Who's been to Billund (Legoland)?

[StillWantingADog]

Hello
so am off next week with two DS aged 10 and 8. Very excited, wanted to go since I was their age, never made it. Trying to work out what to do each day and book tickets so as to save a bit of money and hopefully avoid issues/queueing. Time is tight with not quite three full days

General plan is
Day 0 travel - getting in quite late (c 10pm)
Day 1 Lego House. We may not manage a super early start but it is almost opposite our hotel which should be easy peasy.
Day 2 Legoland - we will be there when the gates open
Day 3 Aquadome at Lalandia plus milling around in Billund a bit (?) and early dinner before heading back to airport, flight at 9.30pm.

Thoughts on the above? Main issue is is Lalandia enough to amuse for at least most of the afternoon? Or should I consider getting a 2 day pass for legoland and spending at least a bit of time there on day 3. Can't get a feel for how big lalandia is but it's bloody expensive so hopefully worth the money (my sons LOVE waterparks so will be happy even if I'm bored). Also not sure if legoland is worthy of more than one full day. Am hopeful that there will not be too bad queues as the Danish kids have gone back to school etc so hopefully we can cover it in one day.

No possibility of adding a fourth day unfortunately but would consider going back if we enjoy it, probably combining with Copenhagen next time

Advice welcome, I'm already exhausted thinking about it.

Cheeky question but approximately how much do you think this kind of holiday costs? Flights, accommodation, tickets etc all together? Sounds amazing but not sure if it's out of our budget. Have a great time

We spent:

£315 on flights (BA from Heathrow; 4 adults 1 child)

£1700 for the cabin at Lalandia (4 bedroom) - this includes the water park free, and the soft play if children are young enough.

tickets to Lego house/legoland were about £369 combined I think.

we hired a car as wanted to drive about a bit plus it suits us (dc with SN) but it wasn’t really necessary.

food/eating out was our main expense. The supermarket at Lalandia wasn’t hideously overpriced - mostly cost about the same as eg sainsburys or Waitrose - 6 pink lady apples cost about £3.80; cheddar-like cheese was expensive. We spent a lot and ate out once each day, then had breakfast and other meal at the cabin - sandwiches/fruit/cereal etc. so the cost there is what you make it, I suppose.

Oh, we went bowling and did mini golf at Lalandia too - bowling cost about £28 for the 5 of us, I think - this was to hire a lane for an hour, and you could play as many games as you could fit in. Mini golf cost around £25 I think, but I think they gave us dd1 (SN) plus carer free - not sure as dc’s dad paid for that one.

as a side note, the sunflower lanyard is completely recognised everywhere, and no one batted an eyelid at dd1 whatever she was doing - complete and total acceptance, without being patronising. It was really great. Even dd2 and ds noticed and commented on how they didn’t feel as worried about how people might react to dd1.

Oh that’s good as dh and ds1 are veggie

My very fussy eater really enjoyed mini chef - mainly because the slightly weird combinations are right up her street and each dish was separated too which is a big thing for her.

DS & I had the salmon which was cooked well, dh had the meatballs which he seemed to enjoy (he’s fussy too!) and dd had the pork which she liked. I did warn everyone to avoid the chicken as that’s what I’d seen slightly questionable reviews of. Tbh I was pleasantly surprised with it but having low expectations probably helped!

I think we spent around 2k in total - flights for 4 from Birmingham were £200, accommodation in a ninjago cabin was about 1k for 3 nights (we could have done cheaper with one of the smaller cabins but I wanted the space), 2 days in Legoland + a day at Lego house and then around £500 on food (after a 40 min queue + £10 hotdogs on the first day we took packed lunches & just ate out a couple of times).

We’re staying at Lalandia for 6 nights. The accommodation itself (Nordic Plus 8 cabin) cost approx £1,200 which includes access to the soft play and the waterpark. We also paid an extra £37 for bedlinen hire and £80 for the gold wristbands that give unlimited access to the other chargeable activities such as bowling. We will also have to pay for our electricity and water use upon check out, trip advisor reviews suggest this will cost in the region of £40-£50.

Ryanair flights from Stansted - basic fare was £286 for 2 adults and 2 children. Total flights cost was £386 by the time we’d added on two 20kg suitcases and reserved seats together.

We have pre booked tickets to Legoland and Lego House - one day each. Total cost £238.

