legoland windsor is overpriced, overcrowded and dirty

[crumpledinside]

And overrun by wasps.

I'd seen maybe 4 or 5 wasps all summer until our trip to legoland today. Then had wasps on me and the kids all day with dd getting stung. The toilets were rank, the entry fee was massive, the markup on everything was huge and it was so seethingly full of people you couldn't go on tbe rides after midday and could hardly move in the play areas. The lego models looked weathered and tatty, and seemed to be an afterthought on many attractions.

That's £££ I won't be spending again.

Forget it.

We've just come back from Efteling in Holland.

Converted £40 Tesco vouchers into £160 worth of chunnel crossing, so only had to pay petrol to travel there. Lots of nice accommodation near by (we stayed in their holiday village - which was really good fun - but it would clearly be cheaper to stay off site).

Charm coming out of every corner. All the staff speak English, and if you get chatting to them they all seem to have stories about coming to Efteling when they were kids themselves. We stayed four days, and virtually every single person that served us seemed to really take pride in the place.

The longest we waited for any ride was an hour - but much less if you went in the mornings - so we scheduled our day accordingly. Proper loop the loopers, spooky pirate rollercoasters, 'worlds biggest wooden rollercoaster'.

Where they really outdid themselves was in catering for the under 5s. Lots and lots of themed areas where they could explore. This is so much more restful with younger children than queuing for rides.

I can go on and on about what a nice place it is! For example, the catering: one evening we ate in a pasta restaurant with a soft play attached 'PandaDroom'. About 10Euro for adult pasta and 7Euro for a kids pasta & drink. Not cheap - but not dreadful for freshly made theme park food. Then a charming extra: if the kids bring clean plates back to the counter, they're exchanged for clean souvenir melamine bowls. They're doing their own gift shop out of business!

Then another night we paid more - I think maybe 20Euros per head for the adults. This was a restaurant attached to their live show. This got you a roast chicken and vegetables in the middle of the table, a bottle of wine on the table, various salami type nibble, a kids entertainer who took the kids off and organised them to sing songs to give the grown ups a break earn their supper. Lovely atmosphere, good food with the kids occupied, overlooking the show setting up.

Until my children are old enough to go by themselves - I just can't be bothered with the cynicism and aggravation of the Merlin attractions. Dutch charm all the way for me.

I would rather have root canal treatment without anaesthetic than go to Legoland again.

Root canal treatment twice evidently .

I've already ordered Qbots, my boys are older (6,8) but young for their age. They don't like scary rides at all so I figured LL would suit. I've been reading up on all the six billion Mn threads about it so hopefully it will be ok it's our only time together this year what with DP's workload.

You will be fine with Qbots.

It's a wonderful place. Get there early... no queues to get in and the rides aren't too bad in the morning. Go on inset days... quieter. Use Tesco vouchers and buy one get one free passes... not too expensive. Take a picnic... no need to buy food (although the free refill drinks are brilliant and you get a straw cup thingy to keep. Woohoo!). Don't go if you want to spend the day on rides. Just gawp amazedly at the incredible mini-world and star wars when the rides get too busy, and go to the pirate playground thingy which was dead quiet when we were there. Oh and do NOT miss the pirate show which is incredible.

The place is bound to charge as much as they can get away with for food, drinks and those dreadful fairground games as they know you're a captive audience, so just beat the system and don't buy stuff! Oh, we did have a go on the hook a duck though and 'won' a very cute dragon which probably cost about 20p to make. Mugs!

I didn't find it dirty or tired at all but maybe I have low expectations. Oh and don't leave until late so you miss all the queues to leave. We had an absolutely fantastic day and my ds was in heaven.

The thing about q bots is the cost. I had already paid 120 quid to go in to the park and park the car and for a family of 6 the q bots would be another 90 quid. And that's the basic version that don't reduce queue time. For the middle version it would have set us back 240 quid. That's my budget for entertainment for the entire summer holidays

we went start of holidays. used tesco vouchers and cereal coupons. arrived early and left late so used both ends of day for longest queue rides. just walked on about 6 key rides this way. took own food. didn't find it dirty. its easier to do all this with older kids than toddlers of course. so we found it okay and kids had great time

I would only do it Sleepwouldbe nice, way (if I could get it together that is).

