Adult Tour of Wembley Stadium for One

My expectations were blown away after visiting Wembley Stadium on a tour with a group of friends of mine. I visited this world class stadium in November 2011 and paid £15 for a tour ticket. The tour itself lasted around 1 hour and there was some time spent waiting for the tour to start. In short I would thoroughly recommended this tour, to all people who have an interest in football and in the England football team.

The stadium is located a short walk away from Wembley Park underground tube station. From the London Underground station exit, there is a short walk along to the stadium. Directions to the stadium are well signposted and in a few minutes you will be able to see the magnificent building. In the vicinity of the stadium there is a retail park which includes food outlets such as Macdonalds restaurant and some other retail outlets. .

Our tour guide introduced himself as a local, from nearby Harrow Wealdstone. He was was very welcoming and in my opinion seemed very professional. He was very informative and had a high level of knowledge of football statistics and football in general.

The twin towers of Wembley Stadium from the original stadium, were exported to the United States of America. These towers were replaced by totally new facilities and the newly designed stadium has a distinctive arch feature.

Our visiting party were early by about 30 minutes and we had to collect our tickets from the ticket office at the entrance of the Stadium. Upon receiving our tickets we went up some stairs and into a waiting area. We checked in at the reception desk and were told we had to wait before our tour started. We decided on having a cup of coffee which was reasonably priced at £2 but we did not entertain the idea of ordering food. Within the waiting area there were some Xbox 360 consoles where you could practise playing the FIFA 12 game. Also in around this area is a replica trophy cabinet where Champions league team winners are displayed. We got to see many different team shirts and trophies.

The tour involved began by an introduction to Wembley Stadium which lasted around 10 minutes or so. We learned some very interesting some interesting footballing statistics which were fascinating. Soon after this talk, we were escorted and shown to the seating areas of one part of the stadium. The first part of the tour involved walking through a walk way area where the entrance to the seating areas were located. It was me and a group of approximately 15 other people which gives some indication of the group numbers of a particular tour. I was amazed by the red seats and how good the pitch looked. It looked far better than my recent visit to the Underhill stadium in Barnet which is no where near as good as this excellent stadium.

We were told that we could take pictures but we were not allowed to video any part of the tour event. I had my camera but I was slightly disappointed that I could not revisit my views of the tour by using the video camera.

The capacity of Wembley stadium is second to Barcelona Nou Camp and to be honest I got a feel of how vast the stadium really is by the number of seats and the complex layout of the stadium. Generally, I looked in amazement in how clean and tidy the stadium is. On the top tier of the stadium on one side, are the corporate boxes which are leased or rented out by paying businesses and wealthy individuals. We did not get a chance to get a look into these places as the tour organizer told us it would be inappropriate.

After a short period of time after we had seen the lovely grass and the views of the ground, we had a walk back into the stadium and made our way into the players dressing rooms where we got to see both the home and away dressing rooms. Both dressing rooms are identical in terms of size and facilities. Each dressing room has good facilities including luxury showers, a magnificent sink and a massage table. In the dressing room we saw a range of World class players club t-shirts such as Drogba, David Villa, and Lampard. I managed to have a picture of myself holding Lampards t-shirt which added to my enjoyment of this tour.

The most important aspects of the tour was when we walked out just outside the perimeter of the grass. We were not allowed to run on to the grass but we were allowed to get close to the edge. Secondly we also were impressed by the Royal box which has the best seats in the stadium.. On both aspects I was thoroughly impressed. Also we went into the Press conference area which is where the managers and players attend to address members of the media. I had a marvelous time taking pictures in these areas and would highly recommend a visit to Wembley Stadium.

My conclusion is that for £15 this tour is well worth the money. It may seem a lot but
it gives you an opportunity to see behind the scenes of this world famous sports stadium. This can only add to the enjoyment of watching a football match. I also feel that the tour is really well run. The tour guide made it interesting by allowing us into into different areas of the stadium and in giving a very informative talk.

The transport links to Wembley are good, but for car drivers it is very expensive if you drive and leave your car in the stadium car park.

It is a family friendly atmosphere and first class viewing experience.