London Eye Ferris wheel:
Ticket Price & Opening Times
Just as Tower Bridge is the glory of old London, so is the London Eye a marvel of modern London. It’s the tallest and largest observation wheel in Europe, which also refers to the London Ferris Wheel or the Millennium Wheel. It’s difficult to find tourists who visited London but haven’t had the thrill of climbing the London Eye.
London Eye Ferris Wheel is 443 feet high and 394 feet in diameter. It’s the best way to have paranomic views of the great city of London from many angles at once.
Table of Contents
What's London Eye Like, Why To Ride It?
What can be seen from the London Eye? Climbing the London Eye big wheel you’ll see up to 40 kilometers around, when the weather is good. So, it can be said that most of the important things in the city of London are within your reach including the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Shard, the River Thames, Buckingham Palace, The Tower Bridge and more.
This giant ferris wheel contains 32 oval, metal, transparent and air-conditioned capsules, each weighing 10 tons. Each capsule can carry up to 25 people. There are seating for visitors inside the capsule, but you can also walk around if you wish. The wheel rotates at a speed of 26 centimeters (10 inches) per second, thus it takes half an hour to complete a rotation.
For a visitor, not boarding the London Eye means that his London trip remains incomplete. It’s currently one of the most important and interesting modern architectures in the city. That’s why over 4 million tourists visit the London Eye every year.
An architect couple, David Marks and Julia Barfield, were the original designers for the London Eye Ferris Wheel. It was inaugurated in 2000, to mark the beginning of the new millennium in the world.
The designers intended to symbolize the constant flow of time by this wheel. As if it is a time wheel. They wished to celebrate the moment London entered the new millennium by turning this wheel.
Construction of the London Eye began in late 1998, on the River Thames in the Westminster area of central London. The wheel was brought to the South Bank floating over the River Thames in October 1999, and was first opened to the public in March 2000.
The 135-meter-high London Eye is 30 meters taller than the wheels at Yokohama Bay in Japan. Earlier, the Cosmo Clock 21 of Yokohama Bay was the tallest observation wheel in the world. The London Eye, a landmark in modern London, carries an average of 15,000 tourists a day.
From the beginning of construction until 2000, it was called as ‘The Millennium Wheel’. The name was later changed to ‘The London Eye’. Marcus Barfield, The Tussauds Group and British Airways were the original owners of the London Eye. The Tussauds Group later bought shares of British Airways and Marks Barfield, and became its sole owner. Eventually, the group was sold to The Blackstone Group. Marlin Entertainment, currently owned by The Blackstone Group, oversees and manages the London Eye. In fact, building the London Eye was a big challenge. This huge wheel is a unique example of British design, architecture and engineering.
The London Eye’s passenger-carrying capsules are designed in such a way that observers can easily enjoy the city of London from a very high altitude. The capsules are placed on the outside of the wheel so that there is no obstruction in front of the eyes of the passengers as the wheel rotates. So, when a capsule reaches the highest point of the wheel, observers inside the capsule can enjoy the entire city of London in a 360-degree panoramic view.
The 32 capsules of the London Eye, each weighing 10 tons, represent the 32 boroughs of Greater London. All the capsule are air-conditioned and equipped with lovely benches for seating observers. One capsule can accommodate up to 25 people.
To the tourists, it’s a wonder how this wheel, so high and heavy, stands in the air. Surprisingly, only 6 strong cables stuck this huge wheel to the main base. The wheel also has 16 rim rotation cables and 64 spoke cables. Which is why it looks like a huge bicycle wheel.
The base of the wheel is shaped like the letter ‘A’. It took 2200 tons of concrete and 44 concrete piles to build the base. Each concrete pile is 33 meters deep in the ground. The 6 strong cables that hold the wheel are attached to the ground with 1200 tons of concrete.
The London Eye Ferris Wheel has a strong spindle, which holds the 64 spokes of the wheel together. The rotation of this spindle causes the whole wheel to rotate. It’s made of steel. The famous Skoda Steel has made this spindle.
An average of 4.5 million tourists visit the London Eye every year. About 800 tourists climbed it in one round. A round trip takes 30 minutes time.
A ‘Wedding Package’ has been announced for travelers since 2002, to make the wheel more attractive. That is, anyone can rent a capsule to get married. Many couples celebrate their marriage by renting a capsule in London Eye.
The London Eye Ferris Wheel wins a variety of awards almost every year for being a tourist attraction. These include the BBC London People’s Choice Award, Best Millennium Attraction Award, Queen’s Award for Enterprise, The World Travel Award, The British Travel Award and more.
The London Eye has been used in many Hollywood and Bollywood movies. People from all over the world visit London every year. The London Eye Ferris Wheel dominates their destination list. Maybe the London Eye is now staring at you with its big eye.
London Eye Ticket Price
The usual ticket prices for the London Eye ride are:
Adults £28,
Children (3-15 years) £23,
Free for children under 3.
There are also special tickets for the London Eye Ride, which you don’t have to wait in queues to purchase. This is called fast-track ticket. This ticket must be purchased online in advance.
Prices for London Eye fast-track ticket in advance via online are:
Adults £37,
Kids £32.
Prices for London Eye fast-track ticket on the day are:
Adults £40,
Kids £34.
London Eye Merlin Pass
If you wish to travel to more popular tourist destinations in the UK besides London Eye, you can buy a one-year “Marlin Discovery Pass” travel card for just 89 89, giving you weekend access to the top 30 attractions in the UK. It is a cheap way to travel to so many places including London Eye and London Eye River Cruise.
To purchase the Marlin Discovery Pass or to find out more, click here.
How to buy tickets for London Eye
Whether you buy a general ticket for the London Eye online or at the ticket office, you will need to collect your ticket from the ticket office on the day of your ride. Usually there are long queues of people waiting at the ticket office. However, if you have already booked a Fast Track ticket online, you can avoid waiting queues and collect your tickets immediately.
The ticket office has two separate rows for advance and instant tickets. Instant tickets are issued from the ‘Ticket Sales’ counter and advance tickets are issued from the ‘Ticket Collection’ counter.
London Eye Opening Times
London Eye is usually open all year round except December 25th. However, The London Ferris Wheel is currently closed due to the Corona epidemic around the world. When the Corona situation in the UK improves, the attractive tourist center will be reopened.
For more information on when to open the London Eye Ferris Wheel, you can send an email to customer.services@londoneye.com.
London Eye Time
London Eye opening time changes from month to month. The Ferris Wheel travel schedule is published for each month before the start of that month. Under normal circumstances, it is open from 10 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., most days. On some days the closing time is extended to 9:00 pm, 9:30 pm and 10:00 pm.
The London Eye is currently closed due to the Corona epidemic, so the release of the travel schedule has also been postponed. The London Eye Ferris Wheel Authority last published the following travel schedule for December, 2020:
5, 6, 12, 13, 19 – 23 December: 10:00 am – 8:30 pm.
26 – 30 December: 10:00 am – 9:00 pm.
1 – 4, 7 – 11, 14 – 18, 19 December: 11:00 am – 6:00 pm.
24 December: 10:00 am – 5:30 pm.
25 December: Closed.
31 December: 10:00 am – 3:30 pm.
wonderful place, excellent article.
Thank you very much!