3 day London break itinerary help please

You don't mention what station you will be arriving at, as you should probably start to visit attractions nearest your arrival point for example if arriving at Waterloo, then London Eye, Big Ben, Houses Of Parliament are beside each other by Waterloo station. 15 minutes walk from Big Ben to Buckingham Palace. 15 minutes walk from The Palace to Trafalgar Square and quick 5 min walk down to Whitehall to get photos taken beside the Queens mounted Guards. Back to Trafalgar Square to get old red rover no 15 bus to The Tower Of London (try to get the upper deck front seat as this bus goes past a lot of the London landmarks such as the Law Courts, St pauls, Somerset House etc). The Tower Of London is well worth a visit IMO, but doubt you will have time to fit it in.

Covent Garden is beside a lot of West End Theatres and you also have M&M world at Leicester Square, where teens love to have photos taken beside the giant characters e.g. on the Abbey Road crossing, beside an M&M lifesize Beefeater etc. Hamleys, Regents Street, Oxford Street all walkable distance. At the Marble Arch end of Oxford Street in December, Winter Wonderland will be on in Hyde Park and this is pretty when lit up at night. Free entry but rides etc can be expensive. Oudoor Ice skating there or at Somerset house is much more festive than at the NH outdoor rink IMO.

I personally would give Madam Tussauds a miss as it is very overcrowded at weekends, with big entry queues so you will spend a lot of your short time there. We have Merlin annual passes and go an hour before opening at weekends to get in the queue as othewise you will queue for ages to get in and then struggle to get near the waxworks to get photos or seem them close up. My teens prefer The London Dungeons which are by The Eye and Big Ben etc, but again will have big queues at weekends, unless you go before opening time.

If you are not going early on Sunday, your teens will probably love Camden Market on Sunday morning, as mine do. You could eaisly spend a day at the Natural History and Science Museums at South Kensington. It is one stop on the piccadilly line tube from South Kensington to Knightsbridge for Harrods.

You could look on www.tfl.gov.uk to plan your trips on arrival into London and googlemaps to plan any walking you will be doing (as sometimes it is quicker to walk than be sat on a bus).

In regard to West End shows you can often get good priced dayseats by queuing at the Theatre box office before opening. Matilda does £5 tickets for 16-25 year olds if your teens queue and show id that states age. You can check out the Theatre Monkey website for dayseat information and also keep an eye on the different theatre groups facebook sites, for example Thursday 18 September ATG tickets did a special offer for that one night and we got £60 premium seats for Woman in Black for £10 each.

A couple of extra bits:
M&M store as said above is great
Best time to aim for Big Ben is 12pm/midday for the most dramatic effect
Check what tube works are on that weekend - this is important for planning
Boat on the Thames is a must - the clippers are a good way to fit this in
Sadly agree with others that waxworks and Natural History may be the two to drop - they are further out and both have a lot to see - possibly Harrods too; Winter Wonderland just feels very xmassy

Madame Tussauds is not very good. If you must go try and find a voucher, don't pay full price!

Consider Greenwich, you've got the Cutty Sark, National Maritime Museum, Meridian and a planetarium, all set in very pleasant surroundings.

If your usernamer indicates you are from Derby, it might be worth considering somewhere like the Travelodge at Cricklewood as not far from the M1 and usually has cheap rooms. You will need two family rooms for a family of 3 adults and 2 sixteen year olds. Just had a look and it would be £32 per family room for Fri 19 Dec to Sun 21st Dec. Bus stops beside the hotel and goes direct to Marble Arch. 5 mins to train station with train that goes to St Pancras/Kings cross or 10-15 mins walk to Kilburn Park tube station and the train goes direct from there to Waterloo for attractions there. Parking £7.50 a day in the official car park or you could park at somewhere off the M1like Stanmore tube station (£5.20 for Fri, £2 for Sat and £1.50 for Sunday parking with pay and display 3 day ticket), get the tube direct to Kilburn station and get the bus from outside there to save on the 10 minute walk to the TL.

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g186338-d2394659-Reviews-Travelodge_London_Cricklewood-London_England.html