The London Eye

The London Eye was formally opened by the then Prime Minister, Tony Blair, on thirty one December 1999, though it absolutely was not opened to the general public till nine March 2000 due to technical issues. Since its gap, the attention has become a serious landmark and tourist attraction.

Since one January 2005, the attention has been the pay attention of London's New Year celebrations, with 10-minute displays going down involving fireworks fired from the wheel itself.

In 2006 the Tussauds cluster bought out the opposite 2 joint homeowners, British Airways and also the Marks Barfield family (the lead architects). Following Merlin Entertainments' purchase of the Tussauds cluster in 2007, it currently owns 100% of the attention. British Airways continued its complete association, however from the start of 2008 the name 'British Airways' was dropped from the emblem.

On twelve August 2009 the London Eye saw another re-brand, this point calling it "The Merlin Entertainments London Eye" to indicate Merlin Entertainments' possession. a replacement brand was designed for the attraction – this point taking the particular variety of a watch created out of London's famous landmarks. This additionally came at the time when the new Merlin Entertainments London Eye 4D expertise pre-flight show was launched beneath the price tag centre in County Hall.


During the bidding method of the 2012 Olympic Games, the London bid organisers announced the Olympic emblem would be connected to the attention for the period of the 2012 Summer Olympics.

On five June 2008 it absolutely was announced that thirty million individuals had ridden the London Eye since its gap in March 2000.

In 2009 Merlin Entertainments opened a pre-flight 4D expertise at The London Eye, that is included within the price tag value. The newly refurbished price tag hall and 4D cinema expertise was designed by architects Kay Elliott operating with Merlin Studios project designer Craig Sciba. Merlin Studios later appointed Simex-Iwerks because the 4D theatre hardware specialists. The film was written and directed by 3D director Julian Napier and 3D created by Phil Streather. identical year the primary stage of a £12.5 million capsule upgrade started. every 10-tonne capsule was taken down and floated down the river to Tilbury Docks in Essex.

In January 2011, a lighting-up ceremony marked the beginning of a three-year deal between nuclear company EDF Energy and Merlin Entertainment. Merlin said EDF would facilitate it cut back the London Eye's overall carbon footprint using its experience because the UK's largest producer of low-carbon electricity.



The London Eye has been a really welcome addition to London's intensive list of tourist attractions, because it provides a completely new perspective on Central London. It situated on the South Bank, next to the London aquarium and opposite the homes of Parliament, and at 135m high, it's Europe's largest Ferris wheel.

It was opened on the eve of the New Millenium (31 December 1999) and is currently apparently Britain's most well liked tourist attraction that you have got to pay an entrance fee, thus crowds are clearly a difficulty. i used to be lucky enough to own an hour to kill late one autumn afternoon, and was literally able to wander into consequent departing cabin, however i believe that it might be realistic to set up on quite a wait, particularly if you are visiting in high season (unless you are willing to pay a premium for a 'fast track' price tag - see the web site below).

The wheel rotates terribly slowly, and also the ride lasts [*fr1] an hour - that is nice because it provides you lots of time to understand the read and total what is where, however if you are expecting a white knuckle ride you will be disappointed!

To my mind, there's no purpose whatsoever in doing this if the weather is unhealthy. The wheel rotates thus slowly that it's not a beautiful fairground expertise, and also the nice attraction is that the read, that you'll clearly solely appreciate when the visibility is nice. i used to be lucky enough to try and do the ride regarding 1700 on a September evening, therefore the late afternoon lightweight was beautiful and also the sunset was attractive - sadly as i used to be coming back from a business meeting, I did not have my camera with me. London's twinkling lights stretching down below you at midnight would even be terribly pretty, though you clearly would not be able to puzzle out identical level of detail.