain Forest Cafe, near piccadilly not that cheap.It gets very busy at the weekend so you would need to book. It has moving animals and rain storms every so often.
http://www.therainforestcafe.co.uk/vtours/gorilla.asp

here are a list of tube stations with car parks, spaces availalble, charges etc. A lot are £1 per day parking. Not sure about overnight stays., as although they say 24 parking, I have only parked for a day and the ticket (from pay and display machine) is valid for that days date. I would contact the car park operaters to check.
http://www.vincipark.co.uk/customer-parking/london_underground.html