* ~** ThemeParks megathread **~**

applejunkie

duffysfarm wrote: »

I am going through the costs of booking a family to orlando and i want to get others peoples thoughts on the costs. what did it cost you? i am thinking of 10 nights in may and i am coming in at the following:
flights: 2,500
accommodation: 1,200
food: 3,500
spending money:2,000
tickets & entry fees:3,500
total: 12,700
I think if anything i am a little on the low side of the above figures but overall i am still shocked at the total amount. What have other people spent on their trips? i know there was an old thread in bargain alerts with tips some years back

Try American Holidays or Tour America.
They quote for the flights accommodation and park tickets together.
I got 21 days a couple of years ago including transfers and the above and it was only 5000 euro and that was for 6 of us (4 adults and 2 children ) That was in May too
I think your spending money of 2000 is way too low even with the food separate. You could easily spend that in a few days .

brendane

How many adults and kids are going. Are you staying on site or offsite. The amount for food and park tickets seems very high. Is it just Disney or are you planning universal as well

naughtysmurf

For a family of 4 (we'd be 3 adults & 1 teen) in 2017 we had $200 per day for food, parking, general day to day spending so say $3000, we came in under, your allocation is 5,500 so I'd say you could save there unless you are planning to eat out 3 times a day, if staying in a hotel you could bring a few plastic bowls & have cereal in the room, a decent breakfast if staying in a villa is much easier

Lunch in the parks is about $15 per person, in the evenings you can spend as much or as little as you wish, last visit we stayed on-site at Disney for 5 nights, 2 nights at Hard Rock & 7 in a villa , that came in less than 12k total

Exchange rate is also poor at the moment

For ten nights do either Disney only or Universal & SeaWorld & Busch, you don't have enough time to do all of it in two weeks never mind 10 days, you need no park days for chilling & shopping, 10 nights is at best 7 park days, that will slash your ticket costs, do one or the other would be my advice, eat your evening meal off site not in the parks, where are you staying?

gaz wac

We ( 2 adults + 2 kids) got a combo, Disney and Universal for €2700 that was with Attraction Ticket Direct...sorry, this was 2 years ago

Mokuba

https://touch.boards.ie/thread/2057662718/1/#post101443845

Brilliant responses in there for you.

Foweva Awone

Coyler wrote: »

Decided we going with the kids (9,9,6) to Legoland in Germany. Will fly into Memmingen and probably out of Munich as I've never been. Never been to a Legoland but have done London to death and Gunzburg seems a better resort for now. 2 nights in the park and 1 in Munich is the plan.

Anything I should be aware of outside of QuickPasses? Food seems to better reviewed which is nice. Will get train into Munich which the kids will love. Again, is that straightforward? Need a transfer from Memmingen which apparently they will organise so I'll update on that.

Works out about the same price as Windsor if not a bit cheaper but again would be interested in any thoughts. Happy to provide any feedback when I get back to the thread.

Have you gone yet? We've just booked a couple of days there in October, would love to hear how you got on and any recommendations you might have for when we're there.

Car99

Hi ,

2 adults + 2 kids thinking of heading to Eurodisney Early April 2019 for 3 nights .
Flying to Paris then the train to Disney.

4 year old boy and a 7 year old girl.

Are they a good age/ suitable to go to have an enjoyable experience and get value out of the trip?

Thinking of staying in a Disney accomodation , any suggestions which one would be best ?

Or would any other hotel and getting a rent-a-car be a better option to keep costs down .

Any suggestions based on previous experience would be much appreciated .

Thanks.

Aera

Hi, going to Beauvais airport by Raynair on 30 Sept and will be back 1 st of Oct.
Looking for cheap transfer, already checked good few and found the cheapest one 310 euro both ways for 3 people( 2 adults, 1 kid).
Now thinking to rent a car at maximum price would be 200 euro.
Any suggesting about transfer, rent a car etc?

RosieJoe

I have used these 2 in the past, www.ezyshuttle.com and https://www.prestigeprivatetransfer.com. Ezy Shuttle is the first I always contact. Return trip for them for 3 passengers would be well below 310. Prestige has it online that they charge 260 for a return trip for 3 people.

