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!

Agree, Debbie. I just wanted to point out that the Monday won't be any less busy than the weekend days, since it's a BH.

Busy days can work (we are entitled to ride access pass, so a bit less of an issue for us) if planned well, and there is so much more to legoland than the rides.

We were there over the Easter weekend and it was busy but manageable most of the time.

Sorry, yes, I knew that was what you meant, was just saying to Glom that it being busy isn't necessarily a reason to avoid.

Ah, yes, I see

I don't know about inset days, but up thread I think someone said the Bucks schools broke up later so they may still be off.

I think the kids eat free was running before the holidays as all day for pass holders and after 3 for everyone else but may have changed now. We went on Monday and didn't get kids free even after 3 (pass holders). But it might come back after the holidays.

Thanks for the info re: Xbox experience - have now found it!

Am now going to ask another daft question, so forgive my naivety; if you don't have Qbots, when people say they queued for @ 1 hour, 2hrs, does that literally mean they have just been standing in the queue with their kids? I really can't decide on whether to invest £30 in Qbots for 2 of us, or is it easy enough to decide upon arrival?

Sorry if these seem dumb questions, I am very new to theme parks etc!

Yep, that's exactly what they mean :(

You can buy Qbots when you get there (and see how busy it is/how good the weather is!), but they do sell out on busy days so I would make sure you are there by about 9.30 (or earlier if possible). There is also apparently a way of doing it on your phone but I haven't looked into that.

I have to say, if this is likely to be a one-off visit, and it is at all busy, then the Qbots are definitely worth it if you can spare the £30.

Q bots definitely definitely worth it if you do not want to spend all day queuing

Thanks very much for the feedback re: queues and Qbots - think I might bite the bullet and go for them, because it would be such a waste of the day to spend so much time potentially queuing, and could valuably off-set grumbling child-itis!

Herts schools also broke up a week later so they could all be there too!

Hmm, hadn't cottoned onto the fact that Monday 4th May is also a BH. Well, maybe DS1 and I can have our own Star Wars geekfest at home on that day and we might chance a visit over the weekend. Not sure. I do appreciate that there's more to legoland than the rides, but we don't have passes, it's an hour to drive there in good traffic (not that bad, I know, but we're not around the corner either) and we've only been twice and not been on everything yet, so for us, it is pretty much about the rides for now! If we go again, we'll get Kelloggs vouchers again, but I still don't want to pay £43 (plus parking, plus petrol) for Miniland, some lego building rooms and an admittedly fab shopping experience.

Will have to think about whether the Star Wars theme will be worth it. DS1 has informed me that he will NOT be dressing up either (he has a bit of a phobia about dressing up/role play/pretending to be someone you're not) which probably means I can't get away with making some Jedi robes for myself. Doesn't it?

We want to LL on a Monday inset day in October. The were no queues, we didn't even have to get off some rides to queue again we could just stay in and go round as many times as we like ( hence getting drenched several times over in Viking river...), we did dragon roller coaster 10 times, driving school about the same, all the water rides about 3 times each and everything else as well. We had gone for 2 days, had a q bot in the Sunday but on the monday inset day didn't even bother with the q bot, there were literally no queue for anything. We really did get the most out of it although obvioulsy couldn't use the duplo water park and we did get a bit damp at times! I would definitely go an inset day again.

Local schools are off, I'm afraid.

We went today, first time for us. Felt quite prepared thanks to reading this thread. Just counted up and we did 15 things so quite pleased! Not all of those were rides though like miniland and the pirate playground.
It felt busy and we did have to queue for the big things but it didn't feel awful and somehow the children did whinge which makes it easier! Back tomorrow for more fun and to do the bits we missed.

Obviously I meant didnt whinge!

Bucks schools go back on Tues 14th (inset day on 13th); Berks, Herts & much of London go back on 21st (inset day on 20th).
Re bank holidays, some people won't go as they think it will be ridiculously busy. On the other hand, others will go as it is the only time they can go.

We are going tomorrow for the first time, had thought most of the UK schools were on hols... I am dithering about the Qbots but may wait to see tomorrow. Am guessing the good weather forecast increases the numbers?

