We went this weekend, DD's school had inset on Friday so we had park tickets for Friday and Saturday and spent Fri and Sat nights in the hotel on site. Doing it this way meant that we left this morning after check out at 10am which is when most people are arriving. We did the same last year and I will always do it this way from now on. The bus leaving Legoland is almost empty during the day as most people wait until the end to leave and the traffic is horrendous then too. When we left this morning the traffic coming off the M4 on the way into Windsor just looked like a nightmare. Nose to tail all the way back to the motorway exit and beyond. I was so glad to be going in the opposite direction.
We have done 5 or 6 visits to Legoland over the last 3 years, some day trips and 2 stays at the hotel since it opened. Once in an adventure room and once in a kingdom room. On this visit though for the first time I caved in and bought q-bots - 'just' the regular ones and probably, reluctantly, I have to say the best 60 quid I have ever spent. No way could I have coped with queueing for hours in 30 degrees with a 6 year old and 4 year old. The q-bots saved my sanity despite thinking it's a ridiculous system.
On Friday we didn't q-bot as I thought we could do the rides with the shorter queues and other non-queuey type stuff and then save the bigger rides for Sat with q-bots.
So, on Friday we did:
Atlantis - no wait
Dino Safari - no wait
Swings - no wait
4D cinema to see Chima
Laser Riders - 10 min wait
Spinning Spider - 10 min wait
Jolly Rocker - 10 min wait
Pirate show - which I was a bit 'meh' about to be honest although it seems popular with others
DCs played in pirate play area and in water play area which I think was better laid out the way it was before
Fairy tale brook - no wait and is lovely now with the upgrade
Driving school - 5 min wait
Fire academy - 5 min wait
Loki's labyrinth
Sky rider - 15 min wait
Longboat invader - 10 min wait
Swim in hotel pool
On Saturday the queues were awful and more and more people just kept surging down that hill. I heard one member of staff say that they had been taken by surprise on the Friday as there were the biggest crowds that day so far for 2013. They kept the park open an hour later than scheduled on both Fri and Sat.
On Saturday we started with another swim in the pool early and had the pool to ourselves for about 15 mins. Then, armed with q-bots we did:
Atlantis again - no queue at all
Squid surfer twice
Jolly Rocker twice
Pirate falls twice
Viking River splash twice
Spinning spider twice
Longboat invader
Dragon's apprentice twice
Wandered around the Star Wars display
Scarab bouncers
Went to Big Shop in the middle of the day -do NOT leave till the end when the park closes
Balloon school
We didn't manage to do the boating school this time as every time we tried the queue was 60 mins+.
We squeezed in another swim in the morning before breakfast and again not busy at all then.
I feel thoroughly Legolanded out now for this year and despite thinking that I would not cope with the heat we did ok with plenty of water/hats/cream. And the water rides definitely helped to cool down. Did get bumped around quite a bit on the viking river splash ride though, DS bumped his head and DD and I both managed somehow to cut our arms.
And one other tip. When we stayed in the hotel last year we had dinner in the hotel restaurant which is pricey. Especially for young children who don't really grasp the idea of all you can eat buffets. This time we ate in the Skyline bar which I hadn't realised before did food and is much better value IMO and not more expensive than any other bog-standard place in London.
Also last year I bought 2 tubs of popcorn for the DCs from Legoland which I have kept in a kitchen cupboard, including lids. This year I dug them out and took home-made popcorn in a big tupperware box which we took in the suitcase and topped up last year's tubs each day.
Good luck everyone!