We have visited Legoland Windsor more times than I can count on my fingers! An annual trip to Legoland has become a tradition for the madhouse and we always look forward to it. So I wanted to share the experience I have picked up over the years and share my top tips for visiting Legoland Windsor, but yes, we even visited Legoland in Florida when were there!
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.
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