To think that legoland might be a stressful place to visit...

[Molehillmountain]

...with three small children and my elderly parents? They want to take us and if it weren't for the fact that FC really would love to go I would say no thank you. My parents need looking after (much that they don't think so) and I am worried that it may not be the happy day they envisage. I don't want them to pay a lot of money for tickets when actually a lower key day might leave everyone feeling happy and less stressed. It sounds ungrateful even typing this, but I am sleep deprived and snappy and worry that this isn't the right time for us all to go. Or am I over thinking it? I read the thread on how to get the best out of our visit and got the feeling that military precision is required and my head is full of cotton wool. Grumpy cotton wool at that.

We went with 4 dc and tbh, it was a lot easier than I anticipated. Presumably your parents won't want to be going on the rides, so you will have plenty of adults to watch the kids or to wait with little ones while you take older ones on the bigger rides.

I would be tempted to get a 2 day ticket, and stay in a hotel overnight if you can, so you don't feel you have to squash it all into one day.

Also, take food with you - when I went it the food was disgusting and chronically overpriced.

I think you are right in that it won't be the most fun your parents have ever had.

I wonder whether we should wait until next season. Our littlest one will be older (and hopefully sleeping better) and we can book early and make a couple of days of it. It's pickling my brain just thinking about it. No doubt dh will win me round...

It depends how mobile they are and how helpful they can be. It's on a steep hill so only for those capable of doing some serious walking, but might they be able to take smaller DCs on gentle rides while you take the older on the bigger ones?

I think it would be fine -although there is no way my parents would go -but if they want to - why not?
there are quite a few low key things - like mini-land and the the duplo world
I took my older one 6 on my own and met some friends - how old are your DCs -I would say its best for 3 and up.
you can lots of deals which cuts the cost alot - 2for1 or tesco vouchers
is it a long drive -that would be only thing
agree about the food - and if you got early and weather isn't that good the queus are shorter

Are your children at school? Can you go on a weekday during term time? That would make it a lot less busy. We had annual passes for Alton Towers last year and when we went on inset days we had a great time as we didn't queue for anything.

Not sure if Legoland do it but can you hire mobility scooters for your parents? That would mean they didn't have to walk and they could carry a picnic, drinks, coats etc for you.

It isn't very big but there is a fair amount of walking and as someone else mentioned you do have to go up / down a steep hill as part of it. There is a new hotel there where you can walk out of the hotel into the park. You may get a good deal on a weeknight there as the season is ending. Then you wouldn't have to load up into a car, could spread your visit over 2 days and have somewhere to rest.

Depends on the age of the children and the fitness of the grandparents. If it means you will have an adult per child, that sounds fab, but really only if the GPs are able to stand and wait in a queue for 40 mins at a time. The older the children are, the more attracted they are to rides with the bigger queues. If they are very little, then they might not be tall enough to go on a lot of the rides. The site is on a hill, and - if you pay full price - it's an expensive day out, so you'd want to be there all day to get your money's worth, and that might be too much for parents "who need looking after". OTOH, if one can hold the place in the queue, while another takes the desparate child to the toilet or whatever, that would be a help. Or, as someone else said, if you can take them when Bucks schools are in school, then it's a lot quieter.

As expensive day outs go I think legoland is quite a relaxing one and good for young children and probably quite good for elderly parents too as you dont have to queue for everything there's loads you can do without queues and overall the crowds there are not too bad. I think it would be alright.

I hadn't thought about the ratios and how we could then divide up. I guess our three year old and seven year old will want to do different things so even if both gps took one and we took the other it would still be a very favourable ratio (the one year old won't voice an opinion!). I reckon it could be okay.

This is making me feel a lot better. I guess we should just go with the attitude that we won't see everything and it's actually better value to have a sensibly paced day that everyone enjoys than rushing around trying to get our money's worth. Do any of you know whether the queues at the ticket place are horrendous if you're trying to use two for one vouchers? I assume my parents can get two for one if one of them doesn't claim a seniors discount?

Normally we have fun at legoland. We have an annual pass as we live close by. We take a picnic, put a limit on the number of rides we will queue for and go watch all the shows, play in the playgrounds. My kids love looking round miniland and also playing in the waterpark. Take swimming costumes and also print a map beforehand to find out the showtimes...

But... we tried to go today and it was a horrible experience. I'd forgotten it's a bank hol so decided to go for a few hours this afternoon... Big mistake! Roads were backed up to Windsor and we couldn't get out of the queue. After nearly an hour in the traffic jam we arrived at the legoland roundabout to be told, as I suspected Legoland was FULL and they werent letting anyone else in. Cue sobbing kids! Moral of the story never go on a bank holiday!

rainyafternoon

I went with tesco vouchers - got there about 9.45 - no queue - but it was end of june and not that good forcast

That's encouraging, another name. I wonder-we have two for one vouchers. Can my dad pay full whack in order to get a free entry for my mum? Or will they be as rude as to question his age? He is a youthful looking 79 but I imagine he doesn't look under 65!

I've been many times with a friend and five under 6s between us and it's been absolutely fine. To be honest I would be more worried about your parents. It's a big site with lots of walking and standing around in queues. I wouldn't take my MIL, who is 68.

It can be very very busy in the holidays. Might be better to go on a weekend in term time or if you can afford it qbots make a busy day a lot more bearable.

Queues can be awful to get tickets on busy days in school holidays, yes. Problem is it's kind of hard to predict how busy it will be. If you go before the end of the holidays and the kids aren't used to queuing for things, particularly the 3yo, it could possibly be a miserable experience.

Rainyafternoon, we've been on a May bank holiday Monday before and it was empty, much to our surprise! Which I guess just goes to show that it's very hard to know how busy it's going to be before you get there... Sorry you had such a bad time today.