Do I need to stay at The Park?

There are a number of options when it comes to staying on or off-site. Onsite there is the Legoland Castle Hotel, Legoland Hotel (which is sometimes called the resort hotel) and the New Legoland Woodland Village. I am not going to lie the short stay options are not cheap, but they are part of the experience. We stayed once, but used a nearby hotel and much prefer that. We found the dining very lack lustre in the hotel (think burgers, pizza and nuggets).

The resort hotel is the one with the dragon guarding its entrance and has themed rooms – you also get free parking, park tickets, breakfast, in-room LEGO gift and access to the LEGO pirate-themed indoor water play area and swimming pool included in the price.

The Castle Hotel is as you would expect Knights, Princesses and Wizards themed – You get free parking, park tickets, breakfast, in-room LEGO gift, in-room treasure hunt, PlayStation 4 in your room, a Branded swim bag, a hotel lanyard, a Nespresso coffee machine for the grown-ups and access to the LEGO pirate-themed indoor water play area and swimming pool in the price.

The New Legoland Woodland Village includes 1 day theme park tickets, Breakfast in The Clubhouse Restaurant & Bar, Free in-room LEGOLAND gift, Outdoor Play Areas, Free parking and a Free round of Adventure Golf.

So it is subjective, If you have a special occasion to celebrate or LEGO mad kids then the onsite accommodation might be for you. Keep an eye out for special offers, but we would rather save our money and stay offsite.

What are the Best Days to Visit?

According to queue times, Tuesdays and Thursdays are the quietest, but in school holidays every day is busy and they have been known to stop entry into the park as it has reached capacity, so book online. If you are planning a visit download the app and keep an eye on the daily wait times for a week to get an idea of what to expect.

Take something like top trumps to keep the kids busy in the inevitable queues and plenty of snacks!

Is One Day Enough for Legoland?

The Park says that one day should be enough depending on how busy it is, however, in our experience, it is quite impossible to cover everything in Legoland Windsor in a day. You need at least two days to explore all the different zones if not a couple of days to cover all the rides as there are long queues during school holidays and weekends. The longer queues are often for the thrill rides and we have mini thrill seekers.

If you are only there for one day I would look at reserve and ride. I would rather take a picnic and skip the distinctly average and expensive park food and spend the money on reserve and ride. I would also prioritise getting there early and focussing on the must-do rides for your family.

