Legoland Windsor - what do I need to know?

[Splaxo]

First ever trip to Legoland Windsor with DC 6 and 9.

What do I need to know? What are the essential rides? Should we do some stuff before others? Any other tips from those who have been before?

TIA!

I think you’ll be alright. I had an annual pass last year and went 4 times in the summer during term time and it wasn’t that busy except the one day in mid July when the private schools had already broken up. I don’t think you’ll need a q bot.

my 5 year old absolutely loved it, and there were rides which were too big/scary for her so I think your kids will love it.

take a picnic and eat in the queues, the food offering is overpriced and crap.

Also lolling at the suggestion to cancel a one day trip to a theme park and go on holiday to Denmark instead 😂

That you will queue for absolutely everything - if I ever went again, I would purchase those fast track tickets

There isn't much seating so you end up standing around loads

Food options were limited - we went during a Brick Week and it was basically the chicken place or hotdogs available and that was it - neither were good

To be fair if you're going for the Lego it's genuinely going to be quite a disappointing day. You'd be just as well going to any other theme park and stopping off at a LEGO store on the way home.

@modgepodge I think if a person is choosing Legoland because they are an obsessive Lego fan then Billund would be a much better choice.
If your just going because you fancy a day at a theme park - then Windsor is fine.
It all depends really if you are more Team Lego or Team Theme Park.
Lots of people go to Windsor because it's a just another place with rides. They don't care about the Lego part.

We were there on Friday- wasn't that busy and low queue times. If you're OK with kids or you having fizzy it's worth getting a refillable cup I think they're about £18 ( you can all drink from the same one- it's going to be hot!)

We’ve been loads of times, though less so in the last 2-3 years as kids much older now, and we adore it. I’ve never been to the one in Denmark so maybe that’s a lot better, but there’s loads of Lego in the Windsor one, don’t understand what people are saying at all! Loved the decor, fantastic place. And we went plenty of times and never had the “queued for hours and only went on three rides” experience.

There are some rides which always have much longer queues. My method is to only plan to go on a couple of those tops. Enjoy the rides with shorter queues and go to the pirate show / playground / mini land when it’s the busiest. Take sandwiches and eat them in a queue if your kids can manage that.

The fire academy thing, and the little boats (coastguard hq) are two of the longest queues. We were never that bothered about the fireman thing. The little boats are great but the queue moves so slowly we only did that one occasionally. We would usually go straight down to the dragon and go on that first and also the log flume (pirate falls) one, and fill in gaps with the spinning spider and the other ones round there. There’s a big playground area here too - they can disappear into it so keep an eye out.

we weren’t that impressed with the ninjago ride, and it has massive queues, so we tended to leave that too. Loved fairy tale brook - it’s another good one for eating a picnic in. Very sweet and quite fun. No thrills! And we liked the helicopter ride.

The Egyptian area is good fun, and the splash park is great. If either of yours are into Star Wars there’s a huge area to look round near the top. It’s amazing. Loads of models.

I think there are a few new areas since we were last there so I can’t give you a big plan, but basically pick a couple of the big rides to prioritise - one right at the start and one at the end. Enjoy the things with shorter queues - they’re also fun - and let them spend time in the playgrounds when you’re fed up of queues. And don’t forget to walk through Miniland - that’s the bit with all the models of around the world.

And arriving there - the gates to the bit at the top open earlier than the park opens. Get there for before the turnstiles open at - I think - 9.30 - so you can go to the loo and get your stuff sorted out. Then at 10 the park gates open - everyone crowds round them. Do that. And speed walk down to the ride you most want! Watch the app - sometimes rides are closed for a bit or don’t open till later.

Also it’s hilly so beware!

Hope you have a great day - our schools nearby don’t have an inset so hopefully it will help a bit. Enjoy!

See I really don’t get this perspective, I’ve been loads and it’s very Lego-y! Obviously we should go to billund. But we didn’t find it at all disappointing and we have very Lego fan children.

Given that the OP specifically asks about rides, I expect she is aware that it is mostly a theme park 🤷‍♀️ i think there’s quite a lot of Lego there, though i would agree some of it is looking a bit tired.

I’ve been there with multiple groups of kids in school trips (as well as my own), ages from 6-9 and every group had a fab day.

Food - I would take a picnic for lunch and water. There are lockers to leave stuff but they’re right at the entrance at the top of the hill and I never wanted to go back there mid day. You can get water around the park to refill. Take lots of snacks. And sweets to eke out queuing time (a polo per 20 mins!)

Then, get some overpriced chips from the cafe right back at the entrance at the end of the day. It’s open as the park is closing for a bit. And we would always leave food in the car for the way home. Going to the restaurants for anything other than ice cream takes a big chunk of time and it’s very basic.

Tbh,
You can get a flight there for £13 from Manchester, I don't think I could get to Windsor from here cheaper than that (and you still have to pay for parking!) Billund Airport is walking distance from Legoland. (But I'd stay an extra day and do Lego House too +a few extra days for Lalandia)

I'd not bother going back to Windsor.

I've just looked at the numbers, for a random weekend at the end of August (Danish schools are back by then) you can get a return flights from Manchester and Legoland ticket for £72.44. A walk up ticket for Legoland Windsor is £68.

(granted, no one pays that as there is always a 2-4-1 or whatever).

Anyway.

Windsor tips:
Take a picnic and drinks. There are 2 water refill taps for the whole site and when we're there last 1 wasn't working. The restaurants can fill up water bottles but the quick service places can't/won't.

The water park smells very strongly of urine by about 3pm.

Do the driving school (it costs extra but is cool)

If you're considering getting a big (£££) Lego set there buy an annual pass first so you get a discount.

