Legoland has changed quite a lot since our visit back in 2007, it's bigger and better than ever and now includes its own hotel and a theme park that you need to plan your visit to, especially when you consider the costs involved and in my opinion is not somewhere the average family can afford to go every year, although if you’re a theme park family, you may want to look into a Merlin Annual Pass, which includes entry into other Merlin parks like Alton Towers.
Below you can read through the various costs you need to consider while planning your visit to Legoland or you can scroll down to view our pictures and videos.
Costs to consider
Travel - We were travelling down from Leeds, so fuel cost us about £60, but you may want to check train fares and bus fares if you’re local.
Hotel - only if you travelling from a far like us and don't want an extremely early start and late finish, so we booked two nights (£60 Premier Inn - review here) or for the full Lego experience, check out the Legoland Hotel here!
Tickets - check online, Legoland offers discounts for booking online in advance, we got 1 Adult Free voucher off the side of a box of cornflakes (in theory that piece of card was worth nearly £50) and consider getting a two day ticket.
Parking - if you are arriving by car as most will, there is a parking fee, Priority parking is £7, Standard parking £4, although we didn't know until we arrived that this was the annual pass holders’ price, so we paid £9, but once again buying online can save money.
Rides - it's a good idea to research the rides and attractions online, that way you can concentrate on the ones that interest you the most, plan your day and make the most of your time there. There are a good variety of rides, mainly aimed at kids 4/5+, but they do have Duplo Valley for the little ones and those visitors without kids, either borrow some for the day (nieces/nephews etc) or make the most of the bigger rides, where nobody will notice.
Q-Bot - This little devices simply allows you to queue without actually standing in line, it is similar to the fast pass used at Disney, but 20 rides/attractions are pre-loaded, so you don't have to go there to get a reservation, again saving time.
You can choose from 3 levels
Regular - £15 per person
Express - £30 per person
Ultimate - £70 per person
The difference between them can be a little complicated, but the basics are, Regular simply stands in the queue for you, Express does the same while cutting your wait time in half and Ultimate gives you almost instant access, including instant access to your first ride before 11am and additional add on rides.
We didn't use the q-bot on our visit, but we did see many people who were using them and queuing for laser raiders for an hour, we did wish we had one.
Personally we would probably only consider the regular, this way you can pick the busiest ride, wander around while q-bot queues for you and after your ride pick another busy ride and so on. With express cutting your time in half, you may find you don't have enough time to wander (this will depend on how busy the rides are of course) and then you might as well wait. At £70 per person, the Ultimate is too expensive in my opinion, it's a lot, especially if you’re a family of 4 or more and rather than pay £70, I'd rather pay for a second day, you still might have to queue, but you can split the rides up to cover them over the 2 days.
Food - You can take a packed lunch in with you in your rucksack and then eat your sandwich while you’re in a queue (assuming it's a long queue) or there are many cafes/restaurants and snack bars around the park.
In Summary, it's fair to say that personally I'm not a theme park/rides fan, I am however a "big kid" Lego fan, therefore I was always going to love Legoland. Legoland may only be one park, but as we also love Disney, we do tend to compare the two and as with Disney, we will also definitely return to Legoland, but the costs involved mean it's not something we can do as often as we'd like, (at least Legoland is in the UK), however I would like to stay at the Legoland hotel (time to borrow some kids again) and do two days in the park, although I think my wife might prefer to save the money to return to Disney/Florida instead, so that's going to take some persuasion, although there is at least a Legoland In Florida!
Below you can read through the various costs you need to consider while planning your visit to Legoland or you can scroll down to view our pictures and videos.
Costs to consider
Travel - We were travelling down from Leeds, so fuel cost us about £60, but you may want to check train fares and bus fares if you’re local.
Hotel - only if you travelling from a far like us and don't want an extremely early start and late finish, so we booked two nights (£60 Premier Inn - review here) or for the full Lego experience, check out the Legoland Hotel here!
Tickets - check online, Legoland offers discounts for booking online in advance, we got 1 Adult Free voucher off the side of a box of cornflakes (in theory that piece of card was worth nearly £50) and consider getting a two day ticket.
Parking - if you are arriving by car as most will, there is a parking fee, Priority parking is £7, Standard parking £4, although we didn't know until we arrived that this was the annual pass holders’ price, so we paid £9, but once again buying online can save money.
Rides - it's a good idea to research the rides and attractions online, that way you can concentrate on the ones that interest you the most, plan your day and make the most of your time there. There are a good variety of rides, mainly aimed at kids 4/5+, but they do have Duplo Valley for the little ones and those visitors without kids, either borrow some for the day (nieces/nephews etc) or make the most of the bigger rides, where nobody will notice.
Q-Bot - This little devices simply allows you to queue without actually standing in line, it is similar to the fast pass used at Disney, but 20 rides/attractions are pre-loaded, so you don't have to go there to get a reservation, again saving time.
You can choose from 3 levels
Regular - £15 per person
Express - £30 per person
Ultimate - £70 per person
The difference between them can be a little complicated, but the basics are, Regular simply stands in the queue for you, Express does the same while cutting your wait time in half and Ultimate gives you almost instant access, including instant access to your first ride before 11am and additional add on rides.
We didn't use the q-bot on our visit, but we did see many people who were using them and queuing for laser raiders for an hour, we did wish we had one.
Personally we would probably only consider the regular, this way you can pick the busiest ride, wander around while q-bot queues for you and after your ride pick another busy ride and so on. With express cutting your time in half, you may find you don't have enough time to wander (this will depend on how busy the rides are of course) and then you might as well wait. At £70 per person, the Ultimate is too expensive in my opinion, it's a lot, especially if you’re a family of 4 or more and rather than pay £70, I'd rather pay for a second day, you still might have to queue, but you can split the rides up to cover them over the 2 days.
Food - You can take a packed lunch in with you in your rucksack and then eat your sandwich while you’re in a queue (assuming it's a long queue) or there are many cafes/restaurants and snack bars around the park.
In Summary, it's fair to say that personally I'm not a theme park/rides fan, I am however a "big kid" Lego fan, therefore I was always going to love Legoland. Legoland may only be one park, but as we also love Disney, we do tend to compare the two and as with Disney, we will also definitely return to Legoland, but the costs involved mean it's not something we can do as often as we'd like, (at least Legoland is in the UK), however I would like to stay at the Legoland hotel (time to borrow some kids again) and do two days in the park, although I think my wife might prefer to save the money to return to Disney/Florida instead, so that's going to take some persuasion, although there is at least a Legoland In Florida!
Videos
2007 Pictures
