A wet day at Legoland Windsor didn’t dampen our spirits!

It’s been a few years since we have had the chance to visit Legoland Windsor but we finally made it back at the end of the Easter holidays to celebrate Hubby’s birthday.

When we arrived the sun was shining brightly and the Beans were understandably excited at the day ahead of them. The park was much busier than we had anticipated for an early April day out, many schools had already started back so we thought it would have been a little quieter.

We did look to book Q-Bot tickets to enable us to skip the queues but with prices starting at £25 per person that was going to add a huge chunk of money to our day out as a family of 5.

The first ride we embarked upon was the Viking Rafts, unfortunately Jelly Bean was too small for this ride so Daddy had to take Little Bean and Beanie Boy on alone whilst JB and I watched from the sidelines. Despite the size of the queue they actually managed to get on pretty quickly, I think they were on and off within 20 minutes. Whilst they were queuing Jelly Bean and I popped down to the Pirates area to see if there were any rides that he would like to go on but I think he was feeling a little delicate as he didn’t fancy any of them but loved standing to watch the log flume soaking all of it’s riders. After 10-15 minutes we made our back to the Viking rafts to see if we could spot Daddy but we were too late, he had already gone past as was heading back disembark his raft. The Beans had loved their ride with Daddy and were now ready to explore the park some more.

Jelly Bean spotted the ‘Air Ship’ ride and decided he wanted to go on that. As a family of 5 we were too big to ride in one carriage so Daddy and Little Bean went in on, whilst the boys and I went in another. This was a really gentle ride and JB loved it, he was able to pull on the rope gently to make our carriage move up and then let go of the rope to let it descend again.

Little Bean had spotted Heartlake City and was desperate to explore it so we made our way over there. She loved it and would happily have spent a few hours there if it hadn’t been for the boys moaning that it was ‘too girly’.

The day before we left we saw a tweet from fellow blogger Alice Hassall to say that anyone could eat at the Legoland Hotel restaurant for their all-you-can-eat buffet, you didn’t have to be staying at the hotel. This seemed like a good deal so we decided that we would do the same. We arrived at the Hotel gates and were disappointed to be told that the Hotel Buffet wasn’t open but that there were other eateries available to us in the park. The Beans chose to eat at Pizza Pasta which is also an ‘all-you-can-eat’ style. You pay for each person eating when you arrive and are then seated at a table with a plate and cup for each person. Then you can choose from pizza, pasta and salad and unlimited drinks. The food is constantly being replenished and it tastes great too. If you have a family with a big appetite then this is a great way to eat.

To our disappointment when we exited the restaurant we were greeted by rain which pretty much stayed with us for the remainder of the day. Whilst it wasn’t the ideal weather it did provide the added benefit that some people left early so the queues became shorter.

During the afternoon we learned about the ‘parent swap’ on rides which meant that if a parent had to ride with a child but you didn’t have enough adults to children you could ride with one child whilst the other(s) waited at the front of the queue in a secure area until the ride was over and then you swapped children. This saved on having to waste time queuing over and over again however we didn’t feel comfortable leaving Jelly Bean standing at the side of the ride so Little Bean did miss out on a couple of rides.

One request the Beans had made was to watch the show in Heartlake City and it didn’t disappoint. It was a fun show with lots of see, it made the Beans laugh out loud and ‘ooh’ and ‘ahh’ in the all the right places.

We all really enjoyed our day at Legoland and made the most of our day there together but we made the decision that we would return again with Little Bean and Beanie Boy during the school holidays and that I would return to Legoland alone with Jelly Bean so that they could all get to enjoy the full Legoland experience for their age group. Our two school-age children were able to go on most of the same rides and with two parents we would be able to split up for part of the day to allow them both the time to choose the rides they really wanted to go on. For instance, Little Bean really wanted to do lots of the Heartlake City rides but Beanie Boy wasn’t having a bar of it. We would be able to get so much more out of our day if we visited again on a 1:1 parent to child ratio. It isn’t the cheapest day out for a family but there are lots of great offers around on cereal and snack packets. I’ve heard lots of people have made great savings using their Tesco Clubcard vouchers so I shall be looking into that too. One thing is for sure, we will definitely be looking to return again before the year is out. We also quite fancy the Legoland Hotel and shall be checking out their offers – how magical would that be?!

Have you visited Legoland recently? What are your recommendations for the perfect family day out there?