Legoland Windsor with kids, best rides and attractions, Deep Sea Adventure
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Tips for Legoland Windsor, UK | Weekend in Legoland with toddlers

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Once we were invited to visit Legoland Windsor for a birthday party by one of our family friends. We didn’t hesitate for a bit and jumped into researching the deal packages straight away. We have heard a lot about Legoland Windsor rides in the UK and what great fun it was to go to Legoland with toddlers and kids for a family weekend. But we never knew what it actually offered.

In this article, we will cover useful tips for Legoland Windsor, tell you exactly what you should be mindful of, how to arrange the whole trip in advance, and what best Legoland rides and attractions to focus on more than the others. We will also throw a lot of tricks to make your trip to Legoland Windsor memorable!

Visualize your future experience by watching our video guide below.

So, is Legoland worth it? Let’s find out!

How many days do you need at Legoland Windsor?

You can spend as much time as you want at Legoland Windsor, but you would need a minimum of two full days to be able to explore the majority of the park. This will all depend on the following:

  • How organized you are
  • How well you have planned the whole trip, including the order of attractions you are about to visit
  • Number and age of kids

Note: Best rides at Legoland always have long queues and waiting times.

What is the best age for Legoland Windsor?

Is Legoland for toddlers? Legoland Windsor suits children aged four to ten. In fact, This is mainly due to their development stage because kids 4+ are able to appreciate the rides, attractions, on-site events, swimming pool, treasure hunting, and actually participate in everything that is offered.

What are the Legoland height restrictions?

Another important factor is the minimum height requirement set at 0.9 m. In reality, it is better if your child is over 100 – 110 cm tall.

There are loads of fun for kids under four too. If you stay at one of Legoland Windsor’s hotels on-site, then you would get a family room for two and three kids.

Tips for Legoland Windsor and things to consider before purchasing the ticket to UK Legoland Windsor

  • This is not a cheap trip. We are talking about spending at least £500 GBP on a one-night stay at the Legoland Windsor Hotel. If you have got many kids or you are on a budget, it is worth considering a day out and paying only for the entrance fee. Day trips to Legoland Windsor are quite popular in the UK. Alternatively, you could stay in one of the nearest hotels to cut down on total the cost.

  • The whole trip may turn out quite pricey, so make sure your kids will get the most fun of it. Consider the age and their height. It is better to wait for another year rather than miss some best rides at Legoland.
  • If you have got a possibility, it is well-worth booking one night in one of the on-site hotels. Reasons are:
  • An incredibly comfy spacious and well-decorated room that separates parents and kids. A bit more about the rooms is below.
  • Treasure hunting opportunity.
  • Breakfast included.
  • Swimming pool with slides included.
  • Evening entertainment for kids.
  • An ability to be the first getting on one of the most popular attractions.

TRICK: If you check the map, you will see that the most popular attractions and zones are located on the hotels’ side, so hotel guests have an advantage, whilst theme park visitors need to pass through a couple of zones to get to the right place. Read more information below on the attractions and rides that you should visit first.

  • Think of your meals and snacks. Pre-book dinner option.
  • In case you stay at the Legoland Resort, reserve your swimming pool slots in advance.
  • Pre-book your Reserve & Ride Pass ahead of your visit.
  • Check what attractions will be opened and closed at the time of your visit. Sometimes, they close attractions due to a season, weather condition, or school half-term package deal offering Legoland breaks.

Plan your meals in advance

Obviously, it is expensive to eat out in the UK. If you are on a budget, one of the greatest tips for Legoland Windsor would be stuffing your car trunk with food. Get a free list of fabulous ideas for delicious food, snacks, and drinks while traveling with kids.

But also, taking your lunch, fruit and snacks seem to be a good idea when you think how much time you have to wait in the queue. We had our bites to eat during these unbearably long queues, so time actually passed quicker.

Legoland Windsor theme park has a whole food court area filled with nice cafeterias, restaurants, and ice-cream kiosks. To be honest, it is an absolute pleasure to enjoy your food next to the lake and watch a pirate show on a sunny day.

If you stay in one of the Legoland resorts, make sure you book a dinner option and reserve the slot. However, breakfasts are included in a package. Again, you shall reserve a slot for the breakfast too.

