How to plan an Olympic trip?? London 2012

[carj]

I know, I am about 2 years early for this! It has been a dream of mine for a long time to go to the Olympics so I need to come up with a plan to make that happen in 2012.

I have a few questions for anyone who has attended the Olympic games in recent years. I have searched online and determined that tickets will go on sale in early 2011.

We have a family of 4. Our children will be 11 and 9 by then. My husband and children have never travelled outside of the U.S.

I am wondering about the cost of tickets. Are we talking hundreds or thousands of dollars? I really have no idea.

We will definitely try for opeining ceremony tickets but I understand that may not be likely.How likely is it that we will be able to get other tickets?

How many events would we want to see? Right now I am thinking about 7days in London, Olympic related, and another 7-10 days in other parts of England and maybe even another country, perhaps France?

What kind of hotel costs will we be looking at? I went to England as a child and I have no idea what things cost compared to here. (U.S.) I do realize there will be a premium for the Olympic time period.

I need a target to aim for with my savings. I honestly don't know if I am looking at saving 10K or 20K or somewhere in between.

Also, can anyone recommend a travel agency that specializes in Olympic travel?

Thanks so much!

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Man that would be alot of things off my bucket list. How awesome!

I guess you have already been to the official site. Let's put it this way, the more money you have, the more things you can do. If this is a once in a lifetime, shoot for the lofty 20,000 goal.

 

[lacrosse_lady72]

I haven't attended an Olympic event so I can't help too much but until recently, I had plans to drive up to Vancouver for 2010. Our travel party had to secure our hotel rooms in Whistler in January 2008 for Jan/Feb 2010, when more people were added to our travel party in May of this year, no more rooms were available and they will have to bunk up with someone we know who live in the area and make a long commute for the events.

Also, tickets will go on sale and some will be easy to acquire but there are events that will go through a lottery first in order to even purchase them. I don't know what events these will be but I would guess medal matches of gymnastics, swimming, tennis would be amoung those events, as well as opening and closing ceremonies. London is such a huge hub and a great place for a lot of people to get to from all over the world, so I suspect it will be one of the higher attended Olympic games.

 

[2cats1kid]

A lot depends on how upmarket you want your trip to be. If you are staying in London then the hotels will be higher priced than if you stayed on the outskirts and travelled in. London has a good underground system which is getting a fair bit of investment in the run-up to the Olympics, so getting in from the outskirts should be ok.

There are a couple of budget chains over here (I'm guessing a bit like your motels). The ones that spring to mind are Premier Inn and Travelodge. They are basic - your bed for the night and an en suite bathroom - but alright to crash in. Not sure I'd want to spend a fortnight in one, though. Breakfast is extra but you could buy in cereal and stuff. I expect even they will inflate their prices for the Olympic period though.

Another thought is that I'm guessing a lot of locals will ship out while the Olympics is on to avoid all the ballyhoo, so there may be private houses available for rental for that period. I know that happens for Wimbledon fortnight, so I can see it happening for the Olympics.

I'd guess that the opening ceremony will be a ballot. I know when we bid for it the govt announced that all children born on a certain day would get the opportuntity to be involved in either the opening or closing ceremony, so they will have doting parents in the audience. I only remember that because a friend at the time had her son on that particular day, so I guess he'll be in there somewhere.

My DD and I are also keen to attend some of the events, and they have promised that the prices will be reasonable for the events themselves.

If you do decide to have a look round the UK, there are tons of things to see. Off the top of my head you might enjoy Windsor Castle, Edinburgh (beautiful city), the Lake District or the Peak District, York/Durham area (Roman stuff and medieval stuff). Heck, there's enough here for way more than a week! And in London you'd want to be looking at the Tower of London (with the Crown Jewels, etc.), the London Eye, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, the national museums (natural history/science/Victoria and Albert/Tate/national gallery/national portrait gallery).

 

[2cats1kid]

Just to add, the events which sell out first are indeed swimming, gymnastics and tennis. Apparently the hardest to get tickets are for synchronised swimming which surprised me! Do be aware that rowing and cycling will be very hard to get tickets for as they are big over here (largely because they are pretty much the only things we stand any chance of a medal in)

Obviously track and field is huge too, so those tickets will go quickly, but there will be more available because of the size of the arena.

