Rollercoaster Mum: Legoland - we love you!

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Wednesday 24 August 2011

Legoland - we love you!

We have been to Legoland several times before but the last time we went it was when Little Miss Sunshine was only 1 so we took it in turns to go on the bigger ride with the little Star. This was a couple of years ago now so when we announced that we would be going to Legoland the next day it was met with screams of delight and more bouncing than a Tigger does.

We got there just after the gates opened (essential if you want to go on any of the big rides) and we were a bit shocked by the number of cars already parked but it wasn't too busy at the gates. We measured Little Miss S and reckoned she was just over the magical 1m to be able to go on all the rides - phew! We could have got a wristband from guest services which would have meant she didn't need to be measured on every ride but we were all anxious to get on with the fun.

We managed to go on several of the bigger rides before the queues got too long in the middle of the day (we were there on a Saturday in August!). Both girls are speed freaks even at the tender ages of 3 and 6 so we all piled on at every ride leaving the pushchair loaded with lunch in the buggy parks. We succeeded in getting soaked on the very first ride of the day - the Viking River Splash (very bumpy but not that fast) but the girls didn't seem to mind. As we were already wet we thought we'd get wetter and do Pirate Falls (the log flume) which produced screams of excitement and joy as we plunged down the splash.

Husband wanted to head for the newest ride next as he had heard you got to see real live tropical fish and he's a bit of a sucker for a pretty fish. This was Legoland Atlantis Submarine Voyage - again the queue was not long and although it's not a thrillseeking ride it's very clever and, like all things at Legoland, very well done. You are shepherded on to a platform where you are loaded on to a 'submarine' (yellow of course - cue lots of renditions of Yellow Submarine!) The door is shut and off you go - you don't really dive down but the girls thought we had and there were lots of pretty fish (real ones and Lego ones) - even sharks and rays and as a bonus there is a 'captains' voice and lots of buttons to press - cool!

Fish!

Yellow Submarine

From there we packed in loads more rides including the Dinosaur Safari, the whizzy water thing (can't remember the name) and the Pirate Boat - we even ate our lunch on the train! The only ride we had to queue for quite a long time for was the Laser Quest and it didn't even excite the girtls that much.

They did love the driving schools and the Dinosaur rollercoaster (I did say they were speed freaks!) although Little Miss S wasn't too sure of the large red lego dragon breathing fire at her but the actual rollercoaster she LOVED!

We even managed to take in a couple of the fab puppet shows at the Lego Duplo theatre - chance for a sit down and an ice cream.

When it came to about 6pm we started to go back to all the big rides we liked to do them agin - Log flume, Dino coaster and Submarine were all done 3 times each! Legoland is open until 8pm in August and we made the most of every second! The girls tea was half a giant hot dog each and the very last ride they chose to do was to go on the driving school again. This is different to lots of driving rides in that they have little electric cars that they really can drive wherever they like on mini roads with traffic lights, give way signs and even roundabouts!

Driving school!

After 8pm we finally started making our way to the exit via MiniLand (acres of miniature buildings made of lego with features such as Buckingham Palace and the London Eye). They do have moving trains and boats on these but we always miss them as we never seem to get there until the rides close and they switch off the moving figures.

By 8.30pm we were near the entrance, had a quick look round the shop (save your money - you can get Lego cheaper on Amazon) and we finally left, very tired and very happy, at 8.45pm - a whole 11 HOURS after we got there.

There is no doubt we had the best time at Legoland and if you arrive early enough the queues aren't so bad, even on a Saturday in August but I would take a picnic (food expensive and not great) and I do think that charging £2 to park when there is nowhere else to park is a total rip off. It would also have been nice to see the opening hours of the restaurants somewhere as we might have eaten in the one at the entrance on the way home rather than grabbing a hot dog from a stall earlier.

It isn't cheap to get in (we were lucky enough to get free tickets from a friend) but they do always have deals with Tesco vouchers etc and we have used these on previous occasions. With a couple of minor gripes I would still say that Legoland is a fantastic day out if you have kids under 10 (but be careful if you have a speed freak 3yo under 1m tall as you will have to pay for them but they won't be able to go on the big rides).

Well done Legoland we will be back!!






1 comment:

  1. We love lego land too - the kids are desperate to go back again this year. Totally agree with you on the food not being great though - and very expensive for what it is! Ooooh reading this has made me think I should get planning :) #blogclub

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