Obviously we will have food and other spending money on top but we will take packed lunches every where and I’m taking some gluten free food with me from the U.K. as I’m not sure how widely available that will be so taking bread, cereal, pasta etc.

i think we will pay about £1500 for four of us for
ryanair flights plus luggage
3 nights hotel (b&b)
lego house, legoland and lalandia (day each)

i was hoping spends would come under £500 but perhaps not!!!

Gluten free food is not widely available and it's expensive, so worth bringing anything you can't do without. Most people take their lunch everywhere. The locals don't really eat out ever. So could also pack a tupperware and waterbottle to help carry food around.

Thanks, sounds like such a fun holiday. Off to research for us now...

I’m just back so thought I would update to help future travellers, @Bananaspliff
hope you enjoyed as much as we did!!

My itinerary worked out fine, slight regret I didn’t have a fourth day to go to Wow park as the weather was so nice.

Kids loved all three days and could have easily gone back to any.

All were busy (late august/early Sep) but tolerably so. Max we queued at legoland was 15 minutes but most things we walked straight on. I’m not sure there is much at legoland for teenagers but at 8 and 10 it was perfect for my lot. Lots of older kids at the Lego house.

We loved the Mini chef but got frustrated with trying to build our little meals. Food was good when it came.

Lalandia water park was a massive hit though it was exhausting for me as a lone parent! Avoided the changing room complications as lone parents with opposite sex kids (me!) allowed to use the small family changing zone upstairs.

We stayed in a little hotel called the Refborg almost opposite lego house- 20 minute walk or 5m bus from legoland and lalandia. No complaints at all (a few other British families there) BUT I’d elected to stay in Billund to try and be a bit more Danish and tbh there is very little going on in Billund, very few restaurants and all very expensive. The smarter people stayed at Lalandia (or at legoland accomodation) which was equally expensive but at lest had lots or stuff going on. Being able to make your own lunches etc would be a big advantage and save money. One family we met who stayed at Lalandia liked it but they were a good 15 minute hike from the main building which wasn’t appreciated when they arrived from the airport at 10.30pm. There is a little train during the day but it’s not very regular.

I dread to think how much it all cost but at least the theme park tickets were not too bad - working out at roughly £30 pp per day and self catering would bring costs down a lot. I think it’s a great place for a 4-5 day trip slightly out of peak season
and broadly thoroughly recommend.

thanks to everyone above for their great tips.

Glad you had a nice time @StillWantingADog! We got home yesterday and missing it already.
For the benefit of anyone thinking of staying at Lalandia I’ll share my experience too.
Arrived at Billund airport and jumped straight in a taxi which dropped us directly outside our allocated holiday home. There is no need to check in at reception upon arrival, you get an email with your houses’s address on it 3 days before arrival with a code to open the front door. Your wristbands are inside and act as your room key. Taxis in Denmark are really expensive, the airport to Lalandia is only about 3km but the fare was 185DKK which is about £22.

It’s definitely worth upgrading to the gold wrist bands. These are about £21 per person that give you unlimited access to the chargeable indoor activities which include a roller rink, high jump trampolines, ten pin bowling, mini golf, indoor toboggan slides, climbing wall and badminton courts. My children are aged 4 and 8 and those activities plus the soft play and aqua dome kept them entertained for three full days. The Lalandia supermarket is well stocked and did carry a few gluten free items. It’s no more expensive than the Netto in the town. The only restaurant we ate in on site was Bones which was pretty average food and really expensive for what it was. I had burger and chips, DH had ribs and chips, the kids had 2 kids pizza meals and we each had a soft drink, total bill was almost £100.

The Aquadome is brilliant. Lots of women including myself showered in our swimwear before going in the pool and it was fine, nobody was made to get naked.

Lego House was incredible, we got there for when it opened at 10 and had just about seen everything by the time it closed at 4.
We went to Legoland on the Thursday and it was dead! I think that’s because the weather apps were saying it was going to rain but thankfully they were totally inaccurate and it was dry all day. We didn’t have to queue for anything, in fact when some rides finished the staff asked us if we wanted to stay on as nobody was waiting.

We walked everywhere, Lalandia to Lego House was about 25 minutes and Legoland is literally across the road.
Billund town centre is pleasant enough - spotlessly clean but there’s not much there.

Would highly recommend and will be back.

Ah @Bananaspliff pleased you had a great time too and that Lalandia worked out for you- we’ll def stay there next time.

Ha! Re weather you did well - we were at lego house on Thurs with the dodgy weather forecast and then Friday legoland was def quite busy, but still few queues.

