LEGOLAND Windsor – Family fun for all ages!

Me and the little Mossters are massive fans of LEGOLAND Windsor – it’s somewhere we’ve visited plenty of times and will continue to for years to come. G has grown up visiting Windsor’s biggest attraction, and J has too – it’s a fantastic day out for families.

I think what makes LEGOLAND Windsor such an amazing place to visit for a family is the vast range of rides and attractions. It’s fun for all ages, young and old, and doesn’t cater for a specific market unlike competing parks. I find it great for G (12) as she’s not *quite* ready for crazy multi-looping coasters, and J (3) is a growing thrill-seeker so it’s perfect for him.

I’ve taken J there since he was a baby, and there are a good choice of rides for even the smallest of folk to enjoy (they need to sit unaided and not on your lap). One of his very first rides was on the very popular ‘Balloon School’ – he squealed so happily as the balloon took to the skies and at just *five* months old, his love of LEGOLAND Windsor started!

With the addition of Duplo Valley a few years ago, which has more rides for even little ones. The little Duplo train is simple, but fun for him, and bobbing along Fairytale Brook is fascinating. He really loves ‘flying a helicopter’ at the Duplo Valley Airport, making it rise and fall, and spin around as much as he likes!

I remember going on rides like this when I was tiny, so hopefully I’m building some brilliant memories for him too! Now he’s 3, and old enough to ride he’s fallen in love with the ‘Learner Drivers School’ – which he drags me to ALL the time. I made a little video of him on it for the first time in the summer – it’s such a great little ride and the staff on it are so good with the children.

In a similar vein is the ‘Coastguard HQ’ which allows up to three of you to drive a boat around a watercourse where you meet lots of large mini-figs and various scenes along the way – James took massive delight in bumping the sides, and other boats and thankfully as it’s not linear, they can do this (I like crashing too!) I also love taking J into ‘Mini Land’ to look at all the LEGO Models – it’s a great thing to do after lunch or for a bit of ‘calm time’.

He’s getting a little braver too, so the Dragon’s Apprentice Roller-coaster is a great first coaster for children his age, it’s fast enough to be thrilling for them, but slow enough for them not to be terrified! It’s no exaggeration to say James and I did it five times in a row, he loved it so much – it was me that had to admit defeat because I felt dizzy! He wanted more! We then went on to try the ‘bigger dragon’ – The Dragon which he was JUST tall enough for. He loved that too, and again wanted repeat rides – his growing up in theme parks is turning him into a little adrenaline junkie!

So.. it’s fair to say, that LEGOLAND Windsor is great for smaller children, but what about older ones? Well – G is a real LEGO fan, and she finds fun in some of the attractions James loves, like Coastguard HQ, and The Dragon. But the larger LEGO City Driving School is masses of fun for her, and she’ll happily queue to drive a LEGO car around the roads of the Driving School.

Even though G’s a bit fussy about getting wet, she’ll happily don a bright yellow poncho and jump onto Vikings’ River Splash, and the brilliant Pirate Falls Treasure Quest. Which – in my opinion is probably one of the best ‘log flume’ rides in the UK, it’s packed full of theming and fun to ride, although you do get VERY, VERY wet riding it.

With the addition of Heartlake City comes ‘Mia’s Riding School’ with a new ride that G will love, not sure she’ll like the ‘girlie’ theming, but the ride itself will be perfect for her, can’t wait to take her on this in 2016!

G is a real LEGO nut, so she really loves having a look at the Star Wars LEGO Miniland display, which is, quite frankly – amazing – great to do if the weather isn’t being kind. Also something that’s worth checking out that will entertain the small people and big alike is ‘Atlantis’ a ride that takes advantage of Merlin’s Sea Life expertise and mixes it with a ‘submarine’ ride, that’s educational and good fun too.

I think a ride that G really loves is the ‘Fire Academy’ it’s a race against other fire engines to race to a ‘burning’ building, put out the fire and return to to the ‘station’ – you’re usually competing against other families, and the staff like to get you working as hard as possible to beat everyone else. It’s very fast, very physical, but a lot of fun. Hopefully this year J will be able to help put out fires too!

I think my favourite thing about LEGOLAND Windsor is just how it evolves over time, it’s changed a fair bit since I’ve started going, and will continue to in the years to come. This year will see the new LEGO Movie 4D Experience, and in the next few years we’ll see a Haunted Mansion style ride, as well as the expansion of the Hotel. These changes just emphasise the growth, and evolution into a wonderfully rounded family day out. Writing this post alone has me looking forward to the 2016 season – I can’t wait to get back there!