Legoland Windsor

[Matt N]

From my experience of Legoland (admittedly limited and only during the summer holidays), it can get very busy, so I'd personally advise getting all of the major rides (e.g. Dragon, the water rides, Ninjago) done early, or possibly try them during what is typically the peak time for eating lunch.

When I visited in August 2017, I queued roughly 1 hour for Dragon and didn't ride anything else, as it was very busy and my mum had a broken ankle, so it was a bit unfair to make her wait. Miniland is also worth a look; lots of great models to see in there!

 

[Skyscraper]

Also, considering you live 4 hours away it might be good idea to wait until after the 14th April, when the new ride opens. Then, everyone will be wanting to experience it so the rest of the park should be quieter.

 

[Error]

Also, considering you live 4 hours away it might be good idea to wait until after the 14th April, when the new ride opens. Then, everyone will be wanting to experience it so the rest of the park should be quieter.

You forgot to mention the bad operations around the park.....It will be Hell.

 

[Benjsh]

Cheers guys. We are going 17/18 April in Easter Holidays which is 4 days after the new ride opens so we know it's going to be a busy one. Probably avoid the new ride totally on the first day and just try to do the rest of the park first and head to the new ride first thing on the second day. We will be leaving middle afternoon second day too to drive back up north so it won't be a full day.

I'm optimistic we should still be able to make it work. Starting at the back of the park always seems to be a good idea at any park.

 

[Europa Matt]

I can safely say that I am looking forward to the Monster Party ride, but cannot help but express my concerns as the park continues to lose it’s original charm and character.

The ride should prove a worthy addition to the park, whilst bringing the park’s dark ride/indoor ride total to four, amongst the Star Wars miniland and first section of the Dragon. It looks to bring in a ride that will potentially help attraction diversity and something with a darker theme, surprisingly Legoland lack dark themes compared to other Merlin parks which are full of them!

Now the concerns, the facade they have there looks nice enough, but it cannot be ignored that the green walls seem to lack the lego elements, I.E bricks and styling and the fact there is that ‘exposed’ show building wall. The fact they have stuck cheap vinyl characters there, not only actually makes it look worse, but implies this will never be concealed anytime soon in the forseable future.

It is sadly a fact that the park are limited on expansion areas (which is likely the case for most parks in the U.K. and even Europe), so their only options really are to remove green space and former attractions. Whilst this is all understandable to add new rides, it’s simply a shame the park and Merlin can’t take an approach that is more aesthetically pleasing, I.E theme show buildings so they can fit within area and/or plant more vegetation. Maybe even restyle pathways too.

Since the mid/late noughties, the park landscaping and architecture has been going down hill, with cheap and easy fixes to new/reworked attractions. Whether that’s the large concrete trough of the Rapids or 75% of the Ninjago ride building being exposed in a central area without appropriate theming. Attractions seem to be just plonked down now where any available space is (like RCT) without any consideration for the surrounding area.

The park may be getting more of the bigger things now, but that’s at the cost of the smaller ones. Most of the old LLW charm is now almost gone.

 

[TPC]

I'm going on the 14th April for the first time since 2013. I'm really excited to get back and I've made sure I have a proper plan, as I know it will be very busy that day.

 

[Benjsh]

I'm going on the 14th April for the first time since 2013. I'm really excited to get back and I've made sure I have a proper plan, as I know it will be very busy that day.

Please could you share this information on here after you get back. Would be extremely helpful for a first timer like me. I can see it being a busy Easter Holidays for sure. The park looks like it needs at least two more high capacity rides to cope with the crowds.

 

[TPC]

Of course, my brother has been for the last few years so I still know a bit about queues based on the fact I made the plan for their ride order. The order I'm planning is ninjago, laser raiders, pirate falls, dragon, apprentice, mis, atlantis and monster party (probably aiming to join monster party at the end of the day as it's the other end of the park).

 

[Islander]

You forgot to mention the bad operations around the park.....It will be Hell.

I know I'm very biased, but I really don't think this is true - I tend to think the operations at Legoland are amongst the best in Merlin. What would you base that statement on?

