Legoland Windsor

[Bowser]

You say this, but then you read absolute horror stories from other multi park operators. Six Flags in the US, and Wallabi in Europe spring to mind.

If we remove the single park operators, like Efteling and Paulton's Park from the equation, in addition to the behemoths and arguably identikit parks of Disney and Universal (at least in repeating attractions), are Merlin the worst offender compared to the rest?

Why would we remove them from the equation? Merlin don't get a pass because they've chosen to operate a monopoly, if anything they should be judged more harshly. I've referenced them collectively because all the parks suffer similar issues (though as i say, i think Legoland is somewhat the outlier of the pack).

Regardless, I didn't say they were the worst, i said their baseline quality was lower than a lot of places which i think is a fair statement. They're not awful but they're not as good. It's certainly my experience on my limited travels into Europe so far anyway. Admittedly, we're naturally more selective when travelling abroad but i don't think it's unreasonable to say a good number of European countries each have at least one theme park that is "better" than any Merlin theme park in the UK.

We're planning on visiting Walibi Belgium next year so i will update you if my opinion changes!

 

[GooseOnTheLoose]

Why would we remove them from the equation?

I'd discounted single park operators, as it is always easier to operate a single entity to an incredibly high standard, than splitting your attention to two or more. The same rule applies to restaurants, hotels, shops, etc.

I'd also discounted Disney and Universal as the vast majority of their attractions are the same, if not very similar, across parks. It's easier to replicate than it is to build and run bespoke attractions.

Whilst I agree that it gives Merlin a very narrow field in which to be judged, I do feel as though it's only fair to compare them to their peers.

I didn't say they were the worst

I also didn't suggest that you said that they were the worst. I asked if they were the worst.

Hope Wallabi goes well for you!

 

[flyingguitar]

I'd also discounted Disney and Universal as the vast majority of their attractions are the same, if not very similar, across parks. It's easier to replicate than it is to build and run bespoke attractions.

I have said this before, but another thing I would note is that Disney and Universal also have the massive amounts of cash, and people pay a lot more to enter, this means they can afford to spend millions on spare parts which may or may not be used, and since many of their attractions are run for longer, with higher throughputs they wear through those parts more often, meaning they are more likely to need them.

also they often use similar rides in parks, virtually all of WDW rides since arrows bankruptcy have been vekoma, I am sure they have some part commonality with each other allowing them to use the same pinch wheels e.g saving more money.

 

[Benzin]

Are Walibi's owners seen as bad these days?

Maybe by owning Belantis? Overall though across not just the Walibi parks but Asterix, Futuroscope and Bellewaerde have all received decent levels of investment and have fairly "standard" levels of operation.

 

[LF22]

Had quite the day at Legoland today with a lot of observations too.

- Bizarrely, a show has been built IN THE QUEUE for Haunted House. This is completely ridiculous. Now on the one hand, it's a brilliant idea to have entertainment in what is otherwise a cattle-pen queue. On the other hand, it means people can't actually watch the show. Definitely the strangest thing i've seen at a theme park in a long time.

- Speaking of shows, there's a Halloween show by the water too, though i can't speak of the quality of it. The small stage by Duplo has also reopened and looks pretty much the same as far as i can tell, though it now seems to be more of a meet and greet location with a rabbit i didn't recognise but assume is Duplo related.

- The cinema has gone from cycling 4 films throughout the day to 1 Halloween film all day. Temporary i imagine but my son was very upset by this and it's not advertised on the website or reflected in the app.

- Back to Haunted House, it broke down twice when we got to the Pre-Show. The first time they didn't say anything for ages and because the show was going on i assumed they had paused the ride for the show, which would have been just as rubbish. Then they evacuated, which again resulted in tears.
The second time we got through the pre-show but then evacuated again. This time i asked to speak to a manager, who gave me 2 fast tracks without me saying a word. Fine. When we came back later the lady operating remembered us and kindly let us to the front anyway.

Oh and when we did finally get on they left the bloody lights on during the ride. The mad houses of Europe all seem to be crumbling simultaneously.

- SkyLion queue was carnage, the RAP/FT was the longest i've ever seen it, up to the lion statue outside to the point they were warning off people joining the main queue despite it not actually being very long. They also weren't scanning till entry so RAP users were getting screwed with a double wait time, probably more complaints and more fast tracks so a day of exponential problem making.

- The new entrance is the biggest waste of money i've seen in a long time. Don't get me wrong, it's quite cool... except nobody can actually see it because you enter by the side through the security marquee. Such awful planning, i don't know if there are further plans to move the actual entry point centrally so people go through it, otherwise an almighty waste.

We made the best of it but we were up really early and genuinely wish i'd just driven to Plopsaland instead (where i checked and all rides were operating and with 5-10 min queues).

We were at legoland yesterday too and had good day. Love how many people were dressed up for Halloween already!

I agree - the show behind the
Monsters party was so random when they have an empty stage in mini land? We absolutely loved the smoke bubbles outside there though - they were great!

I hope they fix the slides in the park areas over the closed season as at least 3 of the bigger ones are closed off in different areas and were on our last visit too, so not sure how long they’ve been like that.

We also totally agree about the new entrance sign. It looks great but in the wrong place. Did the old one used to be further back?

 

[AT86]

Work has started on adding a solar canopy to the car parks at Legoland: