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Legoland Windsor

Wonder if Legoland Windsor will eventually get the Lego Factory Adventure trackless dark ride that recently opened with Legoland New York? It's currently exclusive to that park and looks amazing! :)

 
Out of interest, is it known what Sky Lion’s rough throughput is? I only ask because it seemed pretty high in comparison to LLW’s other attractions! With it taking 70 guests at a time, it must surely be well over 1,000pph? Or am I wrong there?

Also, does it only have one theatre, as I know that some flying theatres have multiple? I’d guess that it only has one, as the building didn’t look very big, but I wasn’t too sure…
 
Matt N said:
Out of interest, is it known what Sky Lion’s rough throughput is? I only ask because it seemed pretty high in comparison to LLW’s other attractions! With it taking 70 guests at a time, it must surely be well over 1,000pph? Or am I wrong there?

Also, does it only have one theatre, as I know that some flying theatres have multiple? I’d guess that it only has one, as the building didn’t look very big, but I wasn’t too sure…
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It only has the 1 theatre, and I believe the anticipated throughput was 600pph, which sounds about right.
 
Burbs said:
It only has the 1 theatre, and I believe the anticipated throughput was 600pph, which sounds about right.
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Oh wow; that’s way lower than I expected! It felt to have a pretty high throughput compared to Legoland’s other attractions, but is that more a testament of how low throughput the other attractions at Legoland are?

Also, am I correct in remembering that Mythica was originally due to be Windsor’s version of The Lego Movie World, and the Mythica theme was a very last-minute change, or was it always intended to be Mythica from the beginning? If so, is it known why the change was made?
 
Matt N said:
Also, am I correct in remembering that Mythica was originally due to be Windsor’s version of The Lego Movie World, and the Mythica theme was a very last-minute change, or was it always intended to be Mythica from the beginning? If so, is it known why the change was made?
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It was originally intended to be themed to The Lego Movie. The sequel was a bit of a flop when it was released in comparison to the first movie, however (easy to see why), and it helped sway the decision to theme it to something entirely different.

Matt N said:
Oh wow; that’s way lower than I expected! It felt to have a pretty high throughput compared to Legoland’s other attractions, but is that more a testament of how low throughput the other attractions at Legoland are?
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Most certainly a testament to the poor throughput of LL's other attractions.
 
Danny said:
Most certainly a testament to the poor throughput of LL's other attractions.
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I must admit, many of LLW’s queues did seem to move quite slowly given the stature of the park in comparison to other UK parks; I don’t know if I’d be right in saying this, but unlike Alton Towers (the only other park in the country of comparable stature), I dare say that the park gives off the impression of being built for less visitors than it actually gets. There are quite a few rather narrow pathways in places (albeit this was far less of a problem on my recent visit than in 2017), and many of the rides seem to have quite low capacities (I couldn’t measure any of them, as the 4 rides I did weren’t especially visible from the queues, but the queues certainly seemed to move quite slowly).

If I had to guess, I’d say that of the 4 rides we did (Sky Lion, Ninjago, Haunted House, Dragon), Haunted House actually had the highest throughput, and if Hex is anything to go by, that throughput should be 864pph. That surprised me, given that I seem to remember hearing somewhere that Ninjago’s theoretical throughput is 1,000pph; it certainly felt a fair bit lower to me… I wonder what throughputs the likes of the Dragon get, as that one seemed rather low. What actually is the highest throughput ride at Legoland, and does anything there actually get above 1,000pph?

On an unrelated note; what did Mythica actually replace, if anything? I know that Hydra’s Challenge used to have the same theme as Atlantis/Lego City Deep Sea Adventure, and was called SQUID Surfers, but for some reason, I’ve blanked out everything else that was next to it from my memories of my 2017 visit to Legoland…
 
Matt N said:
I must admit, many of LLW’s queues did seem to move quite slowly given the stature of the park in comparison to other UK parks; I don’t know if I’d be right in saying this, but unlike Alton Towers (the only other park in the country of comparable stature), I dare say that the park gives off the impression of being built for less visitors than it actually gets
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Alton Towers certainly is the odd one out amongst the UK Merlin parks in that operations are pretty consistently good. Made up of a combination of efficient dispatches and decent possible throughputs.

The other parks are average to rubbish on both counts.

In terms of the design of Legoland it certainly feels much busier compared to Alton Towers due to the smaller pathways and lack of green space etc. Part of that comes down to the location and partly due to the level of investment in infrastructure in the Broome and early Tussauds years that Alton Towers got, Merlin haven’t really done anything with this side of things since they took over.
 
AT86 said:
Alton Towers certainly is the odd one out amongst the UK Merlin parks in that operations are pretty consistently good. Made up of a combination of efficient dispatches and decent possible throughputs.

The other parks are average to rubbish on both counts.

In terms of the design of Legoland it certainly feels much busier compared to Alton Towers due to the smaller pathways and lack of green space etc. Part of that comes down to the location and partly due to the level of investment in infrastructure in the Broome and early Tussauds years that Alton Towers got, Merlin haven’t really done anything with this side of things since they took over.
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In fairness, I can’t complain about the staff; they all seemed to be working their very hardest to get trains sent!

Also, I guess that Lego is a park where the rides aren’t (or at least, weren’t) really the main attraction, so lower capacities don’t matter quite as much. What sort of capacities do some of the other major rides (e.g. Dragon) get? Does anything at LLW get above 1,000pph?

