THE SLIDE AT ARCELOR MITTAL ORBIT AND AFTERNOON TEA EXPERIENCE DAYS REVIEW

Having seen videos and pictures online, we couldn’t wait to have a go on The Slide at the Arcelor Mittal Orbit! Located in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, the slide opened to the public in 2016. Given it’s the world’s LONGEST slide, we couldn’t wait to get started! A voucher includes entry to the viewing platforms to check out the panoramic views of London on offer. Here’s how our day went…

The Orbit is only a short walk from Stratford tube station, by the Westfield Shopping Mall. On our way, we narrowly avoided the new Missguided store – or rather dragged ourselves away from the windows! As soon as we saw the Orbit, we spotted the ‘Bettfeder’ – a tight corkscrew before the 50m home straight. Now our hearts really started pumping.

We grabbed a delicious coffee at the on-site cafe and sat on the roof terrace, before heading to the entrance and making our way to viewing platform 1 for our slide. You can reach speeds of up to 15mph and will complete the slide is a hair-raising 35 seconds. Yeeeep! Before your slide, the attentive staff get you kitted out in what can only be described as a full ninja suit; helmets, knee pads and elbow pads. You then grab one of the specially designed mats and get yourself in position. Once the green light pings, you’re off! You’ll whizz through dark patches, the ‘Bettfender’, and clear patches which disorientate you before hitting the home straight. Once you’ve reached the bottom, you can collect your things from the lockers and head back up to the viewing platforms to take in the sights – including iconic landmarks like the Shard, Walkie Talkie and St Paul’s Cathedral.

Following our experience at the orbit, we headed to the Holiday Inn, in Stratford, for the second part of our experience – a delicious Afternoon Tea. The Restaurant Twenty Twelve is located on the 3rd floor with a modern and light decor. Our waiter showed us to a table by the window with the sun shining in. Our afternoon tea arrived swiftly, and included cream cheese and cucumber , smoked salmon and egg mayo finger sandwiches. For sweets, there were plain scones with all the trimmings and a bite sized brownie, macaron, lemon drizzle cake and fresh strawberries. The restaurant can also cater for any dietary requirements and has a selection of different teas on offer. We ate every last crumb and were welcoming the thought of an afternoon snooze on the train back to Brighton.

Thank you so much to the Arcelor Mittal Orbit for letting us whizz down the slide and to the Holiday Inn, Stratford for the delicious afternoon tea. We’ll be back!