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!

Dd (5) and I went on inset too! It certainly was busy!! After reading thread we did basic qbots when I saw how busy it was at 10! I explained that meant no treats and nothing from the shops etc and took all our food and drink and she took it onboard and didn't winge.

I have to say it made a massive difference. We did The Dragon 3 times, Atlantis, pirate falls, spinning spiders, Viking rivers, dino safari, sky riders. We paid £1 each to immediately get on the first ride which helped (so £32 extra total) Dd also did the chair carousel thing and we queued for squid surfers.

Best thing was we were enjoying the pirate shows whilst 'queueing' and browsing mini land etc.

We didn't see any car park angst as we didn't leave until 7 ish. It wad still massively busy though.

Spoke to a lady in the duplo play area (hello if your mumsnetter) who had spent 2 hours driving from slough due to traffic!!!!

itchychin, that's really impressive - I was wondering if the basic Qbot was worth it (and I wouldn't ever be paying for the more expensive ones) because surely they just mean you don't have to wait in line, you can do something else and then go on, but the time you have to queue is still part of your day IYSWIM, even if you don't actually do the queuing? But you sound like you managed to get a lot more rides in. We were there from about 11.20 til closing and the vast majority of our time there was spent in a queue. Hence only 5 rides.

I'm really going to do this properly next time!

Thanks for all the useful tips here.

I have more questions I'm afraid.

DH, DS1 (5 years) and DS2 (2.5 months) are going 27 June (inset day). I thought I was being clever using an inset day but judging by some experiences here it's going to be crazy busy isn't it? I naively thought inset days were set by the school, not national / regional.

Q-Bots - will basic really suffice? And is there enough to keep you occupied while you queue given that you can only q-bot one ride at a time? Should we upgrade to the middle one (top one far too expensive, so is the middle one really) - are there more benefits? Also should we book q-bots in advance or on the day? (We have bought tickets in advance).

Also, given that one of us always needs to be looking after the baby, I assume 2 q-bots are fine or are there lots of rides where we can take the baby on in a sling - so all of us could go?

DS1 is Lego obsessed and not a huge ride person (though DH & I are!) - will we be able to keep him away from the shops and stop him screaming for more Lego sets? By which I mean is there lots of aggressive upsell and constant shopping opportunities? DS1 has the tenacity, debating and negotiation skills of a top level QC so I don't want to spend all day saying 'no' and trying to get him out of the shops and onto the rides.

How many changes of clothing do you need?

Is there any benefit in buying parking in advance?

FINALLY - has anyone been to Legoland Denmark and are there any tips for that? We will probably go when DS2 is a bit older and want to stay in the hotel there. What is it like cost-wise? Bigger or better than Windsor? How many days should we go for? Plus any general advice...

Thank you so much HRH - I am intrigued by a life that involves so many trips to Legoland - you are DS1's ideal parent!

I have never tried legoland with a baby in a swing, but I'd be amazed if there were any rides that allowed it - maybe Atlantis, or the carosel?

If there's a ride both adults want to go on, but someone has to stay with the baby, they do "parent swap" for some (not all) rides:

Parents and guardians with children who do not meet height restrictions can take turns in taking their taller children on rides. The parent swap allows both parents, with a child too small for a ride, to swap places without having to queue twice. Please ask a member of the Attractions team at each ride for further details.

The shops are at the entrance/exit, so if you are rushing straight to the rides, it's fine. There are lots of non-ride lego things (eg the lego village) which are great and don't try to sell you anything.

Getting him past the shop at the end without him going in? Is possible but unlikely (you don't have to exit through the gift shop, but it is there looking shiny...). Good luck with that.

Can I manage 2 four year olds on my own at Legoland? I know that a lot of the rides require them to be accompanied by an adult. Will most of the rides fit all 3 of us, or are they generally 1 adult and 1 child? I'm not sure it would be worth going if we can't go on lots on this.

I will be buying the Qbot++++ thingy to take the pain out of queuing.

We went on an inset day at week and it was heaving. But we managed ok with q bots, did playgrounds and the like when it was really busy after lunch.

Was very impressed that I never had to queue for a loo. And children eat for free at some restaurants after 3pm, which gave us a nice mid afternoon break.

Downside was the hour and a half to get out of car park! Many many frayed tempers around us - we amused ourselves by watching people through the traffic cones into the woods.

We're going next Wednesday - just checked and the weather should be good! Can anyone reassure my that it won't be heaving - as far as I know there are no school holidays next week so I'm hoping for a fairly easy day of it!

Oh I don't mind exiting through the gift shop - he'll have a bit of souvenir money - I just wanted to make sure it wasn't constant high sell through the day. So all good. Thanks for the feedback

We were there today on an inset day. Never been before but it was very quiet - lovely weather too.

Currently staying at the Windsor Central Travelodge as I type hoping the pesky DC will fall asleep it is ok, though quite expensive for a travelodge.

chang 27th June is a Friday isn't it? I think you will be fine.

