I could review Legoland itself today, but my experience today has left me tired and infuriated, and I'm sure it's not representative of a regular day at Legoland. So instead I'll review this one trip in particular.
My parents were kind enough to offer to take us to Legoland before my father returns to Oman, trouble is he left half of his driving licence in said country several thousand miles away. So instead of the rental car we would have to take us there they procured some cheap train tickets. Here's a hint, going on a two and a half hour train journey with various changed is not the easiest thing to do with two small children. Still, we got to Windsor without much difficulty, trouble is we left home at 9am, so by the time we'd gotten the bus from Windsor station to Legoland itself, alongside the car traffic, it was after midday. With only six hours left until closing time, imagine my frustration at having to queue for tickets for over half an hour. I put this down to the customers, as we got through the transaction quite quickly, apparently most people don't know how to effectively buy tickets.
But soon we were in the park. After a spot of overpriced lunch we took the un-Lego looking train down to the bottom of the hill and went through Mini Land to get to some rides. Mini Land itself is pretty impressive, with a faithful small scale Lego model of London and several other places from around the globe. Both the kids liked to stop and stare and point out the trains and boats going around.
The rides were a bit annoying though. There was quite a bit of walking between them, and the wait times were quite long because there weren't many spaces on the carriages, or enough cars to go in. I know it's expected from a theme park, but I'd really forgotten how tiresome waiting is. We took Amelia to Disney World when she was around the same age Alex is now, and the waits seemed so much longer from looking after him. The lack of rides suitable for under 3s was a little disappointing too. I knew there probably wouldn't be a whole lot, but being used to Disney World and Adventure Island in Southend I thought there could've been a bit more. After much walking and waiting, we didn't get to go on many rides in the end, about five or six in total despite the closing hours being extended to 7pm.
We left slightly before that to go into the gift shop, but for some reason it was insanely hot in there, as if their air conditioning had not only broken, but decided to do the complete opposite of its purpose in life. After failing to convince Amelia to buy the more plentiful and cheap box of Lego blocks to start our collection, we left with a £50 Cars 2 Lego set (paid in part with some of her birthday money, we ain't spoiling our kids... too much). So yay, not a bad day overall, time to go home.
Oh wait, the last bus was at 5:30pm. Yeah, that makes sense, seeing as the park closes after that. What do we have to do now? Get in a six seater taxi. What's that? Massive traffic jam coming out of Legoland? Sure, why not? There's nothing more we like than paying a £30 taxi fare on top of the return bus tickets that are now useless. Thankfully, due to the power of my iPhone, I was able to effectively plan every train home whilst stuck in traffic, so the rest of the trip was relatively smooth. But since we left at just after 7pm and got home after 11, I wouldn't say it was the best trip ever. Kinda put a damper on the day really. Apart from the onion rings I got at Burger King. That was smart.
So it wasn't really the best trip. Took ages to get there and back, the queues were long, not many rides were ridden, but the kids seemed to enjoy it, so I guess it wasn't a total failure. Also, if you're going, I suggest you buy the £6 refillable souvenir cup, you will make your money back in regular drinks refills versus the extortionate prices they pay for separate bottles. Yeah, I'm super smart.
My rating: 3/5
My parents were kind enough to offer to take us to Legoland before my father returns to Oman, trouble is he left half of his driving licence in said country several thousand miles away. So instead of the rental car we would have to take us there they procured some cheap train tickets. Here's a hint, going on a two and a half hour train journey with various changed is not the easiest thing to do with two small children. Still, we got to Windsor without much difficulty, trouble is we left home at 9am, so by the time we'd gotten the bus from Windsor station to Legoland itself, alongside the car traffic, it was after midday. With only six hours left until closing time, imagine my frustration at having to queue for tickets for over half an hour. I put this down to the customers, as we got through the transaction quite quickly, apparently most people don't know how to effectively buy tickets.
But soon we were in the park. After a spot of overpriced lunch we took the un-Lego looking train down to the bottom of the hill and went through Mini Land to get to some rides. Mini Land itself is pretty impressive, with a faithful small scale Lego model of London and several other places from around the globe. Both the kids liked to stop and stare and point out the trains and boats going around.
The rides were a bit annoying though. There was quite a bit of walking between them, and the wait times were quite long because there weren't many spaces on the carriages, or enough cars to go in. I know it's expected from a theme park, but I'd really forgotten how tiresome waiting is. We took Amelia to Disney World when she was around the same age Alex is now, and the waits seemed so much longer from looking after him. The lack of rides suitable for under 3s was a little disappointing too. I knew there probably wouldn't be a whole lot, but being used to Disney World and Adventure Island in Southend I thought there could've been a bit more. After much walking and waiting, we didn't get to go on many rides in the end, about five or six in total despite the closing hours being extended to 7pm.
We left slightly before that to go into the gift shop, but for some reason it was insanely hot in there, as if their air conditioning had not only broken, but decided to do the complete opposite of its purpose in life. After failing to convince Amelia to buy the more plentiful and cheap box of Lego blocks to start our collection, we left with a £50 Cars 2 Lego set (paid in part with some of her birthday money, we ain't spoiling our kids... too much). So yay, not a bad day overall, time to go home.
Oh wait, the last bus was at 5:30pm. Yeah, that makes sense, seeing as the park closes after that. What do we have to do now? Get in a six seater taxi. What's that? Massive traffic jam coming out of Legoland? Sure, why not? There's nothing more we like than paying a £30 taxi fare on top of the return bus tickets that are now useless. Thankfully, due to the power of my iPhone, I was able to effectively plan every train home whilst stuck in traffic, so the rest of the trip was relatively smooth. But since we left at just after 7pm and got home after 11, I wouldn't say it was the best trip ever. Kinda put a damper on the day really. Apart from the onion rings I got at Burger King. That was smart.
So it wasn't really the best trip. Took ages to get there and back, the queues were long, not many rides were ridden, but the kids seemed to enjoy it, so I guess it wasn't a total failure. Also, if you're going, I suggest you buy the £6 refillable souvenir cup, you will make your money back in regular drinks refills versus the extortionate prices they pay for separate bottles. Yeah, I'm super smart.
My rating: 3/5
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