On Mr Z’s birthday we decided to go for a family day out to Legoland. We have been quite a few times with the kids now, as we are lucky being only about half an hour away and I find it one of the best theme parks for younger children – There’s loads to do as well as the rides.
As there’s so much to do and see in Legoland I’m just gonna cover a few areas, as I think it will be impossible to cover everything in one post!
Disability access
I have to cover this first because I was a little worried how this was going to turn out and I have to say I was so impressed with how easy to get and use the access pass was. In the past I think you just needed to show the DLA letter, and that is no longer the case. You do need a further letter explaining your child (or your own?) condition. I had been given the impression from some mums that you will need to get something specially written for this purpose (who has time for that really, there are enough things to chase up with SN kids without doing that!) but it wasn’t the case. I just took a couple of paed reports explaining Mr T’s condition and we were given the access pass which allows for 10 rides without queuing. I have heard other families upset about the ride limit too, but in our case we actually only managed to use 5 as we do other non-ride attractions too so I didn’t find the limit a problem at all on this occasion. Without the pass it would have been a nightmare for Mr T as some of the queues were around 45min to 1 hour and he is not able to understand or stay in a line like that, so I was so happy that this system is in place to allow him to enjoy his day out.
Rides
Some of the rides we went on were the Dragon ride, Atlantis and Squid Surfer. Mr Z loved the squid surfer, he loves water rides so he found it great. There are quite a few water rides available in Legoland. Mr T loved the Dragon ride he does not get scared at all he just really enjoys it! I really like the Atlantis. It’s a very family friendly ride suitable even for babies (unfortunately mr R fell asleep so he actually missed it this time! but he has been when he was younger) and is great for anyone interested in Sea life. While on the ride you see loads of fish and some small sharks. It is made in conjunction with sealife centres. We visited their London aquarium recently (see here) and has a little aquarium available when you exit the ride.
The Brick Restaurant in the Lego Hotel
We decided to have lunch in the lego themed restaurant which is part of the hotel. We had not tried this before and found it very cool with all the lego models everywhere, to give a great lego themed environment! It is buffet style and there’s plenty of food available. I do have to say the lego shaped chips were not great but the other food was quite nice. It is actually all halal chicken available so my husband was very pleased as he is a meat lover! The children were really happy with the ice cream machine, its similar to ice cream factory where you can add your sweets toppings.
The play areas
There are plenty of play areas in Legoland which is great for when the children want a break from queuing or rides and just want to use up some energy. My boys always love the Pirate training play area which is really big and all shaped like pirate ships. This is very exciting especially for Mr Z. He has enjoyed this since he first visited at 2 years and still loves it now at 5. Mr R is a bit more cautious with play areas but he enjoyed being taken up there by his dad.
There is a play area near the hotel which we had not tried before, so that was nice for after lunch and there is also a small area inside the hotel lobby with stairs and a tunnel which was a big hit with the younger two.
The Duplo play area is another great one for the slightly smaller areas. Last time we visited they all spent so long there, but now it is next to the new water play so of course that grabbed their attention this time.
The New Duplo Water Play areas
These are the reason Mr Z chose to go to Legoland for his birthday! He had seen them advertised on TV while watching Nick Jr and had thought wow! He loves anything to do with water so was really attracted to this. There are two areas, a more basic one for the little ones, and a more advanced “drench towers” Mr Z was more interested in the Drench Towers and he loved it! You do need to bring a full change of swimming clothes and towel as the children will get properly wet as though they are in a swimming pool, although I think these are sold in the shop if you have not thought to bring them. Parents are able to supervise from the viewing area at the side without getting wet and there are Lego staff supervising too, who were very helpful and nice.
There are some changing rooms available and the water play area operates on timed sessions (maybe not during week days school time if its less busy?) but Mr Z found the time given was enough for him to play. The larger blue slide was closed on the day we went but he still really enjoyed this water area!