But all these commercial "entertainments" for children are crap really, by definition, aren't they? Whats wrong with an ice-cream and a paddle in the sea? OR am I missing something?

p.s. all this Tesco-converting-voucher stuff, is it just me, or is it a bit creepy and materialistic? I'd rather pay a real price for something up-front that is enjoyable.

What's "creepy" about vouchers?

I think all theme parks are hell in the height of summer.

The Logo models have been there for years, so probably won't look spanking brand new.

I do think what you pay to get in should mean everything is clean, though. Especially the toilets.

Nothing creepy about vouchers.

I have my Merlin attraction vouchers saved and will be using them on the weekends next half term. You wouldn't get me going to any Merlin attractions in the summer holidays!

There is nothing wrong with a paddle in the sea. But theme parks and beaches are two different things. As is looking at famous sights such as Big Ben or the Eiffel tower.

If I had the choice of only one, though it would have to be the beach. Sadly I live very far from the beach.

Nothing wrong with a paddle in the sea but we live 25 mins from the sea so we go all the time.

I dunno, saving them up, for something rubbish in the first place. If its not good enough to justify paying full price for, its probably a waste of space.

I do think voucher-gathering is a bit creepy though, reminds me of peeps who know the price of everything and the value of nothing.

Right. So it's not mainly about people wanting to save money because they haven't got a lot then?

Well we went to Legoland for free. Thanks MNHQ

But we were going to use vouchers we had before I won the competition. I use vouchers for all sorts. 10p off milk, 50p off some beer etc.

I think if I didn't have any money, the last thing I would be doing is spending my cash on something like LEGOLAND . Maybe I would work more, or spend less, or something like that .

But I think my issue is more, that these theme parks have become entertainment centres that really are pretty rubbish. Just my opinion.

But vouchers mean we pay out aprox £80 instead of £160.

It's worth £80, to me, but not £160.

So I will keep using vouchers.

I make it well known on MN I'm not a fan of Disney. But if it only cost me a fiver to go to Disneyland for the day, I would go.

Tesco clubcard vouchers are creepy? Don't be ridiculous.

This year we have been to Legoland (admittedly not very enjoyable), Africa Alive! (fab) and had meals at Pizza Express and Ask. We save up our vouchers so we can have days out that we otherwise would not be able to enjoy.

Already saving for our ferry crossing to France next year.

What is creepy about that?

You're certainly entitled to your opinion. I was just intrigued as to how using money saving vouchers could be described as creepy and I am still none the wiser, oh well.....

Legoland is one of those places where buy-one-get-one-free vouchers are everywhere, plus people know about the Tescos thing . . . with places like this you end up feeling a fool if you pay full price. You feel as if the full price is deliberately made so ridiculously exorbitant so people will think they are getting a bargain, like the Tesco strawberries story.

By that argument, if your child found a free gift in his bowl of coco pops, you'd make them chuck it away? Because if it was a good toy he should have just bought it in a shop? Which is a totally unmaterialistic viewpoint .

Tesco vouchers work well precisely because you have a choice on your loyalty 'free gift' - so if you're not a moron, you'd presumably not choose to use them on 'rubbish' .

Full price = full satisfaction ; cheap price = mean entertainment - is that the argument?

We had a fabulous day a couple of weeks ago and can't wait to go back. We did have QBots, which made things easier. It was apparently the busiest day of the year so far (early August) and we never felt it was too crowded.

A weeks holiday in isle of wight usibg tesco vouchers I'll take creepy! What a wanky thing to say

"Work hard, spend less"

That is so offensive.

I'm not claiming to have no money. We went to Legoland because the children wanted to go and it was free, it cost me nothing. We didn't spend a penny there as we took a picnic and live within 10 miles of the place.

You obviously don't know how clubcard points work.