Legoland with limited funds

teabag29

We're a family of 6 (2 adults 4 kids) and we're going to legoland on Tuesday. We've booked travel lodge slough for monday night so we can get to legoland early on Tuesday morning and have paid to have breakfast at travel lodge.

We only have £100 spends and although that sounds alot I need to feed us all on Monday night in Slough for that aswell as Lunch time at legoland (we can have a late tea when we get home Tuesday evening). Any tips on cheapest places to eat at legoland or slough as i'd really like a few quid left over to buy a treat for the kids from the lego shop.

Was thinking of nipping to tesco on Tuesday morning before we go legoland and buying some sarnies, drinks and crisps for a picnic maybe?

Sooooo excited, really need a day out. Been a stressful year!:T

WestonDave

Both times we've been we've taken a packed lunch and eaten it in the queues - that way you not only distract yourself from the boring queuing but also don't "waste" time sitting around. We then tended to have an ice-cream or something around the lake whilst watching the show mid afternoon. If you have your packed lunch etc in a rucksack whichever adult isn't carrying it can delve in the top and fish out an item at a time for the kids to eat. Alternatively there are plenty of places to sit and eat if you want to or need to because the kids are too little to eat standing up. (Make sure you all eat well at breakfast!) Its worth making sure you have snacks like fun size chocolate and crisps so you don't have to buy something when they get hungry mid morning.

To be honest you won't really beat a cheap takeaway (e.g. McD's) for the evening meal which I wouldn't normally suggest but it can be part of the treat.

carebear13

tbh £100 does not sound anywhere near enough. it works out at £16 quid each. take cool bag for drinks, they really eat up your budget. def take a picnic. tea will more than likely have to a mcd's or kfc and if you are really lucky you may have about 10p to come home with.
seriously- i dont want to put a downer on it, but i think you will enjoy yourself so much more if you can just extend your budget a little bit more. we have done legoland several times and after driving ourselves potty with the 'no' word we swore never again so we have always gone with the flow and just spent what we spent. the last time were there it was with a 12 y,7yr and 3yr old+ 2 adults and we took £300 quid but we were there for a weekend.
see if you can sneak out at breakfast things like croissants,muffins, fruit etc.
my husband who is a notorious tightarse even shook his head when he looked at your budget.
whereabouts in slough are you staying?

teabag29

Oh dear. Better get working on my figures then. We are stopping at travel lodge in slough

carebear13

yeah i saw that bit, but sloughs a pretty big town lol. even just an extra £30 quid or so will make a huge difference, and as you've had stressful time it will be nice to be able to treat yourselves and not just the kids.

are you driving or public transport?

skylight

Right - that one in Slough does not have a free car park and its around £15 a night at the various ones you can park in (if I recall) so factor that in as the cheaper parking (£5 ish) goes fast.

There is a Tesco within walking distance and a Sainsbury a short drive away, both have reasonablly priced cafes so you could eat in there and get stuff for a packed lunch. Also that travelodge is just off the high street, so all the usual fast food outlets are available.

carebear13

places like premie inn, harvester, hungry horse etc all have restaurants in slough and windsor, so maybe you could take advantage of early bird.
as your hotel is in the town centre you will have plenty of places to choose from if you dont have transport, and if i remember correctly in one of the legoland cafes kids eat for £1 after a certain time.so maybe they could eat before you leave and then you get yourselves something when you get back, nothing worse than tired whingey and hungry kids.
where are you travelling from?
you will also need to plan your day very carefully, legoland is huge and cant really do everything in one day. when you get in run down the slope , dont do the train. if possible split up and share the queueing esp for the very popular rides. how old are the kids? will you need to go on with each of them (parent swap comes in handy). rides are quiet when the water show is on, and it's lunch time.
erm think thats it for now lol
i hope i havent put you off or made you worry, we love legoland and since having no3 and no4 we have certainly noticed the strain on the wallet (which is only gonna get worse as no 4 is stilltoo young)

teabag29

Oh gosh forgot about car parking . Bread and water it is then lol!

carebear13

oh bless! but better you know about these things now than be faced with a shock when you get there.

susancs

I would buy one of the unlimited refillable cups upon entering the park and just bring some disposable plastic cups with you to to dispense the drink into each time you fill it up...saves carrying around heavy luckewarm drinks. Take swimming costumes and towels with you as their is a nice wet play area. I would get there for 9.30am as they start letting people through the ticket barriers about 9.40am. Go to the barrier and wait for it to go up and then run down the hill to the back of the park avoiding all the smaller rides ont he way. Things like the boat and driving school have huge queues later, as does the shooting ride so get these done early on. The park really gets busy from about 11.30am so try and get as much done in the first hour. Plan to eat lunch by the lake when the action stunt show is on. I would also stay until closing time as the park starts to empty out in the hour before closing so you can do more rides then.

The Travelodge breakfast is good with a help yourself buffet of cereals, eggs, bacon, sausages, beans, tomatoes and mushroom, toast, muffins, yoghurts, juice, tea and coffee so get the children to fill up on a good breakfast. As there are six of you, I persume you have booked two rooms (due to the maximum occupancy being 2 adults and 2 children per room), so all the kids should eat breakfast free as it is 2 children per paying adult who eat free. For lunch you could buy the £2.50 Tesco lunchdeal which is a pasta pot, sndwich, crisps and a drink so £15 for lunch. For your meal the night before you should be able to find a cheap cafe or you coudl look at getting a takeaway. There are also various voucher offers.
http://www.hotukdeals.com/restaurant/vouchers/new

andysdad_2

They also have drinking water fountains at various points so we used to take small water bottles (empty fruit drink ones) and top up every time we passed. If you cant stand drinking water all day take one bottle with neat squash and use it to make squash in all the others. We used to treat ourselves at the Crossed Ribs barbeque as the portions were large and tasty but this is probably outside your budget.