would the London Eye ticket and entrance queue subside later in the evening after 6pm?

We were at the London Eye area in the evenings at the very end of June last Summer. As it was still very bright outside the line was rediculously long. We checked the weather forecast and ended up buying tickets online for about 10am the next morning. We still had to get in a queue to pick up our actual tickets before getting in a queue to get on the ride but the wait in the morning was much more manageable.

I think I could have paid an extra fee to skip the first queue but it was a bit expensive for 4 people. Glad I didn't as the wait in the morning was short.

Hi jehb2

thanks so much for the info. in that case, i might buy ticket online few days before whilst making sure of the weather. unfortunately i can't make it early in the morning as i have other itineraries to do but perhaps i'd try much later in the evening , after dinner perhaps.

cheers
Jen

" i might buy ticket online few days before whilst making sure of the weather."

The main problem with that plan is that you can't rely on weather forecasts, they often don't get it right for the next day let alone 2 days in advance.

oh my, even the accuweather.com is no use?

Hi emma,

thanks for enlighten it for me :) well the least i could do is checking the weather few days before visit and see how it goes. i might leave it for the last attraction on the day and really hope the queue would subside a little and of course the weather to co-operate. fingercross...

btw how long would it take approximately for the entrance queueing? i read one review that said 2 hours??! what if i bought the 30mnts timeslot standard entry tix and arrive much earlier then my alotted time? would they let me in before time?

cheers
jen

Do you want to do the ride for the view, or for the ride?

If it is for the ride, then that's what you will do. I did it myself 20 years ago.

But if it is for the view, then there are plenty of free or much lower priced vantage points which are easy to get into.

The Shard (yukk yukk) is the highest, and most expensive but not much different price than the Eye.

The sky garden at http://skygarden.london/ in the City has magnficent views and is completely free, but you need advance tickets or wait in the scrum on the day. Or go up for a meal or a drink and the view is included.

The roof at One New Change next to St Pauls Cathedral is completely free and very easy to get to with no waiting, but not as high as the others. Great views though.

Hi Nigel,

long time haven't seen you in the forum :)

i'd definitely go for the ride as a tourist anddd as a first timer to London :D

plan to check on the sky garden too. yuckk to the Shard as well, not a big fan of tall skyscrapers.
as for the sky garden, i read reviews that bookings are useless if there are still too many people inside. but you answer my query just in time (about to make another post but feel embarassed after having so many posts in one day hahah). so if we book a restaurant, we could just walk in within our booking time but if we just book for the view, we might not even be able to get in during our booked time.
i'm not sure of how the sky garden look like but i think the entrance for the view and the restaurants is the same since one review points out she could not get inside because there are still many people drinking and eating and the management can't just shoo them away. well the entrance for the view is still free so couldn't expect much. any recommendation for an affordable meal in sky garden?

cheers
jen

I've never eaten there, but I've never had any trouble getting in or upstairs.

Yes it does get busy, but there is lots of room.

Where have you seen negative reports?

Hi Nigel,

which time did you get there? i got all the negative reviews from TripAdvisor. also on its website it says only opened until 6pm? does this include the eateries inside? i feel the closing hour is too early for a top floor venue. only on weekends they open until 9pm.

correction for my previous post (doesn't read carefully enough). only for the public openings the time is limited from 10am-6pm during weekdays, and 11am-9pm during weekend. the eateries most of them have opened since 7am until dusk

Nigel,
is half an hour enough for visiting Sky Garden including the Francis Golding Terrace? the reason is, i think it's better to visit Sky Garden at 10am before going to Tower Bridge but concern if the time would be enough to -catch the bridge lifting from walkways as we still need to walk +/- 20mnts to reach the Northern Tower then to validate tix and queue for the lift.

I have spent as little as half an hour there and as much as a long hour.

I had no idea that the terraces had names.

I just go up and mooch around, looking out, sitting down, looking at the plantings, watching the people. If it is raining the outdoor bit is closed. You can't see as far in the rain but it is still fun.

If you want to avoid queueing for available space you need to get tickets from the website when they are released. They also have a pretty good Twitter feed.

Hi All,

what happens if we have bought a standard entry tix for 30 minutes alloted queuing time but we still not able to get into the ride due to much longer queues than expected. would our tix be invalid? also if i bought the last ride tix which should be around 8.30pm and the queue from previouse booked time is still long, would i be able to do my ride that night?

TIA

Hi Nigel,

Is it hard when you try to book a visit from their website? It seems like almost impossible to get a slot. Now, they've opened the slot until 26th of June and it seems once they open the slot, it's gone in seconds. None of the dates have slots left. Mine would open by next week but it makes me really worried as it seems it's been monopolized by a group of tour perhaps?

Do I really need to get the bookings or I could just enter the building without it?

cheers
Jen