I read a review on tripadvisor this week that said there were 18,000 (!) visitors on Monday and 4,000 on Tuesday - I think it's quite common for inset days to be on a Monday after half term, but far less so to be on a random Friday.

We really barely queued for anything today - to give you an idea, we had been on 6 rides by 11AM.

The shop is gooood. You can make your own mini figures. Someone else will remember the price but it's 3 figures for something. A fiver maybe?

We have annual passes for the 2nd time, had a year off in between. We plan to go on Sunday JUST to do the Duplo splash area.

Hi

We are thinking of going tomorrow and I want to go for opening time and DH is insisting that we go in the afternoon when the crowds may be smaller - that's what we have our Merlin passes for!

We have the premium ones if that makes any difference and have been before about 18 months ago. We are 40 mins drive away.

Who is right?

Also do we need the Qbots? DS's 8 and 6 both over 90cms.

Many thanks

Great thread, thanks - just booked time off work to take 4yo dd to legoland for the day 1st July, so marking my place as finding this really useful!

3 for £4, I think it was. But there's only a limited range of parts to make them with. Made DS1 very happy, though! One tip if your DC are Lego Star Wars obsessed - the keyrings are fairly good value at £3.99 each if you've previously paid extortionate prices for a 'special' minifig on ebay (i.e. one that's been callously extracted from a set and sold separately) - the metal pin through the head can, I discovered, be removed easily if you heat it up with a candle flame for about 10 seconds (see youtube) and voila! you have a Star Wars minifig (with a small hole in the head) for a lot less than they normally cost.

Am at 18,000 visitors on Monday! That's actually good to know, that it was genuinely crazy-busy, because otherwise I'd be seriously put off going again! Though if we're avoiding holidays, weekends and inset days, I'm not sure when we'll manage it with DS1 unless we skip school...

Sandgroper, I think if anything the crowds and queues got worse as the day went on. This was Inset Monday, granted.

Sandgrouper, going in the afternoon isa waste, you will end up doing 2 rides and then going home. If you are coming all that way def come for opening time. Aim to be there at 9, park, get in, buy qbots, have a coffee, gate opens at 10 and you are straight in with no stress. Then you can easily do all the rides, some twice sned have a really good day. If you arrive in the afternoon the kids will cry as they didnt get to do ride x and didnt see the pirate show....

We went fri morning with 4 under 3 toddlers, had a fab time and queued for nothing at all. School trips are starting now so it will get busier as summer rolls on, also most of Europe is on school holidays june-july so it will be busy but NOTHING like august when its vile so go midweek now for the best experience!
Re SLINGS, you can easily do all the queing with baby in a sling, you will just be asked to sit baby next to you once you get on the ride, except Atlantis where baby can stay in the sling.
The Following rides have no height restriction and are ok for babies and toddlers under 90 cm;
Boating school
Orient express green train
Duplo blue train
Balloon school
Fairytale brook
Atlantis
Lazer raiders

We're going tomorrow as inset day. Does anyone know if it's a big inset day in general? We went last year at the same time and I seem to recall it wasn't toooo bad

Sorry DD decided to help and post...
More things with no height restriction where you can bring baby:

Carousel in egyptian square
4d cinema
Puppet show
Pirate show
Duplo playground
Splash and play
Playground behind squidsurfer
Starwars miniland
Miniland
Hotel playground
And lots more.

Lastly;
New pyrotecnichs added to the pirate show. Quite impressive!:)

Can anyone answer a ticket question? I'm going tomorrow with 2 adults and 2 kids and have the Kellogg's vouchers so will buy 2 kids and get the adults to go free. I'm meeting a friend there but I have the vouchers so I wanted to know if I need to wait for her until I can buy the tickets or whether I can queue up, buy them and then wait till she arrives before we all go through the turnstiles? I know we will be there before her so don't really just want to hang around! Do we just go to the normal ticket booths with the vouchers?
Thanks

Thanks for all the tips on this thread! Planning a first trip with DSs (6 and 3) later this month when DS1 has a random midweek inset day - so I'm hopeful things will be quietish. Taking picnic and swimming togs.

Can anyone advise about whether the 10 a.m. opening time refers to car parks or admission? We'll need to go to Guest Services at In The Beginning before we go in. We can easily aim to arrive at, say, 9, but not if there's no point!

Puddock, gates to the Beginning area opens at 9, thats where you get tickets, qbot, coffee, shop and get organized. Inner gates to actual park opens at 10. 9 is a good time to arrive, park and get sorted so you can head down the hill at 10 all organized and stress free qbot in hand ready for your first ride! Have fun! X

House you can queue up and buy your tickets before yourfriend arrives, and then just wait to go through the turnstiles until your friend arrives.

Want to go to Disney, you can easily manage 2 4 y olds, use parentswap, so the rides where you can only take 1 at time one child stays with attendant whils you ride and then you swap without queing again. Easy peasy. Most rides you can all go on. Have fun!