Any advice for Wimbledon?

[iknowitsthePittsbutiloveit]

I have been lucky enough to get two centre court tickets for the first day of Wimbledon.
i don’t know yet the exact seat numbers etc but am very excited and wondered if there’s any do’s or don’t s?
I’ve never been before so not sure what to expect.

I wish they'd make the info about opaque bottles less confusing. The pictorial list of banned items does list them as prohibited, but when you look at the actual conditions of entry here https://www.wimbledon.com/en_GB/conditions_of_entry opaque bottles are only not allowed if they don't permit security to check if there is anything hidden inside, meaning an empty bottle they can check inside is fine. Further on it bans vacuum flasks or dual skinned liquid containers later than 500ml. The conditions of entry are the actual officially prohibited items.

My 500 ml empty single skinned metal water bottle was allowed in no problem last year, and in previous years, but I can see why people would be nervous about trying to bring one.

I don’t agree with this, I really enjoyed the shuttle bus. If you’re going to follow lots of the advice here, you won’t want to walk lugging two bottles of champagne, picnic, jumper, sun cream etc

Oh God, it’s glorious isn’t it? I went one year and had Centre Court seats, and at about 5pm a woman with a pre-teen boy took the seats next to me. They’d obviously got lucky with someone leaving early and reselling their tickets. His excited face ❣️He was so thrilled.

😊can’t wait!!

It is a wonderful day out 😊

It’s not really walkable from Wimbledon station. Closest is Southfields station on the District Line then just follow the crowds.

It is totally walkable (speaking as a long term Wimbledon resident snd frequent visitor to the tennis)

Definitely take layers, and potentially proper shoes rather than sandals if you are in the high up seats on Centre or Court One. Those seats are in permanent shade and even on hot days it can be quite cool up there.

We are off on Sunday as we have tickets for court 1. Do you have to transfer your ticket across to the other person (going with DH) or can we have both tickets on one phone?

I agree with you! The shuttle bus will get stuck in a traffic jams but it’s still fun and part of the experience. Good idea to walk back to the station at the end as there’s often queues for the buses - and it’s downhill then!

DH and I have tickets for Wednesday and I have transferred one to him. He had to set up his own account on the Wimbledon app. They definitely indicate that they want you to transfer it to the other person going as it will then show as in his name and he will need his own ID to show with the ticket.
So I guess I wouldn't risk not transferring it and then having a complete faff getting in if they are being jobsworths.

Wondering what do people without access to phone apps do? There must be some?

Rubbish. It's not expensive. You can take in your own food and drink. Strawberries and cream are not expensive. Have you been?

Funny that we, and a great many other people walk it.

I think you have to transfer it and download the app (I think that's what we did last year), but all the instructions will be on line/with the tickets. Take photo ID.

Yes a few times. What I’ve said is not rubbish. Unless you want to scrimp it’s an expensive day out and I don’t scrimp.

How often have people been lucky in the ballot?

I got centre court tickets for Sunday this year in one of the 200’s blocks behind the server. They are nearly all debenture seats so I reckon I’ve been incredibly lucky to get them through the public ballot.

Previously I got number 1 court tickets about 10 years ago but that’s it out of about 15 years of entering the ballot. Is that an average strike rate compared to other people’s experiences?

I've entered the ballot most of the last 20+ years, alongside my sister, between us we've been lucky maybe half a dozen times. This year we actually both got tickets so we are going twice! Depending on how high up your seats are they may not be debentures - most of the ballot seats are the top few rows - the people who queue get the really close up seats.

Well yes, if you want to splash out there are some very expensive options available. But there are options for most budgets, and if you don't want to spend a lot you don't have to. I don't consider bringing a picnic to be scrimping - it just makes sure I have food that I like to eat without spending more than I want, or more importantly having to fight the crowds to get to it!

That’s why I was surprised. Our seats are the front of block 206. The debenture sales website has seats a row behind ours on sale for 6k a pair although they also allow access to the debenture lounge. I’m happy enough paying £220 each and paying for my own food and drinks though!

Nice!

It is walkable! We do it every year (we are both 60) and it's a lovely walk past some fabulous houses. You just have to see the huge queues of traffic trying to get to Wimbledon so the bus/taxi is stuck in that queue and therefore quicker walking!

2nd time entering and was successful just this time. 2 seats on Wednesday this week for centre court - way up in the gods!

DD has entered the ballot probably about 4 times and got seats twice but wasn't successful this year. Her seats were for court 1 both times I think.

Even high up on centre court is amazing. It’s small enough that there are no bad seats!

That's fine, you do you. It's still not expensive.

I've been a couple of times through the system where they sell Centre Court tickets for two days hence. Seats always seem to be right up at the top (I presume they're new seats added when they added the roof). They've cost me something like £160, which is a lot for me, but I always save up, and it's one of my very favourite things to do.

Actually, I've just had a look online and I can't see these tickets available. Does anyone know if they still do this?

EDIT to add my point is yes, even high up the view is still excellent. It's cooler sitting under the roof too.