Go Early!!!!! (London Eye)

Member Name: Lucille

Product:	London Eye
Date:	22/05/01 (470 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A unique way to see London, Very helpful both at the Eye and when booking

Disadvantages: Book early, or you will have to queue, Pods will probably be very hot in summer

This is the story of my two trips to the London Eye and what different experiences they were.

Last year in May, as a birthday treat for my Dad, my Mum booked a family trip on the London Eye. As it was so popular the first available ‘flight’ time was 12 noon, so we arrived at about 11.30am. The first thing that struck you was the number of people there was milling around, with no one seeming to know where they were going or why. The London Eye is on the riverside right in front of County Hall, so the space is not huge. This made the whole area feel cramped and with so many people about it was a bit unnerving, especially as I had my daughter with me who at that time was 19 months old, and in her buggy.

After we had been there a few minutes we found out what the problem was. The wheel had broken down for a couple of hours before we arrived, and this meant that a lot of people were delayed. We had tickets for 12 noon, and they were just starting to board the people with 10.30am tickets, so we knew we were in for a long wait.

Then it started raining. Not a light drizzle, but one of those cloud bursts that seems to come from nowhere. The only shelter available was in County Hall itself, so that’s where everyone made a rush to. People were pushing and shoving to get up the stairs and through the door, and eventually the London Eye staff said that there were too many people in the building and shut the doors because of health and safety. So we were now stuck outside the building, in the pouring rain with at least a two-hour wait for our ride on the wheel.

We went for a coffee, which because it is in London was hideously expensive, and waited to see if things improved. The rain stopped, so everyone can out of County Hall and started queuing again. It was at that point we realised that there was a queue for the queue, and they weren’t letting people with our ticket time even join that. Finally a member of London Eye
staff announced that if we wanted to swap our tickets for ‘ride anytime’ ones we could. My Mum went to talk to him to ask about the tickets and he told her that in his opinion it would be longer than two hours before we would get on the wheel, and going home was the most sensible thing to do. We gratefully took his advice, swapped the tickets and went home very wet!

The tickets were valid until the end of March this year. Through a combination of holidays, a house move, illness, and plain forgetfulness we realised we were running out of time to use the tickets before they ran out. My Mum emailed the London Eye office and explained, and they extended the deadline again to the end of May without any problem, which was very good of them. She then emailed again asked whether we did just turn up, or if we had to book. This time someone rang her up, explained what to do and booked the tickets for her.

So last Sunday we all went up to the London Eye again. This time the weather was dry and sunny, which was much better. We went into the ticket hall, gave the woman our reference number, and were given our new tickets, no problem. We then joined the queue and more or less went straight on. Our flight time was 10am and we were on the Eye by 10.05, which was excellent.

Once on the London Eye I could see why it’s so popular. You get fantastic views across London. It’s really interesting see how all the street and building fit together to make up the city. It’s a very gentle ride, and in fact most of the time you forget you are moving at all. When we were coming to the end I couldn’t believe that we had been on it for 30 minutes. The time seems to fly by.

My only two small criticisms of the actual wheel were firstly it was rather hot in the pods. Especially as we went on at the end of May, at 10 in the morning. I’m not sure I would want to be riding it at 1pm in the middle of August. I know they put co
ld water in the pods to drink in the summer, but it still would probably be quite unpleasant.

The second thing that would improve the ride would be a commentary on what sights you were seeing. I have lived in London all my life, and I couldn’t name all the buildings we could see, so how visitors to the city would find it I not sure. A tape telling you about the different buildings would have been interesting and useful. There was guidebook available but at £4.50 I thought it was expensive.

I would certainly recommend the London Eye to anyone who lives or is visiting London. It truly is a unique tourist attraction. I would just recommend that you book early, or if you go later be prepared to queue.

Useful Information:

From the 25th May the London Eye is open from 9:15am-10pm. Tickets cost £9 for adults, £5 for children under 16, (but the under 5’s are free), and the over 60’s and registered disabled are £7. There are discounts for groups for 10 or more people.
It is well served by public transport. We went to Waterloo station and from there it is a short walk to the wheel. On the buses numbers 211, 24 and 11 will all take you there. There are several coffee bars and restaurants and the usual McDonalds. Just be prepared to pay slightly more for any food or drink

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