15 London Eye Facts You Didn't Know

 

The London Eye may be one of the city's most visited tourist attractions however, there are a lot of details that visitors don't know about

1. At 443 feet high The London Eye is currently the fourth-highest Ferris-wheel worldwide however, it's not even in the top 20 highest structures in London the city itself. (For records, the highest building in London is the Shard which is 1,004 feet in height.) Fun fact that the circumference of the wheel measures 1,392 feet. If it weren't a wheel it would be much taller over the Shard.

2. A ride on the London Eye takes 30 minutes and it is moving at approximately 0.6 miles an hour.

3. Husband-and-wife team David Marks and Julia Barfield created the concept for the Eye as a response to a contest in 1993 which asked Londoners to design a brand new landmark that would mark the millennium. The competition was unsuccessful however, the Marks and Barfield's idea was well-received and the wheel went into operation on March 9th in 2000. (It was a bit behind schedule which means it didn't officially begin until the millennium however that's fine.)

4. With more than 3.5 million visitors visiting the Eye each year it's the most sought-after pay-per-visit attraction within the U.K. The most visited tourist attraction that is free to visit in the country is The British Museum, which has an average of 6 million people visit every year.

5. The operators of the Eye keep an eye on the celebrities who have enjoyed the most rides at the attraction: For the U.K., Kate Moss is the winner with 25 rides. The American celebrity who is the holder of that title holds that title is Jessica Alba, who's gone on the Eye for a staggering 31 times.

6. The Eye includes 32 capsules (one for each of the cities' 32 Boroughs), but they're ordered from one to. Why? Like numerous structures and buildings There is no answer. 13 capsule. Whether the legend about the number is justified or not, cars move from 12 to 14.

7. The entire wheel weighs over 1,000 tons, or more than one million pounds. It was assembled flat before being moved to eight temporary islands along the River Thames; the structure was then raised in September 1999. However, the process was not without its problems: one cable in the structure snapped just before the structure was lifted, and needed to be replaced.

8. One thing that sets this Eye against other Ferris wheel designs around the globe is that it is a cantilevered structure, which means that it's only supported on just one of its sides. Wheels with similar designs include Orlando's brand new Orlando Eye which was has been opened since the beginning of summer.

9. More than five thousand people have taken part in the Eye since it was first launched in 2009, with both formal invitations and flash mobs orchestrated during the festivities. (If you'd like to have the same experience with a private capsule it'll cost you about $559 but champagne will be included.) There have been more than 500 wedding ceremonies also been held there in the past, with the first being held in 2001.

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10. At one point during the London Restaurants Festival, the Eye became the Eye into a temporary dining venue with celebrity chefs such as Gordon Ramsay and Daniel Boulud served food inside one of the capsules that could accommodate ten guests and each one paid a hefty sum--in some instances, as high as $30,000 for the privilege.

11. There have been a handful of instances of people climbing the Eye in the past, either to entertain or to promote political reasons. The magician David Blaine took a full tour on top of one of the pods on the wheel in 2003. Then, in 2004 one man wearing the costume of Spider-Man took to the top of to the top of the wheel to spend 18 hours at the the top of a pod, apparently to draw attention to the rights of fathers within the U.K.

12. In 2013 in 2013, the Red Bull Academy turned the Eye into a nightclub that rotates--well technically, it transformed 30 capsules into parties that highlight music and the U.K.'s club culture. performers such as Lily Allen, Mark Ronson as well as Richie Hawtin performing in the pods.

13. As of this writing, selfie sticks remain permitted on the London Eye--although they're banned from several other London places of interest, such as The National Gallery of Art and the Wembley Arena.

14. Since the Eye began in 2000, several cities, including Las Vegas, Seattle, and Atlanta -- have launched observation wheels that are directly inspired from the spectacle. A replica exact of the wheel can be seen just 30 miles from London--in miniature in any case. Legoland Windsor has a scale model of the Eye as part of their Miniland exhibit. It includes replicas of Buckingham Palace, the Millennium Bridge and Palace of Westminster, the Millennium Bridge, and Buckingham Palace.

15. On a clear day, from the highest point of the London Eye, you can (almost) be able to see for eternity--or at the very least, up to Windsor Castle.