Anyone here from London who's familiar w/the queuing process at Wimbledon?

[nevets88]

I am totally confused. What time do you need to get there to queue up to be assured of a spot to watch the finals on the big screen from Henman Hill/Murray Mound? Gentlemen's final starts at 2pm, it looks like people are queuing up at 6AM? I went through the Twitter Wimbledon Queue account and that left me more confused. Thanks in advance.

[Dinoma]

I'm not sure if this applies to the finals, or if you are much less likely to get a ground ticket for the actual final. However the queueing process is as follows.

People will form a queue with those that camped overnight being at the head of the queue, at around 7ish you will be 'awarded' queue tickets which number you place in the queue which keeps pushing in to a minimum, and then you just queue until you get to the turnstile. Once at the turnstile, if you are at the front(ish) of the queue you are offered show court tickets (centre/1/2), if not you can get a entry pass for the outside courts and the Hill. 

[nevets88]

14 minutes ago, Dinoma said:

I'm not sure if this applies to the finals, or if you are much less likely to get a ground ticket for the actual final. However the queueing process is as follows.

People will form a queue with those that camped overnight being at the head of the queue, at around 7ish you will be 'awarded' queue tickets which number you place in the queue which keeps pushing in to a minimum, and then you just queue until you get to the turnstile. Once at the turnstile, if you are at the front(ish) of the queue you are offered show court tickets (centre/1/2), if not you can get a entry pass for the outside courts and the Hill. 

Thanks @Dinoma. As I understand it, there are no tickets offered for centre court or any of the indivdual courts the last four days unless returned tickets? I'm not sure why people are queueing up overnight for tickets that for the most part aren't for a court-side  seat those last four days?

You're right, it sounds like the way to about it is as you say, get there at 7. The parking lots open at 6:30AM. What do people do until 2pm? Whatever the answer is, I'm also guessing it's one of the fun parts of the experience.

[Dinoma]

I've never been in the second week so not sure about tickets availability etc, but you know how much we love queuing in this country ;)

It's probably not the best day to go for the full days experience in that there isn't much else to do since most of the other tournaments will be drawing to a close as well. Perhaps the junior one is still going on in the smaller courts. However, I'm sure the big ticket event is lots of fun.

[nevets88]

3 hours ago, Dinoma said:

I've never been in the second week so not sure about tickets availability etc, but you know how much we love queuing in this country ;)

It's probably not the best day to go for the full days experience in that there isn't much else to do since most of the other tournaments will be drawing to a close as well. Perhaps the junior one is still going on in the smaller courts. However, I'm sure the big ticket event is lots of fun.

LOL, we do a bit a queueing in NYC too, but yeah, you got us beat.

After looking into the logistics, and boy, was it complicated, the car parks, the rules, checking alternatives like parking near the train station, the ticketing process, it's quite the massive red tape. I think I got it figured out for the most part, if there's a great matchup in the finals, whether it be an Englishman or Federer, probably going to go watch the doubles final later in the day instead of shooting for singles.

One more question @Dinoma. The photos I see with people on the queue. They're all standing. Is there some way to sit while you wait?

 

[Golfingdad]

Those lines remind me of the old adage about getting into Carnegie Hall ... perhaps instead of lining up, @nevets88, you should just work on your ground strokes???

[nevets88]

3 minutes ago, Golfingdad said:

Those lines remind me of the old adage about getting into Carnegie Hall ... perhaps instead of lining up, @nevets88, you should just work on your ground strokes???

@Dinoma is on the money. Queuing is a high art in the UK. THERE'S A FREAKING TWITTER ACCOUNT FOR THE WIMBLEDON QUEUE J. H. C. on a cracker. It'll take some time, but you'll eventually get there. I don't have 10K hours to practice my forehand and backhand. 

[Golfingdad]

Just now, nevets88 said:

@Dinoma is on the money. Queuing is a high art in the UK. It'll take some time, but you'll eventually get there. I don't have 10K hours to practice my forehand and backhand. 

You don't need to practice for 10k hours ... you just need to practice 3 times, I believe.    There is some sort of Beetlejuice magic in it, I guess.

[nevets88]

2 minutes ago, Golfingdad said:

You don't need to practice for 10k hours ... you just need to practice 3 times, I believe.    There is some sort of Beetlejuice magic in it, I guess.

Ha ha. I'll just Beetlejuice me some tickets while I try and online book from Ticketmaster the night before. 

It is waaaayyy easier to get tennis US Open tickets. Golf tournaments, pfffft, a joke.

[Dinoma]

@nevets88 I don't think there any any seats provided for the queue but quite a few people bring their own (along with tents, tea making facilities and booze).

In terms of getting to Wimbledon we've always gone on the train and then used the shuttle bus, but your mileage may vary depending where you stay.

I'd completely forgotten about ticketmaster, but you can queue there as well the day before for tickets.

[nevets88]

14 minutes ago, Dinoma said:

@nevets88 I don't think there any any seats provided for the queue but quite a few people bring their own (along with tents, tea making facilities and booze).

In terms of getting to Wimbledon we've always gone on the train and then used the shuttle bus, but your mileage may vary depending where you stay.

I'd completely forgotten about ticketmaster, but you can queue there as well the day before for tickets.

Ticketmaster will be a crapshoot, it'll be like making a hole in one if I'm able to time it booking online, but not much effort required, just typing and tapping so what the hell.

We're  an hour out of London, so will park near a station, maybe like 3 station stops away and then take the Tube (District Line) in, perhaps there will be parking around East Putney station?

[Dinoma]

I would have thought that parking would be ok around there on a weekend, however I've never tried it during Wimbledon!

[nevets88]

1 hour ago, Dinoma said:

I would have thought that parking would be ok around there on a weekend, however I've never tried it during Wimbledon!

Thanks again for all the info @Dinoma.

Actually now that I think about it, if you win the balloting, the process is a lot simpler. It's when you don't have a reserved seat that's the problem. And I think there's a cultural difference between NY and London. The USO is popular in NYC, but not as popular as Wimbledon is in London/UK. It makes sense, if you really want to go, you'll do whatever it takes. It culls out the wishy washy and gets the diehard fans in, which is good for the sport. I've been to the USO finals and there can be a lot of empty seats when the final doesn't have a great pairing. Wimbledon is always packed. 

[Wansteadimp]

I wouldn't rely on parking near East Putney (not at a reasonable price anyway), I'd advise you to park further away and use the tube for longer.

[nevets88]

1 hour ago, Wansteadimp said:

I wouldn't rely on parking near East Putney (not at a reasonable price anyway), I'd advise you to park further away and use the tube for longer.

Thanks, will look into the train stops coming into the city.