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

Note that if you buy the combined ticket for the Eye and the Tower, you travel between the two on Thames Clippers' boat which runs just once an hour (www.thamesclippers.com). If there are delays and you miss the boat, it would be quicker to make your own way between them.

We went in October, 2003, and are going back in September. When we were there in 2003, the weather was horrendous, rainy and cloudy. But unless there's a ground fog, you can still see plenty, even if visability is poor compared to a clear day (which are rare moments in London anyway).

I liked the flight on the Eye first thing after we arrived, because it gave us an opportunity to get the lay of the land, seeing Westminster and other sights around the city. We scheduled at dusk so we could be there during daylight, and see the lights of Parliament come up just as we started our descent.

It doesn't take much time, and it's a unique structure that is fun to go on. I think if you had kids with you, they'd be fascinated by it.

We're going back in September, and since we only have a couple of nights in London before going on to Paris, we've booked our flight already for Friday night at dusk again.

Happy travels.

Jules

If the kids are under 16, the Tube is actually quite a bit cheaper than the other modes, because you qualify for a Family Day Travelcard that will get you from Heathrow to London and all around on the Tube and bus for &pound;4 for adults and &pound;.80 for the teens.

The Underground is also faster than anything except the Heathrow Express. Go to thetube.com and use the Journey Planner to figure your routing.

(Not a reply to Duck-- a general observation.) For what it's worth, three weeks ago on a Monday morning, there was a 35-minute wait to buy tickets to the Eye and about a 10-minute wait to get on, once tickets had been purchased. A sunny day.

My kids (10 and 13) thought that it was o.k. We spent a day at the Tower, and I hope -- and believe-- that they'll remember that far longer. They were unimpressed by the jewels but completely taken in by the history.

w/ a 10 hour layover you will have approx 6.5 hours free time. In 6+ hours you want to drive into central London, &quot;fly&quot; the Eye, take a boat down river to Tower Pier, tour the Tower of London, go to Camden Town and/or Piccidilly Circus and drive back to LHR.

The Tower is always crowded but on a weekend afternoon it will be especially so. You can't really do a &quot;quick&quot; tour of the Tower on a weekend. The line just to see the Crown Jewels usually runs to an hour or more. Plus there are lines to get into the White Tower. With your pass, you will be able to skip the entrance queue, but that won't help you once you are inside the Tower grounds.

Sat a.m. arrival makes it a little better since you won't be fighting commute traffic.

The Eye takes 30 minutes. Count on at least 30 minutes to the Tower because you will probably have to wait for the next scheduled boat. The Tower takes an absolute minimum of 2 hours to see even the basics and that doesn't include queueing for the Jewels. Add in two 45 - 60 minute cab rides. That totals 6 hours w/o any time to eat. And if your flight is even 30 minutes late you may not get to the Eye by 1:30.

My point is that your plan is just BARELY possible - and any minor glitch means all bets are off.

(BTW - the tube is often faster into central London than driving)

Sorry, I meant that if we have time, we will do Picadilly and then naturally underground it back to the airport since we will be on the underground at that point any. If the line to see the Jewels is an hour even with the new moving walkway, we might not be seeing them on that day. I have seen the Tower thrice and relished its many facets. If it takes us more than 3.5 hours to land, get through customs and get to the Eye, we will just have to throw our plight onto the mercy of the keepers of the Eye or purchase new tickets. The point about the family card on the underground is well-taken. I still wonder how much faster the Tube will be (after getting the tickets, etc.) to the Eye then a cab from Heathrow. We are going to be on a long-haul journey to the wilds of Africa so the idea of slipping into a cab curbside still sounds appealing but if we are in a pinch for time, we may have to Tube it.

Just a point re the Tower/Crown Jewels. The &quot;new&quot; moving walkway (not so new BTW) you mention is only w/i the vault where the main crowns/jewels are located. The lines to get to that point are where you will spend an hour or more. They have set it up sort of ala Disney - a long winding queue w/ lots to interest you and take your mind off the long wait. So lots of displays and video programm - but it is still just a line to get to the Jewels.

You will likely be able to change your Eye tickets if you get there late -- but you'll have to stand in line to do it. I think your whole plan is sort of frantic/ill conceived (having to be somewhere 20 miles away at a specific, pre-paid, time) for a layover between such long flights - but never mind . . . . .

Meant to add - there are LOTS of other things one could do w/ 6 hours w/o having to travel across all of London twice.

Yeah but you are the one who first told me it would take too long to get to the Tower from the Eye. Hmmmm. I know there are tons of things to do in London but that was not my question. I am not certain any of our plans to your liking--sorry but it is our trip and I was looking for specific information on our planned itinerary.

And you HAVE received all sorts of specific information.

Granted---it is crazy. The chances of actually pulling it off sounds nuts when you put it that way. If I had only had your travel aptitude to guide me, we would not be in this dire predicament of trying to do the Eye and the Tower with pre-paid tickets. &quot;Frantic and ill-conceived&quot;.....This is too hilarious for a travel forum.