Legoland

We stayed last month for a night at the new Legoland Windsor hotel and it was fab! We live too far from Windsor to do a day trip but found it was a much more relaxed experience knowing we were staying on site and didn't have to cram in everything on the first day. The hotel looks great, has plenty of bits of Lego for kids to mess about with, the rooms were well themed and designed to have enough room for parents and kids to share and the buffet breakfast was extensive. The down points were it was pricy, the swimming pool wasn't open when we stayed though we were given vouchers to compensate, and room service was poor - it took them 30mins to tell me my food was unavailable(??). But overall it was a great Hotel with friendly staff and great attention to detail - my kids aged 7 and 3 loved it!

We have annual passes to Legoland as we live quite close. We all love it there. My children are 7 and 4, and we have been going for 4 years. 7 year old favourite ride is The Dragon (go there first to avoid the queue), 4 year old loves Rocket Racers. Go on all the big rides you want to first thing, after lunch the queues get much bigger. Save the pirate show, puppet show, 3d cinema, rat trap, maze and mini land for the afternoon.

The toilets are clean and there are lots of restaurants. If we don't take a picnic we go to the pizza pasta buffet in the harbour.

Try your Tesco clubcard deals for cheap entrance.

Went to see the fireworks there last night and very spectacular (and included in the ticket price).However, be prepared for a long queue to get out on these events!

I live about half an away so have an annual pass. We visit several times a year but have found it is becoming more comercialised - can not believe they now charge for parking!!!!!!
My advice is you need to get there early - about half an hour before the park opens giving time to park, get tickets, toilet etc. You will then be ready to go on the rides as soon as it opens - you will find you will get more rides the first hour or two - then the park gets busier. So I would advise to save watching the shows and looking around miniland (lego village) until later when the park is busier and do the rides in the morning.

We go almost every year and love it!!
It is quite expensive to go for one day, so for best value go to legoland holidays and book up for a couple of days with a hotel.
Lots of fun for younger children.

Overpriced, understaffed and rides all a bit boring... Q-bots are making a farce of the whole thing.

We went on our first-ever trip to Legoland this weekend (the first day of the school summer holidays) for my son's 8th birthday treat. We had read hundreds of online reviews and canvassed opinions from all friends and so went with some trepidation. But we need not have worried. We had a superb time and my children (8 and 3.5) absolutely loved it.

Pros:
The park was clean, well kept and the staff (they seem to be everywhere) were smiley (even at the end of a long day), really helpful and thoroughly professional; every single one noticed my sons (giant) Lego birthday badge (given FOC at the entrance when he announced it!), and wished him a happy birthday. We arrived early so parked quickly and easily. Entry was straightforward - no problems with our children-go-free chocolate spread lids! The layout is interesting and well designed, and there is plenty to do when you want a break from rides, and no shortage of space for sitting down with your picnic. The restaurants were clean and food was great. The top part of the park was open well after the advertised closing time of 7pm so we were able to order and eat a meal and did not eventually leave the site until 8pm.

Cons:
It is certainly expensive. With free child passes (courtesy of Nutella) we still paid £82.40 for 2 adults, and £72 for the Q-bot (£15 x 4 plus an extra £3 pp for Q-bot entry to Atlantis). Fish and chips for 2 adults at the end cost £18 (the children shared ours) and 2 coffees mid-afternoon cost £2 each. Queueing is a pain of course, and we did queue for rides that were not q-bot-able for a maximum of 15 minutes. There were long queues for toilets as well. A few rides broke down (including Pirate Falls 3 times), but were back running again quite quickly.

