best time for london eye

plumber_carl

i will be in London saturday and Sunday next week,,i would like to go on the London eye ,,, what are the ques like??? and what would be a good time to go on the saturday,,, im there until about 6pm sunday,,, im not prepared to give up to much of my day any advice please

butterfly72

We went midweek during the school hols. We had the fast track tickets and I think we booked for 11am. however we arrived early and was able to get on straight away.. around 10.15am. We hardly queued tbh and was on in around 5 mins.

We returned to the south bank later.. around 3pm to go on the Duck Tour and the queues were really quite long. So from what I've seen I'd say go for an early time.

btw.. get the fast track tickets!

susancs

I would say get there for opening time this time of year as queues get very big otherwise. We have Merlin passes and never had to wait long if we get there before opening.

cymrumam

We have found it best late at night around 9pm

susancs

Don't forget to go and see the 4d film experience in the building where you can queue to buy tickets. It is only a short advertsing film but fun in 4d.

johnwilliam23

In the night you will find the great environment there.

Janepig

We were there a week last Sunday and we turned up to buy our tickets at about 7.45pm (we didn't buy them beforehand as we had some vouchers) and the longest queue was for the tickets, which was about 20 minutes, but the ticket desk was well manned and the queue moved pretty quickly. We then queued about five minutes tops to get on the wheel itself. It was a nice time to go (I've also been on it in the morning), nice atmos around the wheel area itself, I'd definitely go that time again (if I was to go on it again, which I probably wouldn't).

Jx

vicki+1

i went the weeekend at the end of may half term, sataday between 12pm and 5pm the queue washuge, so we didn't bother.
sunday am at about 10, queue was much smaller, 10 minutes to get tickets , 10-15 minutes to get on.

unsure

There are two separate questions involved really:
1. when is it quickest to get on?
2. when is the view best from the eye?

I think no 1. varies but early and late in the day are the way to beat the crowds...or by prebooking which also gives 10% discount

We always avoid the queues by prebooking online :

http://www.londoneye.com/TicketsAndPrices/Tickets/Default.aspx

no 2: We've been at different times on different occasions. early afternoon, dusk and at night. As someone above said, it can be spectacular at night with many prominent sights and buildings (eg Buck Palace) lit up. Our early afternoon trip was little disappointing owing to intermittent rain and poor visibility ( we had prebooked time and couldn't change as we had overseas visitors who only had a day in London). I enjoyed the dusk "flight" best as it was a beautiful sunset, some lights were coming on and London really looked quite magical...but oibviously weather is a big factor whenever you go!