Legoland Windsor

Windsor, Berkshire, UK

Date of last visit: April 2005.

Age of kids at the time: 10 and 7. Free entry for children under 3.

Travel: Signposted from M4 junction 6 and M3 junction 3. Parking is free.

The Scores… (details below):


Family Factor: 8/10

Rides for Kids:  9/10

Rides for Parents: 5/10

The Big Ride: 8/10 (Dragon Coaster)

Cleanliness: 9/10

Food: 7/10


OVERALL TPX SCORE: 8/10

Legoland is a family-oriented park with a difference - the Lego "model village" (which doesn't really do the superb Lego townscapes justice). None of the rides are thrill-a-minute stuff, but all are good for families. They range from the original (Fire Academy) to the barely themed and off the shelf (Jungle Coaster) but at least the queues this time weren't as bad as on our previous visits. It's especially important to choose the date of your visit carefully as adults will get as frustrated as kids if they have to wait an hour and a half for a kiddy ride.

Official web site

Great selection of mostly quite innovative kids rides and attractions in a clean and attractive park, but the queues for even the lamest kiddy ride can be huge if you plan your visit badly. Obviously has the ultimate in park merchandise - just about every Lego set in existence (plus good quality, if expensive, clothes, costumes, rubber swords and so on). Pretty much every ride is either for kids or families, so there's no shortage of rides for youngsters and everyone should find something they like. Paradise for Lego lovers; giant minifigs, huge animated models, a whole metropolis of Lego scenes made from seemingly a billion bricks by some genius designers. There's a sense of humour on show as soon as you get through the gates, and the cheerful appearance of the place makes a change from the usual unrelenting themes of  gloom employed by parks (Forbidden Valley, Transylvania, Tomb of the Valley of the Dead Kings Death Doom Thing and so on).

There are no clever queuing systems or time tickets, so get there early (and stay late).

Legoland is expensive. Shop around on the web for tickets on offer from travel companies or use your Tesco Clubcard vouchers as we did.

A fantastic range of kids rides, with Lego-based twists and no small amount of originality in places. Other rides look just  like those you find at any park, but with a couple of Lego models chucked in. The overall impression is that there is plenty there to do, and if you choose an off-peak day your kids should get to go on everything from fire engines to wave skimmers...

Dragon Coaster See The Big Ride below

Dragon's Apprentice Shrunken version of the Dragon aimed at younger children. Looks like a nice little roller coaster but the queues have always been prohibitively long when we visited min 0.9m, under 1.3m must be accompanied Not ridden

Jungle Coaster A pretty standard Mack Wild Mouse roller coaster with great looking Lego-styled cars, a decent sized drop (not too frightening though) and an excellent set of switchback turns at the top of the ride which give the impression you're going to plummet over the side. I found the front seat in the cars uncomfortable (I have long legs). Legoland could have put a bit more effort into making this a uniquely "Lego" attraction, but presumably it's cheaper to just get a stock design and prettify the cars. Height restriction is low, which is good - the ride like this at Chessington is 1.4m min 1.1m, under 1.3m must be accompanied

Wave Surfer Like a fairground ride on water, you stand in two person "wave skimmers" and turn a wheel to scythe backwards and forwards on a cantilevered arm. That is a totally useless description of a fun ride min 0.9m, under 1.3m must be accompanied

Pirate Falls Good looking log flume ride but just haven't had the time to try it min 1.0m, under 1.3m must be accompanied Not ridden

Spinning Spider Kids spinning ride with a Lego spider in it

Enchanted Forest Not that enchanting, although it has some cute little animals in it (made of Lego, of course)

Amazing Mazes Haven't tried this

My Town Harbour A good sized open space around a Lego harbour where barmy stunt shows take place a few times a day. The main restaurant is close by and the harbourside has various shops and buildings containing some quite clever Lego-themed attractions

Driving School Your kids get to drive sedately around a quite substantial road network. Amusing watching the road rage incidents that ensue as the cars aren't guided by rails - the kids are free to wipe out each others' no claims bonuses 6-13 yrs

Learner Drivers Just an oval for the little kids to drive around in Lego cars, but they get a sense of achievement as they line up to receive a "driving licence" at the end of their travels. All the preamble and prize giving makes for a huge amount of waiting, though 3-5 yrs

Balloon School We've seen some ridiculous queues for this, and it's basically a glacially slow roundabout with pretend hot air balloons that go up and down a bit. Don't waste too much time on this one under 1.3m must be accompanied

DUPLO Rides A group of rides for little kids

Whirlybirds Two person Lego helicopters, good fun if the queue isn't too big min 0.9m, under 1.3m must be accompanied

Sky Rider Pootle along on a Lego monorail about 10 feet up in the air. You can take very little kids on it, but it's completely plodding and you'd be better off getting to the rides a bit further into the park rather than waiting for this min 0.9m, under 1.3m must be accompanied

Dino Dipper New ride in 2005 - an up-and-down carousel ride, way too cramped for me but the kids liked it

Dino Safari A slow chug around a few Lego models in a little jeep. Diverting for a few minutes but we waited about 30 minutes for it and it wasn't really worth that

Fire Academy Original and slightly bonkers. A row of four fire engines awaits families ready to exert themselves a bit - pump the handles to get to the burning building, leap out of your truck to bravely extinguish the flames then back on board to pump your way to the finish line. We were strangely compelled to put some effort in and get there first - not like us at all

DUPLO train Join the Lego giraffe with it's head through the roof on the big train. Bizarrely you run the risk of getting wet on this so keep your digital camera out of the way

Hill Train A clever funicular railway that will transport you up and down the hill between the main park and the entrnce, but it's quicker to walk at the end of the day as the queues get silly

There aren't any rides aimed specifically at thrill seeking older children or adults. The most "extreme" ride is the Jungle Coaster, and even that only has a 1.1m height restriction. However, the staggeringly clever Miniland will please any adult that played with Lego when they were younger (and look out for the little jokes the builders have when designing the scenes), plus the Jungle Coaster is actually a pretty good (and pretty standard, bar the design of the cars) Mack Wild Mouse. Maximum thrills can be had down the M25 at Thorpe Park; Legoland is a family park, and gets that almost spot-on

The Big Ride 8/10 (Dragon Coaster)

An interesting combination of a dark ride and a roller coaster, all of which takes place inside and around a fantastically detailed castle. At first the ride winds around some mildly amusing Lego scenes depicting drunk monks, bats and the dragon itself, before turning out through a door into the daylight and the twists and turns of a good, solid family roller coaster with a height restriction of only 1.0m. The Jungle Coaster is more exciting, but Legoland put much more effort into the design of the Dragon and it deservedly remains the park's signature attraction. The queue line is themed into the walls of the castle, but one problem wit this is that you don't get a very good view of the coaster from the queue. This may cause more sensitive members of your party to wimp out, but they don't need to as even the most coaster-shy can enjoy this one min 1.0m, under 1.3m must be accompanied

The best looked after theme park we've been to in the UK. The "theming"  (Lego characters and scenes made out of a colossal number of bricks) easily rivals what Disney do, although admittedly it's a different kettle of fish, and it all looks clean and tidy. Lego presumably realise they have a reputation to look after

Food 7/10

The main restaurant had a reasonable selection of food, some of it even quite healthy. It was very crowded and quite expensive, though, which loses it a point. Not a McDonald's or KFC in sight, which we see as a good thing (your little darlings might beg to differ)