THE LEGOLAND 2015 tips hints and reviews thread, all your questions answered here!

[HRHQueenMe]

Link to the 2014 Legoland thread

Please ask away, and feel free to add your own hints and tips and reviews! Legoland is daunting, esp for parents going on their own so any tips and hints are much appreciated.

None of the regular posters on this thread are employees or associated with Legoland, we are mostly local parents with Annual passes and know the place very well as its our local playground.

Happy Legolanding!

We in berks and have no inset day Thursday

I'd risk it.

We were there on Sunday and it was relatively quiet, but then the weather was pretty crap.

We went yesterday as our school had an inset day. It was busy, but not heaving. We had to queue a long time for the raft racers, little dragon and boating school (now called something else), all the other rides we queued no more than 5-10 minutes and some we went round and round because they were empty!

Mini land needs a bloody good revamp though. Parts of it are looking very neglected and positively post apocalyptic.

I am planning on going on Friday 24th April, I think this will be out of the Easter holiday. How busy do you think it will be?

I'm going that day Toastie and we are staying at the hotel that night. No idea on busy-ness but it's term time so hopefully not bad.

Ok, mind made up. We're going in! Tomorrow. Hope the weather's ok but I suppose if it's rainy it'll put some people off going? I can't possibly review all the local schools' online calendars to see if they have inset days but DH asked about schools at work (he works in Berks) and nobody's children had inset tomorrow.

OMG, now I'm excited! Will be taking the McLaren as a packhorse, as it was really handy last year to leave coats and bags on. Picnic and snacks. A good book for DS for the queues. Shan't bother with swimming stuff, I think...

OK, DS1 is 7 and a wee bit timorous. He's conceded that he'll go on the smaller rollercoaster with me but NOT the larger one! Last year they were building a new area - was it Viking stuff? What should we do? Last year we did Atlantis (over an hour queuing for 5 minutes under water, am NOT trying it again even if the queues are short) the dinosaur train (a bit tame), the hot air balloon one (ditto) the smaller rollercoaster, and the log flume. All were massive queues. I'd like to try some different stuff. Is the Driving School really All That?

DD1 is 7 and also a little timid (has tried the big Dragon but didn't like it). She loves Driving School, also the swing chairs, Fire academy, little Dragon rollercoaster, fairy tale brook, spinning spider and the maze.

How much time should we allow for the maze, Debbie? Is it a standard, get-lost maze or does it have a twist?

I think driving school first, spinning spider, maybe the Viking water ride rather than the pirate one this time. Am also keen to try the squid ride but DS1 a bit unsure! I hope I can get him back on the Dragon's Apprentice but he said he didn't want to do the big one.

Hello
I was there today for the first time this year & taking notes for everyone!
BUSYNESS - considering how many schools are on holiday, it wasn't too bad today. We didn't get there until 10.30 & went straight to the 3-5yo Drive School where the queue was only 15 mins. It Was less for the 6+ one. We tried to do Boat School (now called Coastguard or some such) next but the queue for that was 45+ mins which I couldn't be bothered with so we went to Atlantis (must have been at least 11am by now) and the queue was only 5mins.
COST - some prices have gone up hugely. Standard parking now £5 (£4 last year); premium parking was £8 for annual pass holders, £10 for others and £21 for an annual ticket. Hot dogs were £4.95 I think & steak baguettes (which were definitely £5something last year) were £6.25. I don't remember seeing any ads about kids eating free after 3pm which I remember seeing plastered everywhere last year. I'm going back again tomorrow so will keep an eye out. Snack food is extortionate. A family bag of, for example, jelly babies is £3.95. Drinks are also very expensive. Just take all of the food you think you could possibly eat & push it around in a pushchair. Pre-school passes are now £60 (£50 last year)
TEMPERATURE - it was cold today. As in I wore my hat & gloves all day as well as my coat. Amazingly, a few children were in the splash park! You don't need wellies as all of the paths are Tarmac or paved.

My more general tips are:

• take a pushchair however old your DC are!
• take a "grab bag" which fits your wallet, keys, phone and anything else valuable which you can take on rides with you leaving everything else under the pushchair

• you & your DC will be climbing in/out/onto/off things all day. Dress with this in mind!
• if your DC is in two minds about a roller coaster, I'd be tempted to do The Dragon (the bigger one) rather than the Dragon's Apprentice as, whilst it is scarier, you only go around once.

Claw - how tall are your DC? Is the 6yo by chance very tall & over 130cm? If so, they could accompany the younger one on many of the two seat rides or could ride by themselves leaving you to go with the younger DC. If not, you'll be able to have a good day & a very full day. I think my top tip would be to just not go to the Knights' Kingdom which is where both roller coasters are, neither of which you can go on. As the Knights' Kingdom is in a corner of the park, you can avoid it quite easily. Other two seater rides to walk past quickly (and which aren't that great anyway) are the helicopters in Duploland, Dino Safari down beyond Atlantis (again, quite tucked away so easily avoided). Things you can do are drive school (although they will have to do different ones), boat school, Atlantis, Fairytale Brook, Scarab Bouncer, carousel, flying chairs, hot air balloons, fire engines, flying boat thing, flume, spinning spiders, the trains & loads of others. And all of the shows & the play areas. And the lego of course. To be honest, I think it would be easier to do it with another adult but you & your DC will have a brilliant time.