For 2 days and less stress, I'd not go with car rental.

mrsbeebee

Car99 wrote: »

Hi ,

2 adults + 2 kids thinking of heading to Eurodisney Early April 2019 for 3 nights .
Flying to Paris then the train to Disney.

4 year old boy and a 7 year old girl.

Are they a good age/ suitable to go to have an enjoyable experience and get value out of the trip?

Thinking of staying in a Disney accomodation , any suggestions which one would be best ?

Or would any other hotel and getting a rent-a-car be a better option to keep costs down .

Any suggestions based on previous experience would be much appreciated .

Thanks.

I think the ages are perfect. I've stayed in the sequoia Lodge and santa fe. Both are Disney hotels. They're walking distance to the parks but there are shuttle busses also. I like the Disney hotels personally. It's like you're in a little Disney bubble. Check out the price of a private transfer or the magic shuttle. Might be cheaper than the train. I don't see any point in hiring a car. It would probably work out more expensive. The train station is right on the doorstep. To keep cost down bring costumes from home. They're really expensive over there and kids that age wear costumes each day over there. Also bring snacks and refillable water bottles. They're also very expensive over there and snacks are a good way of distracting little people in queues. When booking avoid Friday and Saturday nights as they're all priced high season. If you can take the kids out of school do it. Avoid school holidays. It's more expensive and there's loads of people.

14dMoney

Car99 wrote: »

Hi ,

2 adults + 2 kids thinking of heading to Eurodisney Early April 2019 for 3 nights .
Flying to Paris then the train to Disney.

4 year old boy and a 7 year old girl.

Are they a good age/ suitable to go to have an enjoyable experience and get value out of the trip?

Thinking of staying in a Disney accomodation , any suggestions which one would be best ?

Or would any other hotel and getting a rent-a-car be a better option to keep costs down .

Any suggestions based on previous experience would be much appreciated .

Thanks.

Hi OP,

Yep, they'll love it. There's a huge amount to do for the wee ones, it's truly a magical place! The main Disney park is more tailored towards younger children, and make sure you stay for the illumination show at the castle, the kids will love it.

In terms of accommodation, there are a few reasonably priced options. For the kids benefit, you could look at the hotel Cheyenne. It's designed around Woody from toy story and is quite cool! If you're looking for the lowest price, the Hotel Kyriad is the cheapest in the Disney loop. All of these provide free shuttle buses to and from the parks every 10 minutes or so.

If you were willing to rent a car, Disney's Davey Crockett Ranch is also nice, but the downside is there's no transport to the parks so you have to drive each day!

Hope this helps!

Car99

Many thanks for the helpful replies . Given the kids ages what duration of stay would be enough?

14dMoney

Car99 wrote: »

Many thanks for the helpful replies . Given the kids ages what duration of stay would be enough?

I'd say 3 days. The queues for the child oriented rides can be quite long. Besides that there are some roller coasters etc. that you or the eldest child may be interested in doing.

ziedth

In my opinion OP they are the perfect age. It will be "real" most likely for the 4 year old which made our whole trip when we brought our two.

We stayed in Sequoia Lodge which is a little dated but much better option then the cheaper option. I think you might be just missing out but if one of your kids is into super heroes then they a converting the new your hotel into a Marvel theme in 2020.

We stayed for 4 nights but we had a day in Paris so call it 2 full days and 2 half days and it was just about enough. However, we went in November and lines were non-existant. Only 2 lines of an hour which were photo with miney and Mickey mouse.

If you are going early April my absolute number one advice is to kot go during the school holidays. It'll be jammed and a week wouldn't be enough.

There are "crowd calendars" which will tell you how busy or quite any given date will be. Use that to plan your whole trip. Even if is €200 dearer to go in the quiet days with flights or whatever it'll be worth every penny.

We might have waited say 10 minutes for something like the flying elephant's ride (same as any ride in funderland) but i talked to a guy over there who spent a day in the park in August and the line was over 2 hours. It would literally be pointless.

Finally, get the app for your phone. It will give you live infomation about how long the lines are and you can run between them plus where the shows are on.