Some events will be outside London. I'd expect the cycling to be at the Manchester velodrome, and I think the sailing is operating out of the south coast somewhere. I don't know if football (soccer) is included, but if so I'd expect the big stadia in Manchester/Liverpool/Birmingham to be used.

 

[NatashaDisneyCM]

I have been to Olympic's....the ones in Montreal back in 1976. and the Lake Placid winter Olympic's ~ hockey. back in 1980. I was young, so I have no clue what the price was. It could not be to bad...back then, My parents bought them. Sorry I am not to much help. I would think the prices would be much more now.
and I would think more 100's then thousands.Depends where you are getting them from.
Have fun!!
that I remember I did have!

 

[lucas]

How exciting! Don't know if this will help, but here is the Lodon FAQ thread from the cruise line forum:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1988744

 

[cntrygal]

I have a former coworker that is planning on attend 2012 & 2016 and if there lucky 2020. Their reason, there son hopefully will be compeating. He actually has a real chance in track and field. This isnt just some hopeful parent, the kid has compeated at national level more then once.

 

[aunties]

I have been to the summer games in Atlanta (96) and the winter games in Torino (06). It is such an amzing experience.

Hotels are going to be very expensive. Most hotels were triple their usual price. In Torino, 3 star hotels were almost $700 for two people. Even hotels 1 1/2 hours away more than doubled their prices. I was lucky to have a friend in Milan book a room for me using her company's discount. I don't know about Atlanta because I stayed with friends.

Check cosport.com for an idea about ticket prices. They are the official ticket agency for tickets. Some tickets are going to be extremely expensive - Opening and Closing ceremonies, gymnastics, swimming, etc. Medal rounds are also more expensive than preliminary rounds. In Atlanta, my most expensive ticket was $84 for track and field. It was a 10+ hour event. Basketball, water polo, and baseball were less than $25 each but were not medal rounds. And, I was no farther back than 11th row. In Torino, the tickets were a bit more. Preliminaries of bobsleigh were 67 (cant' remember if that was euros or dollars) and the men's PGS snowboarding (all day event - preliminaries through the medal round) were 161 (euros or dollars). However, I call the snowboarding ticket my MasterCard moment on the Visa card - 8 euros for train from Torino to event, 25 euro for t-shirt in gift store, givng my nephew front row center seats to the Olympics - priceless. I have no idea how that happened, just very overwhelmed that it did.

And as the commercial says - Visa is the only card accepted at the Olympics. It is true. MasterCard, American Express, etc. are not accepted for tickets or official Olympic merchandise.

There may be events held outside of London. In Torino, many events were more than hour train ride outside of the city.

My nephew and I had a blast in Torino. We met people from all over the world. We were in a very long lunch line and met some really great people from Norway and Switzerland. Everyone was so polite to each other. It was just an amazing experience.

 

[anniemae]

Also check your local travel agency. They may have package deals available.

 

[PaulaSB12]

Lets hope they get the olypmic village built in time because they keep finding ww2 bombs in the area.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/6541343.stm

http://www.london2012.com/blog/search.php?tag=World War Two bomb

http://www.edie.net/products/view_entry.asp?ID=2896&channel=4

I live 1 hour from London but will probably avoid London for the duration of the olympics.

 

[Caradana]

Hi! I went to Beijing as part of the press corps and am looking forward to London. The Olympics were an INCREDIBLE experience. My advice at this stage:
1) sign up for ticket updates at www.cosport.com
2) save, save, save, save, save. This will be a far more expensive games to attend than Beijing was due to currency and cost of living differentials, and also due to relative access. It was hard to get to Beijing as a Westerner. I met very few Americans there. The barriers to access kept a lot of people out and freed up tickets, especially given that a ticket that cost 100 yuen Chinese (about $7 USD) was financially out of reach for the typical Chinese family. I had no problem at all picking up tickets for the events I wasn't accredited into. This will NOT be true in London - the competition will be fierce. Also, lack of access kept costs low As one example, full, five star meals in Beijing cost less than $15. They'll be over $100 in London. I'm starting to save up now.

