The LEGOLAND 2014 thread all your tips and questions answered here!!

[HRHQueenMe]

link to the 2013 thread here

Starting afresh for the new season! The new pirate playground is not yet built (what have they been doing all winter????) but the park has been pruned and tidied and looked lovely yesterday! Xbox room is still closed as well.

The new Pirate Captain Birdsnest is a bit more of an eyecandy man for us mums than last years young man, so thats an improvement, and the lovely pirate Georgie is back in all her glory, still as charming as ever!

Please add your hints and tips, and there is a few of us LL regulars who come on here and will happily answer all your questions!!

Lastly, there is a new burger joint under construction, so that will be a great improvement (as long as they keep the prices reasonable). The coffeeshop in the harbour still does great latte!

Enjoy!

THE BASICS OF A SUCCESSFUL LEGOLAND VISIT.

1. Do not pay full price at the door!! There are coupons and offers galore, and tesco vouchers are still your best bet! Annual passes are a snip with tesco vouchers as well. Look out for midweek preeschool offers too!

2. LEGOLAND is all outdoors, there is very little shelter from the cold. Bring plenty of warm clothing if you are visiting, and a change of trousers for all as the water rides get you wet. VERY WET.

3. Q bots will make your life much easier, if you can afford them GET THEM. The basic one is good enough, you dont need anything else.

4. bring FOOD, DRINK AND A PRAM. food is crap and expensive, but there are lovely lawns to picknick on, and you can picknick infront of the pirate show to maximize time. There will be lots of walking so prams are essential esp to load your picknick and wet clothes on.

5. IN SUMMER BRING SWIMMING GEAR!! the splash area is excellent, even for grownups to cool down.

6. write your mobile number on the arms of all your children, wristbands for this are available free from customer services.

7. if your toddler is under 90 cm they are limited in the number of rides they can do. If your child is borderline 90 cm get them measured at customer services, who will issue a wristband to say they are ok to ride, this will save you arguing with the attendant at every ride.

8. there are LOTS of fun to do with babies and toddlers under 90 cm, dont be put off! You can easily spend a full day having fun with baby! Everything is easily accessible with prams and I have happily BF everywhere with nothing but smiles from the staff.

9. traffic is horrible leaving at closing time. Please please follow the alternate route, it will save you about 1 hour in travel time. Upon exiting LL at the bottom of the hill TURN RIGHT TOWARDS ASCOT FOR ALL ROUTES. DO NOT BE TEMPTED TO GO LEFT TOWARDS WINDSOR IF TRAFFIC IS NOT MOVING. Turning right will take you to the M4 jct 5 in 20 mins and M25 jct 13 in 25 mins. Turning left will take you to jct 6 on the M4 in 1h+ at closing time. You have been warned!

10. have fun!!!!

Great tips HRH - thank you!

We are planning our first ever visit to LL on 9th June, which is a Monday in term time (we have an inset day). Do you think it will be quiet?

Is there a best way round to do the rides? What should we do first? My DSs are 2 and 7. The 2yo is over the 90cm height restriction.

Hi Froome! You should be fine on a monday, shouldnt be too busy!
Get there for opening time, and walk down the hill (dont take the hill train, you waste time) and head straight for boating school, then do Atlantis followed by Dino Safari. Leave Duplo land for last as its usually quiet. Atlantis is at the very bottom of the park so you can now work your way back. Plan to get to the Pirate show for 11.40 to get good seats and have lunch infront of the show. Have a good day! There are loads of good tips on last years thread if you have the time to read it!

Great tips thanks. We are going next week and I'm hoping to maximise savings on the entry by splitting up and doing two separate transactions (because none of the deals can be used together) So one adult and under three paid for using nectar points and then pay separately for one adult and one child using the Kellogg's voucher. Can anyone forsee any problems with this? Will they be bothered?
We may do this two days in a row depending how much we get done on the first day.

Can wait to go, just hoping its not too busy!

Hi Dogs! You should be fine, just go up separatly to pay noone will question it, they are used to all the coupons etc. Have fun!

If you are driving in from M4 J6 (Slough/Windsor) or M25 J13 (Staines), it is definately worth following the signed alternative route, which is longer but quicker.

It does feel like you are leaving Windsor and going around in a big circle (you are!!). Enjoy the scenic views of the Great Park, avoid the traffic jam and allow yourself a smug grin as you sweep into Legoland in front of the queues.

Can I ask another couple of questions... I did read the other thread but can't remember seeing answers to these.

Opening time is 10am. Is that literally gates open then or do they let you in earlier but just not on the rides? If so what time to get there on a hopefully quiet ish day?

Also lockers, I think I saw them mentioned on the other thread. Is it a long trek back to them? If so, is it worth getting one for change of clothes and bits.?

Hi, can I please jump in and ask a question about accommodation? We are planning on visiting on a Monday in June as we have a school inset day and as we are coming from 'oop north' we will need to stay overnight in a hotel nearby. I've had a look on the LL website and there's so many nearby doing stay and play break but I have no idea which one to choose! The LL hotel is out of budget but can anyone recommend a particular hotel?

