A whole world of Lego fun (Legoland Windsor)

Member Name: KLockwood75

Product:	Legoland Windsor
Date:	24/06/09 (139 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Lots of attractions, perfect for pre-schoolers and above

Disadvantages: Expensive, not so good for teenagers

Legoland, Windsor is a Lego-themed park with a wide variety of rides and attractions. After the success of our trip to Thomas Land at Drayton Manor last October, we decided that we would treat our two year old to a day at Legoland this week, especially as my husband and I have always secretly wanted to go there. The park is designed predominantly for a younger age-group as there are less 'white knuckle' rides than at somewhere like Alton Towers or Thorpe Park, but it is still a great day out.

**Getting There **
The easiest way to get to Legoland is by car as it is not far from the M4 motorway in Windsor. There are lots of parking spaces and, unless you want to be really near the park entrance and pay £6 for preferred parking, then parking is free. We parked in the normal car park and it was less than five minutes walk to the park gates so I can't really see the point of paying to park. You can also get a train to either Windsor and Eton Central, or Windsor and Eton Riverside, and there are shuttle buses operating to the park from both of those stations.

**Tickets**
Admission prices for 2009 are as follows; Adults = £36.00, Children aged 3-15 / Seniors = £27.00 - children under 3 are free. However, if you plan your visit in advance, you shouldn't have to pay full price. Booking your tickets online through the Legoland website (www.legoland.co.uk) will save you 10% on the ticket price, and there are also a lot of 2 for 1 offers around or free child entry with a paying adult. We booked our tickets using the Tesco Clubcard vouchers as you get 4x the value of your vouchers through Tesco Deals, meaning that we spent £18 worth of vouchers to get two adult tickets. You can also buy annual passes which work out as very good value if you live nearby, or the Merlin Annual Pass which allows entry to various other UK attractions as well as Legoland, including Thorpe Park, Alton Towers and Chessington.

**Opening Times**
At the moment, the park is open from 10am to 5pm on week days and from 10am to 6pm at weekends. During the peak school summer holiday season it will be open from 10am to 7pm.

**Attractions**
The park is divided into areas with different Lego-based themes.

The first Land that we visited was Duplo Land which is designed for toddlers. This has a fantastic water-based play area with squirting fountains which our son loved - I recommend taking swimming things if you have young children as it's a great place for them to run around on a sunny day. It also had a very nice playground, complete with a Duplo house to climb in, a little train ride, some helicopters which went up and down, Fairy Tale Brook which was a slow boat ride down rivers populated by Lego fairytale characters and a show designed for the younger visitors.

The next Land that we visited was 'Traffic' - I think this is for slightly older children as my son was too young for most of the attractions here. However, he absolutely loved the Fire Academy which involved working as a team to drive the fire engines and then squirt the water to put out the fire. There are two driving schools in this area - one for 3-5 years old and one for 6-12 year olds, and these also looked great.

Adventure Land had a variety of rides aimed at different age groups. My dinosaur-obsessed son loved the Dino Safari with amazing Lego models of different dinosaurs and the Wave Surfer was fun too. Lego City didn't have that many rides but had a spectacular show which took place on the lake and was very dramatic, the Orient Train ride which we all enjoyed and the Digger Challenge which caused great excitement for my son and his Dad.

We had a break from all the rides with a stroll through Mini Land which had Lego models of various places in Europe. Being Londoners, we particularly liked the Lego London complete with models of St Pauls Cathedral, the London Eye, Tower Bridges and lots of other famous landmarks. The attention to detail was amazing and there were Lego trains running round all the different scenes, boats moving on the lakes, cable cars going up the mountains and generally just lots to look at. I thought my son wouldn't be that interested in the models but he was fascinated by them.

We also enioyed the Land of the Vikings, especially the Longboat Invader Ride which was a Viking longboat which went up and down while spinning round, and the Spinning Spider which was similar to the traditional tea cup ride. There was also a rapids ride in this area, but unfortunately we couldn't go on this as my son was too small. We didn't make it to Knight's Kingdom, Kingdom of the Pharoahs or the Wild Woods but I think most of the rides in these areas are designed for slightly older children - there are some roller-coasters, a log flume and a space-age ride with lasers in these areas. As our son was adamant he was 'big enough' to go on everything we thought it was safer to give the roller-coasters a wide berth to avoid those inevitable toddler tantrums!

**Eating, Drinking and Shopping**
There are various places to eat and drink around the park. We ate in the City Walk restaurant in Lego City which serves pizza and pasta and the price / quality were about what you'd expect for a theme park - edible but not fantastic, and a bit over-priced. The kid's portions were generous though and their meal came with a drink and an apple. We also treated ourselves to ice-creams which were Carte D'or and delicious! I thought drinks were quite expensive but we bought a special refillable cup for £4.99 and then just shared it - it was a warm day and buying the cup meant we could get it filled with a choice of soft drinks or water from any stall without spending any more money. There are plenty of picnic areas around if you choose to take your own food, and lockers if you need them.

The shops in the park were very good - as long as you like Lego! The best shop was at the entrance to the park and that had a wide range of Lego / Duplo products, including some sets which have not been released on the general market yet. They also sell different accessories / dressing up sets and a variety of Lego branded clothing and other products.

** Overall **
I think Legoland Windsor is a fantastic day out. It's a good idea to either book in advance or try and find a 2 for 1 deal as it is expensive, but we had a brilliant day and enjoyed every minute. My son is already asking when we can go back!I would suggest that it's not worth going with a child that is under 0.9cm tall as they would be very restricted as to what rides they can go on - there were only about four rides which took children under that height. We were lucky with the queues as it was mid-week and not the holiday season (the longest we had to queue was about 20 minutes for the Wave Surfer) but I would recommend paying the extra £10 for a Q-bot on a busy day. These are virtual queuing devices which save your place in the queue, meaning that you can join it just before it is time to go on the ride.

My son's favourite rides were the Fire Academy, the Longboat Invader and the Dino Safari but the whole day was absolutely perfect for him. Apparently it is 'even better than Thomas Land' which is about the highest praise possible as far as he is concerned.

Summary: We loved it and will definitely be going back next year!