Legoland – Post Covid

Press Visit

Last Friday, on the hottest day of the longest year in history, we headed to Legoland in Windsor.

We last visited in 2018 when Ita was only 2 years old and we found that there were not many rides that she could go on. This time however, there was lots more on offer.

Upon entering we headed straight to the Duplo Valley as this area is specifically for smaller children.

Here we went on a number of rides including the Dino Coaster, Coastguard HQ, Fairytale Brook, Duplo Airport and the Duplo Express.

The Haunted House looked absolutely amazing but wait times were well over an hour and again, it simply was not possible to queue in the heat.

If you do have smaller children, I would recommend heading to this area because we found there was no queues for the first half an hour at least. As such, we got to go on about 3 rides without queuing for longer than 15 mins each time.

Miniland

This area is very close to the entrance and I believe you have to walk directly through this to gain access to other areas of the park. It is a sprawling display of the world all made out of lego. I love the famous London landmarks including Canary Wharf, The London Eye and Buckingham Palace. Ita of course had to see the Eiffel Tower!

I have to say, it is very impressive! The largest model in Miniland is the Canary Wharf Tower, which is 5.2 metres tall!

Live Shows

We caught Lego Friends in Concert because Ita really likes these characters especially Olivia… because of her glasses. Despite the heat, the show was energetic and Ita really liked the water cannons. The show is on frequently throughout the day. The best place to sit is in the middle as you wont catch much of it if you sit to the left of the stage.

We also saw the puppet show in the Duplo Valley theatre which was held in a beautifully airy tent (you have no idea how grateful we were for the tent!!). It was brilliant and the narrator was really engaging.

Unfortunately we missed the other shows and many of the meet and greets. I would say this was due to a combination of COVID and also the heat. Imagine being in a mascot costume!! I think you have to get quite lucky with the character meets because there were no set times that they would appear.

Duplo Playtown

Unfortunately, this area was simply too hot to enjoy. The slides were burning and even the rubber ground felt like it was melting. There is no shaded area here to sit either so we did not stick around!

It is well thought out however and I imagine it would be really good on a milder day.

Splash Park

We only discovered that the splash park was open the day before we were due to visit and we were gutted to realise that it was a pre-booking system, that had sold out. Luckily, limited tickets are also released every morning at 9am and we managed to book a slot for 12.20pm.

You get a slot for 20 minutes but what is not explained is that you will need to be at the splash park at least 20 mins beforehand otherwise you will not be allowed to enter. The water itself is only on for 20 minutes so our allocated time of 12.20-12.40 meant that we had to be at the gates for noon. This is not too clear when you book and many people were complaining on the day.

The splash park is situated at the back of Duplo Valley.

We were so grateful to have the splash park on this particular day. If you walk down to the changing rooms you will find an area suitable for small children. However, as you can imagine, there is no social distancing here at all. With that said, we did notice that the area was sprayed afterwards.

Character Meets

As you might imagine, this has largely been affected by COVID. We did get lucky however and managed to grab this quick snap which made Itas day!

COVID-19

Unfortunately the virus is still around and picking up speed again and because of this, many things have had to change to allow us back out. Legoland have clearly worked hard to put procedures in place including one way systems and marks on the floor to indicate social distancing. However, it was really very busy and we found that hardly anyone was adhering to the rules. Unfortunately no one was policing this either (I suppose adults should be policing themselves frankly!).

Generally you do not need to wear a facemask apart from on a few rides and inside the shops.

Prices

If you book quite a bit in advance tickets can cost £35 otherwise they are £53. You MUST pre-book anyway so it is worth planning a few days ahead to secure the £35 tickets. Adults And children are the same price.

Children under 90cms go free but this is arguably because there really is not much for children under this height.

It is worth noting that an annual pass is currently as little as £49 for the rest of 2020. This is an off peak pass however for the cost you may find it is more efficient to look into this option. The standard pass which allows you to visit on peak days too is still only £89.

The link to book tickets is here;

https://www.legoland.co.uk/tickets-passes/

Standard parking costs £7 and priority parking is £13.

I would definitely recommend planning your day and using the app too.

https://www.legoland.co.uk/plan-your-day/

Please bare in mind that on the day we visited it was over 36 degrees c. Therefore we were quite limited as to what we could do.

Furthermore, a few attractions remain closed due to COVID and Legoland is now also cashless too.