Planning a vacation in London? During your London holiday, at no cost can you forego visiting one of the city’s top attractions, the world famous London Eye. This giant Ferris wheel is located on the Southern bank of the River Thames and is also known as the Millennium Wheel. Various legal entities wanted this attraction to be under their enterprise name due to which The London Eye acquired various names. Originally the British Airways London Eye, it then went on to be Merlin Entertainments London Eye between January 2011 and August 2014. Currently, it is sponsored by EDF Energy and as per future plans it will be sponsored by the global soft drink company Coca-Cola. As per the post at wikipedia.org, this entire structure has some spectacular dimensions with being 135 meters tall, and the diameter of the wheel being 120 meters. Even though High Roller in Las Vegas is taller than this structure, when it was erected in 1999, it was considered as the tallest Ferris wheel in the world. Today there are a number of hotels near London Eye that have come up for easy and convenient accommodation for locals and tourists alike. Also, the Eye of the wheel is described as the world’s tallest cantilevered observation wheel by its operators.

Passenger Capsules

Located close to the area of Victoria and central London, this mega structure has 32 sealed and fully air-conditioned oval-shaped passenger capsules that are designed and supplied by Poma. You can easily take a ride in a capsule by booking hotels in London, Victoria or hotels near London Eye such as Sidney Hotel London since it provides budget and high-quality accommodation services. All of the 32 oval capsules are attached to the external circumference of the wheel and rotation is generated via the powerful electric motors. The unique feature about these capsules is that each of these 10-tonne structures represents one of London’s Boroughs adding a bit of city nostalgia to this mega tourist attraction. The capsules are high on space since they can accommodate comfortably close to 25 full-grown people who have the added luxury to freely walk around the capsule or sit down. The entire structure rotates at 26 centimeters per second, at a speed of 0.9 km/h or 0.6 mph. Due to its slow speed, the structure never stops rotating as passengers can easily embark and disembark the capsule. A single rotation takes close to 30 minutes which is ample time for passengers to marvel at the cityscape and take photographs.

Critical Reception

Over the years a number of prolific figures have given their views on this massive rotating Giant Wheel. A few of them have even said that The London Eye has done for London what Eiffel Tower did for Paris. This timeless structure has helped give the city a global symbol, which is not just restricted to the elite and royal residents of London. Due to its easy public accessibility in the heart of London, it is perfectly located with several close by hotels in London Victoria and central London such as Sidney Hotel London for easy and budget accommodation. It has been the world’s tallest Ferris wheel for more than a decade and is also one of London’s most popular attractions with close to 3.75 million visitors annually. For its immense success, it was bestowed with the award ‘Outstanding Structure Award’ in 2003 from the Institution of Structural Engineers as well as various other awards since then. The London Eye has definitely helped put London on the global map by becoming an iconic symbol of this amazing city.