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Legoland Windsor

Windsor, United Kingdom

“The world’s largest Legoland theme park”

Merlin Entertainments is arguably the king of British theme parks. And despite being mostly known for their thrill rides and dark themes, the chain also caters to families with children. Merlin actually operates two family-friendly theme parks in Greater London. I’m talking about Chessington World of Adventures (which combines a zoo and some heavily-themed attractions) and Legoland Windsor. This Lego-themed amusement park opened in 1996 and it’s located just a few kilometres southwest of Windsor and its famous castle. The park attracts approximately 2.4 million visitors annually, which makes it the most-visited theme park in the United Kingdom.

ROLLER COASTERS

Legoland Windsor probably is the most child-friendly theme park in the London area. Not a single attraction goes upside down and the park offers not one, but two kiddie coasters. DUPLO Dino Coaster was built by Art Engineering and its stats are far from impressive: it’s 67 metres long and 3 metres tall. It may seem familiar to Europa-Park fans, as Dino Coaster’s hardware is identical to Ba-a-a Express’. Legoland Windsor’s second kiddie coaster is Dragon’s Apprentice, which can be found at the Knight’s Kingdom. The train looks very cute and Dragon’s Apprentice’s theming is quite elaborate, but the layout is once again simple. And be warned: operations at DUPLO Dino Coaster and Dragon’s Apprentice are painfully slow, so it may be time-consuming to add these credits to your counter.

Dragon’s Apprentice isn’t the only roller coaster at Knight’s Kingdom. In fact, the kiddie coaster can be found right next to its big brother, which was obviously named Dragon. A Dragon-themed roller coaster is a staple at every Legoland park. The experience always starts in a large castle that houses the queue, the station and some dark ride scenes. After this indoor piece, the dragon train enters an outdoor section, where it makes its way through the actual roller coaster. Don’t expect it to be a huge thrill, though. Just like its namesakes, Legoland Windsor’s version of Dragon turned out to be a quite tame experience. Nevertheless, I consider it as an excellent family attraction. The introductory dark ride is very atmospheric and the roller coaster part (which could be described as a terrain coaster) is more than pleasant.

The park’s newest credits can be found in a themed land called Bricktopia. In 2024, Legoland Windsor opened Minifigure Speedway, a Dueling Reverse Coaster by German constructor Zierer. You may consider it as Zierer’s answer to Tweestryd at Wildlands, as this double roller coaster does pretty much the same thing. Two trains first simultaneously climb a 14-metre-tall lift hill, after which the layout is traversed both forward and backward. The ride experience is far from special and the theming isn’t world class, either. A nine-metre-tall minifigure called Roxie is a nice eye-catcher, but that’s it. The queue and station definitely need some extra decoration, if you ask me.

MINILAND

The centre of every Legoland theme park is Miniland. That’s not any different here in the UK. For those of you unfamiliar with the concept: Miniland is an area full of Lego recreations of world-famous buildings and monuments. It doesn’t come as a surprise that the makers put special effort in a reproduction of London’s inner city. We’re able to spot landmarks such as Big Ben, London Eye, Tower Bridge and St Paul’s Cathedral, all built around a miniature version of the Thames. Other highlights within Miniland include the Eiffel Tower, Florida’s Kennedy Space Center and a Lego brick version of the Sydney Opera House. Be sure to zoom in on the small details while visiting Miniland, as every scene is full of cool Easter Eggs.

DARK RIDES

Legoland Windsor has two interactive dark rides. The first one is Laser Raiders in Kingdom of the Pharaohs. Passengers board a vintage car and are transported to a Lego version of ancient Egypt. Similar to so many other interactive dark rides, the goal is to point at targets with a laser gun. Despite that unoriginal concept, Laser Raiders made a good impression. Most scenes look fine and the ride feels longer than its Danish counterpart. The only downside is the ride’s capacity, which is dramatically low. The second interactive dark ride’s operations aren’t any better and unfortunately, the actual ride experience turned out to be underwhelming. Ninjago The Ride is the predecessor of WEB Slingers at Walt Disney Studios, which means that you shoot at the bad guys using hand movements. Unfortunately, the visuals are blurry and it seemed difficult to aim accurately with these hand gestures. This Asian-inspired shooting game quickly became one of our least favourite attractions at Legoland Windsor.

