Went back to Legoland today for the first time since a being a little 'un.
Firstly, I forgot how incredible the view is from the entrance of the park. It's not quite Alton Towers, but it's still something else. The rest of the entrance however, from the mass of ugly metal fencing to the awful, singular track repeated over and over again, and even the tacky use of comic sans on some of the building, is far from ideal.
I was pleasantly surprised at how clean the park on the whole looked. It seemed almost every member of roaming park staff made at least some form of attempt to pick up at least one piece of litter, which consequently impacted the presentation on a much larger scale.
I felt somewhat underwhelmed by the length of one of the latest additions in the form of Atlantis. It's a great concept and almost a great implementation of it, but for me it just didn't quite hit the ball out of the park.
I couldn't remember the rapids at all from my last visit, so naturally I gave them a go. From what it lacks in theming and the offride appearance, the sheer levels of fun offered on ride did a noble effort of making up for it.
Not too sure as to why there was a random Taylor Swift portrait offplaced and fenced off in Miniland, but that in itself was a nice nostalgic trip down memory lane.
The Dragon coaster far exceeded my expectations, even from what I remember. Even it's much smaller counterpart put on a pleasing display.
Heartlake City also exceeded my expectations, up until Mia's Riding Adventure. Sadly the ride didn't feel as forceful as its Pleasure Beach twin, and the ride area is a bit bland but it's fairly obvious there's still some tweaks yet to occur.
Overall, my biggest niggles of the day are delivered in the state of some of the models. There's a clear balance between what's new and old in Miniland due to the colour fading, but that's of course inevitable. Some of the models elsewhere around the park though showed a few signs of needing a touch of care on a tad more frequent basis, but I can appreciate if this isn't feasible. I was also disappointed with the lack of minifig parts in the build your own minifig section of the shop in The Beginning. Regardless, I was still able to create three quirky 'figs that now take occupancy within my residence.
Big thanks to Mark as well for the insightful cinema stuff.