Personally, on the topic of throughput, I reckon that the Lego Factory Adventure dark ride from New York that @Skyscraper posted at the top of the page would be a great future ride import for Legoland Windsor. ETF Ride Systems says that their Multi Mover trackless system (Lego Factory looks to be a Multi Mover based on the size of the cars) is capable of a throughput of up to 1,440pph, so it would be a queue muncher, and it’s also a ride that has more of an emphasis on physical theming, which would provide a nice contrast to some of Legoland’s current screen-based rides! Maybe it could go in the bit of the park with Sky Rider and all of the Lego building stations (A hardcore LLW fan might correct me here, but I believe it’s called Imagination)?
 
Part of the problem with capacity at LLW is the number of young children using the rides. Loading is always going to be much slower on, say, Dragon than on a coaster with a 1.4m height restriction. For the same reason, I wouldn't expect to see Factory Tour come close to it's theoretical throughput - Ratatouille dual-loads groups of 3 cars and probably doesn't get much more than FT is apparently capable of.

I'm not sure what the ride capacities at LLW are but I think Atlantis Deep Sea Adventure is a strong contender for highest, at least when they can fully load it.
 
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John said:
Part of the problem with capacity at LLW is the number of young children using the rides. Loading is always going to be much slower on, say, Dragon than on a coaster with a 1.4m height restriction. For the same reason, I wouldn't expect to see Factory Tour come close to it's theoretical throughput - Ratatouille dual-loads 3 sets of cars and probably doesn't get much more than FT is apparently capable of.

I'm not sure what the ride capacities at LLW are but I think Atlantis Deep Sea Adventure is a strong contender for highest, at least when they can fully load it.
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Are you suggesting that young children tend to slow down the loading more compared to adults? If so, why do you think this is?

EDIT: In terms of Legoland ride throughputs, the only one I can find is Ninjago, which is listed at 1,000pph: https://darkridedatabase.com/listing/ninjago-the-ride-3/
 
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Viking River Splash and Deep Sea are the clear leaders in terms of Throughput.

Viking River Splash can get up to 9 people per boat, most likely 20 seconds (if not less) between boats. Easily more than 1,500 People Per Hour.

Deep Sea is also capable of a fairly high count. 14 people per sub (except for the wheelchair accessible sub). I think it's between 20 and 30 seconds.

In theory that puts Deep Sea ahead but in practice l think they both struggle to load a full boat in time and quite often run with seats free. Getting 14 people (including children) out of a sub and a new group in before the sub leaves the station is quite a challenge.

After that I think The Dragon (back in the day at least) and Pirate Falls are quite good for both filling seats and frequent trains.

Of course Miniland has the best throughput, at nearly infinite... But that often gets overlooked ;)
 
I remember Haunted House is somewhere between 700-800, I think. Fairytale Brook must also have quite a high capacity seeing as it's constantly moving?

Matt N said:
On an unrelated note; what did Mythica actually replace, if anything? I know that Hydra’s Challenge used to have the same theme as Atlantis/Lego City Deep Sea Adventure, and was called SQUID Surfers, but for some reason, I’ve blanked out everything else that was next to it from my memories of my 2017 visit to Legoland…
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It was just Squid Surfer around that area except the Fish and Chips shop which is now themed into Mythica as "The Hungry Troll"
 
Matt N said:
Are you suggesting that young children tend to slow down the loading more compared to adults? If so, why do you think this is?
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This is more a common fact than a suggestion really. Small children take longer to get in their seat, can squirm around when attempting to have the restraints done, and are also the ones most likely to have a screaming tantrum before a ride dispatches (far less common, but happened to me on many occasions).

Operating children's rides in a children's attraction can be a pain.
 
Not factoring in the adults fussing over making sure their child is safe meaning that they're delaying you because they refuse to sit down until Timmy is safe.
 
Danny said:
This is more a common fact than a suggestion really. Small children take longer to get in their seat, can squirm around when attempting to have the restraints done, and are also the ones most likely to have a screaming tantrum before a ride dispatches (far less common, but happened to me on many occasions).

Operating children's rides in a children's attraction can be a pain.
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Have you worked at Legoland or a similar children’s attraction, out of interest? I only ask because some of the things you say imply that you have experience in operating children’s attractions.

I can certainly imagine that children probably aren’t as efficient to load as adults now you’ve said it, however. You’re likely to have things like children who don’t like being in the restraints or children who need letting off the ride because they’re scared, which naturally delays things a little. (come to think of it, I’m guessing that’s why Sky Lion has an option to bypass the ride before getting on…)
 
"Sit down kid, you're killing my throughput" I may have muttered once or twice, back in the day.

The absolute worst scenario is a parent forcing a kid to ride something that they absolutely don't want to ride.
 
Rick said:
The absolute worst scenario is a parent forcing a kid to ride something that they absolutely don't want to ride.
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I remember being on Jurassic Park river adventure at Islands of Adventure years ago and just hearing in the row behind us "Mummy I don't like Dinosaurs" I was amazed the kid didn't wriggle out the restraint.
 
I've seen parents force kids onto rides just to get their moneys worth. It normally happens after they've queued for +30min and the child suddenly chickens out.
No one wins in that situation. The child gets upset, the adult gets angry and it normally evolves into a will they won't they argument right at the point of loading.
 
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