What is The London Eye UK like with Covid-19 guidelines in place now that the attraction has recently reopened? Is it worth going? We look to answer these questions following our recent family visit in September 2020 and August 2020. To do so, we will look at what has changed, what is new, what is closed and what the queue times are like.
We will have a look at ticket prices pre and post covid, and surprisingly, there isn’t much difference. What about if you have an annual Merlin pass, what sort of value is there and should we be thinking of renewing them (or not)?
Time codes to the Video:
0:00 Introduction
0:36 Recent Visits and Coronavirus guidelines
1:12 Get there & Public Transport
1:30 Coming Out at Westminister Train Station & Local Landmarks
2:26 Pointing out Landmarks visible from the London Eye Capsule
3:28 Is London Eye UK Worth It?!
4:39 Summing Up
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Transcript from the Show
G’day Everyone, Matt Elder of Family Bricks here. What is the London Eye UK like now it has reopened with covid 19 measures in place? Is it worth going, what has changed, what is the experience like etc.? We will cover this in the video and give our thoughts and firsthand experience as a family. We will do a full tour experience on the London Eye in about 5 minutes.
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Introduction
We’ve actually been to the London Eye UK twice in the last month. The first time was on at the London Eye UK was August 23rd, 2020 – 6 weeks after it reopened. So it has had some time to bed in the new corona virus safety guidelines. This was interesting as during peak school holidays, they were only allowing 2 family groups in the capsule at the same time.
When we went on Sunday 20th September 2020, they were allowing 4 family groups in the capsule at a time, even after the stricter 6 people max had been bought in a week or so previously. We’ll give you a sense of if London Eye UK is worth visiting, and what it is like now.
Getting There – Public Transport
To get to The London Eye UK you’ll most likely have to take public transport of some form. We took the overground and underground/tube so now you have to have face mask and the trains and train stations are signposted everywhere about this. We caught a 9am train on a Sunday morning so relatively empty and these shots give you a sense of that.
We came out at Westminster train station and you can see Big Ben there just off to the right and so it is a quick trip over the bridge here. And you have the London Eye there on the left and the Sea Life Aquarium London is there on the right a little bit. So a nice leisurely walk across the bridge here. Its really nice to come out and you can see all the iconic landmarks.
In the Area
So you walk along The Queen’s Walk and coming up you have London Sea Life right there , then Shrek’s Adventures and past that is going to be the London Dungeons. We have Merlin Passes premium passes so that means you can get into the fast track queue here, which means you can jump the queue and does make a huge amount of difference, so you don’t have to wait that long.
Even with the Merlin Passes at the time you had to pay a £1.00 each person but they have removed that now and pay nothing. But you do have to prebook online . So this part of the footage is when we only had two family groups in the capsule and that was brilliant.
Pointing out Some of the Local Sites
Here you’ve got Waterloo train station, the Shard is just there, just off slightly is the Tower of London, Tower Bridge. Then you’ve got St Paul’s Cathedral over there, Royal Festival Hall, trains leading into Charing Cross Station, Cleopatra’s Needle.
So from Charing Cross Station you come around a little bit and you have Nelson’s Column, and the National Art Gallery. Come a little bit further along and down there you’ve got Buckingham Palace. The flag is up so the Queen is in today. And then you come al little bit further around here and you have Big Ben, which is the actual Bell. The Tower is there and then the Houses of Parliament and obviously at the moment it is undergoing some renovation. Bit further around to the rest of the Thames River.
Is London Eye worth it?
Given that we have been twice within a month, I guess you can pretty much tell absolutely it is worth it. When we went during the school holidays it was fantastic as you only had 2 family groups. Literally it was the 4 of us and 2 other people in this capsule. It was brilliant as normally they have 25-30 people in each capsule. And just being able to have that capsule you could basically walk around the whole thing and you didn’t really get in each others way, you had unobstructed views. That was a big reason why we went back the second time as if would could experience that again, then take advantage of it while you can.
Even with the 4 families groups it was still much better than what it is usually like. Pre covid with so many people in there. Particularly on warm days when there is lots of people in there, its really hot and sweaty and the sun comes in. So even just having further people you are not tripping over each other as much and you are really able to take it in and enjoy it.
Hidden Steakhouse
This is the London Marriot Hotel County Hall and in there is a Gillray Steakhouse and bar. It is a bit of a faff to get into cause you have to come around the side entrance. Totally recommend it as at the moment because it is really quite and difficult to get into and has really good views looking back over The Thames River.
Summing Up
So that was our trip around and takes about half an hour once you get into the capsule. At the moment if you can get along to see it, totally recommend it as the numbers are really way down and it so great an experience once you are in there.
They must be losing money with this so it can’t be sustainable in the long term so get onto it while you can.
If you’ve enjoyed and / or gotten something out of this video, then hit that thumbs up button and or consider subscribing. Would you go? If you’ve been, what did you think? Sound off in the comments below.
Thanks very much for watching.
At the moment with generally no foreign tourists in London, visiting the castles and other attractions are fantastic days out (particularly if you get annual passes that let you into multiple attractions, cause the places are virtually deserted or serious restrictions on numbers with letting people in).
Check out this one on the Tower of London which has 10% of its normal tourist numbers as there are no foreign tourists. Here is a playlist of other Merlin Entertainment attractions and what they are like at the moment. Alternatively, here are other videos you might enjoy.
That’s it from us here at Family Bricks, until next time when we talk about all things lifestyle.
