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UK travel

Welcome to our UK travel forum where you can get advice on everything from holidays to exotic destinations, to tips on London travel.

Original poster

Eden project - worth booking ahead?

13 replies

MrsDinky · 27/05/2010 10:06

Was told years ago that you can save a lot of queueing at the Eden Project by booking in advance - is this still true does anyone know?

Also, will it be horrendously busy anyway next week, with it being half term?

OP posts:
Babbit · 27/05/2010 10:09

We have been loads and have never booked ahead. Never queued either. It may be busier for half term week, but they are very efficient and organised there and will have you bussed from the car park and through the turnstile quick sharp I would think.

PandaG · 27/05/2010 10:12

think you can save money by booking online - we certainly did. the prebooked queue was quicker too.

We went at the beginning of our holiday, registered the tickets while there (we paid a little more to gift aid it) and the day ticket then becomes an annual pass - so we went back a second time in the 10 days.

Original poster
MrsDinky · 27/05/2010 10:31

Thank you both - I have got a 2 for 1 entry card from Gardening world Magazine that I will use, was thinking that I wouldn't be able to use that by booking ahead, but if the queues were bad it might be worth foregoing the discount. I will check their website out as well.

OP posts:
PandaG · 27/05/2010 10:42

ah, now a 2 4 1 discount would I think trump a faster queue for me, online booking discount isn't that big I'm sure.

Babbit · 27/05/2010 11:08

It's £1 pp off if you book online. We are going next week too and we have annual membership from our visit last year (if you register for gift aid you get annual membership gratis). We love it there and so do the kids. I also love the shop!! (I got really carried away and bought plants last year which was daft as we were on holiday at the time).

Original poster
MrsDinky · 05/06/2010 19:54

Well, a week later!

Queued in the car for an hour to get in the car park, queued at the gate for 45 mins at least to get in, queued for food, queued for toilets, declined to queue for all the special kids activities, shuffled round the big bubbles in a packed queue of people which felt very claustrophobic, queued for a bus back to the car park and vowed never ever to go again on a school holiday day when rain was forecast......

On the way out I asked the girl in the gift shop was it normally this busy in the school holidays and she said no, it was exceptional and must have been due to the fact that it was the only day when the forecast wasn't good.

OP posts:
LynetteScavo · 05/06/2010 20:04

You must have gone the same day as us MrsDinky.

We had annual tickets, and didn't have to que for car park, though.

I was the mum seriously loosing it with her 7 year old who DID NOT WANT TO BE THERE and whined and moaned and then kicked off because I gave "his" packet of crisps to his sister.

LynetteScavo · 05/06/2010 20:05

I meant to say, before I went off on my rant.....we went last September and it was lovely.

Original poster
MrsDinky · 05/06/2010 22:12

It was Tuesday when we went. I think we would have really enjoyed it if there had been about half a million less people there!

Having spent a lot of time lately lecturing DS about the need for patience in many situations, he did remarkably well with all the queueing, but obviously didn't enjoy it at all. Never mind. At least we used the 2 for 1 ticket and DD is young enough to get in free, so it didn't cost too much!

OP posts:
Meglet · 05/06/2010 22:15

Glad I read this. We're going in the summer, I will make sure we go on a hot day so the masses are on the beach instead.

ShrinkingViolet · 05/06/2010 22:27

we went on Thursday, and the queues were almost non-existent [sorry]. Only thing we queued for was the velcro wall thing, and ice creams.
Good advice for future visitors though - go when it's nice weather . Actually I'd do that anyway as there's lots of it is outside, and there's only so long you can spend in the tropical biodome without melting [Scottish blood, don't do heat].

Original poster
MrsDinky · 05/06/2010 22:42

Ha, yes, that's me too, Scottish blood. Another tip we suspect would have saved us a lot of the queueing for the car park was to follow your satnav, not the signposts. We opted for the signposts and regretted it.

OP posts:
Babbit · 05/06/2010 22:47

Ha we went on Tuesday too and was thinking of you after saying no queues! We had annual passes so did not have to queue. We have been 6 times and I've never seen it like that - it was bad. Apparently it has never been so busy and all thanks to the weather forecast. Def give it another go though; it is lovely on a good day.

We have got back from our holiday today and I have post- holiday blues.

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