LEGOLAND Windsor Discussion & Photos

[Legoaholic]

Hi, wondered if anyone knew whether there is a pick a brick wall at Windsor Legoland in the UK. Meeting up with family there, would be fab to find some different elements. Alternatively anything not to be missed there. Will be meeting up with brother, sister in law and three year old niece and ten month old nephew. Its been some years since my last visit as my two are much older. So only have the website info to go on.

Apologies if this is in the wrong forum, still finding my way around.

[Javert]

Don't take my word for it, but the last time I was there I came home with a bag of LEGO taken from a pick a brick wall. This was a fair number of years ago now though so it may, or may not still be there. This was the time when Pick a Brick was done with resealable bags instead of cups and boxes or whatever.

Hope I helped, but I probably didn't. You're probably best to telephone them before you go. Have a wonderful time anyway! :)

Edited May 3, 2014 by Javert

[legolee35]

Hi legoaholic

Just got back a couple of hours ago they do have a pick a brick wall but didn't have time to have a look I think the bags are about £5 for a small bag and £20 for a large bag. Not sure when you are going but Sunday 4th may & Monday 5th may is starwars day events we had a great time and my youngest loved seeing all the storm troopers walking around the park so much he didn't want to come home. The one thing I would suggest is to go on the water rapids and log flume early as the queues got very long today. Another thing I noticed they had quite a few retired sets still available at retail.

Hope this is helpfull

[Legoaholic]

Thank you both for the help. Sounds like i'm in luck. Just hope my brother and sister in law don't think me too rude ducking off to shop for half an hour. Probably a good thing they sell it by the bag, in my local store i spend ages engineering as many pieces into a pot as possible.

Sadly we will miss the star wars weekend but neice and nephew are far too young to know about star wars and might actually be scared. We are going later during the week in the hope the queues aren't too bad. Good to hear you all had a great time on a busy weekend, on another non lego forum i keep hearing people say "never again" as its a waste of money queuing all day.

[Dazmundo]

The pick a brick wall is in the same building as Scarab Bouncers and the exit of Laser Raiders but when we were there over Easter it only had very basic pieces in it. There is a discount shop above the Star Wars mainland which is usually worth a visit to see if they have any bargains. We are annual pass holders so make the 90min journey fairly regularly with our 4yr old and 2yr olds there is plenty to keep them happy and if you choose your rides carefully you don't usually have to queue too long.

[Duq]

Taking the kids to Legoland Windsor in August. Looking at tickets and pricing I came across the Q-bot and now I wonder if they're worth the money.

It just sounds insane to double the ticket price just to shorten the queues a bit, nevermind pay a whopping 70 pounds on top of the 30 pound ticket to skip the queues...

[InfiniteSD]

I can never afford the extra costs, but when i went last year the Q-bots did in 1day what would have taken me 2 or 3 to do.

Going back again this year, and again without Q-bot.

It's just so expensive.

[fred67]

I will not take my family to a theme park on a busy day without having whatever they call the system of getting though the lines faster... fast pass, quick queue, whatever. It's very expensive to go, you spend all that money - not just for tickets, but food, transportation, hotels, and whatever else (souvenirs?)... it seems like extortion, but adding that amount on so that you haven't paid for a day of waiting in lines, and instead paid for actually going on a lot of rides, makes it grudgingly worth it to me.

As InfiniteSD pointed out, you can often do in one day what would take several otherwise. My final straw was Disney World the day after Christmas about 15 years ago. The parking lot was beyond filled to capacity (if that's possible); the already enormous parking lots were completely filled to the point people had to park on the grass on the sides. I think we went on three rides all day. That's just not fun.

[CrazyDalton777]

This may sound a little off-topic but I went to Disney Paris, the normal queue on one of the rides was quicker than the Fastpass queue. It depends per ride as Fastpass/Q-Bot doesn't work as it should when loads of people use it.

[Duq]

I've visited Legoland Windsor last week with my family and I can't say I was impressed...