Agree the aquadome was fab, not too busy I thought. Very pleased we went there. Kids were absolutely shattered last night though after being there 10-5 then getting a delayed fight home, not in bed till 1am.

we’ll go again, as part of a longer trip to see Cophenhagen I hope. But will have to save up first!

It must be much quieter at the end of August. It’s generally a better time to visit because, Germans and Dutch kids are back at school? The aquadome was hellishly busy when we were then early August. Loads of people bought day passes too (you can tell from wristbands). You have to queue for inflatables, carry up 5 flights of stairs and then queue again. It was like an hour for a go.

We usually go end of summer too but was at Center Parcs UK with family for the bank holidays. The kids remarked how much better it is when queues are 5 minutes max. Don’t blame them, I don’t like queuing either.

I can imagine it a hellish walk from the shuttle bus drop off point to your lodge in Lalandia if you got a far away cottage. Ours was a good 15 to 20 min away and my kids are 9 and 12. We had a hired car so we drove to the lodge directly. But good tip for anyone without a car to get a taxi to Lalandia instead with the luggage. You can find out where you lodge is when you get the welcome email using Google maps. From that you can decide if it’s walkable from the aquadome with luggage. That’s where the shuttle bus stops.

It is definitely a great place for a family holiday. So much to see and do.

Oh and we drove to Legohouse from our lodge in Lalandia. Google maps said it’s a 45 min walk. You must have lucked out with a lodge close to the aquadome and Legoland.

@BringOnSummerHolidays
Having seen the lalandia map I reckon we were closer to legoland and the aquadome staying in central Billund than some of the lalandia lodges- only 20m walk for us.

a shame it was too busy for you, we barely queued for anything at all (2-3 minutes a go for the inflatables) though it was far from quiet. Plenty of Germans there so am guessing they were not back at school yet even though the Danes clearly were. I’d def advise going as late as possible in the summer hols if you can because it’s not too bad atm.

Shamelessly jumping on this thread to ask if people who stayed lalandia would recommend it? It’s not cheap but then access to the water park and being able to make picnics might make it worth it!

Absolutely! We went with six children aged 4 to 17 and all loved it. So much to do in Lalandia, especially when you get the gold wristbands so all activities are free.

We didn’t but would if we went again.
The water park is just great (you can get day tickets which we did).

we stayed in a hotel in central Billund which was nice but I really missed not being able to self cater given how expensive everything is.

We've stayed in Lalandia twice some years ago. We used to time our visits for late August (when north Germany/Denmark were back at school). It certainly used to be good value (though we didn't bother with the restaurants).

It is much nicer than Centre Parcs and spotlessly clean. The lodges are set in green fields, not woodland. We used to see red squirrels most days (so cute). We stayed in one of the posher 2 bed lodges, which came with a washing machine/dryer and underfloor heating. We didn't cook anything especially ambitious but the kitchen area was well-equipped and the sofas comfortable. Swallows(?) were raising a family in the eaves above our patio/terrace on one occasion.

The waterpark is great for kids (but no lazy river). The showering might put you off, and the need to leave your shows at the entrance to the changing village (saves getting the floor muddy).

One year we flew, another time we took the ferry to Esbjerg and combined the trip with a few days in Ribe.

We used to nip across the road to Legoland in the evenings when it was free (but I think they have stopped giving people free access for the last hour nowadays).

@MsAnnFrope
This turned up in our inbox earlier this week. The email leads you to here to book:

https://www.lalandia.dk/en/landingpage/black-friday?utmsource=newsletter&utmmmedium=email&utmcampaign=LN7455en_A

Thanks @Madcats

We went this year and loved it. There most definitely is a lazy river in the waterpark, I’ve been on it!

I’ve posted up thread about some of our experience but you do not have to shower naked and nor do you have to leave your shoes anywhere random. The changing areas for the waterpark have shoe racks or you can do what we did and just use one of the lockers to store all of your stuff including footwear.

@MsAnnFrope definitely would recommend staying at Lalandia. The water park is good and the lodge clean, spacious and well equipped.

Hello! I am currently booking to go at Easter. Where do you buy the golden wristbands please? I’m gone through the lodge booking process and can’t see the option.

Thanks @Bananaspliff it looks like the best option as self catering and making picnics will save on eating out and we would want to do the water park anyway.
im not afraid of naked changing rooms and showers 😂