 

[LoraJ]

My brother Jim and his family were featured in an article in today's Seattle Times about their plight to attend the Winter Olympics. I can't believe how much they are spending.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/olympics/2010276798_olytickets15.html

 

[Danauk]

Where will the tickets go on sale for the various events? We too live an hour outside of London, and go to London on a fairly regular basis. That summer we plan to attend as many events as we can (we are lucky in that we can easily drive home every night.) We have a new international pool in our town (just opened a few months ago) which is hopefully going to be used as a training pool for the various countries before the games so hopefully we might be able to watch some training too (or rather I might watch them whilst on the treadmill at the gym that overlooks the pool!!)

What I would say about London is that it is very expensive, nice hotels are not cheap. On the plus side though the tube is a great way of getting around and is very easy to use. I would start saving now!!

 

[DISNEY1975]

I just have to say this about that....

In 1994ish, tickets went on sale for the 1996 Olympics in ATL, GA. I was so excited! I got the form, filled out the events I wanted, knowing it was not gauranteed to get what I asked for, paid the amount for each event...I wanted diving finals, 2 tickets at approx $250 each. Gymnastic semifinals (finals were too expensive), 2 tickets at approx $250 each and a swimming event..I dont even remember, but again, it was about $250 each. I paid $1600 for 6 tickets.

About a year, I got my tickets in the mail. A Yachting event, cost on the ticket was $18 ea., a shooting event..cost on ticket was $16 ea. and a prelim diving, cost on tickets was $25ish. I also got a letter explaining that when I signed the form, I knew I was not guaranteed the tickets I wanted and there would be no refund for the difference. I later read in the paper that people bought Opening Ceremony tickets for $2000+ and received tickets for a water polo event.

I was not happya at all, but thought for $1600, being in the Olympic area, all the fun, once in a life time event..Ill make the best of it.

I had called ATL hotels prior, but was told they would not hold any reservation until a year - 10 mos prior to check in, so I called back again. Every place I called was fully booked! I asked how that could be when I had been calling all the time and nobody was even taking reservations. They told my that the Olympic Committee had taken all the rooms in the area. I called the Olympic Commitee..or a number that was given to me and long story short...the only rooms they could offer me for $600 per night were in Birmingham AL..a 6 hour drive.

I ended up giving my tix to a coworker who had a son living near ATL and watched all the events, front row, from my living room couch.

Will I go to London? Ummm.....Maybe in 2013.

 

[Caradana]

I just have to say this about that....

In 1994ish, tickets went on sale for the 1996 Olympics in ATL, GA. I was so excited! I got the form, filled out the events I wanted, knowing it was not gauranteed to get what I asked for, paid the amount for each event...I wanted diving finals, 2 tickets at approx $250 each. Gymnastic semifinals (finals were too expensive), 2 tickets at approx $250 each and a swimming event..I dont even remember, but again, it was about $250 each. I paid $1600 for 6 tickets.

About a year, I got my tickets in the mail. A Yachting event, cost on the ticket was $18 ea., a shooting event..cost on ticket was $16 ea. and a prelim diving, cost on tickets was $25ish. I also got a letter explaining that when I signed the form, I knew I was not guaranteed the tickets I wanted and there would be no refund for the difference. I later read in the paper that people bought Opening Ceremony tickets for $2000+ and received tickets for a water polo event.

I was not happya at all, but thought for $1600, being in the Olympic area, all the fun, once in a life time event..Ill make the best of it.

I had called ATL hotels prior, but was told they would not hold any reservation until a year - 10 mos prior to check in, so I called back again. Every place I called was fully booked! I asked how that could be when I had been calling all the time and nobody was even taking reservations. They told my that the Olympic Committee had taken all the rooms in the area. I called the Olympic Commitee..or a number that was given to me and long story short...the only rooms they could offer me for $600 per night were in Birmingham AL..a 6 hour drive.

I ended up giving my tix to a coworker who had a son living near ATL and watched all the events, front row, from my living room couch.

Will I go to London? Ummm.....Maybe in 2013.

The problems with the Olympics Ticketing system are very much economic. The reality is that sponsors and wealthy people will pay top dollar, and if market forces are allowed to prevail (as people who believe in free markets and no regulation are apt to believe that they should), the regular citizen will be totally shut out. So, they try to regulate the ticketing system to allow for some access to the most desirable events. By some, I mean, "a tiny minority." It doesn't work out for most. That being said, if there was no intervention done, it wouldn't work out for ANY. I was offered $7,000 for a Beijing Opening Ceremonies ticket by a ticket broker. There were Chinese corporations willing to pay that price. I am not kidding. The free markets aren't always pretty.