London Eye, London > Reviews > My 'Woman from Del Monte' experience

Author's product rating:   

Prices	Average
Transport links

Advantages:	Fantastic Experience, Great views, Good disabled access
Disadvantages:	Over too quickly, Potential Queues

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

So, I had my reasons to do it (which will become apparent later on) and booked a long weekend in London. I went through www.totalstay.com to get my accommodation, booked my train tickets through GNER, all I had left to do now was sort out what to do. As it turned out the London Eye would be the main attraction of the weekend.

---Background---

Many areas throughout the world created special attractions and landmarks to celebrate the turning of the Millennium. In London, one of the attractions was the then named 'Millennium Wheel'. At a total cost of £75m it took 16 months from the first piece to be made until it took it's first passengers in 2000. I remember watching TV and there being a news focus showing the mammoth task of lifting the wheel from it's original position stretched across the Thames to the moment when it became upright, bolted in place and London's newest tourist attraction. It was actually the second attempt as the first effort had been postponed to allow safety checks on a defective cable!

Sponsored by British Airways, the Eye is 135 metres tall, making it the tallest observation wheel in the world and over half the height of Canary Wharf.

---Location---

The Eye is ideally situated on the South Bank area of the River Thames, and sits in between Jubilee Gardens and County Hall. It is easily accessible from Westminster Bridge or from the South Bank Riverside Walkway from the Hungerford Bridge direction. It is less than 5 mins walk from Westminster tube station and from Waterloo mainline and tube stations, meaning it is very easy to get to. It sits directly across the River from the Ministry of Defence buildings.

When we went to London, we were in a hotel by the Millennium Dome and so took a Tube to London Bridge (about 20 mins slow walk away) and took a nice leisurely stroll down the riverbank to reach it.

---Flights---

'Rides' on the London Eye are called flights - presumably because of its association with British Airways. One flight takes 35 minutes and can accommodate up to 25 people

---Prices---

For a standard flight, the price is £11 and this is the most popular method of flying the Eye. Over 60s get a £1 discount, whilst children aged 5-15 get to go on for £5.50. A nice touch is that Under 5s are free, so for a grandparent with a couple of young grandchildren they can fly relatively cheaply.

There are other types of flight that you can go on:-

Group Flights:- If you can get a group of between 10 & 75 people together then you can fly the Eye taking advantage of reduced prices. Adults are then charged £9.90, Over 60s are charged £9, and 5-15 years olds are £4.95. under 5s still go free. Be warned though, there is no guarantee that you will get your own pod for this flight - you have to book a different package to ensure this.

Fast Track:- The only difference here from a standard flight is that you don't have to queue, and you only need to check in 15 mins before your flight. this is more expensive at £30, with the only reductions being that Under 5s go free - there are no reductions for other children or Over 60s. Included in your £30 you do get a free souvenir guidebook which normally costs £4.50, and kids get a special kid's pack.

Champagne Flight:- The variation here from the Fast track flight is that Adults get a glass of Laurent-Perrier champagne to enjoy whilst on the flight. Children will be given a non-alcoholic alternative of fruit juice, which is also available to adults if preferred. Again, the guidebook and kid's book are included in the price. This costs £40 for adults, £33 for kids from 5-17, and Under 5s are again free. Unfortunately there are no discounts on this for the Over 60s. For an extra £10 there is the option of an extra glass of champagne on your flight. Although you get fast-track priority boarding, the use of a tour guide and are able to queue-jump, there is also no guarantee that you will get your own capsule - you will be with whoever else books a champagne flight for that time.

Cupid's capsule:- As the name suggests, this is a capsule for all you lovers out there. With this you get a bottle of champagne served by your own personal waiter, priority boarding and queue-jump, chocolates, guidebooks, and the guarantee that it will be a private capsule just for you two. There is also provision for upto 2 Under 5s to join you for free. The drawback for this is that it will set you back £299.

Variations on the Cupid's capsule which guarantee your own pod and give all of the same freebies are a private capsule for 3-25 people costing £350.00 with an extra £50 fee for a host if required. Also, you can get that upgraded to a champagne flight at a cost of £350 plus £50 for each bottle of champagne. A wine capsule where wine replaces the champagne for £406 and £28 per bottle.

You can also buy tickets which combine a standard flight on the London Eye with a ticket for another attraction, and the list of these is below:-

Flight & 2 Course Meal at Pizza Express - Adults (£24), Children 5-15 (£12.50), Over 60s (£23), Under 5s Free. Note that a meal is not included for the Under 5s and you have to pay for that at the restaurant separately which is a bit poor of them in my opinion.

Flight & Meal at People's Palace Restaurant - Adults (£28 for 2 courses, £33.50 for 3 courses) Children 5-15 (£15), No discounts for Over 60s, and under 5s are again free although their meal isn't included.

Flight & Dinner Cruise - A flight & a dinner cruise lasting 2 3/4 hours on the Bateaux London at £74 with no discounts. Note that this has a dress code in place.

Flight & ticket for Hayward Gallery - £18.20, with no discounts

Flight & ticket for Saatchi gallery - Adults (£17.35), Children 5-15 (£10.35), Over 60s (£14.85), Under 5s Free

Flight & ticket for Tate Galleries - Adults (£15.50), Children 5-15 (£7.75), Over 60s (£12.25), Under 5s Free

Flight & ticket to Madame Tussauds (including London Planetarium, but not Chamber Live) - Adult (£25), Children 5-15 (£16.50), Over 60s (£22), Under 5s Free

Special offers like these are changing all of the time, and depending on the time of year e.g. they are having peter Pan themed flights for Christmas time.