Car99

Very helpful thanks

Lex Luthor

which airport are you flying into?
If beavaus, I'd suggest getting a transfer to/from airport and forget the hire car
I think even when we flew into CDG we got a taxi transfer and it takes a lot of stress out of the holiday
All hotels within the park are ideal, just price difference really between them
They are all themed so depending on what the kids are into could give you a deciding factor
They will love it loads to do

poisonated

If flying into CDG airport, I would take the TGV. It only takes 10 minutes.

I would recommend sequoia lodge. It has a nice pool with a water slide. This might have closed though as it was about 15 years since I stayed there.

fdevine

Transfer options will depend on your arrival airport. We've done the Magic Shuttle once & fly-drive twice.

I would suggest whichever on-site hotel has the best deal as they are all of a pretty similar standard.

Hotel New York is (or was) undergoing refurbishment to a Marvel themed hotel IIRC. Don't know if it's reopened.
Santa Fe is usually amongst the cheapest hotels but we loved it.

Despite having to drive to and from Davy Crockett Ranch it was our favourite and worth looking at if you were to fly-drive. Pool complex & shop were both great & it's really only a 10-15 minute drive from the park, where you get free parking.

Children's ages are perfect. There will be someting for everyone. Allow queuing time for meeting the Disney Princesses & Mickey Mouse as well as the more popular rides. Three days means you can take breaks or skip things that are too busy.

I had worked out a tentative itinerary for our last stay which worked to a degree.

ncmc

We have been twice, when my daughter was 3 and when she was 5 and she had a ball both times. I think 4 and 7 is the perfect age for a Disneyland Paris visit, there isn’t enough ‘thrill’ rides for older kids.

As previous posters have said, if going in April, make sure you avoid the Easter holidays, the queues will be bonkers. Weekends are also significantly busier. If you can swing it, I would recommend going Sunday-Thursday. It’s a lot cheaper than the weekend and the queues will be a lot, lot less. I recommend staying in a Disney hotel, you get to enter the park 90 minutes ahead of everyone else in the morning and this can be a great time to get some rides done (not all rides are open for extra magic hours though) They are also nicely themed and walking distance to the parks (though there are also free shuttles) Just bear in mind that the cheaper Disney hotels don’t have swimming pools if that’s something that’s important to you. You may get a heart attack when you see the prices of the Disney hotels, but bear in mind it does include park tickets for your party as well. Also, there is a free half board offer at the moment, so you get breakfast and dinner included in the package. That will save you a fortune as food is expensive in the parks. I would recommend going to the supermarket and stocking up on snacks and if you had a good breakfast and dinner and brought your snacks into the park, you could get away with spending very little on food.

Definitely don’t rent a car, parking is something like E20 per day so any savings you make on accommodation, you will lose very quickly. On our first visit, we stayed in Davy Crockett Ranch and rented a car. It is a Disney hotel, with self catering two bedroom ‘lodges’ (that’s mobile homes to you and me!) It tends to work out a lot cheaper than the hotels, but it’s about a ten minute drive from the parks and there are no shuttles, you need to rent a car, but parking is free at the hotel and the parks as it is Disney owned. They’re pretty basic, but there is a fab pool and we saved a fortune by bringing/buying our own snacks and having breakfast etc at home.

ncmc

I personally think three nights is a bit short, it really only gives you two days to to the two parks. If you want to meet the characters, you will lose a lot of time, the queues can be quite long. It's doable, but if you wanted to have a more relaxing time, I would stretch it to 4 nights. I think that would give you loads of times for rides, shows and character meets.

Car99

Very helpful and informative posts ppl. Thanks for the help.

junebabies

poisonated wrote: »

If flying into CDG airport, I would take the TGV. It only takes 10 minutes.

I would recommend sequoia lodge. It has a nice pool with a water slide. This might have closed though as it was about 15 years since I stayed there.

This!
Yes pool & slide still there, pool had a big refurb and only reopened after 6mths.

Op kids are a good age, we have gone every since kids were 2 & 3, they are now 13 & 14.
Best ages we found was between 3 & 6 when they completely believed in the magic of it all

kfc1

We're just back, stayed in Newport Bay. Highly recommended & not a 10 min walk to parks. The hotel New York is the one thats being redesigned as a Marvel hotel, it still hasnt opened. I would strongly recommend you book when the free half board offer is on, we are 3 & 2 and average dinner bill was about €150 (no drinks) which was covered by our HB vouchers.
As previous poster mentioned, bring refillable water bottles, plenty of water fountains and take snacks with you. We ended up buying no snacks there but did notice on one stand a can of coke was €3.90.
When you get map, try to do it section by section & tick off what you've done so you can cover it all without back tracking constantly.