Accommodation at Legoland Windsor Resort

There are two Legoland hotels that are available on-site: Legoland Castle Hotel and Legoland Resort Hotel.

What is the difference?

  • Both hotels are located 100 m away from each other.
  • Legoland Castle hotel includes dinner and breakfast, whereas Legoland Resort hotel offers only a breakfast option.
  • Rooms are decorated differently and carry various themes, such as Ninjago, Pirate, Adventure, Kingdom, and Lego friends at Legoland Resort Hotel; and Knights and Wizards at Legoland Castle Hotel. It is really up to you what theme you prefer.
  • The entire entertainment, restaurant, swimming pool, and pirate splash area are situated inside Legoland Resort Hotel which is very convenient for families to move around and get straight to their rooms without leaving the building.
  • A little Lego gift is included for every child in the room.

IMPORTANT: In order to get the gift, you should search for instructions, solve puzzles and go treasure hunting. If you get everything right, you will be able to open the secret safe with your gift inside.

To be honest, staying in the Legoland hotel is worth it, especially with the entertainment, swimming pool, and splash zone. There are lots of other Lego games on-site too. On some occasions, you can meet Lego characters walking around.

Personally, we preferred Legoland Resort Hotel to Castle Hotel because everything was within the reach. We didn’t need to leave the building and walk on the street after the swimming pool session or dinner.

NOTE: Book your swimming session slots in advance.

TRICK: Since our son loves swimming, we reserved two sessions at a time.

The rooms were amazing indeed. We appreciated the quality and small touches. Toilet paper had a Lego sticker on it. Three bottles of shampoo & conditioner, body gel, and bubble bath were labeled as Lego, and the shampoo actually was foamy (a quite rare phenomenon). Everywhere we looked we saw different animals and figures made from Lego. Great quality soft sheets and pillows. We had a kettle with different types of tea and coffee, a fridge where we could store fruit and yogurts.

In fact, two days in Legoland were so tight that we didn’t have enough time to simply spend in the room and relax. There is also one addition that your kids will probably love – an unlimited Lego TV channel.

After a day full of attractions, swimming, entertainment, and dinner, we had only half an hour to watch the Lego TV channel, but of course, this was quite an exciting treat for our son.

Complete Itinerary to Attractions in Legoland Windsor Theme Park

Queues and waiting time in Legoland Windsor

You may think it is not important, but queues in Legoland can reach up to 90 minutes to wait in order to have a 3-minutes ride. During the peak season and school half-term, the standard waiting time varies from 60 to 75 minutes.

This is where you may think of bringing some games, activities, and snacks to fill up the waiting time.

However, there is also another option for an additional fee – Reserve & Ride Pass.

How does Legoland Express Pass work?

Reserve & Ride Express Pass is a system that queues for you while you continue exploring the park. Once your turn is close, simply go to the ride’s Reserve & Ride Entrance. But note that you can reserve from a choice of up to 25 attractions.

IMPORTANT: Pre-book your Reserve & Ride Pass ahead of your trip. In case if you missed it, you can try reserving the pass by visiting a Reserve and Ride sales office near Heartlake City inside Legoland Windsor Theme Park.

Reserve & Ride Pass has four different options:

  • Regular – from £15 GBP per person over 0.9m height
  • You will wait the same amount of time as you would if you were standing in a queue.
  • Express – from £30 GBP per person over 0.9m height
  • Your waiting time will be reduced by 50%
  • Ultimate – from £70 GBP per person over 0.9m height
  • The fastest ride access. Come and you will be served asap. On top of that, you will get extra rides including Flight of the Sky Lion, Fire & Ice Freefall, Coastguard HQ, and Destiny’s Bounty.
  • Bundle – from £25 GBP per person over 0.9m height
  • Pay for accessing 5 rides without any queue, including The Dragon, Lego Ninjago, Haunted House Monster Party, Laser Raiders, and Lego City Deep Sea Adventure.

Your Legoland Windsor Guide: Zones

First things first, download the app and check the Legoland map.

Let’s focus on the zones first. If you come from the main entrance, then the first zone you will get to is light blue “Imagination”.

