Legoland - just booked, now for some tips.

johnson293

Just booked up a 3 night/2 day tickets break to take our 8 year old, Lego mad son down to Legoland Windsor in June half term week.

Booked through Legoland holidays, and we'll be driving down from Newcastle.

Going down on the Jubilee bank holiday Tuesday (as thought traffic may not be as bad that day), and going to the park on the Wednesday and Thursday, heading back North on the Friday.

Any tips/advice would be appreciated on the best way to tackle Legoland, so we get the most out of our two days. Any ideas on costs of things in there, and are all/most of the rides included once in?

Cheers. :beer:

susancs

My advice would be to get there before opening time as they open the turnstiles about 20 minutes before the park opens. Then go to the barrier that is by the sweet shop and when the barrier is opened, run down the hill, avoiding the hill train as they wait for this to fill up before going and run to the back of the park. Avoid all the smaller rides on the way.

Do the popular rides such as the driving and boat schools first and then run to the shooting ride in the pyramid and run around to the dragons ride roller coaster in the castle. These all have huge queue times later we have found.

Buy yourselves some poncho type macs from the Pound shop for the wet rides.

I would buy one of the unlimited refillable drinks flasks (about £7) and take some disposable cups with you so that you can decant the drinks into cups (as this saves you carrying around heavy lukewarm drinks).

Bring some swimming gear for the kids and a towel as they have a nice wet play area.

I would leave rides like the train which takes time and the fairytale book boat ride until later in the day, as well as the legoland world models bit. There are lockers there if you want to take a picnic with you.

I would time it so that you are by the lake area to watch the adventure show and eat your lunch whilst watching that. If you want to eat in the park there is a fast food burger type place near the lake and you can get seats overlooking the show. I personally don't waste time waiting in one of the restaurants for food when at a theme park. Also if you can stay until closing time, the rides tend to be quieter about an hour before the park closes as people have started to go home.

I would also check height charts in front of rides as staff measure children with a stick and they are very strict in refusing to let children on rides. So if you check height in advance you are not wasting time queuing to find that your child cannot get on the ride.

The rides are included in your ticket price. I find you need to run around to get the most done in the first hour of the park opening, as it does get very busy. The best days to go are rainy ones as the park is quieter and as long as you have a rain poncho it is no hardship.

johnson293

Thanks susancs for those tips.

Is the Q-Bot worth investing in?

When I looked a few weeks ago, I obviously didn't read it right, and thought the total prices were £15 regular, £40 Express and £70 Ultimate, but having read again those prices are actually per person per day... so the regular one would cost us £45/day!

I don't mind paying the £45 for it, if there is benefit for it, and could we get away with just getting one for the first day?

susancs

johnson293 wrote: »

Thanks susancs for those tips.

Is the Q-Bot worth investing in?

When I looked a few weeks ago, I obviously didn't read it right, and thought the total prices were £15 regular, £40 Express and £70 Ultimate, but having read again those prices are actually per person per day... so the regular one would cost us £45/day!

I don't mind paying the £45 for it, if there is benefit for it, and could we get away with just getting one for the first day?

I have never bought a Q-Bot as think they are a bit of a rip off. We have often gone to Legoland as have Merlin Annual passes and I find that if we arrive early and run down to the rides we want, we get a lot done and then we stay until closing and get on a lot of rides in the last hour. It does get very busy about midday and at that point we watch the show and go to the water park bit which has the fairytale brook ride, helicopter rides (which is rarely busy) and see the puppet shows and visit the lego world bit. If you do the park back to front people have often left the rides closer to the front we have found. There is a racing bit near the top that you enter rooms and build a car on a computer screen and then go in anothe room and race in a car and we have found that quiet often in the afternoons, but as near the entrance it is busy first thing.

rooibosorama

johnson293 wrote: »

Thanks susancs for those tips.

Is the Q-Bot worth investing in?

I live nearby and have been two or 3 times.
On a Sunday, queues for popular rides were commonly 45mins (Boating) to 2.5hrs (Laser raiders). We ended up buying 2 Q-bots (£10 or £15 each at the time) and otherwise wouldn't have bothered queuing.

I've been since on a wet day during term time and the place was pretty empty!

pinkzebra

I also agree with waiting by the sweet shop for the rope drop and running! We went on the submarine ride first - were the first ones on it. When we came off the ride there was a 1 hour queue! Definitely leave the models until the end.

The racing bit near the top, where you design a car, then race it on a computer, has now gone - I think it is being turned into a new restaurant for this year.

We have also never used a qbot - seems a lot of extra money- especially if you are there for 2 days. I would race for the submarine ride one day, and the Laser Raiders the other day.

olgadapolga

susancs wrote: »

There is a racing bit near the top that you enter rooms and build a car on a computer screen and then go in anothe room and race in a car and we have found that quiet often in the afternoons, but as near the entrance it is busy first thing.

This is now a Star Wars Miniland, they have recreated scenes from the Star Wars films out of lego. It's really good.

We go to Legoland on a regular basis. The tip about the refillable bottle is a good one but you can only fill it with coke/sprite/fanta although they do have water fountains around the park.

Costs of meals: there is a pizza/pasta/salad/ "eat as much as you can" buffet with unlimited drinks which is probably the most expensive restaurant - it costs about £10 per adult and £5.50 for children. The other restaurants are a bit cheaper (although they have changed one for this year to another buffet, not sure about prices for this one).

The submarine ride is excellent, as is Pirate Falls (water ride), wave surfers, the dragon, jolly rocker, viking river splash.

I find the boating school and laser riders pretty boring and definitely would not bother queuing for either - if you are there for two days then you have the option of leaving them until the park is a bit quieter. The Q-bot is a rip off as well.

Hope you have a great time there, my kids love it.

mathsmum

we're also rope-runners - head in a different direction each day!

we always take sandwiches - we find a corner shop near wherever we're staying and buy bread, cheese, ham and apples - saves time queuing as well as money.

the walk-through bits like the enchanted forest are good for when everywhere else has ridiculous queues - but do go with the flow and don't feel you have to do lots all the time - one day our 2 spent a whole afternoon faffing around in the 'build and test' bit - just playing with lego, basically - most relaxing!

you may be more togetherness-minded, but with one child, i'd go for taking it in turns to ride with him, and to sit on a bench with a book - we'd often do the same with our 2, or split into 2 pairs rather than insist we all did everything together

Polkadotty

1. Get to far end of park early and enjoy rides.

2. Plan food as uninspiring and expensive IMHO but sandwiches every day are no holiday either.

3. You need to leave on Friday by 1500hr at the very latest as driving m4/m25 later could well add an extra hour onto your journey.

johnson293

Cheers for the replies, very helpful, and that tip on heading back North 'Polkadotty'.

Being a 5 hour(ish) drive, we were probably gonna head back about 12-1pm ish, so we get back to Newcastle around tea-time/early evening.

But our first day will just be driving down and checking into the hotel, so hoping do a bit of sight seeing around Windsor on the first and last days, with the two days inbetween at Legoland.

Still undecided on the Q-bot, but will decide nearer the time whether to pre-book one online for the first day at the park - hopefully get the rides out of the way on day one, and then explore the park and features/models more on day two.

Cheers again for all the info/advice. :beer:

newgirly

Hi, we went last sunday and the star wars mini word was good, but had huge queues early in the day but short ones later in the afternoon, we also stood in line for nearly an hour to do the laser egyptian shooting ride which was rubbish, the kids could not believe what a waste of time it was! I would definatly get to the back of the park first to go on the submarine ride, we missed out as the line was huge. Hope you have a good time!