How to I make Legoland trip the BEST thing ever?

[thrownunderthebus]

We won't manage a holiday this year even in the UK for a few reasons but we do have quite a good holiday budget....we've decided to take the children to legoland

The children probably can't remember what exciting days out are like as I was shielding for most if last year so I want to make it a really memorable trip!

The are two hotels on site but I can't see much difference - how do I decide? We'll have FOMO whatever we do

Any tips to make a great trip so good it will be remembered for years to come? Thanks!

Cafe queues are ginormous

Have to say I havent found this. But we tend to eat early at 12ish. We prefer the burger place or hilltop cafe. But we sometimes grab a bite at the chicken place and take it over to the model village (dont eat by the cafe its manic). The Pizza pasta place was good enough but I didnt like it as much as Chessington's. The knights table was lovely when we went very many years back but I never seem to be there over lunchtime and I'm usually too ready for a break by lunchtime to bother heading back there.

But pushing a wheelchair with all the stuff you need for the day doesn't lend itself to taking a picnic. It also tends to be knackering so that by lunch you need a decent sit down. So what we do by necessity may not be what you might naturally choose. Its just that actually the food options are actually better than people think

We haven’t ever found queues for food either but to be honest we tend to get to the good places around 11.50 to be sure we get a table. Just makes it all a lot less stressful!!

Ws try to go to mini lake mid afternoon where the kids love looking at the Lego model trains and boats while we get a cuppa and eat the snacks we’ve been carrying round in the buggy 😆

Mini lake? I meant mini land!!

At the moment they aren't doing buggy hire due to covid, and the Qbot system isn't the same as it used to be either. I think you have to do it on the app now?

We've got a break booked in June, you don't get the hour before the park opens any more either which is a shame.

We've got Dd to pick a ride for each day she really wants to go on, we'll make a beeline for it first thing and hopefully get on each one at least once. We're taking a picnic for the first day to eat in the queues. Second day we will have to eat at the park, but we've done the pizza and pasta place and it's not that bad.

Hopefully the weather will be good enough that we can do the duplo splash thing. But it has to be booked in advance.

I hadn't thought about staying right until the last knockings though. I will definitely plan to have dinner a bit later and stay as late as we can in the park!

Oh a quick covid thought. We went to Drayton when they reopened last summer and I was glad I had bought little fabric masks for the kids - they were really good about wearing them even at 8 and 5 and me and so wore ours too. We also took sanitizer and used it between rides. Just made me feel more relaxed as sometimes people got quite close in the queues and I’m a stress head!

We only used the masks in the really busy queues but it made me feel better! I’d say around a third of families were wearing them

This is a useful thread! Thanks! We are looking to go this summer as DD1(7) will love it and DD2 - who will be nearing 1 by then - won’t care where we go really as long as it’s brightly coloured.

I had been planning to book the castle hotel but it seems the resort hotel is the one with the pool. Is that right?

@FizzyPink

Let them eat all the crap food on offer instead of taking packed lunches. That would have made my year as a child

God, yes! Seeing all the other children with their bag of warm donuts and chips made my bag of salt ‘n’ shake crisps (that my mother took the salt out of!!) feel even sadder. I get now that the food is mega expensive so my parents didn’t want to spend the money on that when it could have paid for something better but child me would have loved it!

Whichever hotel you stay at, you can (at least in pre covid times you could), use the facilities/ restaurant at the other hotel. They're less than 5 minutes walk apart.

We chose the castle hotel as my son was a Harry Potter fan and they have a wizard floor (and something else, can't remember). However I think the other hotel would have been just as fun. The other hotel had evening entertainment for children too.

You had to pre-book a swimming pool slot in any event.

The castle hotel is marginally closer to the pre-opening barrier (for hotel guests) so if you're determined to be first in the queue.

If you're tired, the "train" which goes around the park is a good way to have a break!

Have fun!

@thrownunderthebus

We’re planning to go for two nights. You get one day ticket with each booking and we’re paying to go in the park for a second day too. We’re booking our day tickets for the second and third days of our trip so we can make the most of the hotel for the first evening as check in is 4pm and checkout is 10am.

I love reading these LEGOLAND threads !
I always get a warm fuzzy glow...
It was over 10 years since i suprised my boys with a 2 day trip there..
But we still laugh and talk about it .
Csnt really help on the practicalities now ...

But ..I did buy the "official" photos they take going down rollercoster and laser warrior and stuff.
Ues expensive .? 10 but frame was included..

10 years later we look at them and laugh and they have not faded .
I knew we would not go again so splashed out .
Set you budget ...and double it !

Hope you have a lovely time .

@thrownunderthebus

So the lego Hotel outside of the park is best as it has pool and restaurant? How do we get to the park? 3 yr old is just a bit too big for the buggy but she hasn't had her little legs tested on a BIG DAY OUT....I'm so excited about how excited they'll be!