Light Blue Zone “Imagination”

Here you will find:

  • Lego Reef: an indoor center with lots of Lego to play and an interactive game where you can build your own fish and let it swim on a gigantic wall screen, t.i. the Sea.
  • Lego Studios 4D cinema is a must-to-visit. They run different short movies every half an hour. It’s a lot of fun, indeed!
  • An education center is a place full of Legos where you can stay & play.
  • Verdict: Although it is the first place you will get to, this is the last zone you would like to visit.

Dark green “Miniland”

This is an extremely beautiful place where you can see lots of cities and countries in miniature. You can easily spend an hour strolling through hundreds of mini towns. Also, this is a perfect zone to visit while you are waiting in the virtual queue (in case you got the Reserve & Ride Pass).

  • Verdict: Visit this zone only when you are waiting in a virtual queue and have got nothing else left to ride.

Light green “Duplo Valley”

This is an area dedicated to younger kids with no minimum height requirements. Don’t relax, queues here are also massively long. You can find two playgrounds with free access here too. It is a great place for a picnic too.

  • Verdict: Unless you came with younger kids under 0.9m tall, it is worth saving this part for last.

Blue “Lego City”

This is what Legoland for toddlers is about. You will find here such popular attractions as:

  • Lego City Driving School: make sure your child is 110 cm tall, otherwise, visit L-Drivers school next door.
  • Balloon School: a ride on a hot air balloon. Nothing super special if you don’t want to wait for an hour in a queue.
  • Fire Academy: interesting activity due to its competitive spirit (our team has won!)
  • Haunted House Monster Party: an indoor ride where you will be hanged almost upside down.
  • Lego City Deep Sea Adventure: the best, in our opinion, attraction in the entire park. We have arrived at the park at its opening hour and passed through the hotel parking because we were staying at the hotel for one night. The Deep Sea Adventure is located on the right side of Legoland Castle Hotel. We came first on a Saturday morning, and we managed to do two rides without any queues. We could never repeat this experience, unfortunately. When we came there at 10 am (its opening hour) on Sunday, there was a gigantic queue coming out of the building.

The Deep Sea Adventure is the attraction when you get into a huge submarine and go deep down the sea admiring thousands of different fish, including sharks. You will also be able to find some treasures and mysterious statues.

  • Verdict: This is exactly the area you should start on your journey.

Orange “Lego Mythica: World of Mythical Creatures”

This is where the main attraction “Flight of the Sky Lion” hides. This area is gorgeous! It has a couple of free slides and places to rest. But also, this is the only area that is filled with Lego statues and animal figures. The dragons are the best! One of the tips for Legoland Windsor is to use their app during the visit. It is worth scanning QR codes on these statues or having a virtual secret tour of the mythical world (access it via the Legoland app).

You will also find a couple of fun rides, including a water experience.

  • Verdict: This area is more relaxing. It is a good option to visit during the second half of the day after lunch, or on the second day of your trip.

Purple “Heartlake City” – a food court zone

Hotels, Lego Mythica, and Heartlake City are surrounded by the lake, and it gives you that peaceful vibe. Add a sunny day, and this will be the right spot for a nap. Heartlake City is a stunning area where you can relax, have some lunch and watch a pirate show. There is also a sensory space for kids with special needs, great toilet facilities for everyone, and Mia’s Riding Adventure ride that is available for older kids only. Don’t forget about the theme park train ride, the entrance is at Heartlake City.

  • Verdict: Come here when you need a break, food, and time to yourself.

Mustard “Kingdom of the Pharaohs”

This area features a couple of carousels and most of them are available for younger kids with no minimum height restrictions. The Kingdom of Pharaohs is a big building but, to be honest, it didn’t impress us as much. The only good thing is that there is an indoor cinema for kids to bear an hour waiting in a queue.

  • Verdict: Not for everyone zone.

Red “Lego Ninjago World”

Can’t be missed area! It is actually a very nice attraction where we, parents, got very excited by eliminating all the enemies and saving the planet. The queues are the longest here, so try to come here as quickly as possible.

While you are standing in the queue, you can learn all about Ninjago characters.

  • Verdict: it is definitely an attraction that you would like to visit first. Many visitors turn right after Miniland and go straight to Ninjago World passing the Fire Academy.

