Olympia -advice needed

[Yodaskoda]

Hi all

I would love to take my pony mad daughter to Olympia this year if I haven’t already left it too late for tickets. She’ll be 12 by then. Probably looking at Saturday afternoon or evening. Do the daytime and evening shows duplicate or is it worth trying to do both? Or if picking one, which one? Any advice on places to stay, seats, tickets etc would be much appreciated. Thank you

Hiya!

Not sure tickets have gone on sale yet so you won't have missed out 😉

Not sure on places to stay, we're about two hours away so tend to just visit and travel home. Parking is a nitemare- wouldn't recommend 😬

Also theres always something to see! Displays tend to be repeated, however they normally have a main event - dressage or showjumping class!

We've normally gone afternoon shopping , then watch the evening display 🙂

Just be aware though, that a ticket is normally for the "afternoon" or "evening" performances- you can't watch both on one ticket... And it gets v busy! Buts it's a brilliant show, and signal the official start of Christmas!

Sorry, it's been a long day... am sure someone else will be along makes more sense than me!

Xx

Priority booking has been open for a while but you’ll definitely be able to get tickets still. Dd and I go to an evening performance - this year we’ve got front row tickets for the puissance. There’s lots of shopping so we tend to get there in the afternoon, wander round the shopping village, get something to eat and then take our seats. It’s our sign that Christmas has started!

All the seats are good as it’s such a small arena. Afternoon or evening - you will love both of them. If you go in the afternoon you can get in early for shopping in the morning (or you used to be able to)

If you’re decided on Saturday it might be worth working out which of the shows might interest her more.

The afternoon is the big FEI World Cup showjumping class which is usually televised and very exciting, it’s one of the biggest classes at Olympia. There’s also a pony showjumping final for junior riders which she might like as they’ll be quite close to her in age!

The evening is the FEI scurry driving World Cup, and another adults showjumping competition.

All the other displays are exactly the same - including dog agility, the Shetland grand national and finale.

Personally I’d go for the afternoon as I’m not so interested in driving, and the FEI World Cup showjumping is entered by all the top international competitors so makes for really exciting watching You can also get in early for shopping, and will be leaving at a time that is still easy for public transport - so can stay in a hotel anywhere on the tube network - which can be a pain in the evening!

What is it like going in the week? Never been either and would also love to take DD!

Thanks for all the replies, I tried to get Saturday afternoon tickets as the program looked great but unfortunately nothing much left so went for Saturday night instead ......now need to find a hotel close by

Saturday evening is great - the extreme driving is really good fun, plus the afternoon class (World cup SJ) is normally streamed by the Beeb if your daughter wanted to watch later.

I’ve stayed for the last few years at the Abercorn House Hostel. It’s fairly basic but clean, safe feeling and only 10 min walk along main road from Olympia Halls. They have private and en-suite rooms as well as dorms and are so much cheaper than anything else in walking distance.

Balancing figure earlier in the week it really depends on what day you go. The first couple of days are dressage - the Kur (dressage to music) is amazing if you like dressage (very atmospheric) but might disappoint if you wanted jumping. The puissance is on early this year (Weds eve rather than Fri) but is amazing if there’s still seats left. Thursday/ Friday there’s no ‘big’ SJ classes but a lot of riders will probably use at least one of those classes as a warm up for Saturdays World Cup.

There are normally 2 displays per a performance; the acts won’t be confirmed till closer to the time but there’s normally one military/ drill type thing (Met police, Household Cav or international equivalents) and one more random performance (Ukrainian Cossacks - amazing -, liberty work etc). Sometimes there’s a third shorter performance too. The dog agility/ fly ball and Shetlands are always both adorable and fun.

All in all, well worth the trip, get there early enough to get some shopping in first though!