Car99

Is it worth upgrading from half board to full board for a total of €282 for our 3 night stay?

St.Brigids

Hi there, a Regular visitor to Eurodisney given a family member working there. We stay in Air BnB in Val d'Europe. Very convenient for the park and also much cheaper then the hotels. Gives you more options food wise in the evenings. Also you have assess to a supermarket in the shopping centre in Val D'Europe which means you can make lunch to take to park saving on money and time queuing in the park.

_Brian

I think it depends on the kids.

We went when our first girl was five, she enjoyed it no doubt, met princesses, enjoyed the parade, did some rides.

Went back when our younger girl was six and elder girl was eleven, we were there for two days again same as before. We had a grand time. Younger girl wouldn’t be mad into princesses or Disney stuff and she liked it but wasn’t blown away by a long shot. Elder girl enjoyed it but nothing special for her either. But the cost had absolutely multiplied in the few years and I thought the whole thing was nice but desperately overpriced for us.

We went to Pui du Fou the following year and both kids marvelled at the attractions and had a far better time as did us adults, much more affordable too.

So my point is don’t automatically think the kids will adore it, yea if they are Disney sort of kids they likely will but it’s not a given and it’s not cheap in any way. We brought snacks in and all that but it’s a dear place to go.

XsApollo

I’ve been there twice.
If your going half board, you gotta be up for breakfast, and don’t under estimate the walk from the shuttle drop off to the main breakfast place inside the park , can’t remember what it was called but it was in the area with space mountain , big arena type place.
I actually went there on my own when pushed for time as the kids were getting annoyed walking the distance fast and picked up all the breakfasts and went back even if you don’t eat them they are good for a snack and a drink during the day.

And you have to book your dinners in advance
Especially the pirates of the Caribbean restaraunt.
If you going half board or full board plan it properly when your checking in or sometime during the first few hours there or you will lose your first day and probably end up eating burgers and chips instead of a meal.

Cheyenne is a good hotel and the sequoia as well, I think Cheyenne got a refurb recently.
All the hotels are the same really , beds and a tv , your kids won’t be up to much at the end of the day, and you will spend all day in the parks anyway.

Car99

I see they have a restaurant reservations number to book all your meals before you go, I hadn't intended to do that but I'll take your advice on board and book in advance. Cheers.

ncmc

I think the half board now includes breakfast at your hotel rather than the quick service place in the parks so you won’t have the problem Xsapollo mentions above. You will definitely need to book your evening meals in advance, especially if you are there during a half board promotion. The popular places will book up months in advance. It’s not really the sort of holiday you can just ‘wing it’ I think a good bit of pre planning is required to get the most out of it.

I wouldn’t bother upgrading to full board. It’s too much food. You’ll spend all day eating rather than getting on rides! If you have a big breakfast and dinner and bring in snacks, you could get away with a light lunch.

Oafley Jones

We were there in March with our 2, 3 and half and 5 year old. I was really questioning whether our youngest would get anything out of it, but he had a ball. Keeps on asking about going back for Buzz lightyear etc.

You can use the Dutch site to book restaurants in advance, rather than having to go over the phone. As others have said this is absolutely essential to do for the more popular establishments. I forget how many months before the bookings go live, but people are waiting and a restaurant can book out fully in that morning.

I wouldn't pay for full board. We had Half board (and this is before the DLP cheaped out and didn't include breakfast) and found it fine. Be careful what you use your credit for e.g. I thought I was buying a bagel with room account and the cast member thought I wanted to use my meal credit. Only found out at dinner that day.

We used the Magical Express over, but hired a car back. If our kids weren't so young I'd have stuck with ME.

DLP looks absolutely fantastic now, after years of neglect you can really see "project Sparkle" has brought the place back to it's original condition.

My only really negative there is the food, it's really poor for a Disney park. Even the village lags massively behind it's contemporaries.

