The London Eye

*I received two complimentary tickets for the purposes of review.

I'm sure that I've mentioned several million times, that I'm terrified of heights.

REALLY, really afraid of heights.  The staircase in our new house even makes me nervous. 

You may recall that about a month ago, I decided to tackle that fear head on and went up to the top of the tallest building I could find,  The Shard.

And I did it!  I was so proud of myself. 
In fact, I was so proud that I might have gotten a bit cocky.

Surely I could tackle The London Eye.  No problem.

(Well, other than the hyperventilation and sweaty palms.) 

And I did it.  I went up in the EDF Energy London Eye. 

Twice. 

 
The first time was with Matthew.  We started with the 4D film in the visitor center.  It's just a few minutes long, but beautifully done.  It actually brought a tear to my eye.
It's a love letter to London.
 

Then we fast tracked it to the base of the wheel and stepped into the capsule as it moved slowly along the platform. (They can and will stop the ride if you need more assistance getting on.)

 I immediately parked it on the bench in the center of the capsule and got out my security blanket cell phone .  (I'm surprised it didn't slip out of my sweaty hands.)  I thought tweeting and instagraming through the next 30 minutes would help and it did.

I got a lot of very helpful encouragement.   Thank you so much!! 

 
The capsule is very spacious.  There were about 20 people with us but it didn't feel crowded.  Everyone walked around and took pictures of the beautiful views.  I just handed the camera to Matt and didn't move from my spot.   I pretty much held my breath until we were on the very top and slowly let it out as we came down the other side.  

 Being terrified, I was hypersensitive to every little movement.  The capsule wobbles a bit as people move around or it stops and starts to let someone on.  But I'm sure it feels slow and steady to anyone not on hyper alert with a very vivid imagination.  

 
I was happy to hop off and consider Project Conquer Fear a huge success.

We then made our way to the London Eye River Cruise.  By the time the 40 minute boat ride along the Thames was over, I was completely recovered. 

I love the Thames.  I could float up and down it all day long and never tire of the views. 

A few days later, I was invited by SouthBankLondon.com to explore South Bank with them.
I love the South Bank, so of course I jumped at the chance.

Guess what was number two on the agenda... yep.  The London Eye. 

So, I put on my professional blogger hat and fearlessly...
not really.  I stepped into the capsule, sat down on the bench and didn't budge.

Several people in the group spoke to me, I have no idea what I said to them.
I can only imagine. 
 

Luckily, the Press Manager for the London Eye was with us and completely distracted me with fun facts about the wheel. 

 Here are just a few:

1.  On a clear day you can see as far as Windsor Castle, about 25 miles. 

2.  It can carry 800 people per rotation, equivalent to 11 double decker buses.  10,000 people a day take a trip around the wheel, an average of 3.75 million visitors. 

3.  There are 32 capsules, one for each London borough.  But, they skipped unlucky number 13 so they are numbered to 33.  

4.  It's the fifth tallest structure in London and UK's most popular paid for visitor attraction. 

5.  It's not a ferris wheel.  It's the world's tallest cantilevered observation wheel with fully enclosed and climate controlled capsules positioned on the outside of the structure. 

6.  American movie star Jessica Alba holds the record for overseas celebrity that has gone around the most... 31 times so far.  

I haven't completely conquered that fear of heights yet.
But it is certainly not preventing me from experiencing London. 

Planning Your Trip to the London Eye

 Adult Standard tickets are £19.20 (16+),Children £12.30 and under four are free.
Prices go up from there depending on Flexi and Fast Track options.
They also offer a full range of combination ticket options.


For general information on the EDF Energy London Eye
and a 10% discount on bookings, visit www.londoneye.com.

The London Eye is open all year round except for Christmas Day 
and one week in January for annual maintenance. 

The hours of operation are 10am to 9pm from June to September and 10am to 8pm from October through to May. 

The County Hall ticket office is open from 9:30am each day. 

Have you been in up in the London Eye?
What did you think?

 

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 *I received two complimentary tickets to The EDF Energy London Eye and River Cruise

for the purposes of review.

I also visited the London Eye as a guest of South Bank London.
All photos, writing and opinions are my own.  (Actually Matthew took most of these.)
As always, I promise to be open, honest and transparent with my readers.
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.


You can find this review and many others in my
London Attraction Guide.