Green “Land of the Vikings”

They say the Spinning Spider attraction is great. It was, unfortunately, closed during our visit.

  • Verdict: worth visiting on the way to Pirate Shores.

Brown “Pirate Shores”

Castaway Camp is a huge pirate playground where we spent our last hour before going home.

  • Verdict: great fun for toddlers, good picnic and nap option, great to relax while waiting for an attraction in a virtual queue.

Grey “Knights’ Kingdom”

There are a couple of carousels and a big roller coaster. The waiting was an hour for a little carousel and 90 minutes for a roller coaster, so we decided to focus on something else instead.

  • Verdict: great fun and worth visiting.

NOTE: We have visited Legoland Windsor a week after the school half-term holiday. There was still an ongoing offer in place, so some of the rides were closed. The train was on annual maintenance, and all water attractions and rides were closed due to the season. We went at the end of February.

When you plan your trip, check if the train works and water attractions are open. If so, squeeze them into your itinerary. Although, I must say, our trip was super intense. If you add more things to do, you probably need to consider getting Reserve & Ride Pass.

THINKING OUT LOUD: We felt that Legoland Windsor has a set of very unique attractions that could be hardly found in any theme park, such as Deep Sea Adventure, Ninjago The Ride, Flight of Sky Lion, Fire Academy, etc. This is why we focused on such types of attractions first and covered carousels and roller coasters last.

What rides and attractions in Legoland Windsor you must focus on first?

Legoland Windsor opening times operate from 10 am to 4 pm. You will be allowed to access the park half an hour earlier and walk around. One of the other tips to Legoland Windsor is to use this time for finding your best Legoland rides and form a queue.

Here is the list of rides and attractions at Legoland Windsor that you definitely must visit:

  • Deep-Sea Adventure
  • Fire Academy
  • Lego Studios 4D
  • Flight of the Sky Lion
  • Lego Ninjago The Ride
  • The Dragon
  • Miniland
  • Lego Reef

2-Day Legoland Windsor Itinerary Example

What have we done during our visit?

We have spent the whole weekend including the night at Legoland Resort Hotel.

Saturday, start at 10 am.

Zones and attractions explored:

  • Lego City Deep Sea Adventure: tried twice due to the absence of queues
  • Lego City Zone (Blue)
  • Kingdom of the Pharaohs
  • Heartlake City
  • A nice walk by the lake and through the Lego Mythica

By the time we reached Lego Mythica, the park was closed, so we enjoyed strolling and exploring QR codes getting into a mythical world of mysterious animals. This was also a fantastic opportunity to take photos with hundreds of figurines and animal statues made from Lego.

  • Check-in the hotel
  • Swimming pool for 1.5 hs
  • Dinner at 7:30 pm
  • Back in the room by 9 pm & 45 minutes of Lego TV channel (dream came true!)

Sunday, start at 7:30 am.

  • Swimming pool at 7:30 am
  • Breakfast at 9 am
  • Hotel check-out
  • Ready for the theme park

We have explored Lego Mythica and Imagination zones; had a nice walk through Miniland and Duplo Valley; tried Lego Ninjago World and ended up exploring the Land of Vikings and Knights’ Kingdom. We then finished relaxing at the Pirates Shores up to the point when we were kicked out. Before we left Legoland Windsor, we had our late lunch/ early dinner at 5 pm and left by 6 pm, back to our sweet home.

TRICKS & TIPS for Legoland Windsor in the UK

  • Do not get one cup of coffee at the Costa Coffee kiosk if you are fancy something to eat. Instead, get a hot dog with a drink or coffee included for the same price at Pirate Shores.
  • Anywhere you have a meal, ask for the Lego Badge!!!
  • If you don’t find any piece of paper in your room, ask the reception for a Legoland backpack and instructions for a treasure hunt.
  • Although it is a cashless park, bring some coins. There are lots of different machines outdoors that your kids would definitely want to try out.
  • Don’t forget to check in advance what attractions will be opened and closed during your visit.
  • Don’t forget to make timely reservations for breakfast, dinner, and swimming pool sessions.
  • Bring some snacks and games to bear long queues.

Are you ready for the Legoland journey? Let us know in the comment below what your favorite attraction is!

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