Top Tips for visiting Legoland

• Always buy your tickets in advance, you can usually find deals online or consider using your Tesco club card points in exchange for tickets. Also check out any Blue Light Discount. Book and pay for your parking online to save not only money but an hour’s queuing to pay at the end of the day and parking is ridiculously expensive considering the cost of the tickets, and paying online in advance saves 18%.
• Download the LEGOland App at home before you go. It is essential and also adds a new dimension to the visit with its AR Miniland Missions and LEGO Mythica extras. Plus you can plan your day, get live queue length updates, park map and exclusive offers. Also, you can check out height restrictions.
• Get there early.  This is the most important tip and it will ensure the day runs smoothly.  Although the rides do not open until 10 am, the turnstiles open from 9.30 am.  This means that you can browse the shop, make any purchases (you can collect them later) and then most importantly make your way to any must-go on rides or the rear of the park.
• Collect a lost parents sticker at the guest services booth at the entrance to the park.  This is a sticker that you pop on your children, so that if they get lost it has your mobile phone number on it.  You can also collect a map at the same time, which are great for handing out to eager kids.
• Start at the back of the park.  We always head to the rear of the park and work our way back to the beginning.  We always seem to queue for a short period if we do this and are going against the flow of people.
• Take a picnic.  The food is expensive and also in my opinion not the best (A lot like theme park food to be honest) and in certain restaurants the wasps can be terrible, which spoils mealtimes with children.  You can go back out to the car to collect any picnic but we tend to pop it in a backpack. Take a look at the show times and take the opportunity to sit and watch a show and eat your picnic at the same time.  You can also get a refillable drink at the booths for £13, which is expensive, but on a hot day it is surprising how much children drink.
• Dress your children in bright clothing.  I tend to put the boys in orange, yellow or purple so that I can always spot them in a crowd.  This year it was really bright shirts and funky hats. Also take a photo of them, so that if they do go missing you can just show the attendant (I often forget things in a panic).
• Don’t miss the quieter spaces. There is a sensory space opposite the Legoland Express Train – a calming place, especially for neurodiverse people. Also the free build areas for some downtime and building fun. The Brick in Miniland, which is air-conditioned and good for a rest. Also the Rebuild the World section, which is next to the shop down the hill towards the Viking Kingdom, has lots of LEGO for free building and upstairs you can read about the history of the park and peek into the Model Maker Studio. We found the small sea life aquarium calming too,
• Take swimming costumes and towels.  We always take rash vests as Drench Towers (which is the largest water play structure in the UK) in the Duplo area is fab, although it doesn’t have any shade and it is the place that we usually visit before heading back to the car.  Taking about shade, hats and sun cream are essential too. as you can have 4 seasons in one day.
• The shop has some great stuff in, but the Lego can often be picked up cheaper elsewhere.  We like the fridge magnets and also the ice cube trays and we always purchase at the start of the day.  It is horribly busy at the end of the day with bill queues at the tills.
• If you are planning to buy photo’s of you on the rides, then make sure you buy a photo pass as it works out much less expensive. The Lego photo walls are a particularly nice treat.
• If it is your child’s birthday whilst you are there, if you pop into guest services they will give them a badge and arrange for their name to appear on the welcome screen, which is a fab touch and made Mini a very happy boy.

We absolutely love Legoland Windsor and it is perfectly pitched at children ages from 3 to 12 (ish).  It is a real family day out and has many more attractions that you could possibly get through in one day, so if there is a ride that you must go on, make sure you get on it early in the day.

We have a cream carpet and boys who are sports-obsessed who often forget to remove their shoes, so it can sometimes get rather grubby, not to mention Alvin (our dog) being in the house.  Yes, a carpet cleaner that works is a necessity.   We have two bottles of Dr Beckmann’s Carpet Cleaner in our house, one upstairs for the carpets and one downstairs for the rugs and it is one thing I buy on repeat so I don’t run out.   But it isn’t just me who rates Dr. Beckmann’s Carpet Stain Remover.  it has been awarded Which? Magazine’s coveted ‘Best Buy’ and ‘Best Value’ awards two years in a row which isn’t surprising when it can tackle a whole host of stubborn stains including red wine, chocolate, curry and ice cream.

I don’t have an electric carpet cleaner, instead, I try to tackle spills and stains when they happen, but that isn’t always possible and the thing about this carpet cleaner is that it often will remove stains that I haven’t noticed when they first happened.

For me, it is the brush applicator (which is attached to the bottle), that ensures that it makes light work stains and doesn’t just brush any loose surface dirt further into the carpet. It is an applicator sponge surrounded by brush bristles. This simple, but revolutionary cleaning brush allows the fluid to penetrate deep into the heart of the stain, whilst the fluid neutralises odours, making it ideal for pet stain accidents, and perfect for helping to restore my carpets to their former glory.

If I am using it on a fabric I haven’t tried before I make sure that it is colour fast by testing an inconspicuous area (such as the back of the sofa). I have used this with loads of success on Mini’s fabric gaming chair, which gets filthy. Also when he split pizza sauce on our beautiful yellow velvet pouffe (which he hid with a tray), so it had been there a day before I realised. I have used it on car upholstery too after a travel sickness instance and not only did it remove the stain it special ingredients neutralised the horrible smell and it left a pleasant fresh scent. Plus it doesn’t leave any residue at all.

A solution for every cleaning need.

