10 Insider Tips For Legoland Windsor For Your Best Day Out Ever!
Image Credit: ©The LEGO Group
LEGOLAND Windsor is one of the world's most popular theme parks, with almost 2.5 million visitors per year. And with good reason! It is a fabulous place, with rides suitable for the smallest child to adults.
OK, you won't find any really scary rollercoasters but there are cerainly some thrilling rides to try out.
I am fortunate enough to live only a few miles from Legoland and for many years have taken advantage of buying annual passes. This means that that my family and I have visited Legoland several times a year for many years and it has always been my children's first choice destination whenever they were asked “What shall we do today?”
Legoland is just 20 miles from Central London - on a clear day you can see Wembley Stadium from the park. So you can easily visit it as part of a stay in the capital.
With rides to appeal to kids of all ages it is the perfect day out.
After years of visiting Legoland regularly I have worked out a pretty good action plan for how to get the most out of a day there.
10 Tips To Make The Most Of A Day At Legoland
You can use these tips whether you are making a whole day of your visit to Windsor or are only popping in for a couple of hours. It also means that you don't need to spend extra on things like Q-Bot to get onto your favourite rides.
- Book Your Tickets In Advance
- Get There Early
Tip number two might seem obvious, but lots of people don't do this!
Be parked up in the car park and get inside the park entrance well before opening time. Well before opening time.
If you are buying tickets on the day there will be a queue at the ticket booths - see tip #1! Hopefully you've already booked in advance Once inside, so you can walk down until you are as close to the barriers as you can be.
Next, decide which ride you most want to go on. There are a number of rides at Legoland which are massively popular all the time – the ones where the queues are regularly over 2 hours.
So if you want to go on rides such as Viking River Splash, Jolly Rocker, The Dragon, Pirate Falls, Driving School, or Flight of the Sky Dragon head straight down there - as fast as you can.
Don’t take the hill train either. There will be a massive queue and it will slow you down. The walk into the park is downhill from the entry gates.
Save your train ride for the end - you’ll really appreciate it when your legs are starting to ache I promise!
- Don’t Forget Your Waterproofs
- Hit the Restaurants Up at Midday
- Combine A Picnic With Miniland
- What If It Rains?
- What Rides To Save Until The End
- Go on an INSET day
- Don't Be Shy!
Image Credit: ©The LEGO Group
The staff at LEGOLAND are there to help you. They are lovely and friendly and always happy to give you directions or answer questions.
Plus ther are cute sign posts and maps all over. You can pick up a map at the gate or download the app which gives you an interactive map, queue times, a day planner and info about all the food options at the resort.
- Know Your Child’s Height
It’s best to measure your children’s height at the start of your day. It will save a lot of disappointment, especially if you've had a long wait for a ride, and then get turned away.
Take advantage of the height measures in the queuing areas. Your child will NOT be let on a ride that they are too small for, and you don't want to risk them hurting themselves. It is for your child's safety.
Seriously , if you only take one tip away from this, make it this one. The queue to pay can be absolutely massive. And be assured, you will have plenty of queuing to do during the day, so you don't want to queue at the entry station!
Plus, You can save massively by booking in advance. The discounts on tickets booked directly on the LEGOLAND website can be more than 50%.
Image Credit: ©The LEGO Group
Lots of rides are wet. Very wet. Plus it has been known to rain occasionally in the UK ;-).
So bring your waterproofs and carry everything in a waterproof bag. If yiou are a theme park regular, you probably have your own set of waterproofs. If not you can buy waterproof capes once you get to LEGOLAND.
Bring a plastic bag to put a leather handbag in if you go on any of the many water rides, even the quieter and less splashy ones such as Fairy Tale Brook.
If you are foolish enough to take a suede handbag with you to Legoland, do not put it on the floor in the Viking River Splash.
Just sayin'. With a very red face. Rookie mistake.
Image Credit: Alan Hardman
If you are planning to eat at one of Legoland’s yummy restaurants, you need to know that they start to fill up really quickly at 1pm. Get there as soon after twelve as you can and you will be right at the front of the queue.
If you’ve got there as early as we do, you will be hungry enough to eat lunch by then anyway!
Remember that if you have an Legoland Annual Pass you get 10% discount in all of the park's cafes and restaurants as well as the gift shops as well.
Image Credit: ©The LEGO Group
If on the other hand you have decided to bring your own food with you, combine your lunch with a trip to the remarkable Miniland.
Miniland is a model village made completely from Lego and is surrounded by lots of grassy areas. It is a must see, where the worl'd most iconic locations are recreated in plastic bricks. What's more they are always adding new models, so you can visit over and over again, and still see something new.
It’s also much quieter than the main part of the park so is just the best place to sit on the grass or benches if you’ve brought your own lunch. There is loads of space to sit and relax while eating a picnic.
Most Legoland visitors are a hardy bunch and a little bit of rain does not put them off from queueing! If it gets really rainy, the indoor attractions such as the movies, stage shows, Imagination Centre and the Restaurants do fill up quickly however.
Remember those waterproofs you brought for going on the water rides? You'll be really glad you brought them.
Image Credit: ©The LEGO Group
Some rides never seem to require too longer wait. The Spinning Spider (which we all LOVE) often has surprisingly short queues. Toddler-focussed Duploland is usually quieter than the rest of the park (don’t miss Fairy Tale Brook by the way, it’s so sweet).
The Magical Forest is also a relaxing walk through attraction, with an app that you can download to watch the characters come to life.
Also I recommend taking a wander around Knights Kingdom. The clever attention to detail in the castle is remarkable, and the gift shop is usually a bit quieter than the main one at the exit too.
My absolute top tip for if you hate queuing? Would you like to walk straight onto all the most popular rides without queuing?
Go on a day when most other kids are at school, especially if you have an INSET Day on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday.
Do be warned that towards the end in the summer term you will find that the Legoland park is full of school trips, so before May half term is best time to spend your INSET Days there.
These tips will help you have a great time for your next visit to Legoland! I hope that you enjoy it as much as we all do.
If you are staying in Windsor for a few days here are 10 free things to do in Windsor including free to enter museums plus the coolest things to see and places to play in the town.