The United Kingdom isn’t exactly known for its wonderful climate. Therefore, it makes sense that Legoland Windsor invested in indoor entertainment. Lego City Deep Sea Adventure is probably the most original indoor attraction. In this dark ride, passengers board submarines, which then navigate through an aquarium full of real fish. Unfortunately, the attraction was closed in 2024 due to a major refurbishment, but this submarine expedition should be up and running again in 2025. Opposite Deep Sea Adventure, you’ll find Haunted House Monster Party. This ride attracts attention with its spooky facade, which reminded me a lot of Ghost, the haunted house at Legoland Billund. The experience, however, turned out to be completely different. Monster Party is actually a Vekoma Madhouse. We are invited to a party by Lord Vampyre, who demonstrates his deejay skills during the main show. It’s all fun and cute, but I certainly wouldn’t consider Monster Party as a must-do attraction. Feel free to skip it if the line is too long.

OTHER EXPERIENCES

Our time at Legoland Windsor was limited, so we invested in Reserve & Ride. This skip-the-line system is pretty expensive, but it certainly made our day more enjoyable. Reserve & Ride allowed us to skip the 70-minute queue for Flight of the Sky Lion. This is the eye-catcher of the Mythica-themed land and it’s considered as one of the most beloved attractions at Legoland Windsor. We’re talking about a Flying Theatre built by Brogent Technologies. The ride takes us on a journey to the fictional world of Mythica, which is inhabited by all sorts of strange creatures. And although I’d never seen the film before, Flight of the Sky Lion felt like some kind of deja vu. Several scenes were heavily inspired by Flight of Passage at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. But despite the fact that Legoland clearly copied Disney, I have to admit that Flight of the Sky Lion is a fine attraction. The visuals are surprisingly sharp and the movements of the gondola were synchronized in a convincing way.

British people have a thing for water rides. That’s why we find the park’s longest wait time at Pirate Falls – Treasure Quest, Legoland Windsor’s only major water ride. This log flume starts with a long, scenic boat ride through the woods and it includes some large-scale Lego displays in pirate style. This is followed by a lift hill, a short dark ride section and a 10-metre descent. While it is unfortunate that Treasure Quest only contains one drop, I consider it as one of the most elaborate and beautiful attractions in the entire park. By the way: avoiding Treasure Quest’s long line is possible by using Reserve & Ride or riding it early in the morning.

WORTH A VISIT?

Our time in the park was short, but we still managed to visit the main attractions and Miniland. To be clear, we owed that in part to Reserve & Ride. Unfortunately, the British Legoland (like some other parks in the Lego group) didn’t amaze us with smooth operations. At quite a few attractions, trains were dispatched a snail’s pace and staff members made little effort to fill vehicles to capacity. This obviously resulted in long queues at many rides. Still, I wouldn’t automatically categorize a visit to Legoland Windsor as a waste of time. After all, the park offers some great family attractions, Miniland provides excellent visual entertainment and the park is located in a lush green setting. It even offers views of Windsor Castle and Heathrow Airport!

Long story short: we had a visit with highs and lows. Lego fans and families with young children have a lot to discover, but theme park enthusiasts might be better off at the other Merlin parks in the region. Thorpe Park certainly has superior thrills and Chessington World of Adventures‘ attraction lineup is aimed at a broader audience. Do you agree? Or am I being too hard on Legoland? Share your opinion in the comments section at the bottom of this page.

This article reflects my personal experience at Legoland Windsor during a visit in August 2024.