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!

A huge thank you to HRHQueenme and everyone who has contributed to this thread. We have just had an excellent day one at Legoland, and are very much looking forward to day two. Kids are 7 and 5. The tips we thought were excellent include
• Arrive at 9am
• Standard parking in car park C
• Doing the Star Wars area and shops between 9:30 and 10
• Not getting the train down (but getting it back up)
• Using the lockers at the entrance (note that the lockers eat your £1 – so definitely worth having a good few coins handy. The lockers are not very big, we just about squashed our picnic bag in, but we had to pay a £1 for it to be empty while we had lunch
• Freeze water bottles the night before – lovely freezing water with your lunch whilst watching the Pirates show (turning up at 11:40 – brill !)
• Making 3 minifigures for £5 – very good value
• Food is ridiculously expensive – tiny ice cream for £2.75
• Pirate adventure playground – wonderful !
• Always have something on your Qbot – ALWAYS !

I’d also add, bearing in mind the age of the kids, that we thought -
Great rides
• Jolly Rocker (big pirate ship) which makes your stomach do somersaults
• The Dragon
• Viking river splash – but prepared to get quite wet
• Driving school
• Boating school

OK but don’t queue
• Orient expedition
• Spinning Spider (a tame version of the walzers)
• Dino Safari
• Fire academy – kids loved it though
• Desert chase
• Aero Nomad

Rubbish rides
• Laser Raiders – basically a slow boring rollercoaster where you have a laser gun and try to shoot targets (although the 7 year old loved it) – 45 min wait for less than 5 mins
• Balloon school
• Atlantis – can’t believe that we headed here first, so didn’t have to queue, but we were all very underwhelmed

Lisandrusty - the only question of yours I could answer is what to do if not wanting to queue up for stuff.
As well as the lunchtime pirate show there's a later one - 4ish? - you could go to that. A massive hit with my ds was the water play bit in duplo world - a wet playground, really! No queues as it's not a ride, though can be very busy.

Thanks for all the tips so far, planning to use lots of them tomorrow! Just wondering if anyone thats been this week can give an idea on queue times as I know some schools broke up last week. Thanks

Just looked on the qbot booking site and saw they have already sold out for tomorrow . We are going at the weekend and planning to book tonight to be on the safe side. We have Merlin Passes - does anyone know if we get the annual pass holder 10% discount with those?? Not sure how to book them online with the discount if we are eligible.

We are planning to book 4 Qbots as youngest child has only just turned 3 - do you think we'll be ok... or not?!

HOTEL TIP!

Just done some work at the HILTON T5, lovely hotel very plush and caters for legolanders. Very handy for access as you just potter through the back lanes from Colnbrook/Horton/Datchet/old Windsor and you are on the alternative route with no traffic or motorways. It also has an awardwinning indian restaurant!
There is a subway and a greasy spoon opposite, and a very good thai around the corner.

Lisanrusty you will have no problems filling your afternoon. Do all the things you dont have to queue for and stay late to do a few rides when everyone else heads home. Also do the kids eat free offer in the afternoon if its still on.
Duplo splash park
Building rooms
Lego star wars miniland
4D cinema
Miniland
Puppetshow
Pirate show
Pirate playground
Duplo playground
Hotel playground
The rides in duplo land are usually quieter so you might be able to do the fairytale brook etc if not busy.

Have fun!!!

aimski5 how did you get on at LL yesterday?we were there yesterday too and thought the crowds weren't too bad considering it's the school hols (although having only been to LL once before when I was about 8 I don't really know how the crowds there are normally).
We took the normal route to get there through Bracknell but had no issue with that.
Arrived just after 9,which allowed is plenty of time for parking (couldn't figure out how to get into car park C so settled for B towards the exit sign), toilet breaks and to collect Q-bots (went for basic ones which I believe were worth it - don't think upgrading to more expensive ones would have made much if any difference for us).
We managed to do both driving schools (boating school was shut), squid Safari,Atlantis,Dino Safari,Fire Academy (didn't rate that at all),balloon school,fairytale brook,jolly rocker,pirate falls (which my 3yo was petrified by-crying,heart pounding etc-oops!),thunder blazer,knight's quest,the dragon,spinning spider -plus the splash parks,pirate show,maze and a few playgrounds.we left at about 5pm and found no queue to exit the car park at that point (thanks for top of turning right on exit as cars were building up on the left).
Souvenirs-I felt that the Photopass for £20 offered the best value as we got 2 driving licenses and a keyring and photo for that.ds didn't see anything he wanted to spend his birthday money on (other than £2 for 1 basketball shot which he did and won a stuffed toy monkey!) so the kids just made some mini figures (again I thought good value at £5 for 3).
Thanks again for all the tips and hints from this thread that helped us make the most of our day.

Forgot to say we stayed at the premier inn Heathrow (bath road) overnight,had a bit of difficulty finding it (stupid sat nav) but once here restaurant was good (kids ate free as before 7pm), welcome pack for kids on arrival and free breakfast.

HRH - will they put up families with 3 children in one room? Really struggled to find anywhere that would.

