The London Eye Ferris wheel is in London, England, and is located on the banks of the River Thames. it’s known for being the tallest Ferris wheel in Europe, and stands at a whopping 443 feet tall. It at one point was actually the tallest Ferris wheel in the world, until the Star of Nachang and the Singapore Flyer surpassed it in 2006 and 2008. It is still, however, the tallest Ferris wheel in the world that is supported by only one A-frame on one side.
Building of the London Eye began in 1992, and was finished 7 years later in 1999. It took hundreds of people and lots of different skills to construct it. The Ferris wheel has 32 air-conditioned riding capsules that weigh 10 tons each, and each can hold up to 25 people. That’s 800 people per ride! Inside that capsule, you are able to walk around to get a full 360-degree view, or you may sit in the provided seating in the middle. On a clear day, you can see as far as up to 25 miles out, and can even see the Windsor Castle. The wheel itself looks like a giant bicycle wheel, and the rim of it is supported by tie rods.
The wheel was actually constructed gradually in sections, and the pieces were put on barges and floated up the River Thames. There, it was put together flat on platforms that were in the river. Once it was finished, it was raised into an upright position, raised only two degrees every hour, until it reached an angle of 65 degrees. It was left like that for a full week while the construction team got ready for the second phase of lifting it. In 2006, the old fluorescent tube lighting was replaced with LED lights, to take away the labor of replacing the gels over the old lights.
The London Eye is known by many different names, and has had a few different official names. Common nicknames of the huge Ferris wheel are the London Eye or the Millennium Wheel, named for its formal introduction to the community on New Years’ Eve in 1999. It has been owned by several companies, and was named for them, including British Airways and Merlin Entertainments. Its name is now the EDF Energy London Eye, due to a three-year sponsorship with the EDF Energy Company.
From September to March, the London Eye is open daily from 10 am to 8:30 pm. From April to June, it’s open daily from 10 am to 9 pm, and in July and August it’s open until 9:30 pm. The only times that the London Eye is closed is on Christmas Day and for a week in January when it is closed for yearly maintenance. A standard ticket cost $32 for adults 16 and over, $16.50 for children aged 4 to 15, and $26 for seniors and disabled persons. You can purchase tickets from the London Eye’s official website or many England tours include the London Eye as part of their sightseeing while in London.
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