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Legoland Windsor

KolonelKlink said:
It’s not harsh, really.

Of course the “target” aren’t thinking about landscaping but the entire point of theme parks is that they’re immersive and give visitors a warm, fuzzy feeling subconsciously because for the time they’re inside they feel totally surrounded by that theme and “in” that world. This is harder to achieve with piles of mud, big warehouses and a derelict rapids channel and - in my view - hard to justify when parents of the target are paying a pretty penny to give their kids the most memorable day out possible.

If we’re going to go down the “let’s cut them some slack for an obviously unfinished product” route then Merlin might as well not theme anything anymore and plonk rides down on concrete slabs à la Adventure Island.
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I agree with this. Even restricting comparisons to UK standards, there's a reason the work of John Wardley is so beloved to this day and its beyond innovative ride systems.

Children cherish those memories of entering Transylvania and the organ player, blood red waterfalls as a monster flies round you, queuing through a graveyard and so on. Traipsing round a building site spoils the immersion.

It's a shame nobody seemed to continue the mantle on that front. I struggle to think of a single ride in the UK he wasn't involved with that made that level of effort. I suppose The Dragon at Legoland might be the closest.
 
Alphe86 said:
Think people are being a bit harsh. Theming is a bit poor but my 4 year old girl is giddy excited to get on this. It’s gonna overtake her previous favourite (accelerator at Drayton) for sure.
The target don’t see things the same way we do - and ultimately it’s an attraction for 4-10 year olds, not grown men and women.
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Nah, see I disagree. I pay a lot of money to get in and I would expect premium products to go along with it. Yes, my 6 year old will probably enjoy it (the ride itself is not the issue), but I know she'd enjoy it more if it was as immersive and higher quality as it should be. Kids do pick up on lack of attention to detail and cheapness.

This is not a premium product befitting the entry price.
 
Tom said:
Someone might get a bonus for coming in under budget on the project.
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It’s the world of big business accountants again.
If only the parks were independent family run. Trouble is they wouldn’t get the same investment levels.

I’m afraid we’re lumped with mediocrity
 
They will need to move on pricing or up their game, particularly in the face of the Universal threat.
 
Rode it today, both sides. Second time we asked for the blue side and the host agreed - so I think you can ask, not sure why people are saying you can’t.

Bits of the vinyl are already peeling unfortunately, but it’s a good little ride and there were lots of kids (and adults) really enjoying it. Queue was quite short 30-40 minutes, but the rest of the park was suffering with longish queues. Minifigure Speedway merch is practically non existent. Not sure why LLW is so bad at ride merch.
 
Rode the new ride on Sunday and it was pretty good, a nice addition. A few comments:
1) For RAP they are using same timed slot releases that they used for Skylion I think it was. Managed to book a slot fairly early, mai queue at that point was 80 minutes and off down the path but we were on in about 5 minutes. Only one go using RAP at the moment.
2) Rode it 3 more times during the day after that. Second time we risked a 45 minute queue according to the app, thought we would be OK as the boy loves looking at the Roxie model, actually only queued for about 25 minutes. Third and forth times the queue time was 20 minutes but we were on in about 10.
3) Queue was 80 minutes at the start of the day but that quickly went down and I'd say that other rides in the park such as Laser Raiders and Skylion etc. had longer queues for more of the day.
4) There is currently a lot of staff working on it, think we counted maybe 16 or 17.
5) Couldn't fault ride operations. Ride was being despatched pretty quickly and they were keeping the queue moving well.
6) Can really tell they rushed to finish it. Landscaping is almost non existent (attached a couple of pics), some of the queue line floor and walls are a mess, and also where they have stuck things up for you to read it is done in strips like wallpaper but where it has been rushed the joints don't line up - hope that makes sense. Probably could have done with another week to be honest.
7) Rode both sides, first time orange and other three blue. For some reason blue side felt faster. Also, going back on orange side made me feel sick as a dog, but didn't feel the same on blue side. No idea why it was like that, just me I presume.

Anyway, just my comments. All in all it's a nice ride to have in the park. Not a fast as Velociraptor but assume it isn't meant to be.
 

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TPick said:
For RAP they are using same timed slot releases that they used for Skylion I think it was. Managed to book a slot fairly early, mai queue at that point was 80 minutes and off down the path but we were on in about 5 minutes. Only one go using RAP at the moment.
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That's a shame to hear, hopefully they ditch that fairly quickly if the queues are as short as you say, especially if it's already hitting 10 minutes on opening day.

I suspect the location and nature of the park mean people tend to head to it first and then not go back.
 
It’s going to look a real state later this year / next season looking at those images and those others have posted
 
Capacity on Minifig is also very good (far better than I - and probably LLW themselves - were expecting actually). An advertised 80 minute queue yesterday from half way up the temporary queue line from Duplo ended up being half that in reality, and it was moving pretty constantly even with RAP.

Ride itself is actually better than I was expecting (dare I say slightly better than most of the Vekoma Family Boomerang variants). Echo statements about the queue line and theming overall however - it’s really cheap and poorly done with parts of the signs already beginning to peel off after less than 48 hours of operation.
 
TPick said:
Rode the new ride on Sunday and it was pretty good, a nice addition. A few comments:
1) For RAP they are using same timed slot releases that they used for Skylion I think it was. Managed to book a slot fairly early, mai queue at that point was 80 minutes and off down the path but we were on in about 5 minutes. Only one go using RAP at the moment.
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I assume that Ambulant RAP use the Reserve and Ride entrance?
 
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