Also - QBots - we have booked 4, but there are 5 of us (youngest has only just turned 3) Do you think we'll be ok?!!!

hilton t5
They do family packages and show family rooms sleeping 4, the rooms are big so dont see why they cant put a spare bed in for child 3. Nice pool and breakfast area! Ring them!

Just checking the thread as we are going for 2 days next week. Had a perfect day last year, so hoping it is as good. Kids about to explode, I reckon.

Rosvita we had an awesome (yet exhausting) day and like you were pleasantly surprised at the crowds, really not bad considering! We went in August last yr, never read up prior, and it was ridiculously busy and we didnt get much done! So really huge thanks to everyone thats posted tips on this thread, you made our day brill! We arrived for 9.10, like you couldn't find car park C but went for B B3, wonder if we crossed paths?) And can't see
how C could be any better, we literally walked up the short hill and were on the central path into the park
entrance so for me, id park there every time, were also right on exit road so fab for getting out. Was totally panicked about the person posting about q bots being sold out and then arrived to walk straight to the front of the purchasing today queue (silent haha to all the people waiting in the reserved queue) to find plenty of all options available. I only had to spend £15 as did a sneaky with my lo whos only just 3, so free entry and free on q bot plus with me being pregnant and unable to ride everything hubby and I just shared who took him on what, however the lovely man on balloon school let us all on as it was better to make it up to a 3, and we also all went on the orient expedition together too. All of the staff we came into contact with were fab, was super impressed! We took the advice of walking down the hill, lo loved the slides, went straight to the back and got on squid surfers, dino safari and atlantis with barely notable waits. Then did learner drivers, train, and balloon school, I then went to set up picnic to the left of the control booth at the pirate show whilst the boys did fire school (daddy was sweating on return but lo enjoyed it) and we had picnic and watched the show which was brill. Then did scarab bouncers, swings,
carousel, dragons apprentice, pirate falls, pirate play area, vikings river splash twice and duplo splash play area, also did the star wars walk through and took the hill train up to the beginning. My lo made the 3 minifigures for £4.99 and he's beyond pleased with them, great value souvenir imo. This and the q bot plus car parking brought our total spend for the day to £24.99, entry was free thanks to the sun ticket give away so we had a fantastic day for the price :-D took loads of drinks including frozen bottles, food, snacks and sweets etc, pushchair invaluable! Left at 6pm and took the alternative route, standard motorway traffic but otherwise great. Stayed in a premier inn and went to Woburn safari today, fab 2 days!

Has anyone been recently? Are q bots selling out?We are going tomorrow and are planning on getting one after 2pm when they are half price for passholders (spending the morning in duplo valley/imagination centre)

DebbieFiderer I can only comment on our day Friday. Regular q bots were showing as not available through online booking on thurs eve (other 2 types were available) but when we arrived to buy them on friday morning at almost 9.30 they were available. I would go to the q bot desk wwhen you arrive and ask have they been selling out then you can make a decision.

Debbie - we went yesterday and had already booked our QBot - I'm not sure if they are selling out - wish I'd asked as we passed the Qbot booth.

So, brilliant but exhausting day yesterday!! We arrived at 9.30, got our Qbots (we paid for 4 for 5 people and this worked out fine) and hired a double buggy for 3 plus bags. 7 yr old also fancied a ride in the buggy and it was so much easier having them both in there!! Annual pass holders get 10% discount with both Qbots and buggy. Also remembered to bring frozen bottles of water, which were a great addition and helped to keep our food cool too.

We headed down to pirate shores and walked straight on the jolly rocker (pirate ship) as there was no queue. Next we went to The Dragon (our first qbotted ride), then straight to dragon's apprentice. There was no queue at The dragon's quest, so we did that next . After that all 3 children aged 3,7,10 enjoyed the well supervised Pirate playground while we waited for Driving School. While the big two were at Driving school, my 3yr old went to Learner Driver, which she enjoyed.

After that we went to Atlantis, where we found there was actually no queue (at around 11.45am). We then watched the Pirate show while eating lunch, then went to Dino Safari.

Next it was time for Drench Towers at Duplo Splash Valley. There was a queue to get in here, but we didn't have to wait long. The children had a brilliant and refreshing time - much needed as it was a REALLY hot day!

We did Raft Racers next, then walked up to the imagination Centre and played with the duplo and lego, while we waited to go on sky rider. Sky Rider was a bit of a disaster!!! It kept stop/starting and then totally broke down when we were halfway round and we just had to sit and wait for 15 minutes. We were rewarded with priority passes for 2 rides each, which was a huge positive!

We used a priority pass on Boat school, which we wouldn't have done otherwise. Last rides were Scarab Bouncers (this ride also kept breaking down, so we managed to get on when there was no queue),The Dragon (again), Squid Surfer, Vikings' river splash and finally the Star Wars gallery. Dh and I had terrible headaches most of the afternoon, so we had to call it a day at 5.30.

We stayed at Holiday Inn Express, which was ok. Last time we stayed at The Crowne Plaza, which I highly recommend as excellent and very good value especially if you have 3 children and also want a swimming pool.

