Legoland with younger children – Review

As you know we are extremely thrilled to be working with Merlin Annual Pass this year as an Ambassador.

With our Merlin Annual Passes we have had so much fun this year, and one of the places we keep returning to is LEGOLAND.

Now LEGOLAND is around an hours drive away for us so we have been a few times now and we try to set off as early as possible as it gets very busy. Usually we have been able to park in the MASSIVE car park somewhere (it is always worth taking a picture or noting down where you have parked as you may forget) but when we have been during the summer holidays we have had to park on the grass over flow car parks.

If you have a Merlin Pass/Annual pass you don’t have to queue for your tickets you can head to the gate straight away to be scanned into the park.

From experience we like to get here as soon as the gates open and then head right down to the bottom of the park, taking the train down is the quickest way. Head into the park and down to the left.  This is because everyone starts queueing for the rides they get to first, by heading to the back it is quieter.

I would also suggest heading to customer services and having your child measured or doing so yourself as this will save upset in advance if your child knows which rides they can and can’t go on.

As Harry and Emmy as only 4 and 6 we avoid the bigger and faster rides as those are too scary for them and they are too small anyway.

Emmy’s favourite part of LEGOLAND is Heartlake city, she really loves the boutique style shops and Olivia’s house where inside they can use the interactive screens which are inbuilt into the cookers to make cakes, cook them and to wash up. It works like a touch screen and the children drag there choice onto the screens.

Harry loves the train in this area – there can often be a longish queue however because it holds so many people you are never waiting too long.

They both love going into the news van here and pretending to record their own news show.

Duplo Valley is another favourite for Harry, he absolutely loves the Fairy Tale Brook which is a little boat ride where you are taken on a very gentle ride to see all of your favourite Nursery Rhyme characters.  Also in Duplo Valley are the Duplo Train and the Duplo Airport rides.  These are very small and gentle rides for younger children and they usually have no queues for them.  There is also a lovely small playground here where the younger children can play and everything is accessible for them.

If it is warm our next stop is the Splash Zone (Drench Towers) which the kids love – This is a mini water park where the kids where their swimwear and get absolutely soaked. Unfortunately, I have to go in with Harry which then means I am soaked too.  Children 6 and over can go in without an adult and over 16’s can supervise which is rather handy as when we go with the children’s cousins they can all go in together and the eldest 2 can supervise Harry for me so I don’t get wet.  The kids just love the water slides, there are two levels to Drench Towers and to enter the top level

Learning to drive is the kids next favourite activity, although this is now becoming harder for us as a family due to their ages.  They have both done this twice now and both times on the smaller cars for the younger children (even though Emmy was 6 on our last visit which is too old for this ride). The younger school (L-Drivers) is for children aged 3-5 years, and the LEGO city driving school is for children aged 6-13.

Now Emmy wouldn’t go on the older one on her own, Myself and her Dad are too old and Harry was too young so we snuck her into the younger one again but she is far too big really.  This is great for little ones. They all sit down together to have their safety talk and photos taken for their driving licences and then they head to their LEGO car. Seatbelts go on and they make the car move my stepping on the pedals and then they just have to steer.  It’s very sweet to watch although due to the ages of the children there are lots of crashes.

Afterwards you can purchase their driving licence.  We did this on one occasion but they aren’t cheap so last time we took the card they give the children after their driving lessons and took it home with us.  There’s a space for their name, date and a photo – we added these ourselves at home and laminated them.

LEGOLAND is very big (and hilly) so if you have younger children who tire easily I would advise taking a pushchair (or hiring one – they have singles and doubles available), this is then somewhere to store your drinks and food too! Harry obviously isn’t in a pushchair any more so I take my wheeled shopping trolley with me to carry our picnic, swimwear and coats.

My must DO ride is the Atlantis Submarine Voyage, this is a ride in a submarine where you are taken under the water to see the fish and LEGO magic underwater.  It’s great fun for the children although ALWAYS has HUGE queues.

Of course we have been on many other rides while here but these are the children’s favourites currently, of course those will change next year when they are older.

For lunch we always take a picnic with us so we can eat it as we walk around the park and then for dinner we head to the all you can eat Pizza buffet.  This is fantastic value (between certain times 1 child eats free with every paying adult – although Merlin Pass holders can take advantage of this deal all day). There is a good variety of Pizza’s available as well as Pasta and a fully stocked Salad bar, and drinks are refillable  as many time as you like. There are many other places to eat while here but this one ticks all the boxes for our family and I know the kids will actually eat the food.

The shows: There are 2 shows currently at LEGOLAND one is a LEGO friends show and the other a Pirate show – by far the children’s favourite is the pirate show where they can watch the Pirates stealing the key to the treasure chest, perform stunts and dive from the watch tower into the water.  It doesn’t fail to entertain all of us however can get very busy so it’s worth noting the times and heading over early to get a seat.

I would love to head back to LEGOLAND to see their Christmas celebrations and one year will try to book in for the Santa sleepover (although a lottery win maybe needed).

Disclaimer: We are Merlin Annual Pass Ambassadors and have been provided with a year’s worth of fun and entertainment.