111op

Hi, I took a look at

http://www.rialtoticketing.com/app/r...lingAgentId=35

Is there a long wait if I buy the cheapest ticket? I'm thinking of a Saturday (in two weeks) around 6 pm. The fast-track option includes a guidebook, I guess, but it's about 10 pounds more expensive.

What's the queue like?

Thanks.

JoeCal

I was there in December (New Year's eve) of this past year and it wasn't worth the extra cost. You pay extra and cut into line near the front of the line. For us it was a waste of money. However, I can't speak for the summer season.

Grasshopper

I have been on the Eye in March and July and neither time was there a line.

111op

Thanks!

I suppose it's better to buy a ticket in advance (on the web)?

My time is quite limited, so every minute will count. I suspect that I'll drop my mom off at London Eye while I head over to Saatchi.

But sounds like the regular ticket is good enough.

Grasshopper

If you buy it online, don't you have to specify a time? I'd wait so I could go when the weather is the best.

111op

That's true, actually.

Did you have to wait for a long time when you bought your ticket in person?

Well, anyway, there really isn't much room in my schedule to fit London Eye in. I'm only in London for a day and basically another morning (I'm passing through on my way to Scandinavia and back).

Grasshopper

No, we didn't wait either time. But if you only have one day, you're probably going to have the time pretty much pinpointed, right? The only reason you might want to wait is that if the weather is really overcast you might want to pass altogether. Don't you pay extra to buy the ticket online?

Grasshopper

I just looked at the website and it looks like you actually save 10% booking online.

Robespierre

The guide book is worth a few bucks, so I think the £22.50 is worth it once you add in the time you'll save on a tight schedule.

111op

I wonder what my mom would say if I tell her that I'm spending £22.50 to put her on a ferris wheel....

The weather thought is a good one. I didn't think of potential bad weather. But granted, even if the weather is bad, she'll probably have a better time with London Eye than at the Saatchi Gallery.

Grasshopper

22,50? It's only 11,75 online. That seems to me to be an overpriced guidebook!

Robespierre

The ride is £11.25 without the guide book and £22.50 with both it and the "head-of-the-line."

cons15479

i went with the cheap ticket and waited for a total time of 10 minutes . Not much i think .
Even if you are not a modern art fun, visit the nearby Tate Modern, it has a great view of The City from the upper floors .

111op

Have had a quick look-see in Tate Modern (but not in the permanent collection).

I'm dragging my mom to the Caravaggio show, so I need to provide her with some shopping or a mindless thing like London Eye.

BTilke

We did it this past December. We were taking my 70-something Mom and didn't want her to wait in line (and there WAS a line, the wait was 30 minutes), my husband gets grumpy when has to wait in line for more then 10 minutes, and it was pretty chilly. So we thought it was worth it. We kept one guidebook and gave the other two away to friends planning their first trips to London.
We booked our tickets online the same day we did the Eye, so we knew what the weather would be like.
Bottom line: for us, the Fast Track was worth it. For someone else, it might not be.

111op

Thanks BT. Was this a weekend? And what time?

I think that I need to look at my itinerary again -- and decided on a hotel for the first London night (not having success on Priceline and may just forget that whole enterprise).

BTilke

It was a weekday afternoon (just before sunset) around the Christmas holidays, so there were lots of people.
Enjoy London! I go into London three days a week now--one afternoon for my Italian classes (I have lunch at an Italian restaurant beforehand, a couple of glasses of Barolo make a perfect pre-class warmup), another to randomly poke around a neighborhood, and a third for culture vulture activities, usually a museum.

111op

You really have the good life, BT -- first Brussels and then London.

As I just commented on Ger's thread, I'm really not that familiar with London -- and I won't have that much time this trip either (about a day and a half).

There's never enough time.

TracyB

We paid 20 British Pounds, ordered online ahead of time and it included the Eye and a River Thames Cruise..It was great, all you did was swipe your visa that you used to book your tickets, and they popped out of a machine, and then you were on...