Tips:
So, if you're planning a trip, here's what I'd recommend:
1. Arrive early (on our day park opened 10am; we arrived 9:20am, queued 15 minutes to pay for entry, no queue for Q-bot hire, huge seething mass at the barrier awaiting entry to the park itself at 10am).
2. Get Q-bots; it adds £15 per person to your cost (at peak rate IE all weekends and holidays; £10 weekdays out of high-season) but makes a huge difference; we went on all the main rides, some twice, and (slightly guiltily) passed 45-75-minute-long queues to do so. As a result we were still all going strong after 9 hours, having not spent the whole day standing around in soul-destroying QUEUES! It was not worth paying the extra to Q-bot Atlantic. In retrospect we should have Q-botted another ride while queueing in real-life for Atlantis, which, while good, was not worth £12.
3. Bring a picnic. We had 2 small knapsacks with us, full of food, spare clothes for the children and water. It saved us stopping (and more importantly, paying) for food en route.
4. Ignore all the pay-extra stuff. We explained in advance to the children that we weren't here to shop, have faces painted etc, so they didn't whine, and were so completely caught up in the excitement of this fantastic place that we spent almost nothing while we were in the park.
5. Bring spare clothes; We were soaked on the Viking river ride. Alternatively bring waterproof cagools or ponchos (but beware; not all water comes from above, and you can still easily end up with soggy feet and bottoms).
6. Bring your own camera; you'll get much better family pics from the day than forking out a huge fee for the end-of-ride automatic camera shots (which in our experience always caught us at the worst moment!)
7. Wear sensible shoes. We saw so many people in stupid things like high heels! You'll be walking a long way if you want to get the most from your day so don't make it hard for yourself.
8. Avoid the shops; they are much more expensive than high street prices yet clearly make a killing judging by the number of people dragging huge bags of merchandise around with them.
9. Consider one of the many available deals for 2-day tickets etc or even annual passes. We didn't upgrade to annual passes this time but probably will in future. I'd never come in August though (busy enough in late July so must be seething by then) so I would get a standard not a premium pass. Even with Q-bots you need more than a day to explore everything the park has to offer (Miniland, Creation centre, Mindstorms, all the shows etc).
10. Don't obsess about the headline rides if you're there with young children. There is loads for the children to enjoy without focussing on the famous stuff. We missed Pirate Falls (because it kept closing so we gave up) and the children loved the Chopper Squadron and Duplo train just as much as The Dragon etc.

In summary, if you plan well, and get Q-bots, you should have a spectacularly brilliant day. I would not now go without a Q-bot, and really, the only thing I would change for next time is to bring more food and waterproofs.

Q-bot is a method of jumping queues at Legoland. How it works: You pay £15 per person plus £3 per ride on boating school or Atlantis, so £21 each if you want to go on both. Then you can take the fast-track queue so you don't have to wait. You point your Q-bot bleeper at the ride-attendant's one, and it tells them how many people can go on and at what time. Warning! If you are late for boating school or Atlantis they might not let you on...even though you've paid £3 extra just for one ride on them!
Is it worth it? Well if you're going on a really busy day in peak season you're going to spend upwards of 2 hours queueing - so yes, possibly. However given the costs involved, it does feel a bit pricey on top of a £42 legoland ticket! Also if you want the even-faster q-bot express it is a whopping £40 per person during peak season. Not terribly democratic - if you're rich, you can jump the queue.
On the day we used our's we 'virtually' queued twice for Laser Raiders, using up around 2 hours of the Q-bot queuer - wasted time as it turns out as the ride wasn't running. So the next day they gave us one for free. It pays to complain.
Ways to improve: I think legoland should run a system like Disneyworld Florida, not based on ability to pay, but on a first-come-first-served basis like the FastPass system. This doesn't discriminate against lone-parent single families like mine.

New ride: Atlantis Submarine Voyage

Another great day at Legoland, we go regularly and with an annual pass and a bit of planning manage not to spend too much on food! The new submarine ride was open today - which was a pleasant surprise, as we have been waiting for this since we bought our passes last month.

The new ride Atlantis Submarine Voyage apparently cost £8 million to install, it combined a dark enclosed underwater ride showing both sea life and lego models. there is a recorded voice piped out that tells you about the fish and gives instructions to press buttons at certain times.

A couple of young kids were a bit scared at first but calmed down after a while when the fish got their attention. It is a bit dark and there are flashing coloured lights, but this all adds to the excitement. On our fifth time round it seemed something went a bit wrong as the voice recording did not work towards the end.

Be prepared to get on quickly! They have to get between eight to ten people on each submarine in a short time as the move past (this was hard for the woman in front of me who had a broken leg it seems -poor thing).

It reminded the kids of the Octonauts on cbeebies. Tropical fish, sharks, underwater scenes with mermaids and lego men taking pictures.

We went on about five times before it got a bit busy- The kids (aged 2 and 4) really liked it! The que moved quickly, but it was a week day so I expect it will be worse at the weekends.

You don't get went on this ride.

However...don't forget to bring swim clothes for the wet play area - this also kept them happy for ages!

A great day out for the family - if you have children under the age of 10. The atomosphere is great.

