If you build it, they will come

Saturday, April 28, 2012

I don’t know who’s more excited about visiting Legoland, parents or kids.

The kids are fresh to the stuff — Sam, aged two, is just starting to get his teeth into Duplo.

Rosa, aged six, has already grasped the possibilities of building zoos, houses and towers in which to imprison Rapunzel from these bright and beautiful bricks.

My own memories of Lego involve space battles with improvised aircraft, drooling over the Millennium Falcon from Star Wars, and competing with friends to see whose structure could survive being dropped from the highest height (usually, an upstairs window).

Aimed at children aged three to 12, the Windsor theme park is one of the UK’s top visitor attractions and, this March, it added a resort hotel. The hotel is our first glimpse of the place, and a zany glimpse it is too. We pull up under a canopy that looks like it is built from a giant Duplo set. Inside, hundreds of tiny Lego men are lined up as a reception backdrop. There’s even a Lego pit in the middle of the floor.

The pit, overflowing with little blocks, is irresistible. It’s the perfect illustration of the age and gender-defying appeal of this humble Danish brick.

Check in is slow, and our rooms won’t be ready until 3pm. So we head to the park. With over 55 interactive rides, live shows, building workshops and attractions on 150 acres, figuring out what to do and where to go is a challenge, but we just follow our noses.

First stop is Duplo Land, where Sam knocks the ants out of his pants in Playtown, a soft-surface playground. Then it’s a short queue for the Duplo train, a gentle spin around a figure-of-eight track, before Rosa and I queue up for Chopper Squadron. The ride takes place in funky little helicopters that she can rotate and pull up into the air using little black levers.

Next up is Fairy Tale Brook, where all four of us hop into a leaf-shaped boat for a ride through fairy-tale scenes fashioned from Lego — Little Red Riding Hood, Sleeping Beauty, Hansel and Gretel and more. There’s even a life-sized troll lifting a bridge, made completely from tiny bricks.

This is one of my favourite things about Legoland. You can’t turn a corner without passing something amazing built from Lego. In Kingdom of the Pharaohs, there’s an Arabian man and his camel. In the souvenir shop, there’s a five-foot Buzz Lightyear. Mum poses for a photo beside a Lego Indiana Jones. Dino Safari is a ride through a landscape of Lego dinosaurs. Then there is Miniland, where whole cityscapes are built from the stuff. The Canary Wharf Tower alone took three model-makers 850 hours to complete using 200,000 bricks.

Who makes these things? Go to the Last Chance Marketplace near the park entrance, and you’ll see the model-makers at work. A glass wall is all that separates their intricate lab from crowds of open-mouthed onlookers. When we pass, a pirate galleon is in mid-construction. “I want that job,” sighs a passer-by.

What a super invention… ‘Lego’ is an abbreviation of the Danish words ‘leg godt’, it turns out, which mean ‘play well’. Adults love the creativity, the educational element, the nostalgia. Kids love it because it’s fun. Genius! Since the company was founded in 1932, Lego has grown from a simple carpenter’s workshop into an all-conquering brand.

Legoland Hotel, which we check into late in the afternoon, is merely the latest manifestation. Our room is themed to look like the inside of a desert tent. The carpet is crawling with fake geckoes, scorpions and a tiger skin. There’s even a fake mozzie net over the bed. And there’s more — a big box of Lego to play with, Lego butterflies and dragonflies glued to the ceiling, and a puzzle left on one of the kids’ bunks challenges us to hunt for clues to unlock a wooden safe guarded by a Lego monkey: the Monkey King’s treasure chest.

How many green lizards can we find on the floor? How many orange bugs are there on the bunk bed map? Solving these clues, and others, we crack the code for the chest, and find a little Lego set inside. The room layout is good, it feels fresh-from-the-packet, and the kids are in heaven.

Later, we eat at the hotel’s Bricks Restaurant, a bright and breezy space decorated with Lego chefs, trifles, sausages, bottles of wine and the like. It’s expensive, at £19.95 for adults and £9.95 for kids, but you can graze all evening at the buffet, and Sam is delighted when a costumed Lego character comes over and pats him on the head. Afterwards, there’s a pyjama party for the kids.

Legoland Hotel guests get to enter the theme park at 9.30am, half-an-hour before general admission, so the next morning we’re up bright and early (like everyone else in the hotel) to make use of the free minutes, riding the carousels and making a beeline for Atlantis.

Atlantis is one of Legoland’s newest rides, and one of its most popular. Without queues, however, we’re stepping into one of its yellow submarines within minutes, joining Lego divers on a fishy mission around an aquarium swarming with rays, reef shark and the ruins of a lost city. Combined with the flashing screens, the Octonauts-esque adventure is our favourite ride of the holiday.

By Day 2, we’re already seasoned hands. After Atlantis, we try the resort train ride and the Jolly Rocker (a high-swinging pirate galleon). When the crowds get uncomfortable, we catch a bus into Windsor for a change of scenery. We return late in the afternoon to scoop up the Sky Rider and Star Wars Miniland, before the park closes at 6pm.

Of course, Legoland has its downsides. Anyone with experience of Disneyland Paris may find the park smaller and less polished than its cross-channel competitor — certain spots need a lick of paint (Playtown in DuploLand, for example), and the network of thin pathways, bridges and tight-knit attraction layouts don’t absorb crowds as comfortably as they should.

Queuing is something to be mindful of, too. At peak hours, waiting times for popular rides can stretch over an hour, so it’s worth buying a Q-Bot which allow you to reserve a time for a ride without having to stand in line — much like Disneyland Paris’s Fastpass. They cost £15pp, but free up a lot of time.

We also found the hotel to be smaller than you might expect, with two lifts and three reception desks struggling to handle the holiday crowds. Staff knew surprisingly little about local bus and taxi fares.

All told, though, this was a fab family trip. Yes, a visit may cost a small fortune. But smiles on faces mean money well-spent.

Flights

We flew with Aer Lingus (aerlingus.com) direct from Dublin to London Heathrow. From there, we took a taxi with Windsor Cabs (+44 753 585 585; windsorcabs.co.uk) to Legoland. The transfer, with two children’s car seats, cost £36.50/€44.50 to the hotel.

Where to stay

Themed rooms at Legoland Hotel (legoland.co.uk/hotel) start from £247/€300 per night in low season for two adults and up to three kids, which includes park tickets. If the hotel is full up, you can still book a break on the website, which suggests several hotels in nearby Windsor.

Park costs

Tickets cost £43.20/€52.60 (adults) and £34.20/€41.65 (kids) at the gate, but you can save 10% by booking online at Legoland.co.uk. Further savings can be made by booking family (£108/€131.50 for 2+2), or two-day tickets (£58.32/€71 for adults). Q-Bots cost from £15/€18.25pp.

Where to eat

As with Disneyland Paris, expect to pay above the odds for mediocre fare. We found the best value in the buffets, which charge £9.95/€12.12 per adult and £5.95/€7.25 per child. L was even able to get some steamed fish for her coeliac diet! Alternatively, bring a picnic.

Top tips

Legoland is a big park, with thousands of visitors milling around, so it’s worth attaching a wristband with your phone number to your kids (they’re available from Guest Services). I’d also recommend starting at the back of the park and working forward — this goes against the run of the crowds. It’s worth bringing a buggy for toddlers, too. See uglw.co.uk for more tips.

While you’re there

Legoland Windsor is a short shuttle bus ride from Windsor and its famous castle. Queen Mary’s Doll’s House and the State Apartments are the highlights, but entry is a stiff £17/€20.70. Home