I live in a part of Surrey quite close to Legoland and have an inset day on the 22nd but we went on an inset day last year and it was fine.

Glom, the maze is just a standard one but a nice thing to do when you don't want to have to queue for things!

Harbour girl- thanks so much, that's really helpful. Unfortunately my 6 ( nearly 7) year old is a dot at 115cm. Would take more than a big pair of boots to get her over the 130cm mark

Very helpful info on prices of snacks etc- will come prepared

Restofmylife- we are going on 22May as we have an inset day! ( we're in N London)

Oh forgot to say, kids eat free after 3pm is definitely on, and it is all day for annual pass holders. Because of that we fed 2 adults and 2 kids at the duplo buffet for less than £25.

If you are driving to Legoland this weekend, PLEASE follow the signed alternative routes (unless you like sitting in a traffic jam if course )
The routes are longer but will definitely be quicker!

I'm planning a 2 day trip to Legoland for 28th - 29th June as we have an Inset day. Does anyone know if there are inset days locally?!

I

I didn't get to finish posting earlier! More questions...we're also sort of thinking of staying at the LegoLand hotel.

1. Can we book room only if only one of us has an annual pass?
2. Is it worth the money? Our options are camping (not keen on this trip), another hotel (any suggestions?) or the LegoLand hotel.
3. What are the prices and menu like to eat at the Skyline bar? Or is it better to do the pizza buffet kids eat free in the park?

There are just too many options all the time....

Oh, and the cost of parking really boils my piss.

I love how Merlin group have been campaigning to get VAT reduced for theme parks and leisure activities, claiming the British public are being ripped off. It's only British theme parks that sting you for car parking.

Thanks for earlier info re: lunch at the hotel. We are off this weekend, so we'll try and see.

Dannydyer - not true. You pay $17 per day parking at Disney Florida unless you are staying in a Disney resort. That really adds up over the course of a 2 week holiday, where you'll probably be paying it every day.

I was there again yesterday with just DD and had a fab day as it was so quiet (well on a relative scale!).
I looked at food a bit more & hot dogs from the stands scattered around are £3.95 & a kids picnic meal (sandwich, crisps & drink) from the cafe at the top was £5.25 and an adult meal was about £8 so expensive but usual for captive audiences. Ice creams are £1.80 for a Twister & £2.50 for Solero & Magnums.
I went against MN law yesterday & didn't have lunch at the noon pirate show & it was brilliant as that is what everyone does & the queues were so much quieter. DD & I ate our picnic in queues instead. .. half a round of sandwiches queuing for one ride, the next for the next ride, fruit in the next queue. Not the most elegant way of eating but much more efficient and so many people are scoffing candy floss, popcorn & other rubbish in the queues that it didn't feel that out of place.
I also decided that there are two ways of doing Legoland. If you're going once & have children 7 or under, focus on the left side of the park where driving school, Atlantis, mini land & other Legoland specific activities are. If they're older or you're going more than once, do the more adventurous, more generic theme park rides on the right hand side of the park.
To give you an idea of timings (and bear in mind it was a quiet day), we were through the barrier at 10am, went straight to The Dragon, then did Dragon's Apprentice, then Knight's Castle before going on the wet rides of the flume (twice) and the viking raider thing (twice). The second time we did the viking raider it was noon. We then had a loo stop & changed trousers before going on the spinning spider & two rocking boat things. Only now did we leave the right hand side of the park & went over to Duploland via the scarab Bouncer where we did Helicopters & Fairytale Brook. We then ran to the 2pm Pirate Show and then got the Hill Train up & left.
This was the first time we'd done the wet rides. I had taken DD's puddle suit & she was fine. I had my coat & a thick plastic bag to put over my knees but hadn't thought about the fact I'd be sitting on a wet seat so my trousers (and knickers) got soaked. Another time, I'll take spare pants for myself as well as trousers!

###bargain alert###
costcos are apparently doing merlin passes for 4, has anyone got any more info? I use costcos alot but havent seen anything!

Went today for the first time this year!
Miniland had a few new things to spot, the harbour area has had a major paintjob and the green train and diggers are closed being revamped into Lego Friends land!! (Children had a meltdown as they love the green train....)
Lots of rebranding going on, traffic is now lego city, boating school is coastguard (big revamp there too) and Heartlake city now hosts the pirate show!( what???)
Very stupidly busy today, bad queues.
Finally the pirate show guys have a few new faces, new Captain Birdsnest too.

New and improved Pirate lighthouse

Glad I've found this thread. We are travelling down from Scotland in early July with Ds 8 and dd who will be nearly 5. Both over 110cm tall...

Were staying in a holiday inn nearby so I'm thinking picnic food, changes of clothes and towels and I need to look into QBOTS - am assuming they're like disney fast passes...

Also has anyone used a blue peter badge to get in free?

Q Bots are great on busy days, but depending on whether you are looking at weekdays or weekends, and the weather, you may not need them. I wouldn't worry about pre booking them, but just see what it is like when you get there. If you do go for them, no need to get anything other than the basic ones; the basic one effectively queues for you, without cutting the length of time you have to wait, but it means you can do other things while you wait, like the various shows and playgrounds. You can select the next ride to start queuing for as soon as you have been checked in to the previous one which also helps. So choose ones with shorter wait times to go straight from one to another, then choose the longer ones to queue for while you have lunch/dinner/watch a show.