London Eye
 

Hi,
I read in a guidebook that I should reserve a ride on the eye ahead of time. How do I go about doing that?

Thanks

Go to <b>londoneye.com</b> and hit the &quot;Booking&quot; link.

I have been on it 3 times and now that its been open there are no lines at all, I wouldnt make it ahead of time because you want to go on a clear day. What if you spend the money ahead of time and its cloudy or rainy.

I wouldn't reserve in advance either. Maybe reserve in the morning for later in the day, but unless you're going at the height of tourist season, you won't have a problem.

I was there the first week of Sept last year. We walked right up and bought a ticket and got on right away.

Agreeing with nevilledog. Lines at the London Eye are not an issue anymore except possibly on nice holiday weekends. Even then, the lines move. As neville has noted, overcast weather is not worth the ride.

Don't book ahead.

I took my mother in December and we did reserve and there WERE lines...the wait for those without reservations was over 30 minutes. To each his own, but I didn't like the idea of making my 70 something mother stand in line in the winter cold that long. Reserving was no big deal.
It depends on how much time you have. If waiting in line doesn't bother you, then don't reserve. If you're on a tight schedule or somebody in your travel party gets grumpy when waiting in line, then go ahead and reserve.

I would never book the Eye ahead of time. What if the day/time you booked turns out to be the worst weather of your whole trip. Could easily happen. Even back in the early (ver busy) days after it first opened - you didn't need to book from home. You could go to the TIC in Victoria station and buy tickets for 5 p.m. the same day or for later in your trip.

If you don't want to risk there being a queue the day you want to fly the Eye, check out the weather reports in the newspaper or the TV news and if the weather looks decent the next day just stop by the Eye and buy tix for then.

No need to book ahead OR to stand in a queue . . . . . .

For the weather issues cited above we booked through our hotel on the morning when the weather looked the best. The tickets were waiting for us at will call.

Hi Everybody,
We will have 2 plus days in London, so we'll just be doing a little look-see for the kids (ages 10 &amp; 14) to get a taste of London (bulk of trip in Austria/Switz).

Given that we just have 2 plus days in London, is the London Eye worth doing? The kids have never been in London b/4 &amp; it's been 25 years since i was there.

THANKS!

The Eye is worth doing. With the pictorial flip-guide sold at the gift shop, you can get a good aerial overview of the city's monuments. Riding on the machine itself is quite interesting, too.

You can get there on a bus. Here's a possible tour route:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34535187

I thought the Eye was worth it and you could combine it with a trip to Westminster Abbey, but if I were in London only two days I would have more things to do than ride the Eye.

Oh, come on! The &quot;flight&quot; only takes 34 minutes. Add five minutes queuing, and you've got change from an hour. I've spent more time than that on a pint at the local.

It's not a big time-consumer.

Robespierre- glad you didn't find it a &quot;big time consumer&quot;. I however decided that it was worth taking the time on a third trip. Come on!, indeed.

It doesn't take that much time. Nevertheless, I wouldn't go on it again. Really, it is simply a big ferris wheel that allows great views of London on a clear day. It doesn't have the majesty or history of the Eiffel Tower, IMO.

Has anyone done the Eye/Tower combo? We have a layover at Heathrow on our way to safari in Africa in two weeks so I booked it online for the five of is. I have done London many times and avoided the Eye but the three teens coming along heard about the Eye and definitely want to go. Now, that I have heard it is a big ferris wheel that overlooks London, I am game and can spare the hour. The Eye/Tower combo is supposed to include a fast-track entry. Anyone done the Eye with the Tower can recall how much time it took to get done with the Eye and into the Tower grounds? Cab from Heathrow to the Eye--time and cost?I know we can do the Tube but there are five of us and we want to cab it for simplicity. Thanks.

My children, ages 9 &amp; 15, totally enjoyed the &quot;Eye&quot;. I actually had pre-booked our &quot;flight time&quot; using vouchers we had received as part of our hotel package. We arrived at the site sooner than expected and were able to go into the ticket window and get seats for the next flight and off we went. This was at sunset in early July - perfect. I did see however, where line queues were being dismantled from lines earlier in the day. Have a great time.

Duck: It sounds like you plan on visiting the Eye and the Tower between planes at LHR. How long is your layover? What time do you land? I would not take a cab - depending on the time of day it could easily take an hour or more to drive in to the Eye and cost in excess of &pound;50. You could take the Heathrow Express train to Paddington and then the tube or a cab to the Eye. The train is only 15 minutes but the cross town cab or tube ride will add 15 to 30 minutes and the train is expensive.

Since you have been to London, I assume you realize the Eye is not near the Tower. And the Tower back to LHR is a VERY long journey.

Tell us the time of day/day of the week and how long your layover is and and maybe we can give you a reasonable way to do this.

The reason why I bought the combo ticket is because the Eye's website says you are transferred on a fifteen minute ride by ferry to the Tower for a &quot;fast track entry&quot;. I am wondering if there is someone out there who has done it so we can better assess the actual time. We are meeting our friends at a hotel for dayrooms (which came gratis with our safari although we won't be in them that much except to shower)near the airport for a 10 hour lay-over so getting the tickets and getting on the tube back at the airport sounds like a big hassle compared to just cabbing it. The money does not concern us as much the convenience. Since there are five of us, the Tube is not all that much cheaper. Riding above ground will give the ones who have not been to London a little bit more of the city. From the Tower, if we have time-we will definitely scoot to Piccadilly or Camden Town so the kids have the experience of riding the Underground and being careful of the dreaded &quot;Gap&quot;.

Oh yes--I forgot to add---we are landing at 10:00 am (always theoretically of course) and our Eye is scheduled for 1:30 (13:30). We know that the Tower will be a quick affair--grab a peek at the jewels, and hit the highlights.

on saturday, July 9