Hi guys, welcome to another episode of Ultimate Bucket List,
and on today's show I show you around the home of Welsh Rugby and Welsh football
The Millennium Stadium. Currently known as the Principality stadium for sponsorship reasons
this is home to the Welsh national football team. But it's more famously
known as the home of Welsh Rugby. Rugby Union is the national sport here in Wales
and their national team is the most popular sports team in the country. And the stadium itself is one
of the most intimidating places that you can play at. Not just because the fans are so raucous, but
because the stadium is so high. The Principality currently holds 74,500 spectators, making this
one of the largest stadiums in the country. The interesting thing is that it's not just
one stadium it's actually two. The second stadium is located on the north side of the Principality.
It's called Cardiff Arms Park, the original name for the national stadium
and is now home to the Cardiff Blues professional Rugby Union side.
So what's it like to do a tour here at the home of Welsh Rugby? Let's find out …
…. oh yeah and uh come on England!
So when you find the stadium here in the middle of Cardiff, it's pretty easy to locate
because it's slap bang in the middle of town. There's plenty of signs pointing you out to
where the stadium tours are, and is located right here in the Wales Rugby Union shop.
Once you go in, you'll be pointed directly into the back here where you need to check in.
And if you're wearing an England shirt like me you're going to get a bit of ribbing …
“Do I have to cover this up? Hey if you're giving me a Wales shirt for free, I’ll take it?!”
“ It might be a good idea!” but you know what it's all in good jest!
Whilst you're waiting around there's a few exhibits on display,
but the more interesting thing is the club shop.
It's quite an expansive shop and if I wasn't such an England die-hard, I’d probably buy
some of this stuff. But it's a great place to do a bit of shopping before the tour starts.
Speaking of which this is our tour guide for today his name is Hugh, and even though
he's a proud Welshman he was educated at Rugby school the birthplace of the sport.
Anyway you first start by leaving the club shop,
the tour actually begins in front of the statue of Sir Tasker Watkins,
and you get a short talk of the importance of this man and the sport of Rugby Union here in Wales.
Once you've finished with that, we actually go into the side of the stadium and when you're
walking around it's immediately obvious that this place is absolutely massive. And I don't just
mean big, I mean very tall as well. Once they let you in the stadium, it's up it escalators you go
and this is the point where you get your first view of the pitch … that's currently missing!
Yes, they're planning a concert here so there's no greenery on display.
But if I were you, I would climb right to the top of the stadium
and you quickly realize this is the reason why the stadium is so terrifying to play
in. Because the stadium seats are so high you feel that the fans are directly on top of you.
In fact the seats are so steep they're at 34 degrees, which is legally the highest you can
build stadiums. So yeah here in Wales they've cranked the stadium seating to the max. And from
up here it's pretty damn intimidating. If you're afraid of heights this is probably a bad idea.
Anyway whilst I’m up here I got speaking to this lady in red,
that you'll notice throughout the video. And then I noticed the Liverpool logos.
Not only is she a Liverpool fan as it turns out she's the President of the Liverpool
Supporters Club of Carlsbad, California. Given that her team won the FA Cup yesterday,
and that her team has humiliated mine on more than one occasion; I expected some serious ribbing. But
in fact she turns out to be one of the coolest Liverpool fans I’ve ever met. Certainly far
kinder than the quote-unquote “Liverpool fans” I meet on a day-to-day basis here in England.
But anyway, whilst you're here sitting down you get some interesting talks as to the construction
of this stadium. The next stop is the President's lounge and currently it looks very nice, but I
think there's some kind of business meeting going on here. Not entirely sure what that
is … but up in this particular section is pretty nice. And then you'll get to visit the Royal Box
aka where the Queen sits if she ever visits here. And who gets to sit in the Queen's chair, well
it's got to be our friend the President. That's it, Amy Kate you enjoy that seat. As it turns out
not only is this the best seat in the house, it's also the cheapest. You don't actually get charged
for sitting up here, you have to be invited so that's nice to know. You get some more information
about the stadium from down here you've got to admit the views from here are pretty damn good.
Anyway once we're finished with that it's time to leave the Royal Box and go into one of the
standard corporate boxes. No prizes for guessing which company owns this particular corporate box?!
It's a pretty swish way of watching the Rugby, but I certainly wouldn't like to pay for it.
