For one of those rare moments, work and pleasure mixed! Hooray!
I’m a massive theme park geek, and I like to keep on top of all the latest UK Theme Park news and happenings. LEGOLAND Windsor Resort are opening a hotel, in 3 weeks infact, I’ve been watching the construction process for months now and loved watching it shape up. All of the coverage has been on the outside, but the inside has been a bit of an unknown quantity, aside from some artists impressions and PR shots.
When we arrived on site we were confronted with a very nearly finished exterior, complete with a smoke breathing dragon, and lots of Lego figures dotted around. All that was left to do it would seem is some planting of shrubs and trees. Going into the reception, again, it was looking very nearly finished, the centre of reception has a great Lego display, and a ‘pit’ filled with Lego for children to play with and make models.
Behind the reception counter is a wall with 6000 ‘mini figs’ attached, it really is incredible. There is a larger Lego Man that floats past them all with a magnifying glass so you can see them, it looks fantastic. There is also going to be a Lego shop in the far right corner of the reception too. The ground floor also has the swimming pools, there is a shallow ‘splash pool’ with some water features, and next to it is a more traditional pool. I must admit I was expecting the pools to be bigger, they are fairly small. There are plans to have a Spa next to the pool area too.
We had a look around the conference facilities, they are fabulous, really really top notch. I’ve been to so many dull and dowdy hotel ‘conference’ facilities, this is such a refreshing change, lots of funky wall art with the history of Lego, and some amazing Lego flowers too. The conference area is very relaxed and calm, and probably will be the quietest area of the hotel!
The restaurant in the hotel is ‘Bricks’, a wonderfully bright and fun environment, with plenty of Lego figures dotted around the place. The table cloths are actually made out of paper and are essentially (I think) large colouring in sheets for the kids – clever! 🙂 It’s actually a buffet restaurant, the area that will have the all the food is very spacious, and actually the whole restaurant is very well laid out, you won’t feel crammed in.
Outside the restaurant there is a sort of ‘stage’ area, with a kids play area nearby and the ‘Skyline Bar’ facing it, I imagine this place will be mental in the evenings! It had a lovely feel to it already!
There was an outside area that has a gate that leads into the park, I guess this will be the smoking area. You really are close to the park too, it’s not like Alton’s massive long trudge to the theme park to the hotel!
On to the bedroom, I think I’m right in saying there are three floors with three themes.. These are Pirates (obvious), Explorer (Indiana Jones basically) and Kingdom (Knights).
There are two types of room, themed (right) and premium themed (left) – themed has a good amount of theming (think Alton Towers Hotel rooms) and the premium themed is VERY themed. I think the premier themed ones might be a smidge bigger? The rooms are laid out with families in mind.
As soon as you walk in you have the kids area with bunks and a pull out third bed, with a little TV, then you have a decent sized bathroom, and then at the end of the room is the ‘parents’ bit. It’s nice to have a split like this so you’re not all in the same area, and you can put little ones to bed and still watch TV without disturbing them.
Each room also has a safe, not like any ordinary hotel room safe – the combination is a secret, and the children have to find the clues hidden in the bedroom to find the right code to pen the safe. Once they’ve got in to it, they are rewarded with a Lego set. Each room has a little box of Lego to play with too, although I don’t know how long before these go ‘missing’!
Also worth a mention is the general theming around the hotel, it really is first class, and like nothing I’ve seen in the UK before, the carpets, wallpaper and paint effects are top notch, the normally dull hotel corridors are bought to life with such detailed theming. There is even a Whoopee Cushion printed on the carpets near the lobby, and if you stand on it.. it farts. It’s brilliantly thought out and your kids will love it. There are even Lego vases filled with Lego flowers! Heck even the urinals in the men’s toilets look fun!
It’s priced fairly similarly to the Alton Towers Hotel, it’ll be £200+ for a night’s stay with breakfast, although you will get park tickets for 2 days. Add onto that all the food, drink and probably Lego you’ll end up buying it’s not gonna be cheap, but then it does feel very luxurious and worth the money. Although, I *do* think the pool will be in issue, I just think it’s not big enough for the hotel, we’ll see though. We’re definitely heading back there for a night when little man is born as I think G will go nuts for it all!
Note – The photos were all taken PRIOR to opening, whilst most areas were complete (and there are no construction photos shown), the final quality of theming / finish will probably be even higher (although with it being so good already, I think they’d struggle to better it!).
Wow! Blondie Boy is a HUGE Duplo fan so I think he'd pee his pants if he went there; that being said he is two so peeing his pants is a possibility anywhere 🙂