To children of a certain age – primary schoolers, basically – there is no word more magical than ‘Legoland’. When they’re older they’ll move on to more adrenalised theme parks, but for now the synergy between the world’s most beloved toy range and a large, inventive selection of age appropriate rides is just unbeatable. Throw in the Lego themed hotel accommodation and it’s pretty much reception-to-tweenage nirvana.
There’s also still a sense of there being something a bit special about Legoland Windsor: after decades of the original Danish park being the only one, this was the second, and even if a glut of additional parks followed globally, it never feels like you’re stepping into an overworked franchise.
What are the prices like at Legoland Windsor Resort?
To get this out of the way with, one thing the park very much has in common with the toys is that it can be hysterically expensive: the hotel rooms are a lot of fun for kids, but they’re not cheap and the food throughout the park is aggressively overpriced for uniformly average quality.
One night in the Castle Hotel plus meals for a family of four will easily clear a £500 mark that you don’t in any way need to spend if you’re coming from London. Of course your kids really will love it: the hotel includes an in room treasure hunt, a PS4, plus access to various fun-filled, brick-tastic play areas: it’s your money. But they will unequivocally have a good time without it.
When can I visit Legoland Windsor Resort?
It’s open mid-March to early November annually, with a tinselled up Christmas season late November to very early January: in short it’s open most of the year apart from January, February and half of March but always check in advance – not least because booking online will save you from the eye-watering £68 on the door admission fee (online prices start at £29 a ticket).
What can’t I miss at Legoland Windsor Resort?
There is a huge amount to do at Legoland, most of it very fun. As is the way with theme parks, it’s divided into zones: 11 of them to be precise, that run the gamut from the very old school Miniland – model buildings of places from around the world, basically what the original Danish park started off as – to its most recent zone, the fantastical Mythica, which opened in 2021.
A couple of the very small rides verge on the generic, but on the whole the Lego dimension adds colour, depth and humour to every attraction, and a real cohesiveness to the park as a whole – it really does feel like ‘Legoland’ and not just a standard theme park with a few blocks here and there. Now for the highlights...
Most pulse-pumping ride
White knuckle scares are not Legoland’s thing, but it’s not totally tame. The Dragon is an old school rollercoaster that begins with a slow indoor section before going outside and speeding up: you’ll get butterflies, but there’s nothing even so frightening as a loop the loop. Much more modern is Minifigure Speedway, which opened in 2024. It’s probably the park’s most nerve-wracking ride, and sees two different coasters ‘race’ each other across parallel tracks, sometimes backwards. It gets the pulse racing and isn’t advised for tots, but it’s pretty vanilla compared, to say, literally anything at Thorpe Park.
Wettest ride
With the closure of the Viking River Splash this title easily goes to Pirate Falls, an old school log flume that combines a long, playful build with a proper soaking of a finale. You’re unlikely to get nearly as wet at Hydra’s Challenge, but it does include the fun bonus of water detonations that can be triggered by onlookers.
Gentlest ride
There is some undeniably stiff competition here. Coastguard HQ is like Pirate Falls’ even less scary counterpart, a lazy river style drift in a little boat bound by a whimsical plot. My kids were particularly enamoured with the Lego City Deep Sea Adventure, which sees you enter a ‘submarine’ that drifts through a big underwater aquarium that contains both actual fish and Lego models.
Fanciest ride
The most high tech offering is undoubtedly the spectacular Flight of the Sky Lion , a truly impressive ‘flying theatre’ ride (the only one in the UK) that plonks you in front of gigantic screens that create the vertiginous feeling of soaring through a wild fantasy kingdom. Potentially genuinely a little scary if you’re afraid of heights, but the world you’re flying through is remarkable.
DETAILS
Address: Winkfield Rd, Windsor SL4 4AY
Price: Advance tickets from £29, walk-in prices around £68. Annual passes start at £59. Children under 90cm height go free
Closest transport: Direct trains run from London Waterloo to Windsor and Eton Riverside or Windsor Eton Central. A shuttle service and various buses run from the stations to the site