To go to Legoland in July

[ImagineJL]

Firstly, apologies for the inappropriate use of AIBU, but I have tried posting in "chat" and only got a couple of replies before my thread disappeared off the bottom of the page.

I need to get this booked and wanted some opinions first.

DS's school finishes on July 12th - Leicestershire - a week before most other counties as far as I can tell. So I always take that first week off work and try to do things that are really crowded for the rest of the holidays. This year I'd thought of trying Legoland.

I realise it'll still be busy with pre-schoolers and school trips, but am I right in thinking it won't be horrendously unbearable as it apparently is during the main holiday season?

I'll get our tickets with Tesco vouchers so that won't cost me anything, but I need to book a hotel, so obviously there'll some financial outlay, and I want to be as sure as I can that it'll be worth it, and not a day of constant queueing.

Has anyone had any experience of going at this time?

Thank you.

I don't have experience and I was going to say you're incredibly brave..but you're a week ahead of the rest of the country (hello from fellow, Leics. dweller!)

I'd chance it.

I think you will be fine going at that time of year on a weekday. There might be some school trips around and obviously the pre schoolers, but unless you go on a day where the weather is awful, it won't get much better than that.

It will be better than going in term time, but its pretty much hell at any time IMO. Long queues for all rides, expensive food and gift shops etc etc.
DDs have always enjoyed it though - they don't seem to mine queuing 90 mins for a 90 second ride.

I think it will still be very busy. School trips and private schools breaking up. The best time to go is a rainy day.

Get a q bot and you won't need to queue

I wouldn't go in july, aug or sep but that's because I hate wasps and LL becomes waspland during those months.

We went this weekend and it was lovely. When we went in late july 2 years ago I was horrified at the wasps, there are a lot of food/drink stands dotted about and there were swarms of the bloody things. I felt so sorry for the staff working on the stalls they were being attacked every time they served anything.

I think they've sorted the wasp problem

I went with pre-schooler DD in July last year. As it turned out, it was a bit of a rainy day. Seemed to be a lot of Scottish/NI folks there, they said their schools broke up earlier too?

Anyway, yes there were queues but it was doable. The weather probably had something to do with it though!

Edinburgh and Glasgow schools finish up in last week of June! Could be full of Scots!

I hope so! It was unbearable when we went 2 years ago that's why we went earlier in the year this time!

It will be very busy. We're home educators and I went once then thinking it would still be quiet. Evety private school child in the country seemed to have had the same idea! The queues were long.
Having said that, I went one day in August once with a friend and that was 20x worse! We only got about 4 rides all day. So if you are going at all over the summer, it'll still probably be your best bet.

It will be better than the middle of summer holidays, but I wouldn't expect it to be quiet. There are loads of private school kids on hol then and I think Scottish hold have started too, I've certainly noticed lots of Scottish accents when we've been about that time.

Wasps were horrendous two years ago but fine last year, barely saw one.

If you get there first thing you can do quite a few rides before it gets really, really busy. That's what we've always done. It's a shame to miss out on theme parks if you can only go during the school holidays. If you're spending a couple of days there you'll be able to do everything.

Midweek, arrive first thing in the morning (9:30am), plan with military precision, and milk the no-queue attractions for all they're worth and you'll be fine. I do Legoland regularly like that and it's perfectly enjoyable even though I have a violent hatred of queues and a child with ASD. The key is to get three of the big queueing activities over and done with before 11am and then spend the rest of the time pootling around seeing shows, looking at Miniland and going on the gentler rides.

Thank you.

Squeaky we'll be staying in a hotel nearby (although not the mega expensive on-site hotel) so should be able to get there early. Which rides would you recommend we go for first ie the ones that become impossible later?

There's a huge Legoland top tips thread in Days Out each year - can't link ATM but it will tell you everything. There's about a dozen "Big Rides", and which ones you should prioritise depends on your DCs' preferences: wet, scary, interactive, themed etc.

I think "boating school" is a very popular one
So is the "laser raiders" ride in the the Kingdom of the Pharoahs.