---Booking Tickets---

There are 3 main ways that you can buy tickets. Firstly you can book online as I did from www.ba-londoneye.com - notice again the sponsorship by British Airways. Using the Internet you can book tickets for any type of flight from standard to private capsule. As with most sites, all transactions are done over a secure connection so you have peace of mind there. The website itself is actually pretty straightforward - quite eye-catching but in a kind of jumbly messed up kind of way. Saying that everything you need to find out about the eye and to book tickets is in the menu on the left hand side of the page, so no complaints really with this method. At the end of the process, you are shown a webpage which you MUST print off and take with you - it contains details such as date and time, how much you paid, and importantly your booking number. I kept all of my stuff together after booking 2 months in advance so remembered to take it with me. It's a shame really as people can only book online if they have access to a printer.

Alternatively, you can call them on 0870 5000 600 which will bring you through to an automated booking line - it's actually one of the reasons why I booked online as I hate these things and don't trust them - I would much rather speak to someone in person and have them confirm my booking.

The third method is to simply pay on the day and buy a ticket from the ticket office. The ticket hall is situated just in side County Hall, but be warned that on busy days the queue can be quite large.

Booking online or by phone means that there is a 50p booking fee per ticket, but this applies to standard tickets only. There is another condition which means that you have to book your tickets this way at least 14 hours in advance for standard flights and 48 hours in advance for other more expensive types.

---Views---

On a good clear day, the views are some of the most breathtaking that you will ever see. On such a day, the guide informed me that you could often see Windsor castle around 40 miles away - unfortunately, we went in the height of summer and it was too good a day as it became very hazy when you tried to look that far. Despite that it is a really good view of London and the surrounding areas, with the best bit being when you are 5 mins either side of the top as you can see so much more during this period. Apart from the surrounding landmarks such as Houses of Parliament, Westminster and Downing Street, you can see Buckingham Palace, Earls Court and Hyde Park to the West, BT Tower,, Hampstead Heath and Alexandra Palace to the North, and Greenwich and Canary Wharf to the East. Unfortunately the Millennium Dome is hidden behind canary Wharf when you are on the Eye. To the South, you get to see Crystal Palace (which the guide told us some people think is the Eiffel Tower!!), The Oval Cricket Ground, and Chelsea Bridge.

The one view I wasn't too keen on was the one straight down as looking over a murky brown Thames wasn't good for me - I have a fear of being above water. As long as I didn't look down though I was OK.

---Experience---

So, what did I do. Well, to be honest I had a hidden agenda. I was going to use the trip to ask a very special question so needed something a bit more special than a normal flight. A Cupids Capsule was out of my price range so I settled for a Champagne Flight with an extra glass - I thought I might need it after I had done the deed!!! As I said earlier, this doesn't guarantee you a private pod like Cupid's Capsule does, but I was prepared for a few other people to be in the pod with us. As it happens, although there were 16 people booked on the one after us, we were the only ones booked on the one I had tickets for, meaning that I had in fact got a Cupids Capsule for a third of the price - it seems as though it really is hit and miss as to whether or not you drop on well.

Anyway, everything about it was brilliant from the moment we 'checked-in'. We got straight to the front of the queue, and got on the pod. It doesn't actually stop when you get on unless there is a disabled person in your party when they do stop to let them on. In fact it couldn't be easier and I saw no signs of any difficulties for disabled access. When we got on, some guy obviously knew what I was going to do and was waving his fist at me in a kind of 'go on lad!!' fashion which just added to the experience in my view. Claire thought he was just a nutter luckily!! I would really advise purchasing a guidebook or going on a flight with a guide as you get so much more out of it - not being from London and having my first trip there I wouldn't have been able to recognise any of the landmarks that he pointed out to be and the background talk that he gave was excellent.

So, when we got to the top the guide was showing Claire Crystal palace in the distance when I tapped her on the shoulder and got down on one knee to ask my question. We had actually just passed the top point and so the people in the pods behind and in front could see all that was going on!!

When you reach the bottom, there is an opportunity for an official photo to be taken, as they do at most attractions these days, and to purchase one costs a rather hefty £8. Also, there are only 2 cameras so if you are in a full pod you may not get chance to have your photo taken so get there early if you want one.

All in all, a fantastic experience, even from a guy who doesn't like looking down onto water and isn't really keen on heights!! The views are breathtaking, and the pods are surprising cool even in the height of the burning midday summer sun. I would say that the standard flights and the champagne flights are worth the money, along with any of the combinations available with other attractions. I'm not too sure whether or not paying an extra £20 for a straight Fast Track ticket just to bypass the queue would be worth it though. Queues are pretty long, although in peak time, one guy told me he only had to wait for 40 mins and couldn't see any problem after the experience that you have.

What may be a problem is that Under 5s may not get much of a view in a crowded pod, so some consideration from other passengers is needed.

Recommended?? Completely!!

For more information check out the website at www.ba-londoneye.com

What.... you want to know what happened???

Ok then, like the man from Del Monte - she said yes!!