Trouble started at the door. I had a '1 kid free entry' voucher from the Lego Movie DVD. I hadn't read all the small print and it turns out you can't use this voucher if you book your tickets online.

Which meant I had to buy the full price ticket for junior instead of the 25% discount tickets I had bought for the rest of us by booking online a week in advance.

I was there five years ago and back then I thought miniland looked tired and dirty. My theory at the time was that with the sale of the park to Merlin the focus would shift to more generic rides. Unfortunately this visit seemed to support that theory. There were a few new models (I particularly liked the new Paris section with the Moulin Rouge and the Louvre) but overall it was a disappointment. A few trains were derailed, one didn't even have wheels! The carriage just sat on the track:

Netherlands - Koploper Oops by Duq, on Flickr

The other Dutch train was running but manky dirty. Everywhere there were cars with missing wheels. In the French section a sign mentioned the Tour de France passing through town but there wasn't a cyclist to be seen. Part of the Dutch section looked unfinished; town houses in a field without any roads:

Netherlands - Delft by Duq, on Flickr

The queues for the rides were long, up to 75 minutes. After paying I think around 35 pounds per person I didn't feel like paying almost the same amount again for a Q-bot. The queue for the Laser Raiders was about 45 minutes, mostly in a dark tent, and there really wasn't enough there to keep us occupied, nevermind the children. The ride itself was also disappointing. I seem to remember that in Billund the scenes you shoot at were all made of Lego but here they weren't. I also didn't like the fact that the Kingdom of the Pharaos section is sponsored by Egypt Air.

Speaking of sponsorship, the driving school is sponsored by FIAT. After about 3 minutes (my son barely made it around the layout once) the sponsored fun was over and he could collect his license. Collect? Well, not quite. The ride is free and sponsored, but to get the credit-card sized license you need to hand over 10 pounds.

We had lunch in the City Pizza and Pasta buffet. The food wasn't bad but not great either. The drinks were all the typical fast-food options; Coke, Fanta, 7-up and apple juice. With some effor I found tap water but sparkling mineral water wasn't available, nevermind milk or other healthy options.

The kids loved being there and we had a fun day out but for the money it cost me I had expected better...

P.S. If you want to go but don't feel like paying top dollar for the park hotel then Holiday Inn in Slough is a handy option. It's beside the railway and bus station in Slough. You can get day tickets for all public transport in London and they are valid on the train from Slough to London Paddington. Bus 702 takes you to the main entrance of Legoland in about half an hour. At 11 pounds return for a family of 4 it's a little more than the parking in Windsor but you save yourself a walk and a traffic jam.

Just don't have dinner in the hotel...

[Legogal]

I share much of your feelings about Windsor LL. Miniland definitely needs sprucing up so that things work in it. A car needs wheels to look real... And the food is quite dreadful along with high priced. Take your own food to get a better meal at less expense. And arrive early to beat the huge crowds.

Also the public bus seemed to take forever from Slough, and returning to Slough was much worse because of the crowds at the bus stop at LL. DO get in line at the bus stop and hour before or an hour after closing time because the lines can be atrociously long. And the buses are few and far apart.

It helps if your expectations are low before your arrive.

[Duq]

The bus runs only once an hour. We took the bus just after seven and only just made it after the mile long queue in the park shop... The Windsor bus arrives just before the Slough bus and that took care of most of the queue.

The food was expensive but nothing like the €7.50 for an ice cream I seem to remember from Billund...

[Brickdoctor]

Much of Miniland at LLCA is becoming the same way. There are a lot of cars that don't run anymore (you can see the worn-down tracks and charging stations along their routes, but they're set off to the side or set on top of a charging station to hide the wires and they don't move), boats that are half sunken, and at least one train that no longer runs because its track isn't a complete circuit anymore. And the park also has those small additions here and there that don't look as complete, plus all the buildings that look like they haven't been refurbished in years. The New England section that's tucked away in a corner of Miniland always seems to look the worst.

[Steph 104th]

I'm curious, what are the reasons for these situations? Is it theft? Or neglect?