New Forest Day 5 - Legoland

The final day of our New Forest camping and it was an early start for a wash and breakfast, then get our camp packed up as early as we can. The plan was to try and hit the road as quick as we could with the intention of making the most of our holiday and stopping off in Legoland on the way home. Breakfast took a little longer than expected as we had a few uninvited guests to attend too!

 

Breakfast with the donkeys.

Tina had to hide the cycle hats as the donkeys took a bit of a liking to them.

Once the donkeys were gone the tent came down. The boys were both quick to offer a helping hand.

Guide ropes off and Joshua and Brandon start to collapse the tent.

Going...............going..............

Gone.

The boys pull out what is left of the carbon poles.

 

How is this for team work.

After about an hour and a quarter on the motorway we arrived at Windsor which is home to Legoland. We waited in a queue and I almost died when I saw the entry prices - £45 for an adult. Some quick thinking was required here otherwise I would have landed and entry bill around £160 for the 4 of us. So first we blagged Brandon as an under 3 year old to get in free. Then the woman behind us in the queue had a spare 2 for 1 voucher. So we ended up getting in for just over £80 in the end. That's a bit better!

 



Lego land entrance.

There are some amazing Lego sculptures around the park. Like this giant robot dinosaur bursting out of a building.

First ride we went on was a sort of Lego flying car type thing. Slow, but it gave you a good view around the park.

Brandon rode with Mummy, so Joshua rode with me.

From the ride you can get a good view looking down on all the Lego towns etc.

Everyone knows Brandon likes giraffes, so you can imagine how pleased he was to find a giant Lego giraffe.

This is one of those amazing 3d floor painting which appear stretched over a large area unless you stand in a specific place.

This was a little Lego zoo which the kids could blast water jets at. Although Joshua had more fun trying to squirt other children in the park.

Brandon giving his Lego giraffe a drink with the water squirter.

Next ride was the Lego rescue helicopters. Brandon and Mummy in the yellow copter.

Me and Joshua in the blue copter.

This was a nice little Lego boat ride through loads of Lego made nursery rhyme scenes. Everything from little red riding hood to the 3 billy goat gruffs.

 

As we approached midday we arrived at the driving school and the boat school. To start with both boys went on the smaller driving school cars where the successfully passed their test and were each given a driving licence.

This was Joshua and Brandon's driving school class getting their debriefing.

And then they were off in their Lego cars. To our amazement Brandon went in a blue car and not yellow!

Whizzing around a corner.

These were a little slow for Joshua. So afterwards we blagged him as a 6 year old and got him onto the big boys driving school sponsored by Fiat.

The Lego train takes you around the park with stunning views over the boat school.

Probably the longest queue we had all day, but finally the boys got to obtain their second licence of the day for driving boats. Tina had to let another family go in front so that Brandon could have a yellow Lego boat!

What a cool Lego shark head!

Another really cool ride for the little ones is the Lego fire station ride. This is also great for a hot day as you get wet. Basically as a team you have to steer and power the fire engine to the flaming building, hen jump out and pump water into the burning building until the siren goes off. Then its back in the fire engine and race back to the start line. I have to say its bloody hard work getting speed up by pumping the handles to get these things moving. 

Me and Joshua rode fire engine number 1.

These are the handles you have to pump to get the fire engine moving.

Joshua did the steering whilst I did the pumping.

Brandon rode with Tina in fire engine number 2.

Joshua firing his water into the flaming building whilst I pump the water, team work Sam!

Then it was the race back and as you can see we easily beat the number 2 engine with Tina and Brandon on board.

We then went up, up and away on some Lego hot air balloons.

To go higher and higher you have to pull down on the rope.

New for 2012 is an amazing underwater submarine ride which is sponsored by sea life. You board a large Lego submarine and then ride through an amazing fish tank full of real sharks, rays, eels, nemo fish etc.etc. As a bit of humour they even have the odd Lego fish down in the tank. Unfortunately no pictures as flash photography is not allowed in the submarines in case it scares all the fishes.

Joshua, King of the Seas.

The Lego submarine.

 

Whoever said there wasn't much to do at legoland clearly doesn't know what they are talking about. It was now nearly 3 o'clock and we were only around halfway around the park and only 2 hours before they were due to close. It was time to start speeding up and prioritising the rides/attractions we really wanted to see as clearly we were not going to cover the whole park in one day. We had no buggy due to it being squished under all the camping gear. So I opted to piggy back Brandon in order to get around the park that bit quicker.

So next was a Lego dinosaur jeep ride.

Due to running out of time we were insisting on not having more than one go on each ride. That was until we arrived at our star attraction of the day - the Squid Surfer. This may not look very impressive but it is an amazing ride that goes pretty damn quick. You stand in this hover pod thing and surf around the water whilst random water jets blast up and give you a good soaking. The boys absolutely loved this and we ended up having several goes on this one.



Tina and Brandon on the squid surfer.

Getting faster.

Then a water jet blasts into the air giving everyone a good soaking. Perfect given that it was such a scorching hot day. Shame about my camera - doh!

Me and Joshua about to get the full force of this water jet.

Why did I let Joshua steer - I am now very wet indeed!

After the squid surfer we made our way back towards the entrance whilst hopping on as many rides as possible. As we were rushing to cram in as much as possible the camera's started to get forgotten at this point in order to save time. Why oh why did they have to close at 5! In our rush to the next ride we did catch an amazing pirate show in the lake which had jet skis, high jumps, explosions etc. 

Anyone remember the Star Wars film where chubaka carries C3PO all broken up in his backpack. Well he us me carrying Brandon posing next to a life size Lego chubaka - awesome.

How cool is this - a full size Lego F1 racing car. I guess I better start buying more sets of Lego.

Brandon the Lego racer.

The Joshua's turn.

Joshua asked for his picture to be taken with these Lego men outside the shop. He is holding his new Lego dumper truck he bought as a souvenir. Brandon bought a yellow sea plane. 

The end of a great day in Legoland and we just have time to sit down by a Lego dinosaur for an ice cream before the gates close.

Legoland was an absolutely perfect end to our holiday and a place where we will definitely go back next year. I may even consider a two day visit and stay in the Lego hotel in order to make sure we have more time in the park. The boys were shattered for the final journey home, but duracell Brandon stayed awake all the way back whilst Joshua caught 40 winks. Time was pushing on so there was one final treat as we stopped off in pizza hut for a cheating dinner.

 

The end of another camping holiday. No more vacation now until Lapland in December.