Hi guys, welcome to another episode of Ultimate Bucket List.
And on today's show, I show you around Wembley stadium; the home of football.
This is Wembley! This is the world's most famous football venue, and it's also the spiritual home
to the England national football team. The three lions. The pride of a nation. Originally known
as the Empire stadium, the old Wembley has seen some of the world's most famous players
play on its hallowed turf. Some of the world's biggest concerts take place and hosted some of
the most iconic matches in football history. None more so than the 1966 World Cup final
where England beat arch rivals West Germany to lift their first and only World Cup. But the
old stadium with its iconic twin towers was no longer fit for purpose and was raised to
the ground in 2003 and replaced with this. One of the most technologically advanced stadiums
in the world. The whole stadium is supported with its iconic arch, meaning that there's no need
for supporting structures within the stadium giving everyone perfect views of the pitch.
Not only is it the biggest stadium in the country holding 90,000 spectators exactly,
but it's also one of the most expensive stadiums ever to have been built.
So regulars of my channel will know that I’ve technically been here before.
In fact, I’ve been here lots and lots of times before. And I’ve technically done the
tour before. The first time around I really wasn't impressed, so let's see if it's any different now.
So from the tube station it's dead easy to find. Literally exit the station and well it's
right there in front of you. You'd have to be a complete idiot to miss the stadium from here.
To access the stadium, you'll need to climb up all these stairs which will bring you to the
stadium's ground level now you'll need to go up a level and the stadium tour is actually behind
the Sir Bobby Moore statue. So you'll need to walk up and find the statue of Sir Bobby Moore,
because the access to the stadium tours is literally right behind it.
If you do get lost there's plenty of signs pointing you in the right direction.
Once you check in and have your back security checked, it's now time to start the tour … well
kind of. The first thing you visit is this visitor information centre so if English isn't your first
language this is a good way to pick up a guide in the language that you speak. But if you are
English you get given some England merch, such as these programs. Uuuhhh a choice between Jordan
Henderson and Phil Foden?! Alright I’ll take this one, it's the letter of two evils, I guess.
There's actually an exhibit before you go on the guided tour
it tells you all about the history of the former Empire Stadium how they constructed
the new Wembley on the site and there's a lot of 1966 world cup memorabilia on display.
Such as programs, seats, shirts and even the original crossbar of the goal where the winning
goal scored. You'll then be brought up a flight of stairs and you'll reach the green screens.
Now these will give you green screen photos of Wembley stadium that you can either pre-purchase
or purchase afterwards. It's a cool thing for kids and families but me personally I didn't
bother. I’m more interested in the bar area here, and hey, if they give out free beers during a tour
that would be pretty awesome. But I sincerely doubt I can reach over here and grab one.
One thing that happens to be on display here is this a replica of the cup,
and as a Manchester united fan this is probably the closest that we're
going to get to silverware this season. Boy it's really sad that I just admitted that.
So the next stop is the Lioness bar. This is one of the on-site bars here at Wembley stadium
but what's cool about it is the amount of memorabilia that's on display.
So again you've got a replica of the FA cup and Community shields on display. I’m trying to get a
decent shot of this but these kids keep standing there. Hey kids are you going to move? No? All
right. But there's also other things that you can see such as match worn shirts, there's some shirts
wore by the Spice Girls … for some reason?! And there's quite a bit of NFL memorabilia on display.
As an American football fan who's actually been to Wembley to watch the games this was actually
pretty cool. It's also easy to forget that Wembley is one of the biggest concert venues in the
country, and there's some cool musical memorabilia such as Matt Bellamy's actual Wembley used guitar.
So if you are a fan of music and concerts, this is cool. It's also got memorabilia from motor races
that they've hosted, the boxing, fake rugby, real rugby, Come on Wigan! And overall it's actually
kind of a cool bar to hang around in. At this point you're actually waiting a while waiting for
everyone to catch up but once everyone does that's when the guided part of the stadium tour actually
begins. Now this is Albert, he's our tour guide for today. And one thing is abundantly clear from
the get-go this guy is a very experienced tour guide. Not only can he speak several languages
but it's immediately obvious that he's very good with the kids, which is always nice to see. So
you get to walk along the concourses, and boy these concourses are massive!
