A friend and I are thinking of riding the London Eye next week, and looking at the price list, they offer a “Fast Track” option, that lets you “Make the most of your day in London and enjoy the benefits of checking in for a Fast Track flight just 15 minutes before your departure and avoiding the majority of the queue.” You pay an extra £10 for this privilege (£25 instead of £15).
From what I can see, for the normal “flight” you have to be there at least 30 minutes in advance. If all you get for your extra ten quid is 15 minutes less on line, it’s obviously not worth it.
They have tickets available for the earliest time on the day we want to go, so I can’t see how we’d have to wait much longer if we don’t get Fast Track tickets. I assume Fast Track is intended for the peak tourist season, and that we won’t have this problem in early March.
Am I right? Any other hints or tips about the Eye?
Like most everything else to do with London and London tourism, this ‘Fast Track’ option is a ripoff, plain and simple. Don’t book in advance. No need, no point. Just turn up when you want, pay the minimum fee and enjoy the ride. The queues (or lines) were really bad for about the first week when the Eye was opened. Ever since then, it’s been possible to just walk up, buy a ticket and get on, more or less any time you like. Obviously, it makes sense to try and avoid what you think might be the absolute busiest times at the peak of the tourist season, but that’s just common sense and applies to any attraction. The longest you’ll have to wait in line is five minutes. And even if you do have to wait longer, it’s not a big deal. There are some nice cafes around there where you can idle away 10 minutes or so.
I live in London and I’ve been on the Eye three times with various foreign visitors. We’ve always just bought a ticket and walked straight on. And March won’t be very busy at all.
The best tip I can give you is to try and go on the Eye at dusk. The day time view from the Eye is good in one way, and the evening / night-time view is good in a different way. You don’t want to pay twice, so it makes sense to try and go on it when the light is beginning to fade, so that you get a taste of both kinds of fun. And take a camera.
Well, if you’re going during a real busy tourist season it may not be quite that quick:
I was in London around Christmas 2006 with my wife, and from the time we got in line to buy our ticket to the time we got onto the Eye was around 90 minutes.
Thanks, all. I assumed that Fast Track couldn’t be worth £10.
I was planning on getting tickets online in advance, but then I thought about the weather. If it’s raining, we probably wouldn’t want to go, but advance tickets are non-refundable and non-transferable. So, with your info, we’ll probably just get tickets on the spot. We’ll lose the 10% discount for online tix, but we’ll get more flexibility.
Has anyone been there at opening time? Will there be much of a line at 9:30 or 10 am on a Monday?
Do they kick you off after one orbit, or can you stay on longer if you want? How many people will be in the capsule with you, on average?
None of these questions is answered on the official Web site. I had to search for quite a while just to find out that a single circuit lasts 30 minutes.
I went in spring of 2003. I just bought a ticket, and only had to wait about 10 minutes. There were about a dozen people in my capsule, and yes you have to get out after one rotation (about 30 minutes).
Yes, but the OP was asking about going on the Eye next week, hence in March, hence nowhere near peak tourism season.
You can check at sites like this. Or, just make a note on the day you arrive, or on the first day that you can. Use this to gauge the best time to ‘fly’ the next day.
As others have said, you don’t get a choice. Once round and they kick you off.
I don’t know what the official average is, but it varies a lot. I’ve been on it with hardly anyone else in the same pod, but I know sometimes there are many more, maybe up to 12 or 16. It shouldn’t be a problem in March, and the pods are quite big. You are free to move around, so you should still be able to see everything you want to see, and take all the photos you want to take. In my experience, people are quite good at being polite and ‘taking turns’ at being in the most photogenic spots at the most photogenic times.
One more tip. When you buy your ticket, you have the chance to buy a special fold out photo map that shows you the London skyline, as seen from the pod, and identifies all the landmarks. As usual for London, it’s extremely over-priced. Buy it if you really feel you must for the souvenir value, but it’s so much easier and more interesting to get your own map or information in advance and take it with you, so that you can identify landmarks when you’re up in the air.
Keep an eye on this site. The offers change, but I’ve seen 2 for 1 offers for the London Eye using the Oyster Card (prepaid card for using public transport).
I was there on a Sunday late morning with an American visitor a few weeks ago, and the line was HUGE. The wait at least one hour, and it was damn cold, so we decided not to do it.
The Oyster card does give you a discount still. Can’t remember what it is.
I went there last March during a weekday morning and waited for about 40 minutes because of a couple of bus loads of school kids. Check out the Dali Universe while you are at the Eye if you are into that kind of art.
There’s a big difference in coming out at peak time, which as far as I could tell meant weekends.
I was in the UK for two weeks in 2002, and with the exception of a brief trip to lovely Edinburgh, made daily excursions to London via Southwest trains, getting off at Waterloo Station every time. On most of these days, I walked right past the London Eye, either on the way out to somewhere (it’s on the opposite bank of the Thames from important buildings like Parliament and Westminster Abbey) or on the way back depending on where I had last boarded/left the Tube and where I felt like having dinner that night.
Weekend days seemed to be pretty packed, and I could certainly imagine wanting the Fasttrack pass on a Saturday or Sunday if you had other places to be. On the other hand, if you’re there on a tourist trip like I was and can come by at half-past-nine on a Monday morning, your wait is more likely to be the 1-3 minutes that Una Persson mentioned.
As with wait time, capsule capacity is likely to fluctuate greatly depending on when you go. I seem to recall being with about 15 people when I went, but I was too busy looking out the windows and snapping pictures to count my fellow passengers.
… and with that, here are some of the pictures that I took:
[ul][li]The Eye as seen approaching from Waterloo Station[]The capsule below mine. It looks packed![]Hi, Opal![]Another capsule on the same ride. There can’t be more than 15 people in this capsule. Off to the right you can see Parliament and the bridge below is Westminster Bridge.[]These capsules look sparsely populated. To be fair, this picture was taken two days earlier than the ones above.[]The Eye from a distance[]… and another picture of the Eye[/ul][/li]If you have the flexibility, I would recommend going on a weekday morning. That worked best for me.
If you are a Dali fan, think twice before going into the ‘Dali Universe’ exhibition next to the London Eye. This exhibition is expensive. It does not feature any of Dali’s famous paintings. There are some paintings and sketches, but not many, and hardly any that are of note. The exhibition chiefly features figures and sculptures. There are a small number of well-known ones, but again most are minor works of interest to no-one except the most die-hard Dali aficionado. I do have an interest in Dali’s work, but I didn’t find much of interest in this exhibition. It’s very much an exhibition of all the Dali-related material that other major galleries and museums around the world didn’t want or felt to be superfluous.
Ian, thanks for this advice. I am something of a Dali fan, and I’ve been to L’Espace Dali in Paris and the big Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, FL, which is very impressive. So based on your description, I will definitely give it a miss. Thanks.
And I should have added, thanks to everyone else who offered advice. Unfortunately, the 2-for-1 deal at the Eye with an Oyster Card ended in January. But, depending on weather, we’ll probably take your advice about doing the eye at dusk, Ian.
Back from a great trip. We had two days of sightseeing, and got to several of the top places: Tower of London, British Museum, Harrods, and (on the second day) the Natural History Museum.
And of course, the Eye. Ian, your suggestion of going at dusk was terrific, as this shot demonstrates, I think.