I love that Dr Beckman has expanded the range and now in addition to the original Carpet Stain Remover, there is Dr. Beckmann Pet Stain & Odour Remover (perfect for any pet accident stains) and Dr. Beckmann Upholstery Stain Remover, which I have used on our soft furnishing (which are light-coloured cloth and the dry clean only curtains).

This post contains affiliate links. If you make any purchases after clicking one of these links, I will make a small commission (hopefully enough to keep me in tea all year) – at no extra cost to you! This allows me to keep creating and sharing free tutorials and content for you. Thank you!

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The fact you can get all three of the formulas for under £10 is astounding – a fraction of the cost of a carpet cleaning machine and the fact is they work. it is great to have such powerful stain removal in my kitchen cupboard in 3 small bottles. I have used it to clean most common household stains including fruit juice, fizzy drinks, coffee, tea, mud and stubborn red wine stains. The only thing it didn’t lift fully was original lucozade, but it did a passable job and no matter how much I have used it has never bleached out anything I have used it on.

Oh and if you are interested in seeing the videos that I made with Dr Beckmann then take a look at this post!

What We Cooked At Home During Lock-Down

For us, lockdown meant that the husbeast was shopping for our family and the teens for their grandparents each week. We were lucky that shortages due to stockpiling were short-lived (apart from flour, yeast and caster sugar), however, we live in a rural part of the country and local supermarkets do not always have the best range of herbs and spices.

Which is where Simply Cook fits into our lockdown cookery experience. Simply Cook is a meal box with a difference. Rather than a complete meal box where you are sent everything to make the meal, Simply Cool supply the herbs and spices required so you can shop locally for the main ingredients and use store cupboard items.

You can 4 boxes of flavour pots in one letterbox delivery (yes, the meal box fits through the letterbox) and a menu card for each meal.

Each menu card comes with a small perforated section with the ingredients needed, so you can take that shopping with you or you can download their app which has the same information.

We loved the fact that the meal boxes have much better use-by dates on them (compared to complete meal boxes that we have had), which worked perfectly during lockdown. Also, the fact that we can shop local and reduce food miles, which is great if you use a local butcher or want to substitute ingredients that someone in the family isn’t keen on (courgettes are seen as the devil’s food here)!

The menu cards have simple easy to follow instructions, so much so that the teens took over cooking using them.

I liked the fact that I didn’t have to have a cupboard full of spices and herbs (which we never us within their use-by date) and that the food was delicious.

What also surprised us was that the food actually looked a lot like the images on the front of the cards, which is really encouraging for the person preparing the meal.

This Moghul Chicken Korma (click here to find out the origins of the Korma) that Maxi cooked was lush and I didn’t need to run around the supermarket looking for 101 ingredients. If you want to get your kids in the kitchen, then check out our cooking with children section.

You can cancel your subscription at any time and it is £9.99 a box and your first box is £3.00 a total bargain, especially as you can pick from range of 38 trial box recipes.

I am a big fan of my Cricut products and already have a Cricut Maker (UK Link/US Link) that I really rate, so I was intrigued when the Cricut Joy (UK Link/US Link) came on to the market as I didn’t know where it fits or what it would do that my other machine didn’t.

What is the Cricut Joy?

The Joy is Cricut’s newest cutting machine and also it’s smallest machine and it is also designed to be super simple and doesn’t have a single button on it. It is operated completely from the downloadable Design Space app. This app can be used on a phone, tablet or computer or all three, I alternate between devises.

The fact that this machine is small and doesn’t need a mat means that it is portable and easy to store or keep on a small desk.

How Easy is it to Set Up?

The Cricut Joy is designed to pretty much plug and play and everything you need to get started with a project is included in the box such as s a fine point blade, a black Cricut Joy pen, a piece of Smart Vinyl, a piece of coloured paper, and a StandardGrip mat.

I have set up previous machines and this was the simplest yet. You just have to follow the instructions and it talks you right through and you will even print out a flower from vinyl for you to use.

Do I need a Cricut Joy – an honest review?