SusieBlue

I can only second what everyone else has said. I'd recommend the Sequoia Lodge, I've stayed there 3/4 times and have never had a bad experience. Very easily accessed from the parks too.

Definitely get the meal plan, the food is absolutely extortionate & will cost you a fortune without it. Be sure to get a list of the restaurants in the park/Disney village that your meal plan will be eligible for. I was there most recently in January & I thought a specific restaurant was covered in our dining plan, only found out when it was time to pay that it wasn't & had to pay full whack for it!
If you have fussy eaters there is a McDonalds & a Starbucks in Disney village.

Download the Disneyland app, its free and has a map of the park & rides with real time queue information.
I found it invaluable for trying to decide which ride or park to go to next and it helped make the most of our time. You can download it now, keep an eye on weekdays and weekends and you'll be able to see yourself the difference in wait times during the two - the weekdays are SIGNIFICANTLY shorter.
There is also info on it as to where to find specific characters in the parks for photos. If your kids like a particular character its well worth keeping an eye on it so you can be sure to meet them!

At closing time each day there is an illumination show projected onto Cinderella's castle & fireworks.
Its truly magical and was the highlight of our trip, everyone gathers to watch it, there would be thousands of people standing around the castle to watch. The atmosphere its amazing for it, have a look on youtube to see for yourself. Its a must do!

Oafley Jones

Not sure if it's happened yet, but DLP had announced that fireworks were being changed to weekends only this year.

fdevine

I really don't get where people find the food prices extortionate. Yes, there are table service restaurants in the parks that are expensive but not all the restaurants are that expensive.

You only need to advance book for table service restaurants, which we have only ever done once. Self service places are fine and it's not all junk food. Menus are usually available online.

It's almost two years since we were there last but at the time self service adult menus were universally priced at €12.99/13.99/14.99 and children's menus were €8.99. Annette's Diner in the Village is table service & prices are on a par with places like Captain America's here. In truth DLP can be as expensive as you want it to be but can be done on any budget.

There's also Planet Hollywood, Rainforest Cafe & even McDonalds in the Village. Despite what I have read numerous times the McDonalds prices are more or less on a par with anywhere else.

If driving, stop off at Auchan supermarket in Val d'Europe & stock up. If not it's a single stop away on the train if you feel the need to. There is a small convenience store in the train station for prepack sandwiches & cheaper water/soft drinks.

Staying in Val d'Europe may be cost effective for some, but park tickets are not included and that can easily outweigh the savings.

ncmc

I thought the food at DLP was quite good! Granted, we only ate at counter service places as we didn't have a meal plan and we just couldn't justify the cost of the table service places when our kids were so young and we probably wouldn't enjoy it anyway! Like the previous poster said, the food is expensive compared to McDonalds or the like, but the quality is far superior. We really enjoyed Hakuna Matata, Cowboy Cookout and Market House Deli. In the latter, you can get a huge Croque Monsior For about E8. Not expensive at all and really tasty. I found the snacks to be quite expensive. Beware the candy floss, popcorn, slushies etc, especially in the novelty cups/containers. They are pretty expensive and of course they are so attractive to young kids.

This site has all the menus of the restaurants so you can get a good idea of prices

http://www.dlpguide.com/planning/dining/restaurant-menus/market-house-deli/


We brought in a snack pack daily for the kids (we brought from home and bought a few things while there) We included raisins, crackers, fruit pouch, bag of corn crisps, a couple of packets of sweets etc and then bought little sandwiches in the shop in the train station. That was the kids fed for the day for buttons. Plus, it kept them occupied during the queues to select something from their ‘snack pack’ Bring one of the super concentrated squeezy bottles of cordial. There’s loads of water fountains and it saves buying overpriced drinks.

Car99

To all who replied thanks for taking the time to post . Very much appreciated.

positron

kfc1 wrote: »

As previous poster mentioned, bring refillable water bottles, plenty of water fountains and take snacks with you. We ended up buying no snacks there but did notice on one stand a can of coke was €3.90..

Small portion of popcorn is €7 during the light show & fireworks after sunset. It doesn't seem to discourage people from queuing up and spending like no tomorrow. The real Disney magic.

