Paultons Park & Legoland Windsor

[Yummymummy456]

Hi.
Looking for advice/tips from anyone who has been to either of these theme parks.
they are a 5/6 hour drive from us so I am hoping they are worth the drive?
I have a 2 & 5 year old. Never been to either before.
Do we need 2 days at both parks to get the best out of it, or is 1 day enough?

Paultons, thinking of staying at premier inn, or is there a better option? My youngest is peppa obsessed.

Legoland, thinking of staying onsite, which accommodation type would you recommend? Or again, is there a better option? My oldest is Lego obsessed.

Thank you!

At Legoland, if you go on a weekend or in a school holiday with a 2yo, yes you need 2 days to make the most of it. The queues can get really long and there’s only so much queuing a 2yo can take! Also, if you go in the summer, you can make the most of the splash park.
As your 5yo is Lego obsessed, then definitely stay in one of the hotels if you can afford it. Plus, you get early park access which is a mega bonus!

You only need a day at Paultons but avoid weekends and school holidays if you can as peppa pig world can get very busy.

We were planning on going Mon-Fri term time at the start of April, so it should be quieter. Would we need 2 days then?
It might be too cold for the splash park when we were planning on going?

which hotel would you recommend? The resort hotel or the castle?

We are planning on going Mon-Fri term time, so it should be quieter. So we should get it all done in a day? I don’t want to rush but I also don’t want to miss out on anything.

I would say paultons park is the better one. We have been to both. Legoland is very tired and long queues even term time sometimes. We went peak school holidays to paultons park and longest wait was 15 mins. Most rides were walk on. So much cleaner and well maintained.

Legoland is pretty good, but imo it's not a patch on Paultons. We live much closer to Legoland and both out DC adore Lego, but it's just not as good. Bits of it are quite tired, rides break down or are closed all the time, etc. The newer bits (eg Mythica) are great but other parts of the park haven't been updated for years and years. However, it's still a fun day out - Miniland is lovely and Duploland is perfect for your 2yo especially.

But! PP is the best, hands down. You can definitely get two days out of it! We go every year and my DC would stay for a week if they could. There's so much more to it than PPW, even though that bit is excellent for your youngest, it's wonderfully themed. Mine are 10 and 6 and we still go on a couple of the rides in there! But there's plenty to do in pretty much every area of the park, and they've got lots of animals and birds, playgrounds, etc. And they have a splash pad too!

Also, PP is perfectly clean and tidy, which you really notice if you go to another theme park (not just Legoland!). It's impeccably well kept, beautifully decorated, etc. I'd choose it over any park, given the option.

Paultons Park / PPW definitely only needs a day. It’s a great little theme park and perfect for your DC ages. PPW will be lively with preschoolers in term time but queues shouldn’t be too bad. Get there for opening time though!

Legoland, as pp have said is well past its best but has to be done at least once. I’d say a day is plenty there too but it depends on the stamina of your kids. Are you doing both parks in one trip?

Paultons Park is a lot better for children that age. It’s so well maintained, there’s a lot for younger kids, and midweek term time is pretty quiet.

We thought LEGOLAND was very run down, with long queues, with lot of stuff that wasn’t suitable for our 3 year old, and a lot of walking.

You'd definitely want 2 days of Legoland. Because of the amount of walking, queues and hanging around for any shows (these were the best bit).

You could do Paultons Park in one day and not miss anything. But could also easily spread it out over 2 days without it feeling like overkill as there is a big soft-play, lots of parks, and gardens.

Oh 15 minutes isn’t bad at all, we can deal with that. We went to Disney last year and waited over 40mins for some! Snacks were a blessing!
it’s a shame about legoland land, we defo need to do it though as my son is obsessed.

Thank you for this! It makes the 6 hour journey seem so much easier knowing it’s a good day out!

Yes, so our plan was, 2 days at a Paultons, then 2 days at legoland, then maybes a few days somewhere else on the way back up home.

Ahh, I think we might be best doing 2 days at each based on what you have said. Our kids love soft play too so that could fill in half a day 😅 Thank you!

What time of year are you thinking of going?
Paultons has a splash area in summer, which is obviously an extra thing to do (and the queues are longer, though still not too bad).

The main rides can be done in a day, though it will be knackering. If you want to see the animals, go to the (quite large) soft play, go to the splash pad etc you'll definitely need 2.

It's amazing.

I would choose the middle of the week term time for legoland as it’s terrible on inset days - even busier than school holidays in my experience. I’d stick to two days each if you have time/can afford it. We’ve been to Paultons Park 3 times (live 3 or so hours away) and the first two was two days each, which we easily filled with repeat rides (also bear in mind we’ve never actually done the peppa pig bit as the rest of it is so great, especially if either of them like dinosaurs?). I also like legoland though, just not the crowds! Can easily spend 2 days there.

If your extra day is near Paultons Park I’d recommend Moors Valley Country Park - huge woodland play trail, miniature train, huge park etc and very cheap.

We were thinking start of April. I'm not sure when the splash park opens, even if it is open when we go it might be a bit too chilly! Thank you, I think we will go with 2 days :)

I think we were thinking the Wed & Thur for Legoland, so fingers crossed it should be ok!
I didn't realise there was dinosaurs too, he loves peppa & dinosaurs so it sounds perfect for him!
Thank you, I will have a look at that. I think we were wanting to stop off somewhere half way between Legoland and home (North East).

Been to both and far prefer Paultons. A day is probably enough but the queues are far less lengthy at Paultons.

The Premier Inn is approx 5 minutes from Paultons. See how you get on on the first day, then you can always go to Marwell Zoo or Moors Valley instead on the second.

Paultons is lovely and clean, the food is very good, staff are friendly - it's a really lovely place. Definitely a 1 day visit to the park, but there is so much else in the area - the New Forest to see the wild ponies, pigs, cows, maybe hire bikes with a trailer, quite a few quaint small towns, the coast, Bournemouth, Winchester very close by, Marwell Zoo as someone else has said, lots of farm and wildlife parks. Honestly you won't be bored.

Thank you. Which beach would you recommend? As I had thought about having a beach day when we are so far down south but I don’t know which areas are nice.

I think we might do that, does Paultons get booked up or would we be able to book the next day on the night? I would hate to think we wanted a second day but there was no tickets left.

They always have walk ins. Most locals have a season ticket and pop in for an hour or so

Bournemouth is the most traditional seaside town (aquarium, pier, gardens etc), the coast walk to Boscombe gets progressively quieter. The bits near Christchurch like Avon Beach and Hengistbury towards Highcliffe head are less developed and quieter and have some nice cafes, pubs, watersports, crabbing, ferry across the harbour. If short on time I'd go for the Christchurch area as it's crazy close through lovely roads across the New Forest, but the roads get busy at peak times.

Been to both- do not make the mistake of going to legoland first ad you'll be disappointed.
Plus do the rest of Paulton first and peppa after lunch as that area suddenly empties (to the rest of the park) 1pm or so
We stayed between the two with family so can't help I'm afraid
Have fun

With that age I'd be tempted to do Paultons, stay in the area and go Longdown/Moors valley/ New forest wildlife park, town go home.

Then in a couple of years time return south and do legoland.

2 theme parks back to back at that age seems too much to me!