Olympia tickets for dec 19

[Noisygirls]

Have never been before, so looking for some tips please.

Would love to take my daughters (4 to 12). So which day/competition would be good for us. I've heard you have to be quick to get tickets for some of the events, and if you know where to look you can get discounts. Any tips?

I love Olympia, go every year! To be honest every day has a good mix of different classes, 'proper' showjumping, kids classes, novelty classes, displays etc. We love the dog agility, Shetland pony grand national and of course the Santa display! Brilliant for kids, and the shopping opportunities are good too!

My personal favourite classes are the Puissance, the speed classes and the grand prix but I think these are mostly in the evening, an afternoon session might be better for your little one? I would probably try and go on a day when they have some of the kids showjumping as this might be quite inspiring for the DC, I think this was on the Wednesday this year?

I don't think it sells out that early usually so probably you don't need to be worrying too much (yet!), as for discounts the only way I have heard of is to go as part of a group as you get a cheaper ticket on a group rate. Also eat before you go and take your own drinks/snacks as food there is expensive and the lines are often really long particularly in the intervals (I think they'll let you in with own food if you are discrete about it)...

Depends if you prefer dressage or showjumping.

I would say that kids would prefer a jumping day to dressage, plus ( and this was a big sadness for me this year) there’s no father xmas at the end of the dressage performance !
Groupon usually has discount tickets for the Thursday

Thank you so much and yes agree show jumping over dressage. Do you know roughly when the tickets go on sale?

Tickets usually go on sale at the end of April - you can sign up to their email list for priority booking. The evening with the Puissance class usually sells out but we got front row seats for the Thursday evening performance this year in October so I’d have thought you’d be fine to wait a bit for tickets for the afternoon shows. The evenings finish quite late so I’d agree that afternoons would be better with a 4 year old. Dd and I go every Christmas, usually to the Grand Prix on the last day - it’s our pre-Christmas mother-daughter bonding moment and we love it!

maxelly Do not try to take food in to the stands! I worked as a volunteer at Olympia this year, and we were really strict about it. As were security. The reason is you are packed in like sardines and it can be really unpleasant if someone right behind you is dripping a big pizza/sausage/chips down your neck. The underlying issue I think is H &S as if lots of people eat in the stands, they inevitably leave rubbish, which is dangerous if an evacuation is needed.
There are lots of food stands, very dispersed & a lot of communal seating areas for diners, which makes a big change from previous years. Food is expensive tho.
I suggest eating elsewhere beforehand ; if you chose to eat there, budget accordingly. There are quite a few healthy options, also. My personal favourite was the Buddha Bowl -£8.50