If you do not have another cutting machine, then YES you need this machine in your life. It is so simple to use, it is almost foolproof and would make a great first machine, plus it’s portable!

I can see this machine being useful for people on the go, small craft rooms that don’t have a lot of space or that craft in multiple spaces, teachers looking to make quick projects in their classroom or someone that is really into organisation as it would be perfect for making custom labels for everything.

If you’re a card maker then this little machine is the perfect companion for your craft room.

The folks at Cricut have really thought about using the Joy to make cards and have specific mats and cards designed just for that allow you to create 3 different standard size cards (3.5 x 5″ | 4.25 x 5.5″ | 4.5 x 6.25″). They also have pre-cut card and insert packs that contain everything you need to make gorgeous cards…all matched, cut, and ready to go! These card packs include 10-12 cards with coordinating inserts and there are lots of corner cut card designs available for every occasion their App.

Make sure you check out my other Cricut Projects and Reviews:

• Cricut Maker Review and Unboxing
• DIY Coasters Using Cricut Infusible Ink
• DIY Applique Monstera Leaf Cushions using The Cricut Maker
• My two weeks with the Cricut Explore – An interim review and thoughts
• Silhouettes made easy using the Cricut Explore
• A spring collection with the Cricut Explore
• DIY Customised Umbrella using iron-on vinyl
• How to make a DIY Leather Wrapped Hip Flask
• DIY Cord Tacos or Cord Organisers
• Folk Flower Mason Jar Luminaries
• DIY Lag Kills TShirt made on the Explore One
• Toilet Monster for Halloween
• Leather lace-on shoe mustaches

 

 

Personalised Party Crafts

 

 

For the last three months we have been using the Canon Pixma MG7150  for our printing requirements and one of the benefits of this printer is its LED screen and ability to print directly from the printer using a series of child friendly menus without even turning on the PC.  The amazing thing is that this piece of technology has actually reduced the boys reliance on screens.

Activity Packs direct off the printer

This means that when Mini was complaining the other day that he had nothing to so that he could use the Canon Pixma and print off a Monsters University activity pack all by himself.

Print straight from tablet or smartphone 

It also meant that I could print off images directly from my Iphone when we were in Blackpool for the boys scrapbooks.  It meant that we could look through the images and make a decision on what each of them wanted.

Creative Paper Craft straight from the printer 

It has also empowered the boys to print birthday cards for their friends too using Creative Park Premium, which is a premium content service available exclusively to owners of select Canon PIXMA printers – and only when all of the software and the colours of genuine Canon inks are installed.

Photocopy using the printer

One of the other things that it has enabled the boys to do themselves is to make copies of things using only the printer. They have copied drawings they have made, mandelas for colouring in and well everything and anything, but the biggest excitement for them was being able to copy a list of all of their football card swaps for their friends!

What we like about the Canon Pixma MG7150

1. It is wireless
2. You can use it direct from your tablet or mobile phone
3. It can copy, scan and print
4. It is very user friendly, even children can use it
5. You do not have to have the computer turned on to use it
6. It also has SD and Memory Stick Pro Duo card reader on the printer’s front edge
7. It has six ink cartridges including grey, perfect for black and white printing.
8. It took 220 gsm cardstock and printed on it effortlessly
9. Touchscreen technology makes it easy to navigate the menus

Now you can imagine this has been hard on all of us. I am really lucky that my boys are eight and nine and pretty capable kids. They have lots of friends that live nearby and have had a couple of weeks playing on their bikes, playing football and street cricket and enjoying their summer off school. They are able to make their own sandwiches and get their own breakfast, but shopping is well too much for them and MadDad just cannot take any time off until next week, plus I am a control freak when it comes to my menu planning and food shopping and knowing him I would send him with a list and he would come back with half of it missing and loads of treats instead.

