# The Millennium Wheel. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 5, 2009, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-millennium-wheel/520106 "2009-12-05T17:55:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2009, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-millennium-wheel/520106/21 "2009-12-06T23:06:56Z")
The wheel should take only an hour or two at most. I’d do that first, and then go to the places I saw from above. I’m sure aerial maps, from the perspective of the wheel, are readily available. I hope to be there for weeks. I’ll spend _all_ my kids inheritance money. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Mondegreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/91b2a8/32.png) [@Lord\_Mondegreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Mondegreen)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-millennium-wheel/520106/22 "2009-12-07T02:54:03Z")
> [@ataraxy22](#): > > I rode in it a few years ago. It was fun to do once, but I won’t feel the need to do it again the next time in London. I would agree with this. I thought it was fantastic, but haven’t felt the urge to repeat the experience in the approx. 15 times I’ve been to London since. But I certainly recommend it to anyone who hasn’t been on it before. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-millennium-wheel/520106/23 "2009-12-07T05:36:44Z")
I did it in September. It was OK, but I didn’t think it was as great as I had been led to believe. I was a guest of Lloyd’s so I didn’t pay anything. If I’d paid, I think I’d have been a bit disappointed. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-millennium-wheel/520106/24 "2009-12-07T13:11:58Z")
I’ve been on it and enjoyed it greatly. I could easily do it again. The weather was a bit miserable- cloudy and raining - which somehow seemed perfect. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-millennium-wheel/520106/25 "2009-12-07T15:12:57Z")
I’ve been on it twice - it’s very good (for what it is) and well worth at least one trip. Booking in advance will save you the worst of the queueing (in the ticket office), and the line to actually get on moves pretty fast. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-millennium-wheel/520106/26 "2009-12-07T15:26:27Z")
I’ve seen some cool videos on youtube where they rig the thing up with fireworks for the New Years celebration. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-millennium-wheel/520106/27 "2009-12-07T15:33:07Z")
From pictures and videos I’ve seen I think it’s very pretty, in a kind of futuristic but old way. Like something in a 1950’s science fiction movie or drawing. Maybe it’s the spokes. ---
**Author:** ![Kid\_A\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Kid\_A\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kid_A_1)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-millennium-wheel/520106/28 "2009-12-07T17:20:10Z")
I went on it this summer. We started just as the sun was setting so we ended up with a number of beautiful photos of the city as the lights began to poke through the darkness. No need to do it again but definitely worth doing once. ---
**Author:** ![JacobSwan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@JacobSwan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JacobSwan)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-millennium-wheel/520106/29 "2009-12-08T18:06:46Z")
> [@NineToTheSky](#): > > I really agree with you. I dream of of going to Theydon Bois or West Ruislip or Chesham. I’ve promised myself that I will one day. Or going to from one end of the Central Line to the other. It’s dreams like that that makes life worth living. I live in epping and my wife lived in ealing when we first dated. Going from one end of the central line to the other loses its appeal after the first 50 times. But there’s a really good bakers and a butchers in theydon if you ever go. ---
**Author:** ![aesop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f8ce5/32.png) [@aesop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aesop)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-millennium-wheel/520106/30 "2009-12-08T19:28:21Z")
My wife and I rode it in October. There was no line to speak of, and the ride was close to 40 minutes long (I think). It’s pretty cool, if for no other reason than the spokes of the wheel are impossibly long and thin and clearly violating some fundamental laws of physics as there is no way they can support the weight of that thing – even though they do. We bumped into a couple who were there last month and said it wasn’t running, so if you do go check the maintenance schedule. I like the Tube, too, although the Docklands Light Railway is even more impressive in my opinion. There’s something very futuristic about getting into a driverless train. Oh, and the pedestrian tunnel under the Thames at Greenwich – that was cool, too! ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-millennium-wheel/520106/31 "2009-12-08T20:29:09Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > I envy the OP. Obviously he missed _Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer_. And that New Doctor Who episode with the plastic men. ---
**Author:** ![Teacake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Teacake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teacake)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-millennium-wheel/520106/32 "2009-12-08T22:45:17Z")
There are so many high places in London (it’s ringed with hills, for a start), but it does give a unique view right by the Palace of Westminster. I’ve been on it once, or maybe twice, and would probably go on it again if I was in the vicinity and had nothing else to do. It’s fun, and I do love this city. Any view of it is good. It’s also fun to stand on Westminster Bridge in the evening as it gets dark, and watch the stupid people taking pictures of their own reflections by forgetting to switch off the flash inside the pod. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-millennium-wheel/520106/33 "2009-12-09T00:38:57Z")
> [@Teacake](#): > > There are so many high places in London (it’s ringed with hills, for a start), but it does give a unique view right by the Palace of Westminster. I’ve been on it once, or maybe twice, and would probably go on it again if I was in the vicinity and had nothing else to do. It’s fun, and I do love this city. Any view of it is good. > > It’s also fun to stand on Westminster Bridge in the evening as it gets dark, and watch the stupid people taking pictures of their own reflections by forgetting to switch off the flash inside the pod. 😃 I’ll try to remember, if I do go, to do just that in case you’re standing on Westminster Bridge that night. I’ll be the only old man with a red clown nose. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-millennium-wheel/520106.md?page=1)