Brick Your Pants - at Legoland Windsor (Legoland Windsor)

Member Name: diffyb

Product:	Legoland Windsor
Date:	04/04/06 (2125 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great staff, easily accessible, good facilities

Disadvantages: The Gift Shop !!

~~~ LEGOLAND Theme Park ~~~
Despite living less than an hour's drive from Legoland and the fact that it opened in 1996, I have to admit that I had never visited the place until July last year, when my wife and I took our 2 children there as a 9th birthday treat for our son and as a reward for our 6 year old daughter for managing to get a glowing school report that term (a feat which has yet to be repeated...).

Why had we not visited before ? Well, mostly due to the admission price (more of that later) and partly because I had heard bad reports from colleagues who had been there a few years ago, shortly after the park opened.

Anyway, if you have heard of Legoland, and even if you haven't, hopefully this review will give you an idea of what you can expect should you decide to go there.


~~~ Are my kids too old/young ? ~~~
As I have mentioned, my children were aged 6 and 9 and both of them thoroughly enjoyed the day even though it rained constantly the entire time we were there.
Most of the families we saw had children in tow aged between 5 and 12 with a few older siblings tagging along.
I would, however, suggest that the attractions are primarily aimed at the 6-12 age group though.
One thing to bear in mind is that your child needs to be between 90cm and 110cm tall to go on most of the rides and if they are under 130cm then they need to be accompanied by an adult - so no excuses parents, if your child wants to go on the rollercoaster then you're gonna have to go on it too !!
My petite daughter just squeezed in at 110cm but be warned - the staff will check if they think your sprog is too little - especially on the "scarier" rides.
The Legoland website states that 90cm is the minimum height but the height restriction varies from 90cm, 100cm and 110cm depending on the ride.


~~~ Getting There ~~~
As I live in Newbury, Berkshire, getting to Legoland was very easy - hop onto the M4 and leave at junction 6 heading towards Windsor.
Legoland is clearly signposted from the M4 and if I can find it then anybody can (I still get lost going to my mum's (house).
If you take the train then you can travel direct to Windsor and then catch one of the regular buses from the station straight to the park.
The road system within the park has a speed limit of 20mph which is blatently ignored by some people who obviously consider themselves such good drivers that they can safely stop if a young child runs out in front of them, no matter what speed they are doing.
There is ample parking with pavements to get to the park entrance too.


~~~ Opening Times ~~~
The park is open from around mid-March to the end of October from 10am but check the closing times as this varies from 5pm to 7pm depending on the time of year.
There are also odd days in April, May and September when the park is closed so check the opening times before setting off.


~~~ Prices ~~~
There is a bewildering array of ticket prices, options and special offers so I advise you to look carefully before you book your tickets - there are loads of places on the internet offering huge discounts on ticket prices so you really don't need to pay full price unless you happen to be passing and decide to go in on the spur of the moment.

Legoland advertise admission prices as follows :-
1 day visit, child - £22
1 day visit, adult - £24
2 day visit, child - £43
2 day visit, adult - £47
Annual pass (excl August), child - £39 (£49 incl August)
Annual pass (excl August), adult - £47 (£57 incl August)
Lifetime pass - £520 (child & adult are the same price)

Legoland also offer group discounts and birthday discounts which vary depending on the season.

We actually exchanged Tesco clubcard vouchers for 3 of our tickets - so £6 of Tesco vouchers gets you one adult ticket with a child ticket being slightly cheaper (at, I think, £5.50).
We then printed a voucher for 35% off admission price from the internet which meant that we only paid £15 for the extra child's ticket that we needed.
So total cost was £18 of Tesco vouchers plus £15 in cash - not too bad at all compared to the listed prices.

Children under the age of 3 get free entry although it is unlikely that they would be able to use most of the facilities in any case due to the height restrictions.
Interestingly, Legoland cite that parking is free - I'd be rather disappointed if it wasn't ! Although, you can opt for "preferred" parking which lets you leave your car some 300 yards closer to the main gate and costs £5 extra - I really can't see that it is worth paying for.

The day we visited, the weather was very wet but we had brought along a couple of umberellas - but the park sells rain capes for £2.50 each which are bright yellow and emblazened with the "Legoland" logo.
I think these should be free or at least provided at cost price as there is no way you would be seen in one of these capes outside of the park unless, (a) you were going to a fancy dress party, or (b) you are a weirdo with no fashion sense (like me).


