A couple months ago, a friend and I made it to London and Paris as I finally got to visit my 30th and 31st countries visiting the United Kingdom and France.  Disney Paris 30th anniversary wasn’t only the main attraction as I really wanted to ride the giant Ferris Wheel called the London Eye.

I looked at the website before the trip and knew that they offered some kind of deal for disabled guests and their companions so I did not buy or book any tickets in advance.  Plus, we were going to decide which other attractions we wanted to combine with the London Eye once we had a better idea of what our trip itinerary would be like.

Getting There

My friend and I stayed at Premier Inn London Southwark Station hotel which was only a short 15 minute walk/stroll away to the London Eye ticket office.  The main entrance had many stairs to get in but luckily there was a ramp located at the back around the side.  It is located right along the Thames River and the river walk that is full of restaurants, shops and attractions.

Combo Ticket

There were so many options on getting multi attractions all in 1 ticket for a value bundled price.  There were 7 attractions to choose from: London Eye, London Eye River Cruise, Madame Tussauds, London Dungeon, SEA LIFE London Aquarium, Shrek’s Adventure! and a hop-on-hop-off BIG BUS Tour.  Combo Tickets were up to 5 attractions in 1 ticket.

With the exception of Madame Tussauds being on the other side of Thames River and the BIG BUS Tour being at various locations, the rest of the attractions are pretty much in the surrounding area of the ticket office.  Since we basically only had 4 full days in London and 2 of the days were already booked with things to do, we thought we would only do the London Eye plus 2 more attractions.

The other 2 attractions we chose was: London Eye River Cruise and SEA LIFE London Aquarium.  We thought with our limited time and wanting to check out other things, these 3 attractions should be good enough.  The best part was getting 50% off each combo ticket because I was disabled and in a wheelchair and my friend was my carer.  It was a total of £59 for both of our combo tickets, which was quite reasonable.  The combo tickets are valid for 90 days once the first attraction has been redeemed.

London Eye

It was our first day arriving in the Monday morning and we were already visiting our first attraction of our combo ticket.  All the attractions close between 4 and 6 PM, so we couldn’t do the London Eye in the dark even if we wanted to.  It is also known as the Millennium Wheel and opened in March 2000.  It is one of the world’s tallest Ferris Wheels at 443 ft (135 meters) and features 32 air conditioned gondolas that can hold up to 25 passengers each.

The London Eye normally does not stop as it rotates slowly enough to allow passengers to hop on and off.  It only briefly stops to allow elderly and disabled guests to board safely.  Staff members even brings out a portable ramp for my wheelchair to get on and off.  We shared the gondola with a few other people which was great as some of the people helped us take photos.

There was lots of room in the gondola for everyone to move around comfortably and to take pictures of the amazing views.  We saw the Thames River, Big Ben, the Palace of Westminster, bridges and lots of old historic buildings.  This 30 minute really went by fast and this ride would have costed £36 on its own per adult.

London Eye River Cruise

We booked a timeslot for the London Eye River Cruise for the next day in the morning as it worked best for our schedule.  We had to arrive earlier than our time at the London Eye Pier to board the boat.  There was a ramp at the gangway that was easy for my wheelchair to get on the river boat.  There are two levels to the boat and we decided to take the small lift elevator to get to the top level.

We decided to be at the very back of all the rows as to not get in the way of anyone.  Eventually the boat filled up full as a big group from a kids camp joined the tour.  This 40 minute circular sightseeing tour goes along the Thames River and does not stop at any of the piers throughout the duration of the cruise.

The boat ride was always at a slow moving comfortable pace as there is a person at the front with a microphone talk about all the main highlights and tourists locations as we float on my by.  We got to see the House of Parliament, the Tower of London, Tower Bridge and more.  It was never too breezy and we really enjoyed all the history and information given to us.  This river cruise would have costed £14 per person if bought individually.

SEA LIFE London Aquarium

My friend and I immediately went to SEA LIFE London Aquarium as it was right by the exit of the London Eye River Cruise.  There was no need for timed entry for the aquarium as we can go whenever we wanted.  There were many steps to get into the main entrance so we had to enter through the exit ramp of the aquarium and get to the main entrance that way.

SEA LIFE London Aquarium originally opened in 1997 as the London Aquarium and was revamped and rebranded in 2009 after a year of upgrades and additions into its current attraction.  There is about 500 different species in 2 million liters of water in many tanks spread over 3 floors.  There is an underwater tunnel, Shark Walk, penguin exhibit, Pacific Ocean tank and lots more.

I have been to many SEA LIFE locations around the world and this one is very similar to the rest.  The aquarium itself is big but not huge as we saw everything in less than 90 minutes.  The underwater is a bit small but still very cool to see.  I really liked the penguin exhibit seeing the different kinds of species in their environment.  Tickets to the aquarium are £32 if bought individually.

Final Thoughts

My friend and I enjoyed all 3 attractions with the London Eye combo ticket.  I am glad we only chose 3 attractions as we were limited on time and had other things we wanted to do.  The combo ticket really helped save money by bundling multiple attractions into 1 ticket.  It was also great getting 50% both our tickets with the disability pricing.  I would definitely try and see the other attractions available in this combo choices when I return to London with a bit more time.