Legoland's 2008 season saw a number of new attractions including the £7m Land of the Vikings. The Longboat Invader is a spinning Viking ship, but the jewel in the crown is the Viking River Splash – which is the park’s biggest and wettest ride to date, and brilliant fun.
An mini-golf course (Mole in One), in a lovely woodland setting, is another new addition whilst entertainment shows have also been updated.
Pirate Falls, the Dragon, Dragon’s Apprentice; Jungle Coaster and Wave Surfer will excite, rather than terrify, and the traffic areas (Driving School; Boating School and the Fire Academy, in particular) are firm favourites with James and Tabitha.
There is plenty to keep the little ones amused too and Miniland will amaze adults and children alike. This now includes a new London area with Canary Wharf towers, the Gerkin and so on.
James was enchanted by Miniland – particularly once he realised that all the structures were made of Lego!
My main gripe about Legoland relates to the horrendous queues - queuing for up to two hours for a five-minute ride is not my idea of fun. Legoland has responded by introducing the Q-Bot: a new virtual queuing system that lets you reserve places on the most popular rides at an allotted time via a hand-held unit. You then bypass the queues and go straight to the ride through the Q-Bot entrance.
As soon as you have “checked in” you can book your next ride. Whilst the Q-Bot is well worth the extra expense to make the most of your time (and to avoid the tantrums, sulking and squabbling that will ruin everyone’s day) the flaw is that you can only book one slot at a time so even on a relatively quiet Monday afternoon the Q-Bot booking time was well over an hour and a half for the most popular rides but at least you are free to spend that time queuing to go on the rides that aren’t pre-bookable!
What Legoland excels at are their services for families. Toilet facilities are everywhere and fortunately there are never any queues for the loos! All the toilets have child-sized loos, washbasins and dryers for the little ones, as well baby-changing facilities.
Children are given a "Lost Parents" sticker for you to write your mobile number on for a quick and effective way of reuniting lost children with their parents. Brightly coloured single and double buggies are available for hire and there is a dedicated Baby Care Centre in the heart of the park. There are loads of food outlets to choose from and there are also plenty of places to sit down, even on the busiest of days.
Legoland is open between mid-March and early November. For 2008 standard one-day tickets cost £34 adults and £26 for children. Discounts are available for pre-booking on line and the park also offers exclusive deals through lastminute.com
The Q-Bot service costs £10 extra per person.