Best to go on a week day or if at the weekend then on a dull cloudy day - we went and queue times were between 0 and 10 mins so really not long.

Advisable to take your own food as the restaurants are VERY expensive for a family of 5 but if you are aware of priced beforehand then no shocks!

My five year old boy adores Legoland and has one for two years.

Important o try and go on a quiet day or pay up foe Quebot - Legoland's version of a VIP pass that allows you to go to the front of most lines.

Food is as you wound expect. The Castle restaurant is the best option - lots of roast chicken with salad and baked potatoes or chips.

Be prepared to get wet.

We have season tickets for Legoland Windsor AND Legoland Germany and I love them both! I do think season tickets are the key-even if you only use them for 2 days one year and 2 the next before they run out you feel you are 'ahead of the game'.
BEST thing about Windsor is the pirate show-we always have to watch it and my 5 year old has been a part of it a couple of times. He loves getting high 5s from the cast afterwards and they are amazingly nice and enthusiastic every time. Rides are good and it has generally been clean and well looked after.
Go prepared-take lunches/water etc. If it is raining wear proper waterproofs inc trousers and have a positive attitude! Make the most of quiet weekdays in termtime if you can. If you go in the holidays go early and stay late and do the rides then.
Worst thing is the extra cost rides/facepainting/stalls etc. I warn my 5 year old beforehand that we will never say yes and he doesn't ask!

a fun day out although the entrance price was expensive. Aimed at younger children.

We went at the end of the season, the place was filthy with a capital F ...loos a total disgrace in fact so smelly and dirty I had to walk out and plait my legs instead restaurants dirty too with food all over floor and dirty tables, several rides needed painting and looked tired, only plus point is that we went on a quiet day when state schools were not on hols and so small queues

Fantastic day out but heres the thing.....ONLY ever go on a wednesday when children are in school,never in a half term or summer break and never a week b4 or week after a holiday break as private schools are oftern off then.
We went on a weds 2 weeks b4 this May half term and rode everything there and could even stay on most rides 3 or 4 times!!
The Pirate show was amazing...my 4 yr old was fixed and sat still for the 1st time in his life for 30 mins!!!
Great,great fun.

I have to say, Legoland is a dreadful place - very spread out, long queues and the food choice is pretty dire! Even the kids didn't think it was that great, but when you have to queue an hour to get on a mini roller-coaster it's not surprising.

DD's love legoland, but it does get really busy so queues are often very long.

The best part was the show on the lake - great fun! Several rides not working during our visit which was disappointing - also found everything VERY expensive and park very busy!

It was busy, but lucky for us we had a queuebot! Had a smashing time.

The kids loved this place although we found the queues long and not managed very well. Not huge amounts of rides for very small children although thought the shows were excellent

A good day out for the younger kids too (we went with a couple of 6 year olds). Plenty to do, too difficult to fit everything into one day but the food there was very expensive.

We visited last year using tesco clubcard vouchers. We went during school term time and it was still very very busy. I had read a tip to start from the back of the park and this proved useful in avoiding some of the queues. Despite the business the park had lots to offer and the lego models are truely inspiring.

Great place to go, we went on a drizzly day but it still worked. Lots of amazing rides and tiny things to look at. Main beefs were generally junk nature of the food on offer, too-long queues and the problem of taking a toddler and a 5 year old by yourself as quite a few activities were age-restricted and you could hardly leave the child in the buggy while you took the older one in...

Our children were 6, 3, and 6 months when we went. There were plenty of things for both of the older ones, and it wasn't too difficult to keep tabs on the baby - dh and I swapped places in queues a lot!

Take a picnic so you don't have to waste time queueing in a cafe - there is a covered picnic area.

Also take a change of clothes for everyone - this is handy when your ds throws up on your dh halfway through a ride.

There is loads to do at Legoland for younger children and a few rides for older children. If the weather is good the splashpads are excellent. Generally a good family day out for a reasonable price.

A great day out and will be enjoyed by children up to age 14 maybe. I think the entrance fee is extremely expensive. Standard day ticket entrance on the gate for a family of 4 is well in excess of £100!!! We bought annual passes as these were only twice the price of a normal day ticket and we are quite local.

The food is also very expensive and not that great. There are also some things you have to pay for once you get in, which I think is wrong (eg trampolines - why?).