Thank you in advance

Accomodation,
The nearest travellodge is in Windsor, 5 mins drive from LL and right in central windsor with everything on your doorstep. There is a Holiday Inn Express nearby too in Alma Road in Windsor which is ideal.
The Copthorne and Holiday inn at M4 Jct 6 are both handy too, straightforward drive to LL.
Lots of the Heathrow hotels do deals, I know a few posters last year stayed at the Premier Inn on Bath road, which has its own McDonalds and views over the runway, so quite good fun if thats your cup pf tea, but traffic is bad and its a bit of a trek.
Bracknell has several hotels, again a bit of a drive and maybe not the prettiest of towns (sorry Bracknell folks) or best location.
Slough has several hotels but is not quite the place for a holiday either.
The Slough Windsor Marriot is quite nice, its just off Jct 5 (2 mins) M4, so easy access and has a nice pool. For a quaint villagy feel there is the Manor Hotel in Datchet, or the Toby Carvery in Old Windsor do rooms, both easy access.

I'm a frequent visitor, but always happy to pick up new tips and may also be able to share some along the way.

dogs before opening you can still get your tickets and get in through the gates to the main square at the top of legoland. There are shops and a cafe and toilets. You all stay there until 10 when they open the gates to go down the hill to the park. DO NOT TAKE THE TRAIN DOWN! you will waste time, do take the train back up though!;) there are lockers, but it will be a trek to keep returning to them. They are at the top square and next to the imagination cinema.
On a busy day aim to be through the ticket barriers by 9.30. Have fun!

Dogs they let you in the main gates before 10am, you then "queue" (word very loosely applied) at the barriers to the left (better for younger ones) or right (better for older kids) to get down the hill to the fun. If you have more than one adult one can go and take care of QBots, coffees, snack etc whilst the other waits in the "queue".

There are lockers at the entrance (not easily accessible once you're down the hill) but also down by the splash park, although smaller, and you need £1 (which is swallowed) to operate the splash park lockers, not sure about the others. There may be other lockers elsewhere, but if so I'm not sure where they are.

X-post!

Xpost with Norm, waves to fellow Legolander...(I spend too much time there....bad mummy)

Thank you HRH that's really useful and lots of food for thought! I will be keeping a close eye on this thread as there's some great tips for first timers!

Anyones help and advice really gratefully received as Im trying to book LEGOLAND stuff today- and do it all as cheaply as possible (totally skint!!)

Re the QBots - is the standard one worth the money? Also - we're a family of 4. Could we just book 2 of the Qbots and then share it between the 4 of us (ie 2 of us go on a ride, and then the other 2 use it afterwards?)

Lastly - what the heck is the difference between standard and premium parking? It gives NO information on the LL site.

Thank you in advance :)

hi Bella!
Qbots; you can do as you say, just get 2 qbots but that means you cant do anything as a family, and bear in mind that the qbot queues virtually for you so some queues will be 45min to 1.30h so its not a case of 2 goes on and then 2 go straight after.
With the qbots you can book your next ride as soon as you have been accepted for the one you were queing for. So start by queing for ride A. As soon as the staff scan your qbot on ride A book ride B. Queue times are displayed on your qbot for all rides. By the time you have done ride A and have walked to ride B then you should be due to ride. For rides with long queues plan to do other things whilst waiting. Example book ride C, waiting time is 1h. Go see the pirate show, thats 45 mins gone. Now go to ride C. Simples!:)
Always always have something queing on your qbot so you dont waste time. Check queuetimes, check your map and do all the things that dont need queuing inbetween.

Premium parking is 2 mins less walk than normal parking, not worth it unless you have medical issues etc. Best carpark is carpark C if you can escape the parking attendants trying to hoard you into place. Top of carpark C is the place to be.
Have fun!!

HRHQueenMe - thank you so much for your help! The kids have ben bugging us for AGES to go and finally we've caved in :) Its all so expensive tho! We're going to try and leave by 6am (we live in Somerset) to get there nice and early and make the most of the day.
Thanks again!!

just been looking at the qbots, it says annual pass discounts, is this just the legoannual land pass or the merlin annual pass?

We are going to Legoland for my son's 5th birthday on Friday. I am going with DH and three of DS's classmates, all aged 5 (am I mad?!) so 4 boys total. Everyone is super excited. We've prebooked tickets and parking.

The tips on the 2013 thread and this thread have been invaluable. Just wanted to check a couple of things and thanking you in advance:

1. We are coming from London via M4. Am I right in thinking the best route is the longer route via Windsor Great Park?

1. When we arrive we plan to head for Atlantis first. What other rides do you recommend for this age group?

1. Qbots! How can we make these work for us? I don't think we can afford 6 but as we are 2 adults and 4 children, I'm not sure we can share it out effectively but I'm happy to be persuaded otherwise.

I think I've got everything else covered thanks to Mumsnet.

Sorry, one more thing. Is the alternative route to Legoland well signposted? Will be driving solo.

Yes, plenty of yellow and brown signs. Have fun!

I want to take my 2 DS (aged 11.5 and 9.5) on 16 April (next Wednesday). What's the cheapest way of booking tickets? Currently 97GBP via the LL website (without Qbots). I don't have any vouchers.

Also, is there much to appeal to that age group? They've been wanting to go for years but we have never managed it, so I thought it was now or never.

Thanks

You can get half price vouchers on some walkers crisp packets, think they were called light bites. Also if you buy some items at at tesco, like lenor, fairy liquid, there will give you two half price vouchers at the till. Also some cereals have 2 for 1 vouchers on box. It was on crunchy nut.

I'm planning to take my 6 and 4 year old for the first time on Easter Saturday. Do you think it will be rammed? It's the only opportunity we're going to get to go.

What rides do you suggest would be best for them? (they're both over 1m tall).