Legoland Windsor
After Alton Towers, Legoland Windsor is the most popular Merlin Entertainments Group theme park in the UK, so expect long queues. Its location on a hill overlooking Windsor Castle in the distance gives the park a remarkable appeal.
From the top of the hill, several paths wind their way down, with slides similar to those at Tolk Show. The most interesting way to descend, or rather conquer, the hill is to take the Hill Train funicular railway, from where you have a great view of the Vikings River Splash rafting ride.
Vikings River Splash
Due to the canal, this ride is certainly not a beauty, but the view from the lower levels of the park is something special, as rafting boats floating many metres above you is not an everyday sight. The ride also seemed to be very wet, which even in England is a miracle on a ride like this.
Jolly Rocker
If you follow the path down from the rafting, you will pass a maze and Zierer Kontiki to reach the park’s pirate themed area, where an old acquaintance from Germany’s Heide-Park makes his swings. In addition to the HUSS Pirate Jolly Rocker, there is a teacup ride, a log flume and the Pirate Falls Dynamite Drench. There are also plenty of play areas for the little ones.
Knight’s Quest and Dragon’s Apprentice
If you’re looking for Adrealin, at least a little bit, you’ll find it in Knight’s Kingdom, where you’ll find the two coasters Dragon and Dragon’s Apprentice next to the rather popular torture machine Knight’s Quest, a rather uncomfortable Old Train by Mack Rides. While the latter is a nice children’s coaster with a downward helix and slight turns, the Dragon is a rather strange and interesting family coaster. Like many other rides at Legoland Windsor, both coasters were built by the English company WGH Transportation.
Dragon
The Dragon is a little reminiscent of Lightwater Valley’s legendary coaster The Ultimate, but without the height or length of the ride. The Dragon starts with a dark section, similar to the other Dragon coasters at Legoland. Towards the end of the ride, the Dragon heads towards the lift hill without a steep drop or launch. The lift hill is not very quiet due to the metal plates on the catwalk and the track is unnecessarily twisty. The first drop is followed by a figure of eight until you pass under the first lifthill on a second curvy lift and gain some more height. With the collected energy, you now pass through a tunnel and complete another figure of eight. The braking section consists of friction wheels, which have been installed on another curvy hill.
While the Billund Dragon has a fast course and a strong acceleration after the dark ride part, which is reminiscent of a launch, and the Legoland Germany Dragon has a comparatively large size and a rather abrupt first descent, the Windsor Dragon has nothing special to offer. Although the ride is suitable for children and is quite fun because of the sudden turns, the Dragon offers a more or less uneventful ride, often interrupted by lift hills.
Laser Raiders
If you follow the paths, the Egyptian themed area Kingdom of the Pharaohs offers another highlight in the form of the Laser Raiders, for which you are welcome to queue a little longer. As much as I would have liked to test the ride from Sally, the time I had left in the park went by very quickly. Due to the general traffic in London that day, as well as the big rush at Legoland Windsor, I was only able to visit the two roller coasters, Miniland, the Hill Train and the new 4D film.
The unique rides of Legoland Windsor
In addition to the usual Legoland repertoire, Legoland Windsor has a number of special features. For example, you can drive a real excavator in the Digger Challenge, move or turn your helicopter up and down on a stick at Duplo Valley Airport, slide down a twisting track in a dinghy on the Raft River Racer, pass by well-animated Lego models on the Fairytale Brook fairytale ride or take a ride in small submarines through a Sealife Centre in Atlantis Submarine Voyage.
Miniland
While the kids get wet in the Duplo water area, the adults can check out the Lego models in Miniland. This is quite nice and has models from the UK, France and the Netherlands. Star Wars models are not to be found in this part of the park, but fortunately they have their own display near the entrance.
Legends of Chima 4D
The park’s 4-D cinema is showing an agent film as well as a film exclusively about Lego’s new product series The Legends of Chima. As Lego have already shown how to animate properly with their series, I was quite curious to see this film, even though I didn’t know much about the subject matter and a Ninjago film would have been more appealing. The animation was very clean and the 3D effect was actually as clear as I have ever seen it in any other cinema. The other effects were all well adapted to the film, so it is definitely worth seeing, as long as you can cope with large amounts of water and are not necessarily averse to the animation genre.
Conclusion Legoland Windsor
Legoland Windsor is a park that really surprised me. Due to its location in a valley, the park offers unusual views and still knows how to make use of them. Everything seems to be in harmony, even if it is a bit more densely built than other comparable parks. Smaller children up to a certain age have plenty of opportunities to let off steam, which is generously accepted.
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Legoland Windsor, near the English capital London, is currently the most visited theme park in Great Britain. The theme park belonging to the Merlin Entertainments Group offers a large number of family-friendly rides, all of which look a little like they were assembled with Lego.