Plan what you will visit beforehand or as soon as you get there as there is no way you can do the whole park, especially with little ones in tow.

overall, a good day out

A great day out for younger kids, Legoland has a really good selection of rides to suit toddlers through to, say, eleven-year-olds. (Think you'd be pushing it with ones much older.) There are enough "exciting rides" to keep KS2 kids happy, but without them being truly traumatised. The new rapids ride - Vikings River Splash - was a great hit with the gang we took (six and eight-year-olds) along with The Dragon, Jungle Coaster and Pirate Falls. They all enjoyed the Johnny Thunders show - so much so that we ended up watching it twice - and the 3D cinema too... although it made me feel sick!
The park itself is nicely laid out and well cared for and staff were really friendly. There are still a fair few things you have to pay for - which always rankles - but if you're going to bother shelling out for anything then the bungee trampolines are worth the queue and extra cost. Kids loved them and were doing somersaults with ease by the time their turn was up.
If we did have a gripe it was that they could have done with more staff working in the cafes etc - we gave up trying to buy coffees in the cafe by the "harbour" as service was painfully slow.
One thing I would recommend though - if you can stomach the extra cost - is renting a Q-Bot "virtual queuing system". This looks a bit like a Tamagotchi and covers the most popular rides. You simply select a ride from the list on the screen and it gives you an allocated time - all you have to do is turn up at the ride on or after this time and you can Fast Track on to it. You can only select one ride at a time - and you sometimes get a bit of a wait, so it makes sense to use this time to visit some of the less popular attractions - but it definitely made a massive difference to the time we spent queuing. Once you get to the ride the attendant clears the Q-Bot for you... and you can then book your next one (even as you're going round the current ride). The only minor niggle is that some of the rides could do with having the Q-Bot entrance better signposted - it wasn't clear exactly where to go in a couple of instances. The downside is that it is expensive - £10 per person (children under 3 free) maximum of 6 people per Q-Bot - but if you're visiting during peak times it's probably worth it.

Have been twice now and still think there's more to see.
DCs are 5 and 7.
Well worth looking out for special offers as can work out very expensive, but our kids would rather go here once a year than other cheaper places more frequently IFSWIM!
Great loos too!

We got an internet deal which included two day passes, three nights in a hotel and tickets to Windsor Castle for a very reasonable price. We visited during the May half term so obviously it was quite busy. However we got there when it opened (as recommended on mumsnet!) and caught the train and started at the far end.

We visited with 6 and 3 year old children and they both enjoyed it. Our 3 year old also managed to walk round the park without needing a pushchair. The highlight for our two was the outdoor water area (with fountains, showers etc) and although I had taken a towel we didn't have swimwear so our two ended up in their underwear!

The main negative I would say was the food, which was very expensive - over £20 for sandwiches and drinks for a family of four? If we had travelled from home we would have probably taken a picnic but it was not so easy from a hotel.

Overall I think it was worth the money and a good family day out.

Fantastic day out. Our children were 8 and 6 at the time (last year) and thoroughly enjoyed it. The rides were age appropriate so there was nothing DS aged 6 couldn't go on so no sad faces. Beware the height restrictions though, if under the height required you won't be allowed to ride. Lots of places to eat and get drinks and ice-creams, great staff, very friendly, long queues but that's what you expect on a sunny Saturday. Don't miss the 3D flm show near the entrance - fantastic, complete with snow! Also the new ride, Viking River Splash, don't miss it but be prepared to get wet. Great day out, we loved it.

Great theme park for younger kids, older children and teens might be disappointed. DuploLand caters for the very youngest, with a great water play area which always tempts the kids into stripping off, no matter how chilly us grown-ups think it is. The rides are supplemented by a theatre, a stunt show and a 3D cinema, all with a Lego theme, but entertaining nonetheless. In fact, it would be possible to not go on any rides, and still feel as though you've had a good day out. Always check the height restrictions before queuing for the rides, as they do vary, and you could save yourself a long wait! Plenty of opportunities to part you from your cash, but you can almost justify it on educational grounds (try keeping DH out of the shops!). We save up our Clubcard and Nectar points for an Annual Pass, and then the price of admission doesn't feel so scary!

Massive park - too much to do fully in one day so recommend spreading it over a weekend or two trips. Excellent entertainment for all ages. Very expensive catering etc. Fab water fountain area so take swimsuits on a nice day. Beautifully kept grounds - immaculate.

Great fun, especially good for small children. Lots to do.