UK trip - Museum & Tour or just Museum?
 

My family and I are planning to go to the Old Trafford Stadium in Manchester and also Wembly Stadium and Wimbledon Tennis lawn in London. Should we get just the Museum admission or both Museum & Tour?

Will you be able to see the stadiums and the tennis courts if you don't get the tour?

Thank you!

Football stadium tours are almost all alike.

Essentially, you don't "see" the stadium, as if you were at a match: you go into the dressing rooms, walk out into the sacred turf through the tunnelthe players use (usually with the club's song playing and the crowd noise simulated). You usually see thecommunal bath, and at Wembley go up to the royal box and go through the ritual Cup winners go through.

For any child football fan (of any age), it's close to heaven. The museum, by contrast is about as interesting, even for the hardcore fan, as the Treasury in a Continental cathedral, only the works of art are truly awful.

No idea about Wimbledon, but I imagine it's quite the opposite. Football is entirely built on fandom, and Wembley is English football fans' national shrine. Old Trafford's a bit different, since hardly anyone in Britain can stand its team: its fans are mostly foreign (Mancunians mostly support City), so the fandom ritual isn't the same (Anfield And Goodison are the fan capitals in the NW).

Fandom doesn't work like that in tennis, and the museum is a real history of an institution, and probably worth seeing. There just aren't the rituals in tennis that make tours of a football stadium an absolute must for fans of the teamconcerned

I can help re the Wimbledon Tennis Museum. The tour is an optional extra that must be booked in advance. If you just get a museum ticket, you'll just see the museum and shop, with <b>NO</b> access to the rest of the site (though you will <i>see</i> the exterior of the showcourts and a few of the outside courts). The tour lasts about 90 minutes and takes you onto the stands of Centre and/or No.1 court, as well as a really interesting visit "behind the scenes" through the press conference facilities, TV studios, corridors that the players use to get from changing rooms and the show courts etc.

I'm a huge tennis fan so obviously I think the tour is well worth the money, but I've taken visitors there who're not, and they still thought it was excellent.

When are you going? The museum is only open to ticket holders during the Championships, and the tours don't start up again until about a week afterwards.

We plan to go to Wimbledon on Sunday, July 17.

I still can't get my head around you wanting to tour Wembley (fine idea) and then traveling all the way to Manchester (whether as a REALLY difficult day trip, or for over night before flying home) to tour Old Trafford. That is overkill by one stadium's worth.

Why not just do Wembley, Wimbledon and Windlesham and not run yourselves absolutely ragged??

OK, the Wimbledon Tennis Museum (including tour) are operating normally on 17 July. Just be sure to book your timed tour in advance if you want to do it - it's a very popular ticket right after the Championships.

Well, these places are actually my dad's request. He had been to London before but he had never been to the stadiums and it's his request and also my cousin's request (her family is Man U fan). I have no interest in fandom, I just want to take pictures :D I also want my family to have a good time together. As for Manchester trip, we will stay one night (Sunday) there so it's not overkill for my parents.

flanner gets it wrong again. Most Mancunians are not City fans, they all live in Stockport and Suadi Arabia. Most United fans do in fact live in the City of Manchester and its suburbs, to suggest otherwise is to show ignorance of the situation.

85% of United fans live within a 45 minute drive of Old Trafford (Loughborough University survey) and all the people I see there each game are local either by birth or current home. For those who have no idea of history, United's first ground when they were founded in 1878 was in the City of Manchester.

Liverpool is not the fan capital, just the burglary capital.

Is there a good library nearby Wimbledon Tennis Museum? How do I get there from the museum and how long does it take?

What would you mean by a "good" library? There are public libraries in the area, but they may not have what you're looking for.

Can you list the ones that are within walking distance? Please also provide the address and/or how to get there. Thank you.

Why do you need a library?

Since you are visiting the British Library and the John Rylands in Manchester -- do you really need to visit small local branch libraries??

My mom was asking about a library. That's her passion.. If there's one in a walking distance and we have time after the Wimbledon Tennis Museum (& maybe tour), I will take her there and make her happy.. I don't think she's interested in sports but she just come with us so we are together :)

Two public libraries within walking distance of the Wimbledon Tennis Museum (and handy if you arrive in the area by public transport):-

Wimbledon Library
Wimbledon Reference Library, Wimbledon Hill Road, Richmond, London SW19 7NB
Tel: 020 8274 5757 ‎
merton.gov.uk

Southfields Library
300 Wimbledon Park Rd, London SW19 6NL
Tel: 020 8871 6388 ‎
wandsworth.gov.uk

AFAIK these are just ordinary public libraries for local residents, though visitors should be welcome.

Thank you!