EYE dont think so (London Eye)

Member Name: fionad86

Product:	London Eye
Date:	26/06/09 (28 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: You can see out over London (if its not sunny or raining)

Disadvantages: long queues, overpriced, pretty dull

I had been previously warned about the queues at this attraction, however when I mentioned this to my travel companions I was greeted with the 'Ive been before and people like to exaggerate' type response. However we got to the London Eye around midday on a Saturday and I couldn't see anything for crowds and crowds of people. We had purchased a two attraction ticket earlier that day while at Madame Tussauds to save a little money and, to be honest, would not have bothered with the Eye if this hadn't been the case. Naively we thought that a ticket was a ticket, but alas we were wrong! On arriving at the London Eye we then had to go to the customer services building next to the Eye which was also overcrowded and queue in there for our 'real' London Eye ticket by exchanging the two attraction 'voucher'. After 20 minutes in this queue we were informed that the next queueing time for the Eye was 2pm, giving us an hour before being allowed to even join the queue! We duly went to get some lunch which we ate on the pavement, again because the whole area is so ridiculously busy. At 2pm we returned to the Eye and joined the queue. After being in this queue for an hour we were almost at the front when the whole Eye appeared to break down (it definitely did not move for the best part of 30 minutes) and the four of us were just about to fall into despair. It did however start up again and 3 hours into the London Eye experience we finally boarded! Yippee!

On board I was glad to see that they had limited the number of people in each capsule to around 20-30 (although I remember not feeling that way in the queue!) so that at least you actually see out of the windows. There wasn't however, a lot of seating considering that you are up there for about half an hour and we had a fair few elderly people and children so I didn't feel I could sit down for too long. The ride itself was smooth and it was only whilst at the very top I was aware we had again stopped moving for whatever reason. The day we visited was very hot and very sunny, and actually this was more of a hindrance than a help. There was quite bad glare on the glass, and combined with the shine from the Thames, I really regretted not bringing sunglasses! It was February when I visited so it wasn't the sort of weather I had prepared for. The views were lovely however, but I wasn't blown away by them.

At the end of the ride you are instructed to all smile out the window to have your photo taken. I wasn't really interested in this but some other passengers were and they seemed to struggle to understand which window they were meant to look out of. I have to admit it wasn't very clear. It was also a little uncomfortable-looking since people tend not to want to bunch up close for a picture with people they met 20 minutes previous. I cant say that the photos were of good quality either, with the inevitable sun glare visible. I feel that this was entirely for extra profit and a bit of a joke considering the £15 per person to ride and the several hours spent trying to get on in the first place.

I was told by one of my party that our experience of the London Eye was very different from her last and that perhaps we attended during a 'blip'. However since returning home I have heard several similar stories and wonder if this is a sign of things to come. A good thing to remember is that with the current Euro exchange rate there are more European tourists than ever.

My advice would be only go to the Eye if you are in the city midweek and are a sucker for a view. Personally I would not go back and would not recommend it to any of my friends or family.

Summary: Dont bother, London has so much better to offer