 

[DiogoJ42]

I tend to think the operations at Legoland are amongst the best in Merlin.

Let's be honest though mate, "the best in Merlin" is a bit like saying "herpes is the best STD".

 

[Dave]

I know I'm very biased, but I really don't think this is true - I tend to think the operations at Legoland are amongst the best in Merlin. What would you base that statement on?

I make no comment on operations as I haven’t visited in years but a lot of Lego rides are inherently low capacity.

 

[Islander]

I make no comment on operations as I haven’t visited in years but a lot of Lego rides are inherently low capacity.

This sadly is definitely true. Not so much in recent history, but far too many of the park's original rides have horrifically low capacities - for all the great things the Lego Group concentrated on whilst designing the park, throughputs sadly wasn't one...

 

[John]

They're still strangled by unnecessary additional H&S procedures though, double checking restraints on Dragon comes to mind in particular.

Part of the issue at LLW is that the target market is so young, and families with young kids tend to be much faffier than everyone else.

 

[Funcone]

I make no comment on operations as I haven’t visited in years but a lot of Lego rides are inherently low capacity.

That's a very true point that enthusiasts sometimes overlook. While I think it is true that since The Smiler accident Merlin have been less keen to put their staff under pressure to work quicker, in my experience slow moving queues at Merlin parks have less to do with slow staff and more to do with:

-The number of exit riders (disabled guests with access passes)
-Paid Fast Track
-Some of their rides are aging rides that aren't being operated as designed due to increased health and safety
-British safety regulations (The Health and Safety Executive does encourage British parks to follow a certain style of safety)
-The British public who slow rides down arguing about not being able to take their bag on, or about their kid being too short. Some people will even expect an entire ride to wait while they take selfies.
-Some rides running on fewer staff than you'd ideally have

I guess many of these facts are in a sense an aspect of operations, and to be fair no one here as has actually mentioned slow staff, but I thought I'd pop this on here to wave the flag for those hard working ride operators.

 

[siralgenon]

I've always found operations at Legoland very good staff wise, the only reason why operations are slower is due to low throughputs in the first place i.e. Laser Raiders, Coastguard HQ, Raft Racers etc which are due to capacity not the staff and then Merlin's added Health and Safety which can be horrendous at Legoland, like previously mentioned triple checking on The Dragon, Mia's Riding Adventure and the Jolly Rocker to name a few.

Saying this I think attractions with extra H&S applied to them which can still be ran as quickly as possible still are, such as Vikings River Splash, although it has the doors on the boats etc they still run it at full speed with no reduction on throughput, it just means the staff have to run around a lot more

 

[Benjsh]

Noticed something on the website. It says book 7 days or more in advance and get £29 tickets, available from March to November. Nowhere does it say this offer is not included in the Easter Holidays. Not even in the small print where the Asterix is. However when you try to book in Easter it goes to £39. Very sneaky.

Shouldn't be surprised though I suppose with Merlin. However Chessington are still offering this discount even in the holidays.

 

[TPC]

If i was you for legoland, either get times tickets (although this is no longer available), the sun tickets or Kellogg 2 for 1 vouchers which you can book online. The final ticket option is £46 for 2 tickets, working out £23 each, which is quite good but you need to have an even number of people in your group

 

[Benjsh]

If i was you for legoland, either get times tickets (although this is no longer available), the sun tickets or Kellogg 2 for 1 vouchers which you can book online. The final ticket option is £46 for 2 tickets, working out £23 each, which is quite good but you need to have an even number of people in your group

There's three of us (I have one child) but we're using Tesco Club Card vouchers anyway so it's not costing us anything in theory. However I still think it's wrong that they are charging more for Easter at Legoland but not at Chessington etc. I suppose that shows how popular the parks are really. They probably can't get away with it anywhere else. Lego brand clearly bringing in the moula.

 

[TPC]

Yep, it really comes down to the offers you use. For some bizarre reason, using Kellogg vouchers, legoland is the cheapest of the big 4 Merlin UK parks.

 

[Rob]

No Madhouse to be seen here, nope, if you think you can see a tin shed bigger than its facade then you are mistaken!

Source

A real shame that this corner has been cut in order to save costs.