Well we had a fab day! Arrived at opening time, went straight to duplo valley and had done the helicopters, fairy tale brook and the duplo train by 10.25 (no queues at all). Then played in brickville and the splash park for an hour or so, ate lunch then went to the discovery centre to get out of the sun for a bit. Planned to go yo the cinema but it was closed so went on sky riders (10 min queue). Stashed the picnic in a locker, then wandered down to the playground near squid surfers to play until getting a q bot at 2 (half price and they had plenty left). Then managed 9 more rides, the puppet show, pirate show, maze and pirate playground before leaving at 7, and got out of the car park in under 5 mins!!

I'm really pleased that alot of you have found this helpful, there was a lot of moaning last year as it was horrendously busy in august and people didnt plan their visits! Reading all your posts shows a little knowledge goes a long way! Its lovely to hear your stories! Braving it this afternoon with the mindees!

Hi,
We have never been to legoland and are planning to go this Friday.
We have two Kellogs vouchers for free adult with a full paying child. So we just need to pay for our two kids.
If i buy the 2 kids tickets online, will i have to queue to redeem there and there the free adult entries?
Thanks for your help.

I believe you can only use the vouchers if you pay at the gate. Queues to pay on the day never seem very long though, at least not at 9/9.30 when we usually get there.

Thank you DebbieFiderer. Does anybody else know for sure how to use these vouchers?

Sorry, no idea re Kellogg's vouchers.

However, we are just back from two fab days this week. Not too busy, and lots of rides had minimal queues.

A couple of tips:

If you have Boating School on the QBot, you are only allowed one go. However, when we got to the entrance, the attendant didn't have a QBot so just cancelled ours and let us on. It happened twice, so we got on three times!

The refillable drinks bottles worked really well - we bought one each for DSs and shared them. It was boiling hot and we must have had over a dozen refills.

Drench Towers was utterly mental. We queued straight after lunch and waited for 15 minutes - when we came out, the queues were four times as long.

We loved the pirate falls flume, and the 4D show was also ace. Car park B wasn't too bad getting in or out.

Anyone planning a break, though - do NOT stay at Premier Inn Slough. Utterly grim.

Hi all, I have a question. We've got some Kellogg's vouchers - one adult goes free with a full-paying child ticket.

My questions are:

• Can I combine this with Tesco/Sainsbury's vouchers? The t&c's say:

'This voucher can't be used with any other promotion, advance bookings or tickets bought online'.

Would you say Tesco/Sainsbo's points count as 'any other promotion'?? I tried to call Legoland and their phone line says they cannot answer questions about vouchers [helpful]. Kelloggs T&Cs online doesn't specify what a promotion is.

So if we CAN use Sainsbo's vouchers, with these you need to order in £10 increments - what is the price of a full-price on the door child ticket?

Basically we're two adults and three kids. We have £14.50 of Tesco vouchers (= one ticket) and 16,000 Sainsbo's points, and two 'adult-goes-free-with-a-child' vouchers (I realise you can only use one per transaction, but we'd do it in two transactions to get the offer).

Can anyone help with the best way of doing this, or do we just have to suck it up and pay 3 x full-price kids' tickets on the day? I was hoping the money we saved on tickets could be used to get Q-busters instead...

Oops I've just searched TFT and seen that they say no to nectar + Kelloggs. Bummer.

So would 1 x Tesco ticket plus the rest in Sainsbo points be cheapest do you think?? That would be 1 adult and 3 dcs in Sainsbo points, if we could do it.

I'm kind of wishing DH hadn't told the dcs we'd go, but that could just be the tonsilitis that I woke up with talking....!

A couple of tips for anyone staying at the hotel on site. They will let you check in as soon as you arrive so you can park at the hotel on both days (assuming you are staying one night). You leave your bags with the concierge and they will take them to your room when it's ready. You get a day key card so you can get in and out (so could use the pool etc even before your room is ready). Same on the last day, you check out, leave your bags and get a day pass so effectively you get two days use of the hotel for one night.

You can go on some rides early in the morning before the park opens so it may be worth saving a couple of those for then if you don't have a q-bot. You can't roam the whole park though during that time, only the bit around the rides that are open early.

You can't get q-bots from the hotel or return them there, but there is a pick up place quite near the hotel. Oh and the buffet in Bricks is pretty crap but it is licensed so you can drink through the horror .

minniebar, I have the same predicament.
I have two adults and two children wanting to go to LL next week.
I have 1 tesco voucher, £30 of LL worthy Nectar points I can use and an adult goes free voucher from Kellogs.
I was hoping to use all three - If I were to use the Tesco voucher, My daughter uses the £30 off voucher (needing to only spend £16 to top up) and my husband and son use the adult free ticket. All four of us will get in for £62.
Do you think they would object to using the tesco voucher and Nectar points at the same time? If so, if we separated it into three transactions, would they allow my daughter to 'pay' on her own using the nectar points as she is under 14?
Its so hard trying to find the cheapest way of doing this!
Any help would be appreciated :)
Thanks