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★★★★☆

“I didn't read the reviews on this site until the night...”

written by on 02/09/2010

I didn't read the reviews on this site until the night before we were due to visit. I have to say I was horrified by what I was reading and feared the worst for the day ahead which was already planned and paid for. Having gone ahead and visited the park I feel compelled to give a more measured review of the place.



A lot of the concerns raised here have some substance, however I think that these should be explained a little further.



COST:

Firstly, let's get used to the idea that Legoland is an expensive day out. If you wanted to take every option for upgrading your experience and wanted to buy every trinket offered then you could easily be looking at exceeding £100 per head. However it is possible to find deals for a family of four that cost as little as £40 all in (e.g. Tesco's Clubcard promotion) and it is possible to get away without spending any more than this. If you take this option, you might come across areas of the park where those that have spent more money are getting quicker access to something, or are getting to do some of the premium activities that you are not. You pay your money and take your choice. We paid £40 for the whole family and still found plenty to keep us occupied. We were able to spend additional money on the things we felt important, with the knowledge that the full VIP experience could have cost £400. In total we spent about £60 on top of our £40 ticket, plus £50 in petrol to get there and back. £100 plus travel then for a great family day out. Without the Tesco deal we would have paid around £100 for tickets, making our day £160 plus travel. If this is more than you are expecting then probably steer clear.



Things you could buy and don't need to buy:

- Premium parking

- Photos of your rides (they are expensive and you look stupid in them!)

- Photos of your rides printed on T-shirts, mugs, jigsaws or on USB sticks (see above)

- A poncho to keep you dry on the rides (seriously - you'll be ok)

- A family drying machine after the rides (though it looks quite fun for £2)

- Slushy drinks, hot dogs, ice creams, pick and mix sweets (take your own if you want)

- Bungees, zorbs, climbing walls & extra activities (you can almost certainly do these in your own town when you haven't already paid to get into Legoland)

- Lego souvenirs & lego kits (though there is some nice stuff - you can get most of it cheaper online)

- Q-Bot (though I'd consider this if you are only going for the rides and cash isn't a problem)



It's worth noting that the cost of an annual pass compares favourably to two standard entry fees. If you lived close enough to get there four or five times in a year then it would even compare favourably to the £40 Tesco deal. Certainly if we lived closer we would consider taking this option and dropping in for a couple of hours here and there during the non-busy times.



ENTRY/PARKING:

It took us less than 20 minutes to get from car park entrance, through car park and onto the site. I can imaging that on a busier day it would take longer. If you've ever been to a music festival or big music event this compares - you just have to build it into your plan. It was only a short walk from the car park to the entrance and we were one of the furthest away.



QUEUEING:

At peak times, queueing is certainly a real problem here. There is advice in other reviews concerning the best times to arrive on site and what to expect if you show up at half term or in the middle of the summer break. If it really bothers you, the Q-Bot system is there for you from £15 per head. We opted not to take this, or its more expensive brother the Q-Bot express at £30-40 per head. We properly queued for four rides. Three rides took between 20 and 30 minutes and another was a little short of an hour. To be fair, the length of the rides when compared with the queueing was disappointing. I did wonder whether the Q-Bot might have been a smart investment but we discovered that after 5pm the queues decreased rapidly. We were able to pretty much rock up to any of the premium rides and fill our boots. It left us wishing we had used the queueing time in the middle of the day for some of the more passive options available like the build & test rooms or the tamer rides with shorter queues. Timing, it seems, is everything. We turned up one minute before the start of a 4D cinema show and were waived straight through to the last four spaces in the theatre. We weren't in the middle at the front, but it was fine, really. I can imagine that many of the one star reviewers here got fed up with waiting for the popular rides, gave up and went home having had a miserable time. I can really understand those reviews if that's the case. I'm really glad we stuck it out though. You have to trust me that 4pm is really when we started to have a lot of fun. It's worth noting that although we did come across people with the Q-Bots cutting into line, they were a tiny minority of folk. So if money is no object then it will buy you some extra productive time in the park but most people didn't seem to find it any more annoying than the business class passengers getting on an aeroplane first.



STAFF:

We were met at the gate by a guy who recognised our Tesco paperwork and swapped it straight out for proper tickets. This saved us queuing at a window. Look out for these guys! If you've bought tickets in advance then go straight to the turnstiles. Inside we were approached and offered maps and stickers for the kids in case they lost us. Very impressive. Pretty much every staff member inside asked us if we were enjoying our day. It got a little annoying to tell the truth but it proves that they were doing as they'd been asked. Everybody had a smile on their face.



RIDES:

Yes, some of them are a little tame, but they seemed to satisfy our kids (aged 8 and 4). If you seek out the thrills they are there and obvious from the map as they are those with the most restrictions and without the teddy bear symbol! My biggest complaint was the length of the rides when compared to the queues but as stated before this problem goes away after about 5pm as the queues diminish rapidly and you can go around again. Certainly by 6pm we were able to just stay on some rides and go round again. We stayed in the park until 8.30pm (our 4 year old was still going strong!) A little more detailed explanation of each ride would have been more useful (including length) as one of the few rides we actually queued a long time for was not what we expected at all.



FOOD:

Again, this was a little on the expensive side for drinks, ice-creams and hot dogs from the various stands dotted around, however the pit stop caf near the entrance served a very reasonable meal for the family at about pub lunch prices. I did see a man pay 40p extra for onions on his £4.30 hot dog elsewhere in the park, but personally I was happy with my huge plate of surprisingly good chicken pie, chips and veg for £7.50. At my local I pay about that for a similar meal that isn't anywhere near as good. We had brought a small selection of snacks and some cartoned drinks that saw us through the rest of the day. It just takes a little planning if you want to avoid these costs.



WASPS:

My four year old actually got stung on his thumb by a wasp. It was unfortunate but he was brave and he didn't let it spoil his (or our) day. We went to the first aid tent and they were well prepared for it. I did notice a few wasps around the place - a slightly higher population than in our back garden in fact - and it's an issue that Legoland seem to be aware of and are doing things about. There are posters everywhere about the problem and what is being done. Perhaps the problem was worse in mid-summer. It certainly didn't seem that bad yesterday and will probably be under control from here on in.



TOILETS:

There aren't hundreds of these. We took our opportunities when we came across them. Our kids are good like that. In particular there seem to be none out in the car park as you arrive. I could see this as a problem for some as they were letting their kids just go in the bushes. Forewarned is forearmed. There are plenty of places to stop on the motorway if you don't think you'll make it inside the park!



TOP TIPS:

1. Pick your day carefully. If your kids are at school, why not try a local INSET day (when most of the rest of the UK will be at school).



2. Check YouTube for videos of the rides. I wish I'd done this - some of the rides will appeal more than others.



3. Use the middle section of the day to visit MiniWorld, walk around the park, watch the excellent stunt show, eat & use the loo.



4. Save some energy for after 5pm to get on the big rides quickly, easily and repeatedly - we didn't leave until 8.30pm!



5. The car park barriers are opened and stay open later in the evening. We drove out of the park at 8.45pm and didn't need to scan our £2 parking ticket. Perhaps we could have saved the £2? It wasn't a big deal but you could try it.



SUMMARY:

We were nervous at first but our kids ended up having the most fun day. They have been full of themselves all day today talking about their experiences. We grown-ups also had a lot of fun. Part of this was that having read the reviews on this site we were determined to have a positive attitude and make the best of the day. We ended up being surprised at how good it was and we are actually planning to go back again armed with a little more knowledge of how to make even better use of our time next time.



I hope this is useful to somebody.

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