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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

AIBU and a misery guts? Legoland

133 replies

notsohippychick · 28/10/2017 18:57

Ok, so arranged a day out at Legoland yesterday. I was able to get free tickets as my son is disabled via charity, so that was fabulous.

Off we trundled, full of excitement and hope! Its 2 hr and 40 min drive however it took us 5 hours!!!!!!!! M25 was a nightmare as part of it was closed!!

Got there - queued for our tickets. Of course the 'BIG LEGO' shop is in full view of the queuing area, which caused a bit of hassle before we had even got in.

To cut a long and very stressful story short, I hated every minute of it - the queues, the crowds, the insanely overpriced ice cream. I was so disappointed that id imagined this unforgettable day out, didn't live up to expectation. Never ever again. My son loved the mini lego village and luckily there was fireworks that night which was a huge saving grace!

I just didn't 'get it' - I didn't understand the fascination, and it didn't give me the 'wow factor', but then I'm not a child! This morning I calculated what it would have cost to enter with day tickets. £150 for three of us, and my 2 year old would have got in free. That doesn't include parking but did include an advanced booking discount. I was horrified!!!!!

However, on the positive side it has taught me that my son is quite a simple soul, he wasn't really interested in the rides, or the weird dancing Master Wu. He'd much prefer to kick a ball around a field or paddle in the sea. I'm trying to put it down to experience!

So this leads me to this question, when have you been disappointed by a day out you've had so much hope for?

OP posts:

Vanillaradio · 28/10/2017 19:54

I wanted to go to Legoland desperately as a child and have planned to take ds pretty much since he was born but threads like this are putting me off a lot.....
Agree with the Paultons Park love, Peppa Pig world is very well done and plenty in the rest of the park too (We went in the dinosaur safari three times in a row!) ds has not stopped talking about it since.
We live near to Thomas Land so have been there quite a lot and would also recommend!

Original poster

notsohippychick · 28/10/2017 19:56

UterusUterusGhali Oh no! That terrible!

OP posts:

MrLovebucket · 28/10/2017 19:57

My children are grown up now but I wasn't overly enamoured by our visit to Legoland (many many years ago).

Paulton's Park was much better as long as your children are 12 and under. Older children would be better off with Alton Towers or Thorpe Park if they like the fast rides.

Rudgie47 · 28/10/2017 20:01

The Grassington Cristmas Market, beyond hard sell, never again and the public transport is rubbish so I was stuck there for hours.The people running this will probably be involved with Pyramid selling as well.
The Bradford Museum of Film, Photography and T.V an absolute shithole.
Seeing Les Mis on Broadway, I wanted to see Sandra Bernhard but was lumbered with this instead. To make matters worse it was sung in French!

Montsti · 28/10/2017 20:03

I took my kids to Legoland in July but it was before most of the UK schools had broken up (we live abroad) and we all loved it but we only queued for max 25 mins for a couple of rides...

Plainlycrackers · 28/10/2017 20:04

Legoland was awful. We took our DC a few years ago, admittedly DS was on the old side but having not been before I wasn’t aware of that and he was a Lego fanatic... what a complete waste of time (traffic horrendous) and money... even with the half price vouchers... anything aimed at older Lego users was closed and only available to school parties anyway and the place was tatty. Bits of the Lego models in the village/world were broken as well as really dirty... even if I had just had younger children with me I would have still been really disappointed and felt ripped off... we struggled to stretch the visit to last more than a couple of hours (plus huge queuing times for crappy rides!). People say Chester Zoo is expensive but we can spend the entire day there & not run out of things to look at etc and it cost less! It definitely deterred me from visiting other entertainment destinations.

SocksRock · 28/10/2017 20:05

Mine wanted to go this half term. I priced it up, including the qbots, and then took the kids to the Lego shop in MK, spent about the same on lego and a meal out, got home, and they’ve spent 2 solid days building and playing with the Lego we bought. Much much better plan in my opinion!

peachy94 · 28/10/2017 20:09

We went to Legoland August bank holiday weekend for 2 days (were from Manchester) and although it was packed and there were lots of queues and we had a 3 month old in tow we had a really good time. DS is obsessed with Lego and he absolutely loved it so if your DS wasn’t bothered I understand why it was underwhelming

anotherprosecco · 28/10/2017 20:10

Hated Disneyland in California, one day was enough, food was terrible. Universal in Los Angeles was 100% better.

RebeccaWrongDaily · 28/10/2017 20:12

i think we got off lightly, went in July, didn't queue more than 20 mins (had free tickets) weather was lovely, we did plan the day to make sure we were there as it opened and then headed right for the corner with the submarine thing and then the driving thing, and we stayed until it closed, kids spent a couple of hours in the water play bit too and then we had lunch by the pirates show. I'm contemplating going again?? :D

Original poster

notsohippychick · 28/10/2017 20:13

peachy94

He loves Lego and he was 'bothered' and very excited to go. He has ASD so struggled with the idea of the rides. As I said he loved the Mini Legoland.