~~~ The Attractions ~~~
The attractions are reasonably well layed out and there is plenty of choice depending on what your children are interested in.

Here is a list of the attractions we experienced :-

MINILAND
Miniland is a collection of cities from around the world, built from Lego bricks (surprise, surprise), many of which feature moving vehicles, boats, bridges, etc.
Holland is full of canals and boats with moving windmills, there is the Tyne bridge in Newcastle and Cape Canaveral with a mock-up of the Kennedy Space Centre - but my favourite was Wembley stadium, which thankfully, was still intact (including the roof) unlike it's real-life counterpart.
My kids liked Miniland for the "moving parts" - but the culture of the various cities was lost on them.

DRIVING SCHOOL
Children are supposed to be aged 6-13 for this but we saw kids who looked a little younger on this attraction.
The kids are shown a "Lego" animated road safety video which tries to explain when to stop, go, give way, etc before being let loose in small electric cars around a miniature track featuring roundabouts, traffic lights and a realistic road system.
This attraction confirmed 2 things for me, (1) Fiat cars are indeed made from Lego bricks as I suspected, and (2) most of the teenagers on my housing estate learnt to drive at Legoland.
At the end of the driving experience you can pay £3.99 per child and get a laminated Legoland driving license and a plastic holder to put it in for an extra 50p.
My 2 kids think these are real and can't understand why I won't let them borrow our "real" car.

FIRE ACADEMY
I always wanted to be a fireman when I was young and this is as close as it gets to the real thing.
Teamwork is the key to this attraction - up to 4 people operate one of 8 fire engines in a race to put out the fire in a "burning" building.
Mum & Dad have to operate a "pump lever" to power the fire engine down a 30 metre course whilst the kids pretend to steer it.
Then all 4 of you jump out and run to the "hose pumps" (2 per
engine) which are aimed at a wall with holes where the fire is supposed to be.
Once again, Mum & Dad operate the pump levers whilst junior aims the hose at the wall (or over it and into the rather annoyed waiting crowd like my daughter did).
A word of warning - if you haven't eaten your spinach for breakfast and your biceps don't put Popeye to shame then you will struggle to operate the pumps !!

DRAGON COASTER
This is set in the Knights Kingdom area of the park and is a rollercoaster ride suitable for younger children (and easily terrified adults).
The entire ride lasts around 90 seconds and is exciting for the young ones without being too scary.
Your photo is taken as you zoom around the track which you can buy at the end of your ride for around £4.50 if you want it.

JUNGLE COASTER
Set in "Adventure Land", this is the largest of the rollercoaster rides in the park reaching a height of 16 metres at it's peak.
This is also the most popular ride so expect to queue a little longer for this one.
Even adults will find this ride gets the adrenaline pumping and my daughter was quite scared of this one - not recommended for children/adults of a nervous disposition.
Again, you have the option to buy a photograph of your experience at the end which you can have put into a key fob if you like - the cost is around £4.50 which, although quite pricey, is a good souvenir and reminder of your day out.

PIRATE GOLDWASH
I didn't think this would appeal to many kids but mine quite enjoyed the pirate goldwash - basically a couple of long troughs filled with water to a depth of around 12 inches and a few inches of sand in the bottom.
Using a perforated plate the children have to "pan" for gold in the sand - not real gold but small(ish) nuggets of gold-coloured metal which is then weighed and, if your child has enough "gold", exchanged for a Legoland "gold" medal.
In reality, no matter how much gold is weighed, your child is given a Gold Medal as a prize as the Legoland staff helpfully lean on the scales if required (a bit like our local butcher).

JOHNNY THUNDER (pants)
This is one of the shows in the Lego City Harbour featuring super-hero Johnny Thunder as he battles ninjas and other bad guys.
One of the highlights of this show is when the actor dives from the top of the lighthouse into the water below to the "ooh's" and "aah's" of the awe-struck audience.
The voice-over's are witty and can be clearly heard above the action which made this really entertaining to watch.

There are lots of other attractions which I haven't mentioned above but which are thoroughly enjoyable such as :-
Imagination Centre
Train rides (watch out for the water sprays !)
Boating school (a bit slow for my kids)
Balloon school (around a bit of the park in 80 seconds)
Mazes (don't expect Hampton Palace style adventure though)
Spining Spider (a bit like the Waltzer but without the tattooed, ear-ring wearing youth chatting up the girls)
Climbing Wall (didn't look too popular)
etc

As we went mid-week and it was raining, the queues were very small but I imagine on warmer days you may find yourself waiting much longer for many of the attractions.

