National Holidays London, Legoland any advice?

MollyJoe

Hi all,

I am looking at going on National Holidays 3 day break:
Wed 6th June - Jubilee Break - 3 / 4 hours in Lonson
Thur 7th - Legoland - 10am - 4pm
Fri 8th - back to london til 2pm.

London eye & Legoland inclusive price staying at the Europa Hotel, Maidenbower.


Has anyone used these trips before, my son is 7 yrs old?

Will it be very trashing?
The hotel seems to be approx 1.3/4 hours from legoland and london.

Thanks guys.

susancs

You could probably do the break cheaper and have more time in London if you arranged it yourself. For eg. Newcastle to London Victoria Coach station fares on the 5th June start at £12 on megabus and return on Thursday is also £12 so £24 return per person. A family room outside the centre at new Travelodge at Cricklewood London is £29 per night, per room for the 5th and 6th June The no 16 bus goes from in front of Victoria Station (which is few mins walk from the coach station) to Cricklewood and takes 30 mins. Kids under 11 travel free on tubes and buses in London and you can either get an off peak one day travelcard for unlimited use on buses and tubes (£7.70 for zones1-3) or oyster card for London Travel (£5 refundable deposit and top up as required). From Cricklewood to the eye you can get the bus to Kilburn station (about 5-10 minute journey) and get a train direct from there to Waterloo for the Eye (takes 15 mins approx). If you arrived early enough you could walk from Victoria coach station to Buckingham Palace for the Changing of the Guard which starts from 11.30am (use googlemaps and click on the walking man to get easy directions) .

Trains run from Paddington to Windsor with a shuttle bus from Windsor train station to Legoland so in the morning you could get the same bus no 16 to Edgware Road tube station and either walk to Paddington station (about 10 mins) or hop off and get the tube one stop to Paddington. You could look at maybe staying at Windsor on 6th instead of returing to London after Legoland and a family room in TL Windsor central is £50.10 currently for that night. For Legoland there are plenty of 2for 1 vouchers if you check on MSE.

You could save on the Paddington to Windsor train fares by using the free 3 month family and friends card the daily Mail are currently offering.

Using a family and friends railcard on Eastcoast trains website fares start from £51 return from Newcastle to London for 1 adult and child (not sure if it is just 1 adult and childyou are looking at) and a 3 hour journey compared to a 6-7 hour coach journey so might be worth lookong at. If arriving at Paddington and wanting to do London attractions straight away you could get the underground direct to Waterloo for The Eye, House of Parliament, Big Ben etc. (takes 15 mins). 10 minutes direct tube journey from Paddington to South Kensington for the Natural History and Science museums which are free entry. For travel in London you could plan your journeys using www.tfl.gov.uk

Link to Railcard offer details.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3941467

The trip you have looked at will only really allow for the London Eye on the first day as 3 hours in London is very short and the next day you will also not have time to do much. Also in Legoland it is best to get there before opening time, as they let you buy tickets and got through the ticket barriers from about 9.40am, then you need to wait by the park barrier and run down the hill to the back of the park to get the busy rides done first. The last hour in the park is worth doing as a lot of people have gone home (i.e. coach trips like the one you are thinking of) and you can get a lot of rides in then. The park is open until 6pm, so you will miss 2 hours there by leaving at 4pm. The hotel you will be staying at in Maidenbower is near Gatwick Airport so is about 40 miles from Legoland and about 35 miles from London, so a bit away from the attractions. If you looked at staying in London or outskirts you could do much more. You could look at moving hotels to get best rates too. Watford Jurys Inn often has rooms from £39 and it is a few mins walk to Watford junction train station where you can get a fast train that takes 15 min sto get into London. There is also a Harry Potter studios tour bus that goes from Watford Junction to the Studios (takes 15 mins) and costs £2 return, if you fancied booking tour tickets (they only take advance bookings).

MollyJoe

Thank you , I will work my way through the information.
Really appreciated.

s_b

i bet once you read all that you will realise what a bargain national do

susancs

s_b wrote: »

i bet once you read all that you will realise what a bargain national do

Lol, although London Transport is fairly straight forward in practice, it does sound complicated when written down in detail.