The first stop is this exhibition about the Olympic games. Wembley was the de facto football
venue for the 2012 London Olympic games, and there's some cool London memorabilia here.
You then climb down a whole bollock load of stairs, and there's a lot of stairs here
apparently, 88 if you're counting. And you'll get to go down this corridor with some pretty
cool memorabilia on display. It's mainly England memorabilia, but there are some
shirts from some famous players such as Cantona, Ronaldo, Messi, Paul Gascoigne’s shirt. Hey,
does anyone remember having one of these grey shirts? Huh, that's brought back some memories.
You’re then led into this press bit, and it's probably one of the largest press areas that
I’ve actually ever been to. There's at least four separate walls that you can be interviewed at,
and it provides some excellent photo and video opportunities.
You get a short talk as to what happens here, before you let out into the main press conference
room now. This is the press conference area that you've probably seen on the TV where all the
England press conferences happen. It's definitely a sizable area definitely, one of the bigger
media areas that I’ve been to. The tour guide usually picks two kids to pretend to be managers
and we have a mock press conference, before you get shown a short video of the events that Wembley
typically holds. At the end of a talk by the tour guide you usually get some photo opportunities of
you sitting up here with your family your friends. And me, I’ve had my picture taken several million
times so I didn't bother this time around. You're then led down a memorabilia field
corridor and then you get to explore one of Wembley’s four dressing rooms
that's right four dressing rooms and each team has access to two kinds of dressing room. The old
style which is what you see here where the women's shirts are currently on display. These lockers
are massive and it's predominantly used by the NFL teams when they're here. But currently they've got
all the women's shirts on display and ooohhhh Alex Greenwood … hello! But this changing room itself
is a pretty cool photo opportunity. If you do want the cleanest images without people standing
in your way, wait for everyone to go and then you have the place to yourself, just like that.
You then get taken into the warm-up area which admittedly nothing to write home about you get
to see the manager's office complete with one of Gareth Southgate’s iconic suits,
before being taken into the newer style dressing room.
As you can imagine this one looks a hell of a lot more modern than the other one and is more
suited towards football teams rather than American football teams, as the lockers are significantly
smaller. But it's definitely got that wow factor and it's a great place to take photos and videos
especially of your favourite players. You get a short talk in here about what goes on
in both dressing rooms. If you do want photos and videos without people standing in your way,
once again wait for everyone to leave and then you get a clean shot of the place … just like that.
Now it's time to go into the tunnel area, and it's not really a tunnel per se, it's more like a big
giant room because there is no real actual tunnel. It's branded very nicely in England colours,
feel free to take pictures of you and the match ball, but don't actually touch it it's considered
to be very bad luck. The tour guide gives you a rough idea as to what happens here on a match
day and then he'll put you in two lines and then you do a tunnel walk to some music.
Why do I always get some bald guy ruining my shot in these tunnel walks?! Pfft, never mind. Anyway
whilst you're down here at pitch level, it becomes immediately obvious that this place is gargantuan.
Literally it is huge! I mean, I’ve watched games from up there in the stands before,
but when you get down here at pitch level you appreciate the entire size of this place.
Feel free to make a beeline for the dugout seats. I might as well do it seeing as though everyone's
busy doing other things and … Rotherham United Football Club stickers on seats?!
You might want to get them off before they create a nasty smell. But whilst everyone is preoccupied
at pitch level, I decided to do the tunnel walk again on my own without anyone getting in my way.
Much better! So the good thing about this is
that you actually get to stay at up pitch level for quite a bit of time, giving you plenty of
time to take photos and videos, and listen to the information that the tour guide is telling you.
But once you're done with that it's now time to climb up the 180 or so steps
to the Royal Box. As the name implies this is where royalty sitsm but halfway up towards
the Royal Box, look back behind you and you get some pretty cool views of the stadium.
And the view up here from the Royal Box, pretty damn good. You actually get to walk past the Royal
seats. So Prince William would literally sit right here. One of the most interesting facts
about the Royal Box, is that even though these are the best seats in the house,
they're also the cheapest! Because Wembley doesn't actually charge the royals for using this.