There is plenty of lego - the newer parts, like Mythica do this very well - with interactive lego displays, the splash park, and mini land of course all have a lot of lego. We have been to Billund and lego house as well - i dont thibk Billund is that different, bigger and quieter, but otherwise similar bith theme parks. Windsor was much longer queues but we were there at peak times. I agree with everyone about the food it is very over priced, and pretty terrible but there are places to sit. We never paid for any games etc.

@User478 yes I know several people who have done Billund in a day for a less than 20 quid flight from London City.
As I said upthread - it's what you are actually going for. The OP asked about rides so she (her kids?) want rides. Doesn't necessarily matter if it's Legoland, Chessington or Thorpe Park you go to really if you are into rides.
If you're all about the Lego..... Denmark would be better.

The rides we loved and would recommend are Flight of the Sky Lion, the submarine and the haunted house.

OP I’ve just checked and seen that Atlantis is reopening as deep sea adventure in 2025

Also, I think some of the advice on this thread might be a bit out of date.

Id recommend the Facebook page 'Legoland Windsor Visitors,' it has all the most up to date info

Thanks all, I think we'll head to the sky lion at gates opening and take it from there. Will do packed lunch!

Flight of the sky lion always seems to have the longest queues (although we last went before the new roller coaster opened). If they’re doing the shows on the nearby lake in the Friends bit then that’s the best time to get in the queue.

Fire academy is probably the worst queue to enjoyment.

There’s a good playground next to the pirate ship if they need to let off some steam. The minilands are nice to wander through too when you don’t want to queue up for things. There’s a build area next to it where they can make something, again no queue.

Take sandwiches and plenty of snacks, we didn’t stop for lunch but just ate in the queues.

Big Lego shop by the exit for maximum pestering, although there are some nice cheaper sets that you can only get there. The freestyle soft drinks are an absolute rip off though, avoid.

We stayed for 2 nights recently and it was great.
The sky lion ride is brilliant and the speedway ride was quite good, but not long. Our DS (aged 6) loved the Ninjago ride as well.
There are some great little bits there. Lots of nice big lego statues around.
The water rides do at the end as it's not fun walking around wet all day.
The pirate show on the main stand is really good and we watched the midday show - a lot of people who had packed lunch used this chance to have much which would be great - we ate in the pasta and pizza place, it was ok, nothing amazing but perfectly ok.

Have a great time, we did. We are now booking for the Denmark one.

I would buy the queue jumping tickets where you can virtually queue, it doesn't mean you can walk straight in but you do go into a smaller queue. We went in the holidays and it wasn't mad busy but we did queue for 40 mins for the Ninjago ride.

We bought the digital pass for the photos, I would recommend that if you like the memories ours were funny, although I would recommend if you but the digital pass, on the rides you can use it, where you sit in a cart ask to make sure you are sat at the front of the cart so you don't have some random in your photo.

We have annual passes and DS6 always has a good time. I don't think a Monday will be that bad in term time even if it is a common inset day (it's not where we are in London).

Agree Flight of the Sky Lion is the best ride and we always go there first (although recently have prioritised minifigure speedway as it's new). I think minifigure speedway is better than the dragon but it does go backwards and it's reasonably intense so depends if your DC like rollercoasters.

When it's hot the log flume one (Pirate Falls) and splash park will be your friend! The splash park is pretty good, DS loved it when we went on a v hot day last year. Worth taking swimwear and towels for DC.

Agree the food is expensive and packed lunch is a good idea. Queues for ice creams will probably be very long in the afternoon!

DS also loves ninjago (although it's sometimes annoying as the scoring doesn't always work) and driving school. The queue for driving school tends to be better late in the day.

Definitely download the app as it gives a good idea of the queues and you can see what's nearby with a shortish queue that you can nip on in between the bigger rides.

Have a great day!

If you get travel sick, avoid the haunted house ride. Hideous. The whole room spin slowly like being inside a drum. I thought it would be a spooky walk through effect, not a nauseating ride.

I don't think it will be too busy on Monday. Our school definitely doesn't have an inset day.

Things to be aware of:

• be there before opening time. They open the gates before the rides officially open so you can walk quite a way into the park and head towards your chosen first ride.

• Legoland is very hilly. You will walk a lot and it will be up and down hills. Expect to get absolutely knackered by the end of the day.

• The flight of the sky dragon is amazing. Unfortunately it also makes me very very nauseous so I have to close my eyes for half of the ride. That might just be me though.

• Remember swimming costumes and towels for the water play area.

• There are shows and a 3D cinema. These are good for a rest from the walking.

Have fun.

Oh this completely threw me. We were using this as a little break from "rides" but I didn't do my homework and surprised at it,

Thanks all, I think we'll head to the sky lion at gates opening and take it from there. Will do packed lunch!

The Sky Lion ride is breathtaking. The queues are huge for it for good reason.

Another important thing to be aware of...when the inner gates open, many people will RUN. Honestly, full pelt sprint. Just 'heading straight to Sky Lion' won't get you all that near the front of the queue, if you walk. People will be running past you.

We've been twice. The first time we walked when the gates opened, rolling our eyes at the runners. We joined the runners on our second visit and although you feel a twat, RUNNING IS WORTH IT. A one minute run saved us about half an hours queue time and we were on the second ride for Sky Lion 😂

Inset days are busy but doable. Use the app, keep an eye on ride times for the ones you want to go on. Mythica is just amazing - don’t miss it! Flight of sky lion is the best and others in the area also very good. As it’s nice weather, take a picnic to have near Miniland - there are lots of tables around there and can walk around and look at all the miniature cities.

It is a good day out when it’s not school holiday. I would never recommend it when schools are closed though, as others have said queues are much longer than any other theme park and really poorly managed