The additional charges for photos and the driving license aren't particularly expensive so long as you don't have more than 2 children, otherwise it can add up to be really expensive.


~~~ Food ~~~
We didn't take any food or drinks into the park but many other visitors did - there are lockers which you can rent for the day to store your belongings in if you don't want to carry them around all day.
There are a number of places where you can eat - hot dog stalls, popcorn stalls, baguette bar, Knight's Table Rotisserie, Pit Stop Cafe and so on.

We chose the baguette bar - we ordered :-
2 adult baguettes with chicken and bacon
2 child baguettes (1 egg, 1 chicken salad)
These came with a bag of crisps and piece of fruit for the adults, and a drink and piece of fruit for the kids.
We paid £17 which sounds expensive but bear in mind that the baguettes were huge, the fruit was lovely and fresh, the drinks were huge and the crisps were the "kettle" variety -and it really was quite reasonable - we have paid more in McDonalds in the past.

There were plenty of tables or if you prefer, there are ample seating areas scattered around te park including a small picnic area near the Enchanted Wood.
We didn't try any other food places but all of them looked and smelled very inviting.


~~~ The Staff ~~~
Now then, let me explain something about myself - I don't like kids in baseball caps, hoodies, baggy jeans or trainers with no laces and I'm sure that the re-introduction of National Service will sort out the youth of today making our country much more prosperous. I tend to avoid places where the average age of it's employees is 16 with a mental age much younger than that.
So I was pleasantly surprised to find that all the staff we encountered at Legoland, despite fitting my stereo-typical teenager profile, were actually very, very friendly and efficient.
The staff driving the train that potters around the park would wave and smile at you as they glided past, staff controlling the rides would smile as they ushered you through, and so it went on.
I don't know what Legoland do to attract staff like this but I wish more employers would follow their example - they were all a credit to Legoland on the day we visited - well done to all of them.


~~~ Gift Shop ~~~
There is a large gift shop at the entrance to the park and it sells all kinds of Lego-related paraphernalia - fridge magnets, pens, pencils, hats, T-shirts and, of course, Lego of all varieties.
Despite this, all the merchandise had one common theme - it was grossly over-priced (in my opinion).
Many of the Lego items were cheaper in your high street store - surely Lego should make their product cheaper at their own theme park, especially if you had paid full admission price.
We didn't, unfortunately, buy anything from the gift shop but we had our photos, driving licenses and Gold Medal as souvenirs which our kids were more than pleased with.


~~~ What I Liked Most ~~~
What makes Legoland different to many other theme parks is their attention to detail and lateral thinking, for example :-
- kids don't have to walk down the steps as there are slides at the side of the path to use instead
- all around the park are Lego animals, hidden in the bushes and attached to the trees providing a real Lego feel to it
- most rides seat up to 4 people so you don't have to separate Mum and Dad with a child each
- the staff are so friendly and flexible, a big thumbs up for that
- there is no pressure to buy any of the photos that are taken on most of the larger rides
- quality of the attractions was really good and well thought out so as to appeal to the youger ones
- there are plenty of toilets so you never have to go far when your child feels the urge to go

Also, on a personal level, I don't like fast rides so it was nice to go to somewhere that had less scary rides than some of the other theme parks. My motto is that if I want to brick my pants I'll look at my mother-in-law in a mud pack instead -it's (marginally) less likely to kill me.


~~~ What I Disliked ~~~
There weren't many dislikes other than the over-priced gift shop which I just don't understand because it spoils an otherwise enjoyable day out.
Luckily my kids weren't too bothered and they realise that "no" means "no" and don't sulk but we saw a few temper tantrums from other children when we visited !


~~~ Conclusion ~~~
We spent some 5 hours in Legoland and our kids thoroughly enjoyed the day out, and to be honest, so did we.
The attractions seemed to suit our children's age group perfectly and we didn't find ourselves making excuses not to go on any of the rides like we have done before at Alton Towers (as we felt the rides were too scary).
The park was clean, logically laid out and complimented by lovely staff which makes a huge difference to the experience.
We are lucky enough to live quite close to Legoland and would recommend anybody with younger children to pay a visit if you are nearby, but don't pay full price - scan your local papers and internet for one of the many offers that are available.
Personally, I would not pay full price but would return next time the Tesco clubcard vouchers come out - and if anybody who works for Legoland happens to read this, please, please, please sort out the gift shop

Summary: A great day out for adults and kids