OP posts:

Pearlsaringer · 28/10/2017 20:14

We went to Dismaland when it opened in Weston super Mare. We were hoping to be bored senseless but sadly we had a brilliant time.

c3pu · 28/10/2017 20:19

Theme parks are awesome, but I never ever go there when it's busy (i.e. school hols or weekends) as it's just not enjoyable.

I always go on an inset day instead. Took my eldest to Thorpe park now he's 1.4m for a birthday treat, we got on every big ride about 4 times, longest we had to queue for was 15 minutes.

My ex took him in the school hols, had to queue for hours on end and had a thoroughly shit time by all accounts 😂

Haint · 28/10/2017 20:20

Yup. Shit.

What really pissed me off was that the rides were shit. Really really shit. I get they have to be age appropriate but they were just shit. And short.

And I fucking hate that those well off enough to cough up can jump the queue.

MrLovebucket · 28/10/2017 20:23

Oh I really wanted to go to Dismaland @Pearlsaringer

Cakescakescakes · 28/10/2017 20:23

Another vote for Thomasland. It is excellent and was pure magic for my DC - especially my DS who is a little bit older but has ASD and is still Thomas mad. It was such a special experience for him.

Grumpbum · 28/10/2017 20:26

My 7 yr old is desperate to go to legoland however we took him when he was 4 and thought it was shit. We have Paultons membership and go a couple of times a month and maybe once after school a month I think he’ll be disappointed and I’ll be pissed off and broke

Pearlsaringer · 28/10/2017 20:28

@MrLovebucket Very much worth the £3 entry fee AND we got to queue for three hours to get in! The only thing that could have made it better would have been shit weather and revolting over-priced food. Disappointed on both counts.

elliejjtiny · 28/10/2017 20:31

I've been a few times, never again. Last time was with my disabled son. He could only go on 2 rides, I ended up taking him on that Lego friends train about 10 times. At least then we could jump the queue but they've changed the rules now and they do free q bots for the people who can't queue. My son wouldn't understand that and it's not worth it when you can only go on 2 rides anyway.

SpotAGuillemot · 28/10/2017 20:33

Anyone that missed out on Dismaland - Dreamland in Margate is still open and is a very close approximation.

Sarahjconnor · 28/10/2017 20:33

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Fitzsimmons · 28/10/2017 20:37

Legoland in Dubai is amazing. Such a shame the UK version is so shit in comparison. The Dubai version really demonstrates how it could be done so much better.

CatkinToadflax · 28/10/2017 20:42

The Denmark Legoland is brilliant too. It probably helped that we went in U.K. half term, which evidently wasn’t school holiday time in Denmark, so it was very very quiet. We had freebie tickets and priority passes due to my son’s disability and we didn’t have to queue at all. We stayed at the Lego hotel and they couldn’t have treated us better.

Useful to know that the Windsor one is crap, we’ll go back to Denmark instead I think!

BuggertheTabloids · 28/10/2017 20:45

Thanks for the advice everyone!
Mine have been desperate to go for about 2 years so I think we will still have to go for it. I am not a theme park fan at the best of times but at least it's an inset day for half the country so I live in hope!
I have however agreed with DH that if for some reason they don't honour our cheap entrance then we will have to say to the kids it will have to be another time as there is no way I am paying £180 for a day of misery.
And the Qbot thing really irritates me! Not planning on that. I fully expect to get fleeced in the gift shop however.......
And will brace myself for rush hour driving

GruffaloPants · 28/10/2017 20:46

@BuggertheTabloids we went in the summer with a 2 day pass and no q bot thing. We were with DDs aged 6 and 1. Best bit for us was the area aimed at younger ones. In there DD1 (the 6yo) loved the live theatre shows, the fairytale brook, the little train, the water park and the duplo helicopter ride. No significant queuing for any of these. Bring kids' swimwear and towels if for the water park, we were glad we did as the adjacent shop was expensive.

DD also enjoyed the driving school - queues for that weren't bad. She and DP queued for an hour for ninjago. They had stuff to amuse kids along part of the queue route, which was helpful. The ride itself was short and ok, rather than amazing. She liked Olivia's House in the lego friends area, though it seemed pretty dull to me! The Star Wars exhibit was also a winner, though looked a bit tired to adult eyes.

I wouldn't rush back, but was glad we went as DD was so keen and we enjoyed day 2 (torrential rain on day 1 was a pain as there is very little indoors).

I would say take your time, don't have a fixed agenda for what to do, being some food and snacks as the stuff on offer isn't great and is overpriced.

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