Legoland Windsor > Reviews > Fun for everyone

Author's product rating:   

Transport links

Good

Advantages:	Fun for everyone
Disadvantages:	Expensive

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

My sister has recently got a job at Legoland and gave me some complimentary tickets so my boyfriend and me decided to take are two girls as a treat, one is 2 years old and the other is 7 years old. The park was not that busy, less than a third than it can take I was told and was still not able to do everything there.

Entry cost
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Children/Senior

1-day ticket - £23
2-day ticket - £45
Annual pass (restricted) - £45
Annual pass (full) - £57.50
Lifetime pass - £600

Adults

1-day ticket - £29
2-day ticket - £57
Annual pass (restricted) - £58
Annual pass (full) - £72.50
Lifetime pass - £600

Children under three are free and a child is some one 15 or under. Restricted annual pass is when you can not go to the park in August until after 4pm. The annual pass is valid for 12 months from the sate of issue, so it does matter when during the year you buy this pass. They do offer discounts for groups over 12 or more people though you can only get this price either on the gate or by ringing them up. It is a good idea to look out in newspapers and websites for deals, i.e. reduced priced tickets or get a child in free with a paying adult. I did notice that on lastminut.com I could have got each person in for £15 with these offers which are is a more affordable price I think.

Annual passes
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They do offer annual pass which do come with the usual advantages of having them. Like discount in the shops and food outlets. If you live near it would be worth the while especial during off peak seasons. If you decide once you have been to the park and as you are leaving you want an annual pass they will refund the entrance fee for that day but you have to do it that day.

Opening times
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They are closed most of January, February, November and December. They do open are couple of days during these months for special events. The park opens at 9:30 and you can look in the shops and buy or queue up for rides, though rides do not start operating until 10:00. The closing time of the park is 5 pm, 6pm or 7pm depending on the time of the year. Tough there are days where the park closes later if there is a special event like a laser display. The park remains open an hour after the rides for you to look around the shops.

Getting there
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You can get to the park by car, train and then a shuttle bus to the park or by coach.

To get there by car is quiet easy and is sign posted from major roads, like the M25. The nearest motorway is the M4 and you leave at Junction 6 and is clearly marked from here. You can get a detailed description of the route by using web sites which provide free directions like the AA or RAC. The postcode for Legoland is SL4 4AY. It is not far from Windsor town centre about 2miles.

If someone is dropping you off at the park do not let them drop you off at the main entrance of the park as it is along walk to the actual park entrance and is up a hill. I would advise you to arrange for them to drive into the park and drop you off.

You can get a train from Paddington, London, Station via Slough to Windsor and Eton Central Station or from Waterloo, London, Station to Windsor and Eton Riverside Station. These journey take from 24mins to about 50mins depending if you get a direct train or change though you will get there quicker by changing at the relevant station. You then get a bus from both of these stations to the park entrance. If you do this, you can get an offer if you buy the travelling and entrance tickets together and reduce the overall cost.

You can get a coach from London to Legoland by using Green Line. If you use Green line then it will cost you about £11 for an adult and £5.50 for a child for a return and this includes getting the shuttle from the town centre to Legoland.

Parking
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The parking is free at this park and there is ample of parking. This is divided into sections and there is a clear sign in the middle of the sections to tell you what sections you are in. Starting at A and so on and is made up with Lego. You will notice this as soon as you get there. If they can make it out of Lego they do. Though they have not figured out that slanted parking spaces are better than straight parking. They do not point you straight to a car parking space so you can park where you want which I feel is wrong. Though we went when it was quiet so they may do this when the park is busy.

There is parking available nearer to the actually entrance. These parking spaces are for disable parking and people who are willing to pay. It is £5 though if you are an annual pass holder it is £2 per visit though you can pay £10 for the whole season.

I found that is it not worth paying the extra to park near the entrance as the walk is not that long.

Getting around the park
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When getting to the park do be warned that you will be doing a fair amount of walking and the park is on a slop which is notice able when you first get to the park as you have to walk down a big slope or you can get the train down the hill. The park does hire out plastic buggies, single and double, at a charge £6 or £9.50 depending on which one you choose. You pay for it at The Big Shop, who gives you a receipt which you give to the person outside who take a couple of details and off you go. I got a double and glad I did as it was a long day even for the eldest who will be 7 soon and she was in it and meant she was not moaning her feet was hurting from all the walking. I did find that the park was well signposted though I found my self using the park map, which you can pick up at various points around the park for free.

Rides
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I was so glad we went to the park went it was pretty empty as by looking the times cards on some of the rides you can be waiting for about 45 to 60 minutes on some of the big or popular rides. I think the longest we waited was about 20 minutes and for the youngest was just about right for her. Luckily some rides we hardly waited 5 minutes at the most.

