Legoland Windsor in England is Legoland number 3 for us. We’ve already visited Legoland Malaysia and Legoland Florida, both were great fun for the whole family so we couldn’t wait to check out the UK’s version, just outside London.
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It’s really interesting to compare the parks. The differences between Legoland Malayia and Legoland Florida in terms of rides, were slight, but Legoland Windsor is fairly individual .
All the parks share basic features, the rides and settings give them their uniqueness.
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Legoland England at Windsor is the Biggest Legoland Park in the World.
Like Florida, the setting for Legoland England just outside Windsor is lovely, a hillside spot with views over Windsor Castle. Windsor Safari Park used to be here, I have happy childhood memories of those days.
Windsor is the oldest of the 3 parks, it opened way back in 1996 and is the biggest Legoland park in the world, it’s 5 times bigger than the original park in Denmark.
Being the biggest, it took more time to get around. We didn’t have time to see and do everything in the 6 hours we were there. Unfortunately, we were delayed by Southwest Trains and by the changing of the guard at Windsor Castle, the road is briefly closed every morning except Sunday as the guard marches up the hill with full military band. It was an added bonus to see it, but it held us up, we would have like a few more hours.
What Age Group is Legoland Windsor Suitable For?
Legoland parks work for young children, 11 and under, none of the parks have massive thrill rides.
My boys are 10 and 8, they enjoyed it, as always, but they would prefer bigger rides after their experiences with Disney roller-coasters I think my two are pretty hard to impress these days.
Malaysia has a couple of roller coasters that were plenty scary enough for me, Florida’s versions were slightly smaller, although they had a bigger range of coasters. Windsor has one rollercoaster for bigger kids, The Dragon, it’s smaller than Malaysia’s Dragon but has the same excellent theming. The full-sized Pirate Ship gave the boys a bit of a kick, as did the excellent log flume-type ride.
We felt that Windsor was possibly the “youngest” of the three, there is loads here for smaller children
Some of Our Legoland Windsor Favourites.
Atlantis
Atlantis was wonderful and a new Legoland experience for us. A Lego yellow submarine took us on an underwater tour, real sharks and rays had excited squeals coming from the kids. Touch pools and aquariums at the end of the ride were a great piece of extra educational fun. Kids can have their fingers nibbled by cleaner shrimps and handle sea urchins.
Fire Academy
A crazy race to put out a fire using strength, speed and accuracy. Families compete from individual Lego fire trucks. It’s brilliant team fun. They have this one in Florida.
Vikings River Splash and Pirate Falls Water Rides
Which is more fun, riding the rapids or getting soaking revenge on the next batch of customers?
You don’t get as drenched as I have on rides elsewhere, this was a tolerable amount of wetness for a British climate, people driers are available.
Legoland England Miniland is Multinational
Miniland is the centre piece of all the parks and I love it. Malaysia brought us Asian highlights, Florida covered the USA, Legoland Windsor has installations from all over the world. The major focus of Miniland Windsor is of course London, England and the rest of the UK, but other countries, particularly Europe and the USA are represented too.
Lego Star Wars
Windsor’s display of Star Wars models is the biggest and best I’ve seen. It’s indoors, making dramatic sound effects and lighting really work, perfect for Star Wars fans of all ages. There are 7 incredible scenes from the movies set up along with many individual full-sized characters.
Loki’s Labyrinth Maze
There is something about a traditional hedge maze that captivates kids. My boys loved this one, they ran and ran.
Food Drinks and Facilities.
The park has plenty to offer food wise, a great deal that we took advantage of is the kids eat free after three offer.
Children receive a complimentary meal with every adult meal purchased. You are allowed to bring food into the park and drinking water is available at fountains near every wash room.
Wait Times.
We arrived late and missed the morning theme park “golden hour” when we normally find we can walk onto any ride without waiting. The park was busy when we visited, a sunny Friday during school term time, but wait times weren’t too bad at all. The most we waited was 15 minutes for the most popular rides. That’s a short wait in theme park world. Smaller rides had no wait time at all. Full marks to Legoland for placing kids’ play facilities and entertainments adjacent to some of the waiting areas, they make life so much easier.
What We Missed.
We didn’t have time to check out the Duplo Valley water play area or Mindstorms. We took the Lego Robot programming challenge at Mindstorms Malaysia, it was excellent and highly educational but time just didn’t allow.
A new adventure play area is nearing completion, small faces peered longingly through the fence, it looks amazing.
We only caught a few minutes of the Pirate Shores show as we rushed past to Atlantis.
To make the most of Legoland Windsor and the Legoland Resort, we would recommend buying a two day pass, maybe staying overnight in the Lego hotel, there is a lot to cover. You can check Legoland ticket prices here
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Jason Moffat says
One word “Gangsters” £150 2 adults and one child aged 3. to get through the door then rip off prices all through the day drinks, sweets, dinner e.t.c. que’s was ridiculous a least a hour long not enough staff to manager the rides. has not had a lick paint around the park for years looks old.
Wasps, wasps, wasps every where thought maybe it’s just that day but after speaking to other friends it was the same when they went. I could go on and on, been to a lot of parks around the uk and this is by far the worst would never go back complete waste of money summary in one word “Toilet”
alyson@worldtravelfamily says
Sorry you had a bad day Jason, when we went we had a great time, but it wasn’t summer school holidays, we wouldn’t even think of going when it’s busy. Thanks for commenting though, all points of view are welcome. We’ve very much enjoyed all the Legoland parks we’ve visited around the world.
Suzi Hansborough says
I love your reviews. Would absolutely visit based on your take. Thanks for the info.
Sarah Robinson says
We’ve been to Legoland Winsor twice, both times using tesco club card vouchers (a supermarket points system here in the UK) so have never paid to get in. For people visiting there is often kids go free vouchers on certain snack food brands in the supermarket so worth a look – ‘humzingers’ are one that does it regularly, they’re a dried fruit snack.
We’ve always managed to get round everything we wanted to see in one day each time we went, it probably helps that my two kids are both boys and only 14 months apart, so into similar rides, we don’t have to appease two different interests, we’ve never ever visited the “girly” bit!
alyson@worldtravelfamily says
I didn’t actually notice a girly bit Sarah, my two were pretty much into everything. The Lego computer games in particular kept calling to them! I believe homeschoolers can also get a Legoland discount.
Thursday Took says
Is the park still closed during the winter months? Sounds wonderful! We must go to the UK in the summer next time so we can visit. Love the view of Windsor Castle. As always, thanks for sharing.
alyson@worldtravelfamily says
Hi Thursday, yes Windsor is gorgeous, as we drove through yesterday I made a mental note to spend a day there at some point. You really appreciate how big Windsor Castle is from the hill, it’s huge! Legoland is open from mid March to early November but I know they had special events on over Christmas last year, we were keen to go but life kept us away.