Hi everyone, just wanted to say a massive thank you to the op and all the contributors for this thread as we went to Legoland last week and our day was so much better for following the tips on here, especially the recommendations for buying q bots. I can thoroughly recommend doing this, we visited Legoland this time last year and had such a better time this visit because of the q bots - we saw more of the park, went on more rides and had happier and less stressed/tired/fed up children because of it. The only ride we had a small queue for was Atlantis, all the others we were able to walk straight on. It was a lovely warm day and being able to walk straight on to the rides whilst people waited in the heat in long queues was priceless. There were five of us and the q bots were £15 each but well worth the money and I wouldn't visit again without purchasing them. We actually bought them online in the morning before we set off and your phone effectively becomes the q bot so you can use it to book rides which is great because there was a queue at the q bot stand when we arrived but we could skip right past it. If you do it this way I'd advise bookmarking the q bot page because I accidentally came out of it at one point and it took me a few minutes to find again. Also, make sure your phone battery is fully charged!

So, we didn't get to legoland until 12 (as had to wait for my sister and niece to arrive) no queue to get into the park. We ate our packed lunch on the way there and bought two ice lollies each inside the park, these were only £1.80 so not too bad. I think what we should've done (and will do next time) is buy the drink refill cups which are £7 odd but I think you'd get your moneys worth, especially on a hot day. saves you carrying sports bottles around too which is what we did.

Once we arrived we walked down with the dc using the slides :) We booked the Sky Rider with the q bots (half hour queue) and went to the x box and lego rooms whilst we waited. When the half hour was up we walked straight onto the ride..

Just realised that detailing everything we did is going to take forever and will be quite boring to read hehe so will quickly list the other stuff we did!

Sky Rider
The Viking's River Splash
The Dragon rollercoater twice
The pirate ship.
Various play parks
Fairytale brook
Aero nomad
Various shops
Atlantis
Mini land

We caught the hill train back as advised by pps.

Unfortunately we didn't catch any shows or see any of the Star Wars stuff but we probably would've had time for this if we'd arrived early.

All in all was a brilliant day and the dc (and adults) really enjoyed.

If you aren't in a rush to get home I'd advise hanging around after 6pm (the big shop and café near the entrance are still open) as a lot of the traffic will have cleared then. Last year we left straight away and ended up in standstill traffic and had a massive queue at the ladies toilet on the way out. This year there was a small queue at the toilet and traffic coming out wasn't too bad at all.

Anyway, sorry for the really long post. Hopefully it will help someone. Thaks again

Hi there,
We're planning a trip to Legoland for a last hurrah with our little boy before he starts school in September. We'll also have our twins who will be about 10 months old.
Firstly, any suggestions for where to stay - self-catering, need space for two travel cots. We don't mind a bit of a trip in.
Secondly the weeks we planned is 1st-5th June. Most schools around us are back in that week. Is it the same down there?
Finally, a double pram - will we be able to get around with it? Anything else we should think about?
I like to plan with military precision...!
Thanks in advance x

Just been to legoland today. (tues) Glorious sunshine and well over 20 degrees. Despite some areas still being on holiday, the park wasn't overly busy and most queues were pretty short most of the time.
Bit disappointing that Heartlake City ( Lego friends area) isn't finished and not so good that parking is now £5, but a great day had, including going in drench towers for 20 minutes which we'd have never thought possible in April.

Only nightmare was that it took 90 mins to get to to the M25 afterwards - nothing to do with Legoland itself, but terrible terrible traffic due to incident on motorway itself, meaning we ended up having to go through Virginia Water and Chertsey....at least we had eaten before we left.

Kpie
You can get a double pram in everywhere at LL, i usually have a double side by side mountain buggy with me, it even fits through the Starwars exhibit.
Places to stay, apart from the LL hotel, the Travellodge in Windsor is great, fab location for everything and scenic surroundings.
For an easy drive but less scenic Holiday Inn in Alma Road Windsor.
In Slough Copthorne and Holiday in on Jct 6 roundabout, or Mariott Langley just off Jct 5 on the m4 (childfriendly and has pool).
The Manor Hotel in Datchet village location boutique feel.
The RunnyMead Hotel , Hilton T5, Premier inn on Bath Road Heathrow are other popular choices that sometimes do deals for LL. Travel Lodge t5 is also convienient.