I'm a bit confused by this (but may be my lack of understanding). Pre covid, we went to Legoland every year as part of a corporate day out. The hotel had a huge restaurant and pool (and a dragon by the entrance) and we went out of the back door straight into the park (near the ride that's a bit like jet skis going round in circles). Having just googled it, it was the Legoland Resort Hotel.

Get the q bots definitely. The kids were excited about using this to queue the next ride up.

They don’t do q bots any more
By the look of it. It’s reserve and ride now. I’m not sure how that works? Is it the same?
£75 extra to reserve the ride with the normal wait time. £150 to reserve the ride with 50% less wait time. £300 extra to reserve the ride with up to 90% wait time.
But that’s up to?? So could he way less than the 90%?
Don’t get how it works

The normal reserve and ride holds your place in the queue for the amount of time it takes everyone else to queue and let’s you know when you can go and get on. One reservation at a time but you can go and do something else.

The half time one would call you at half the time of the normal queue and the most expensive calls you almost instantly.

@BeingATwatItsABingThing you might already know this. We're staying 1 night so you get 1 days park tickets. When I booked there is an option to add another day for £5 per person. We were going to use our Clubcard vouchers for the second day ticket but we didn't need to. It's on the extras page when you book.

[quote Florencenotflo]@BeingATwatItsABingThing you might already know this. We're staying 1 night so you get 1 days park tickets. When I booked there is an option to add another day for £5 per person. We were going to use our Clubcard vouchers for the second day ticket but we didn't need to. It's on the extras page when you book. [/quote]
Thank you. Yeah, I did see that. I think it depends when you book and for which day on how much the extra tickets cost. It came up as £10 each on a weekday or £15 each for a Saturday in August. It’s a rip-off that you have to pay extra for it seeing as the hotel is so incredibly expensive.

Oooh. Timely thread as we are planning a short break (fingers crossed!). Never been before so was wondering if an expert can advise: weekday, in term time, with an 1m tall child (so can only do the under 5s areas), do we still need to do the reserve and ride? It seems very pricey if we aren't going to need it. I guess it will be quieter but also that it will mainly be other under 5s there!

We have tickets for two days so don't have to do everything in one day.

Also, anyone who's been since Covid-19, do we need to book and pay for a la carte menu for dinner or just book a restaurant slot. Restaurant pages just talk about booking a slot but paying £60+ for 3 people is an extra and I wasn't sure if that is the only option (I assume for a set menu?) Or if you can just order a few dishes on the day?

Definitely manage expectations. We took ds when he was 4. He cried to gp in the shop to spend his birthday money. Cried at the queues

Turned out he had a temperature and was ill for a couple of days after but it wasn't the amazing day I planned.

He's not usually such a misery.. just a one off really

@terrywynne I think I would still want a q bot thing for under 5s. Mine loved helicopter rides etc in duplo land at that age but the queues were pretty intense even for those. The train that goes all round the whole park is also a 45 minute queue if it’s busy and you don’t have the bots.

We did a two day one and did a q bot on the first day but not the second from what I remember as by the second day the kids were happier to take pot luck

@terrywynne

It may well have changed and of course it doesn't have the Lego link but under 1m it used to be the case Chessington was better especially for the budget conscious. Kids under 1m used to be free and ride for ride there were more rides they could do at Chessington than Legoland (I actually counted once). Plus the zoo. Probably not a popular opinion though

Under 1m Chessington 1m-1.2m legoland, over 1.4m depends on interests and enjoyment of big rides. It's been a while since mine were that small though so stuff may well have changed

For those planning to go when the Park reopens, be aware that indoor rides will be closed, including Ninjago, the submarine, laser raiders and the haunted house.

My top tip is to do souvenir shopping as you go, and have it sent up to the exit for collection when you leave. Having to queue to get into the Big Shop at the end of the day WILL be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.

Also, take water bottles and masks, and maybe pound shop ponchos for the wet rides. That’s cash you can spend on Lego or waffles

You're all amazing. Booking now. Not telling the DC until we're basically there as couldn't face the disappointment.

Thanks everyone. I'm so excited about how excited they are going to be 🥳

We told ours in the car, en route. We had to get up at 5am to get there in time! One my finer parenting moments.

For the price of the lego land hotel I would do two trips at different times of the year and stay in another hotel. As others have pointed out there are lots of amazing hotels near by. And if your children are like my lego mad children they are just excited about being there.

I love to spoil my kids but would limit the 'crap' food over the trip or you just end up with grumpy kids that feel sick.

We love the qbot, and if there is any chance I'd going on an inset day take it, so much nicer.

I would def save the hotel money and go twice in a year and buy lego instead 😀