At the beginning of each ride there is a height checker so you can check if you child is taller enough to go on or needs an adult with them. Heights restriction start at 0.9m and the rest are 1m, 1.1m and 1.3m. The height restriction of 1.3m is mainly used for if your child is under this height they need an adult to accompany them. I would say that the rides which had a minimum height were mainly 0.9m so my youngest was able to go on most of the rides.

The driving schools have age restrictions on them instead of height. The young driving school has a restriction of 3-5 years old and they will ask your child as I tried to get my little one on and she is nearly three and is tall for her age and backfired as she was saying three all the way in the queue and when we got to the front she said two but never mind. The older driving school is for 6 - 13 years old. On the young one they take their photo and then tell them a few dos and don'ts before letting they loose around a small oval track. Once they have finished they give you a card and you can if you want take it to the photo booth to have your driving licence made up. On the older driving school they make them watch a video of informative details about driving, basic things like which side of the road you drive on, what you do at a roundabout, etc. They also take they photo. Like with the young driving school once they have finished they give you a card and you can if you want take it to the photo booth to have your driving licence made up.

To do the panning for gold there is a charge of £2.50. Once you have paid you can pan for gold as long as you want. Once you have got your gold you take it to the counter and they exchange it for a gold medal. There is no particular weight you have to get so don't worry that your child has not got enough they make out that the child has done so well so they feel good about themselves.

There are a couple of rides you will get wet on so be prepared. The park has thought about this and have put drying booth outside of this rides and have a cost £2.

Some of the larger rides do take your picture. You can have the photo as just a photo, fridge magnet or a key ring. If you want 3 of there but only taken from one photo they do offer a small discount.

I found that the rides were aimed at children between ages 4 and 10 and is not for older people like other theme parks like Alton Towers.

Eating there
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There are a few places that you can eat at the park and places where you can have you own food. They are shown on your map and the map tells you what is served at each of them. So if you are after something particular to eat you can find out where it is sold. You can get anything from sandwiches to burger and chips to a lasagne. I found the food expensive and the people serving were very slow. I don't know if this was because it was the beginning of the season and some of the people were new. All I can say that is that they better improve it as I am sure that there will be many complaints. Though I did find that they did clear the tables very quickly and found the places to eat clean. Some of them have Lego to play with while you eat to keep the kids, or Dads entertained. If you can eat early or can take a pack lunch I would advise you as I would think you will be wasting a lot of time looking for a free table and queuing up for the food. You could leave your pack lunch in the car as you can leave the park and re-enter if you have your hand stamped and you can also use one of the lockers provided at the front of the park. Snacks are also expensive so if one of you don't mind carrying around a rucksack fill it with a few drinks, crisps and fruit to keep you going I did this and is was easier as well as I did not have to find somewhere and queue to get something for the kids I could give it straight to them.

Shopping
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They are various shops dotted around the park. You can buy items as you walk around the shop and pick them up at the end of the day from The Big Shop all you have to do is tell the cashier that you want to do this and they will take your name and number and tape it to the bag. So if you forget to collect it they can give you a ring to remind you. I did find that they did not ask you if you want to do this and there was no sign, well not that I can see of anyway, which is a bit poor. Also I saw quiet a few people walking around with bags.

The Big Shop is the main shop as you first walk in to the park and is the only shop open once the rides close. It is open for another hour once the rides have closed. It does get a busy in this shop at this time so if you do go to shop at this time expect long queues and certain items not on the shelf. It would be best to buy at the beginning of the day or at other shops and pick up as you leave.

There is a discount store in the park with stock which is being discontinued, out of season or the relevant ride or attraction has closed. You can still claim your annual pass discount in here. It can be good value for money as I managed to get a big bucket full of Duplo for £13.5 (including annual pass discount) for my youngest and she loved it. At the moment it is situated by the JCB diggers.

Shows
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We never saw any of the shows but we hope to be returning soon so I will update this review once we see the shows.

The shows on at various times at different places around the park. All times of the shows are on the map and where they are. The times are also shown outside the location of the show. The times vary during the year.

Conclusion
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This park is of a good sized and they have tried to keep it as child friendly as possible. They have tried to keep it as family oriented as possible. Like I said before I found that it is aimed at children aged between 4 and 10years old.

Though being on a slant it does not help especial at the end of the day as you have to walk up it or take the train up to go home. I feel that you need more than one day to do this park and are better done on weekdays or if you have school children at weekends near the beginning or end of the season as the park is not so busy and you can get more done without rushing around and missing things.

Anything that could possible be made up of Lego has bee done and are dotted everywhere around the park. Even some of the rides have a Lego person or animal on them so don't be surprised if you land up sitting one of them.

It can be expensive so be prepared to spend a good £150 to £200 for a family of four going paying the full entrance park price.