It is kind of nice having this all to yourself though. Anyway next up is the
away team's dressing room. Now they've kitted this out with lots of football paraphernalia
and there's a few decent photo opportunities. Oop let's have a look here, United 3, Millwall
0. Yep that's what I like to see! But the warm-up area is pretty bare bones and when you step into
the away team's dressing room itself, again it's pretty bare bones. The interesting thing is the
football paraphernalia on display but admittedly, is this the nicest away team's dressing room I’ve
ever seen? Probably not. I mean for sure there's some interesting bits like the wall carvings
on some of the lockers. But in general, it’s nothing to write home about. Come on England!
You then get to walk past the tunnel, don't worry you'll get to go through it later. Before
meandering into the home team's dressing room, which as you could probably imagine
is significantly nicer. What's interesting about the dressing room is that there's two segregated
parts, one section for the substitutes and one section for the starting 15.
And as you can imagine there's plenty of decent photo opportunities in and around the lockers. I’m
sat here in my former playing position (the number two) and there's plenty of things to see and do
around the home team's changing room. You get a talk about Wales Rugby Union specifically in here,
and you can explore other bits like that warm-up gym.
Okay enough of that, it's now time to walk down the tunnel. And I say tunnel inadvertently; the
tunnel is basically one big giant room and a big giant door. But once you go down the tunnel and
look up its immediately obvious that the fans are literally on top of you. Now ordinarily you can go
along the side lines and sit on the seats but because they're prepping the field for a concert:
I believe Ed Sheeran’s in town, we're not allowed any further past this point. Damn you Ed Sheeran I
wanted to sit on a seat! But the seats from down here are pretty nice anyway. I mean,
I honestly wouldn't mind sitting down here for a match. One of things you don't notice from up high
but you do notice from down here is that the field is actually raised. So this isn't a camera trick,
this is how high the field actually is off the actual ground. If you want the best photos and
videos literally wait for everyone else to go before taking photos and videos,
like Amy Kate’s here. Well I’ve got to hand it to the girl, she's got more energy than me, I guess?!
Anyway, it's back inside you go and you get a short talk about the Six Nations, and why Wales
are so good and why technically England is better. Actually, no they don't tell you that, I just put
that in there. Then they march you into the press conference area, which is probably the thing
that you've seen on TV numerous times. You get a short talk about what goes on in here before you
actually get to take photos and videos of yourself in the actual seats … which I totally did!
The final part of the tour is a short talk about the first ever Welsh Rugby Union side.
They first played in 1881, and it's pretty interesting. You then walk past the
international players’ lounge which I believe is a big giant bar to get drunk in, before
literally exiting out of the side of the stadium. And that guys is pretty much the end of the tour,
you can go back into the club shop if you want to but I never did.
So I’ve just completed a tour here at the Millennium Stadium, aka Cardiff Arms Park,
aka the Principality … and I’ve got to say it's actually quite a nice tour. Yeah, not only was
the tour guide very very knowledgeable and very entertaining, but my fellow tour mates they
were quite a laugh as well. Overall it was very entertaining and educational. Do you see as much
as other stadiums? Probably not, but it doesn't detract from the experience. So Ninh, where does
this rank in the hierarchy of your stadium tours? Well because football is technically played here,
unlike in Twickenham, it actually does go on my hierarchy, and it goes somewhere along here.
Yes whilst it was a very good tour, I can't say it was the best, but it's certainly not the worst.
I do highly recommend that you come and do this though. Okay Ninh I’m sold, what do I need to do?
Well you need to come here to Cardiff Arms Park, aka the Millennium Stadium, aka the Principality.
It's situated slap bang in the middle of the city centre, so you really can't miss it. It's
effing huge you really can't miss this place! The nearest train station is Cardiff Central and there
are plenty of buses that will take you here. The number 61 has just driven past, so take the
number 61. And if you are driving here, there's an NCP car park literally right next door. The
cost to do the tour? It costs about £16.50, and for that you get a 90 minute guided tour
and it's definitely well worth the money. Is there anything else I need to know?
Yes, you will be doing quite a considerable amount of walking on this tour,
not only because the stadium is so big but because the stadium is so steep. So if you
are afraid of heights, going up to the higher areas of the stadium is probably a bad idea.
But other than that it comes highly recommended. Special thanks to Hugh who did our tour today,
he did a fantastic job, was very entertaining and even spoke fluent French to the French fans
who were doing the tour at the same time as us. And if you did get Hugh as your tour guide
(or if you do get Hugh as your tour guide) feel free to tell him that he's now internet famous.
Guys, if you enjoy my stadium tours content - honestly please share these videos, it helps me
out massively. But otherwise if you have enjoyed this video, 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