Miniland
Legoland is not complete without a trip through miniland! We didn’t get to spend long this time as we were so busy with the other attractions but we still managed to get a look at some of the trains running through the little models. My boys all love this especially Mr T who is so excited by it. Miniland is great, something so unique to legoland and reminds you that it is all about the Lego not just the rides. Miniland is the one I most remember from when I visited Legoland when it was newly opened and I was 10 😀
The shops
We decided to leave our buggy at home and hire one of the Legoland buggies, as we had kept noticing these on previous visits. The first shop we went to they said they didn’t have any! Disaster!! Luckily we managed to get the kids down to the next shop and they went and found one for us in the back somewhere. The little buggies are quite good, with being side by side as our normal buggy is tandem with one underneath which is not great as they can’t see while going around the park, but I would say do be careful if you are going and hoping to rely on the Legoland buggies, if we did not find one in the 2nd shop we would have been screwed – there is no way the younger 2 could walk around the park for any real length of time.
We also got them some new lego from the shops. Despite going to Legoland regularly, they have been still more on the duplo and not quite moved up to regular Lego yet. As Mr Z is now 5 I thought they should try and they have been really enjoying it. He brought his new lego figures in to show in school for show and tell.
Legoland is a great day out! As I said, I’m sure I have missed loads here but I would definitely recommend it for any families with young children. I find its different each time we go because we never have time for everything, so have to chose different things each time. Recently I won an annual preschool pass for Legoland, so I can’t wait to get started taking the younger two more regularly while Mr Z is in school (so sorry Mr Z!!!!)
Anna Marikar, mum of four and seasoned blogger, has spent over a decade sharing her parenting journey and passion for kid-friendly crafts and free printables.
Her easy-to-follow craft ideas and practical parenting advice have transformed In The Playroom into a cherished resource for parents.
Wow must take my son, it looks fantastic. Looks like lots to see and do!
Sounds like a great day it’s somewhere that is definitely on our list of places to visit
we love legoland! they are awesome! glad u didnt have much trouble with the rides.
I keep hearing about people going to Legoland at the mo. I guess it’s the weather. Every year I say we’re determined to go.
I hope Mr Z enjoyed his birthday treat at Legoland, it’s such a great place for all the family to visit. I’m so relieved that it had appropriate access for Mr T and he was able to enjoy himself. Thanks for sharing your fun with Country Kids.
We went last year and had a wonderful time. Miss M would love to go back so maybe next year we will. Looks like you had a great day with so much to do. The Duplo water area sounds like fun!
Hope Mr Z enjoyed his birthday. We have never been to Legoland. Definately somewhere I would like to go x
Legoland looks amazing. I definitely want to go there one day. Hope Z had a fantastic birthday!
It’s a fantastic day out and you’ve described it so well – I recognise all the different bits completely 😀
You’re very lucky living so close 🙂
i know – really lucky! you must have been a few times having all those lego enthusiasts in ur house?
We LOVED Legoland when we went – but avoided the restauraunt at ALL costs! It was soooo expensive for the self-service buffet, and so noisy! Even the breakfast was self-service which isn’t that easy with little ones!
We found a Harvester down the road – less than half the price and so much more relaxed!!
Other than that it was great – and the boys could go on ALL the rides which was brilliant!
Wow I didn’t know you won a Legoland pass!
Monkey is still talking about his visit to Legoland at Easter, will have to go again now Splash Valley is open. I love the Mini Land too
Looks great, definitely somewhere we want to go!
Only just got back, must admit we had fun, and so good to hear that they cater for everyone with a special pass. The queues can be too long, and we only managed about 5 rides, but that was enough for us too!
must have been a bit hard in this heat tina!! bet you need to go on all the water rides to cool down!!
Thanks for this- looks fab, and great to hear about a buffet style restaurant as we’ve learned this is the least stressful way of eating with ours.
Will definitely research it more now based on a family trip!
hope you have a great day when you go! I’m sure you all will enjoy it
The play parks and duplo water parks made the day for us! I’m not a fan of queues so we missed Atlantis and Squid Surfer if we ever go again these are top of my list!