So if you are invited into the Royal Box, you don't actually pay a penny for
any of it. which is great! Now, do I have Prince William as a friend on Facebook? No?! Never mind.
But be sure to listen to the tour guide telling you interesting facts about the stadium and take
lots of photos and videos because this is probably the best view of Wembley you're going to get.
Anyways you get taken inside to Club Wembley which is the hospitality venue attached to
the Royal Box. Currently there's nothing in it, so it looks a bit plain jane, but usually
it's a bustling hive of activity. Believe it or not that's virtually the end of the tour.
You get to go past the Three Lions bar which is exactly the same as the Lionesses bar,
just on the other side of the stadium. And you get brought down to this point,
so if you have taken photos on the green screen this is where you'll come and pay and collect it.
There's some photo opportunities in front of some Euro 2020 stuff
and there's a lot of things pertaining to the Italy England final that happened here
last year. I don't know why you'd keep this as a reminder that we lost to the Italians, but
(sigh) it’s something to see I guess?! The last part of the tour is a walk down memory lane, which
is a whole bunch of football shirts and wall-art pertaining to the history of England and Wembley.
Although at this point it's been two hours and most people are just dying to get out of the door.
Rather predictably the stadium tour finishes at the club shop, where you can buy a whole
bunch of England merch if you want to, and it's a cool place to pick up some souvenirs.
I don't understand why the men's team don't play in this nice burgundy shirt that the
women's team play in? This is probably one of the nicest kits we've had in a while.
Okay guys I’ve just finished the tour here at Wembley stadium and I’ve got to say … it was
definitely a lot better than the first time round. You get to see a little bit more stuff, which is
always good. They've branded it more with England paraphernalia, which is very good considering the
last time I was here it was very very plain. And this time around I got a nicer tour guide
so that's always a good thing. So Ninh, where does this rank in the hierarchy of your stadium tours?
I’m giving this a slight upgrade, not much but it's definitely a start.
My problem with Wembley stadium isn't the fact that it's not a nice stadium,
because it's a very nice stadium. If you take away all the England paraphernalia it's no different to
any other American ball style stadium, so bear that in mind when you do come here. That said
if you are a big fan of football or the NFL I recommend that you do a tour here anyway.
Okay Ninh, I’m sold what do I need to do? Well you need to come here to Wembley stadium. It's
situated in the Wembley area of London, and the easiest way to get here is via the public
transportation system. Use the Metropolitan or Jubilee lines to get to Wembley Park Tube Station,
and it's literally a five minute walk away from the station. Wembley also has its own
train station so if you're coming outside of central London, it's easy to find. Friving here
isn't really recommended because the traffic can be pretty terrible, but if you do have to drive
use the green car park located on the north side of the stadium and parking will cost you about
a fiver. The cost of the actual tour itself? Well it costs about £22 or thereabouts. There is a VIP
tour which costs £70 and it's not immediately obvious from the website what that entails, so
if you want my advice just pay for the standard tour. The cost for games here at Wembley as you
can imagine pretty pricey, just go on the Wembley website for tickets to England games. Is there
anything else I need to know? Yes you'll be doing a crapload of walking on this tour.
Wembley even though it holds 90,000 people is two times the size of the old Wembley,
so you'll be doing a lot of walking particularly up and down stairs, so bear that in mind before
you come here. Feel free to take as many photos and videos as you like, but they don't allow
commercial photography or videography. Before you enter Wembley stadium you'll be baggage checked,
airport stylie, so make sure that you're not carrying any big bags or any prohibited items.
In fact the best thing to do is just to pack lightly i.e. don't carry a bag with you at all.
And whilst currently there are no COVID restrictions i.e. you don't have to wear masks
etc. that could change at a drop of a hat. So please check the website before you actually come.
Special thanks to Albert who gave a fantastic tour here today, and if you
do get him on the tour you're in for a good time. Guys I hope you've enjoyed this tour of Wembley
stadium and if you have enjoyed this episode, please be sure to like share and subscribe.
Comment on the comment section below, and if you've got any other bucket list ideas - you
know what to do, tweet them at me. If I get enough suggestions I’ll go ahead and do that.
So guys thank you very much for watching, and we'll see you in the next episode.
Ninh Ly – www.ninh.co.uk - @NinhLyUK