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!

Paultons park do a deal where if you book a nearby hotel, you get the second day free. Means you can maybe leave PP early if the kids are getting tired and go back the next day. Also some of the hotels on offer have a swimming pool too.

Lepe country park beach isn't far from Paultons. It is not a big sandy beach though. It's quite slim and pebbly. But it's a good walk for kids and the views over to the Isle of Wight and Portsmouth are great on a sunny day. There's a fairly new cafe there I think.

I love Paultons. I should borrow a pre-schooler so I can go again.

Legoland, in my opinion, is absolutely dreadful. Old and tired, the staff are often miserable. Paultons Park is better.

Thank you! Are the beaches clean? My little one will probably just be digging the whole time 🤣 Crabbing sounds fun though, is there a certain time of day to do this?

Thank you. We were planning on going to Paultons first, then legoland. I am a bit deflated reading the comments about legoland, but feel it’s something we should do. Thank you for the advice about Paultons, if it’s really busy we will do what you’ve suggested. ☺️

Thank you. I’ll have a look at the areas you have suggested, it would be nice to have a few days in between. I think the kids will be ok though, we did Disney for 5 days in November, and Portaventura for 3 days a few years back. It’s the travelling down we are not keen about as my youngest gets travel sick. We just thought we’d do them both at the same time with them being fairly close to each other.

Ohh noo, is it really that bad? There’s so many mixed reviews, more negative than anything. Do you not think it’s worth going at all?

Legoland isn't that bad, don't be put off. Yes, in peak summer holidays many ride queues are huge but it won't be that bad at all in term time in April. We used to have passes and take our toddlers. Your kids won't be able to go on the big rides with huge queues anyway as they are too small. One thing I would say is it's quite a big park so lots of walking so little ones get tired. You could easily spread it over 2 days or have a very jam packed long one day.

Paultons park is also nice. Very clean. I think the onsite food and drink is better value than most theme parks too. Peppa pig world gets rammed. There's a dinosaur zone thing that one of my boys loved. The other was scared of the moving Dino models. Again, you may not be able to take the kids on all the bigger rides in there so I think you could do a day no problem or stretch it out to 2 if money / time is no issue.

Have fun!

You know those little ride on cars etc in supermarkets and other places that cost money to ride? Paultons gas (or at least used to have) them for free.
There is loads more to Paultons than the PPW bit.

@Yummymummy456

We were there with friends and their little ones (our DC are all adults now...we are patiently waiting for GC☺️) in December though,just after Christmas, so it was cold and depressing. It wasn't busy at all but the wait time was still a good 40 mins for anything worth going on and even the smaller attractions were a good long wait.

Summer a few years ago was better but then of course it's absolutely rammed. A lot of stuff wasn't open when we went this time and like I said, some of the staff clearly didn't want to be there, not all of them obviously but a fair amount. It's just tired looking and has been for a while and the entry prices, food, gift stores, are crazy.

Don't worry too much about legoland. I hated it for all of the reasons others have mentioned, but my kids enjoyed it. I hope they never make me go back! The mini cities built with lego were impressive, but it's theme park prices to get in and see them, so we didn't linger long.

Paultons Park I love! We have been quite a few times and it is always a good day. Our strategy was to get there before 10 and they let you into the garden area. Then go straight to Peppa area and get in 2 or 3 rides before the queues build. Do the rest of the park then come back in the afternoon as people start to leave. Also love the Dinosaur area and the tractor ride. The garden area provides calm green space when kids get overexcited.

The new forest is all around, so lots of things to do nearby. Winchester science centre is great.

Hi keen to know if you have been to PP and how you found it from NE as we are thinking of doing the same with our young kids. Any ideas of where to stay/stop on way there or back?

Hi. PP was absolutely fantastic, if it was closer to home I would definitely go every year! Hands down the best theme park we’ve been to! So we stayed in the Southampton West Premier Inn which was only a 2 minute drive from PP. I thought it was a little run down but for what it cost it was fine for what we needed. Breakfast in the premier inn was lovely. Don’t bother eating at the pub next door (The Vine) is was vile! One night we got a dominos which was only a 9 minute drive away, or there is a McDonald’s behind the petrol station on the roundabout. We did 2 days in the park, which we definitely needed! There was so many bigger rides that both my kids could go on.
Travelling down we stopped off for food at Wetherby services, and Tibshelf and then another near Winchester. It did take 8 hours to get there but we set off at 5am and beat a lot of the traffic. We did have to stop so many more times for toilet breaks etc.
Coming home it took 7 hours, we only stopped for food once at Leicester Forest East, but again had to stop maybes 4/5 times more for toilet breaks.
We did think about staying another night somewhere to break the journey up but the kids slept most of the way home, an iPad to watch films etc was a big help too!