Can I take a picnic or will I have to buy the food available at the park?
Yes you can. I would suggest you eat the picnic whilst watching the Pirate Show (12pm, 1pm, 2pm are showtimes)
I've got 2 for 1 vouchers out of the paper but wonder whether to get the Qbot tickets as well.
It can be very hard to know. Some days are more busy than others. For example I went yesterday and it was reasonable, didn't even need to queue at all for some rides (walked straight onto Fairy Tale Brook and "Big Green Train").
I've never got Qbot. I feel it really comes down to how busy it is on the day itself, how long you are prepared to queue.
As you have a voucher, you will need to queue up at the ticket booths on arrival. The queues there can be long, so get to the park early... I would suggest around 9am. If you get through ticketing before 9.30am you can get a coffee from Pit Stop cafe, look around the Lego Shop, or just wait by the Lego Dinosaurs.
Should I plan a route or just wander aimlessly when I get there?
A route is useful especially if your DS has things he particularly wants to do - as you can then do them first early on in the day when the queues are likely to be shorter. Also there are ride height restrictions - most 6 year olds should be ok on every ride but it will depend on his height.
If it is of help, I did a guide for a parent who had two young children recently (one child was under 1m but over 0.9m). You could adapt this to suit you and your son. As you are 1 adult, 1 child and he's likely to be over 1m tall there are some other rides you can do, such as Dino Safari, Rocket Racers (good if it's raining), Viking River Splash (if it's nice and sunny, you get rather wet), The Dragon (rollercoaster), Dragon's Apprentice (a smaller rollercoaster), Knight's Quest, Laser Raiders (long queue time often so do it early on), Boating School, Driving School (he does this on his own - 6yr old I cared for yesterday didn't want to do it as would be on his own).
Look at the Legoland Website and get him to pick what rides he considers he may like and rank them in order of favourites, then see the ride locations on the interactive map so you can plot a route between the favourite rides for the morning, ending up at the harbour for Lunch at 12, 1 or 2pm.
Rides
Longboat Invader, Spinning Spider
Scarab-bouncers, Desert Chase, Aero Nomad
Orient Expedition, Atlantis Submarine Voyage
Boating School, Balloon School, Fire Academy
Fairy Tale Brook, Duplo Train, Sky Rider
I would strongly suggest avoiding Fire Academy, it's hard work on the adult!
I would suggest the following route might be good for you based on the
above rides.
From entrance, head to Pit Stop Cafe and take the path down the hill
to Land of the Vikings.
Go past River Splash and follow the path down to Longboat Invader.
Longboat Invader is a boat ride which swings back and forth and turns
around.
Next go to Spinning Spider which is just a short way down the path.
There are toilets near should they be needed.
Next make your way to Atlantis Submarine Voyage. From Spinning Spider
go up the path towards the Lego City but keep on going past Hill Train
and then down past Fire Academy. Then take the path next to Boating
School and go under the bridge and then over the railway. Queues for
Atlantis can be very long as it is a new ride but the ride can take
over 1000 people an hour, so the queue even at it's longest will
typically only be max of 40 minutes. We have queued from the toilet
block (down the hill from Atlantis) and have queued for around 35mins
from that point. The ride is constantly moving, so do not take
anything on it with you except essentials like a sun hat, drink, snack
<ul><li>queue line is outdoors. Boarding the submarine can be scary for
</li></ul>
young children, so be prepared to tell them to get a move on down the
steps. The best view is from the seats immediately to the left or
right of the steps, not the ones around the back. You don't get a lot
of choice where to sit alas when it's busy.
Depending what time it is, make your way to Lego City harbour for the
Pirate Stunt Show (12pm, 2pm, 4pm - with extra show at 1pm during
holiday periods) or up to Duplo Theatre for the puppet show (11.30,
12.30, 2.30, 4.30 - extra at 3.30 during holiday periods). There is
just about time to get from Duplo Theatre to the Pirate Stunt Show so
if say you got to puppet show for 11.30am show, you could make the
12pm stunt show.
Watching the shows can be a good opportunity to have a snack / packed
lunch. There is limited shade at the harbour, so if sunny make sure
lots of sun cream on. We typically try to sit on the top steps on
the left side, thus under cover of some trees. Also means I'm near
the buggy as that can't be taken down the steps.
Next head to Duplo. Fairy Tale Brook, Duplo Train and the playground
are all things you may wish to do.
From Duplo you can continue up the hill to MiniLand and look at the models.
If it is wet, head up to the Build & Test workshops, though if they
are open is dependent on if they are being used by pre-booked groups
such as schools/cubs/brownies etc.
From MiniLand you could head down towards Kingdom of the Pharaohs and
do Desert Chase (merry-go-round) and possibly Aero Nomad (tends to
have quite a long queue).
Scarab-Bouncers the 3 year old I care for likes to watch but not go
on, so you may younger children may not want to go on it - take a
look, it's in the big tent via the right entrance.
At any stage when you feel the need for a rest and to let the children
run about, go to Pirates Training Camp. Head towards the wooden
structure and slightly to the left, so you go under and round to the
back where there are wooden boats to play on. It has recycled car
tyres underneath so not great to sit on though does cushion any fall.
When it is time to leave either take the hill train, or walk up the
hill past Land of Vikings. It's quite steep but much faster than
going via MiniLand.
Ticketing - there are various ticket schemes, such as Tesco Clubcard
Reward Vouchers and other discount tokens. Tokens will need to be
exchanged at the ticket booth (and you will need a carpark ticket £2).
For Tesco Vouchers at busy times there may be someone going down
queue lines at the booths who can exchange the voucher for a ticket -
you can then buy carpark ticket as you leave from Guest Services.
If not using any vouchers of any kind, then use Print At Home facility
on the Legoland Website to print your tickets (and car park ticket) so
that you don't then need to queue at the ticket booths. Print At Home
sheets work in the turnstyles.