So when I was approached to try Click & Collect at Asda it was a real blessing. I could do an online shop and not have to wait in for delivery (not that we are going anywhere) or worry about bringing in in from the door and putting it away. Instead I could order online and arrange for MadDad to collect it to a store close to his clients on the way home, that way he can put it all away and do all the legwork for me!

Me being me, I was super forgetful and forgot to add the light bulbs on that we needed, but I was able to add them on to my order without any issues.

So how was my Asda Click & Collect experience?

• Ordering was really easy and I was able to amend my order up until 1pm on the day of collection.
• The ordering is the same as delivery right up until the last stage (but no need to pay for delivery or books a slot)
• There was a store near where MadDad was working, so easy to collect from and the collection slops were 2 hourly
• Collection is free

Click & Collect was a huge success for me. My shopping was collected by the hus-beast and he brought it home and put it away. It was less than 3 minutes out of his way to collect the shopping and he only brought home what I had ordered!
Disclosure: This post is part of a collaboration with ASDA and SheKnows. All my opinions are my own.

Accommodation

Ribby hall has a fantastic array of accommodation options to sleep up to 14 people.  We stayed in Ruby Cottage which come with a fab lounge and with TV and DVD player (not that we had time to watch it) a fully fitted kitchen and dining area with oven, hob, microwave, fridge freezer, toaster, crockery, cutlery and all utensils.  It really was an amazing base.

Fantastic Activities at Ribby Hall

We really wish we had more time to spend using the amazing facilities that Ribby Hall had.  The boys had an ace time on the climbing wall and we had a great round of MIni Golf as a family.  The leisure pool is super and the boys loved it.

The boys took full advantage of the park when we had a spare minute.

Eating at Ribby Hall

On the Friday Night the boys and MadDad ate in the Restaurant, whilst I galavented to Sally’s.  During breakfast in the morning they couldn’t wait to tell me about the EPIC deserts they had the night before!

We stayed in a Ruby Lodge and it had a fully fitted kitchen with a fridge freezer, cooker, microwave, toaster and dishwasher so we could have  very easily cooked ourselves, but we took advantage of the Tea Shop serving breakfast and it was lovely.

Disclosure: We were guests of #Blackpools Back and Merlin Entertainment for our weekend in Blackpool

Top tips for a great day out at Thorpe Park

1. Get there before opening time.  The smallest queues are at the beginning and end of the day, so take advantage of this for the bigger rides
2. Check your height before you go.  Make sure you avoid disappointment on the day by checking your child’s height, as long as they are over 1.2 meters there will be lots for them to enjoy.
3. You will get wet on the water rides including your feet.
4. The artificial beach and paddling pool is a great place to relax mid afternoon, so take a towel and costume for the kids.
5. If you only have a day it is worth investing in fast track passes.  Who wants to spend most of their day in a queue?
6. You can hire a large locker for just £1, great for storing those spare clothes and towels!
7. If you want photo’s of you and the kids on the rise, buy a pass that gets you four for £12, a saving of over £15 on them individually.
8. Buy a refillable soft drink cup to share on the day.
9. There are plenty of food outlets, but they do tend to be quite expensive, so my advice would be to pack a picnic
10. Check out our previous review’s of Thorpe Park for 7 and 8 year olds, our post on things to check out before visiting Thorpe Park and the Thorpe Park Pinterest Board before visiting

Win £250 with The Mad House and #SunFessions

The Sun + are offering you the chance to get your hands on two tickets for Thorpe Park Resort worth up to £99 by signing up to The Sun+ for a £1 month’s trial of their subscription and then a subsequent month at under £8.67 so a saving of over £80.

To support the #Sunfession campaign, I also have £250 to give away to you lovely blog readers to spend at Thorpe Park. All you need to do is log in to Twitter or Instagram account and retell a hilarious awful thing you have done to your kids.  Don’t forget to include #Sunfession and #muminthemadhouse . Hit tweet or post, and then visit the Sun site to see your #Sunfession appear.

Win £250 to spend at Thorpe Park with #SunFessions