Legoland - hotel night before or after?

[MikeWozniaksMohawk]

Thinking of doing the legoland hotel, but would you do it the night before the park the next day, or after being in the park all day? Our instinct was the night before so we can have an easy morning. We will have a (just turned) 2 and 6.5 yr old with us, and will be travelling from just over an hour away so it’s not necessary, just a treat.

I have often thought of this and then never booked! Hope someone can share their experience.

After so you can enjoy a full day without worrying about travelling back.

We stayed in a hotel a few mins down the road and it was fine and heap.

I would do night before- normally you can get in the park sooner and via a different entrance. We stayed in the Castle Hotel and kids loved room- food is very very over priced.

We went there last month and drove from Southampton. Didn't stay over, left early stayed late and it worked perfect for us. We have a 2 & 3 year old.

Last time we booked we got park tickets for both days included in our stay. You get early entry from the hotel entrance which is at the back of the park, I think 1 hour early.

Our usual pattern is to arrive and check in at the hotel at about 9.30 am, have a solid day in the park. Order takeaway to the hotel - the resturant is pretty grim. Play in the hotel. And the spend the next morning in the park and leave before it gets too late.

We arrived in the morning (4 hour drive so early get up), did the full day there then stayed that night. We had the fast passes so got most rides done but got up ready for the early open ring for hotel guests the next day to do the rides that weren’t included in the fast pass. Back to the hotel for swimming then left for home about 11. It was really good to just be able to walk to the hotel after a long day

Oh and we just got a pizza from the bar to the room, it was about a tenner and we really enjoyed it!

We've always done set off early from home, full day at park, hotel, early morning return.

Return to the park, not home

We drove early, went to the park, checked into hotel at the end of the day, had dinner at the restaurant and slept over, had breakfast, had a swim and then did a shorter day at the park and went home. It worked out great! Kids loved the pirate room!

We are just back! Stayed the night before and booked the pool, you could check in at 4 which we did, so we got the maximum time out of the hotel. We had breakfast then were ready for the park opening, but hotel guests weren't allowed in any earlier. We did come in at the back though, so this meant we got to rides in that area while it was quiet. We thought the kids would get more out of the hotel experience if we did it that way around. We also stayed in the Castle Hotel which was expensive but kids loved it.

Thanks all. Looks like it works well either way based on the comments! They aren’t offering 2 days worth of tickets at the moment for the dates we are looking at

We did Legoland last week. I would say stay over the night after if you can't go both days. We went one day, stayed over, and went to the park the next morning for a half day and went home.

We’re going in a couple of weeks, not to a legoland hotel though. We’ve chosen to go down the night before, stay over then have the whole day in the park then drive home.

Separate question. Does anyone know if you can get a cot in the room?

It always seems to be crazy in the car park at closing time. People arrive in dribs and drabs, but everyone seems to leave at once so we stay over the night afterwards to avoid queuing. Also, it means that we can get wet on the water rides and not worry about sitting in the car in wet clothes.

The on resort hotels can take a cot in all their rooms (it's buried in their FAQs). There's also a truckle bed that pulls out from under the bunk beds as another option. Not sure if they can provide a cot, (we didn't need one) but they are generally have lots of child friendly touched- as you would expect! - so may do.

Hi, I’d stay at the hotel the day before, and do the park next day as you can do the Lego bricks dinner next character meet, and the pool if you check in at 4pm. Doing that after the park would be exhausting. (If you get there at say 3.15pm the kids can play in the outdoor park at the hotel while you are queuing to check in). Also you get the fun of anticipation for the park next day.

If you can get your 2 y.o. to sleep in a buggy, then you can really drag out the fun next day as long as possible. Queues on a lot of rides really diminish at the very end of the day, as a lot of kids run out of steam - and don’t forget it is queues that close at 6pm, not rides, so as long as you are in a queue at 6pm you are allowed to ride. Also don’t forget that some of the bigger restaurants close really early in the afternoon so you could relax eating an early dinner, then use the energy for a final sprint round some of the rides you couldn’t get on earlier in the day.