SusieBlue

Just found an amazing quality video of the illuminations show, it truly is an epic production. There’s no expense spared in any of their shows, that’s for sure!
Link below for anyone who wants to watch

https://youtu.be/dNn9Y9rRCQw

fdevine

With Halloween approaching it might be worth keeing an eye out for non-Disney dress-up outfits, especially princess ones.

Also saw yesterday that Eurogiant have the collapsible/roll up bottles with Mickey Mouse on them.

SusieBlue

Penneys do a lot of Disney jumpers/backpacks/accessories etc. as well.
You can order the Minnie Mouse ears for €1 or so on Ali Express (perfectly safe too, I've done it myself) and have all the bits and pieces ready to go to surprise them with the first morning ye arrive.
The Mouse Ears prices start at €19.95 and the jumpers and bags are upwards of €50 in the parks, so you'll definitely save a bit by having some novelty themed bits with you when you arrive.

P2C

We were there in August with kids of similar age. Bring a stroller as it will speed things up. We booked using the French website and got half board at the same price as tickets and accommodation from the English website. Picked that from another forum. If you want to eat fresh food and very good quality upgrade to full board. I don’t eat fast food and most of the counter stuff is essentially fast food. We were blown away and had a great experience and it was in the middle of August at peak times. Stayed in the sequoia lodge. If I was going again I would stay close to the park offsite and check in super early to the hotel get my park tickets for the full 3days. We ended up getting into the park around lunch in the first day and it was wedged. If your in early during the magic hour you can get fast passes and a lot done in the first hour or two. The shows were amazing

anne burnell

check out breakaway.com thay have good deals for DLP there is a halp board free deal on at the min I think it untill february bookings .... we have stayed in the santa fe plenty of times its basic but clean and friendy , and the cheaper end of the disney hotels , but to be honest your not in the room that much anyway. like others have said bring snacks to the park the garage just utside the park at the santa fe do good sandwich deals and the store as you enter the park is good for bits to as drinks and snackscan be expenisve in the park.. you willhave a blast , I love it and I dont even have small kids, it magical

Livefornow

Too late for the OP but for anyone going to Disney from Beauvais we have used Ezyshuttle twice, in 2011 & in 2016. They are owned by a chap called John, who I think is from Cork although that's probably wrong
Cannot recommend them highly enough, you pay the driver on the day & takes all the hassle out of travelling to and from Disney. Particularly useful if you have a late flight as you can maximise your time at the Parc.

greenspurs

Off here for 4 days in November...
Looking forward to it..

SusieBlue

greenspurs wrote: »

Off here for 4 days in November...
Looking forward to it..

You'll have a blast, there is no place like it at that time of year. The Christmas parade is spectacular!

Aera

Aera wrote: »

Hi, going to Beauvais airport by Raynair on 30 Sept and will be back 1 st of Oct.
Looking for cheap transfer, already checked good few and found the cheapest one 310 euro both ways for 3 people( 2 adults, 1 kid).
Now thinking to rent a car at maximum price would be 200 euro.
Any suggesting about transfer, rent a car etc?

Ok I Wii answer my question)
On arrival in biauvais airport we use firefly and took smallest two doors car (for 3 of us), paid for the two days car and premium insurance 112 euro, plus 26 for petrol. Driving experience was great, we did not use tolls, so spent 1.40 minutes each way, stopped in the small cities. In the Disney we parked for free (for guests only) in Hilton and took free shuttle. We had amazing private trip, no wait, the roads are great. Highly recommended rent a car.

mathewr788

Can someone list 5 most famous pubs in Dublin ?

greenspurs

SusieBlue wrote: »

You'll have a blast, there is no place like it at that time of year. The Christmas parade is spectacular!

We arrive on the 8th - Xmas parade starts on the 9th ! cant wait

Foweva Awone

We're just back from our trip to Legoland Germany so I'm going to leave a quick review in case it might be of use to anyone considering going there.

I'd give it a 10/10 - would 100% recommend it!

I went with my parents (late 60s but very active) and my five-year-old son. It was the Halloween break (but as far as I know, they don't have a Halloween break in Germany, so the park wasn't particularly busy. So it's a good time to go!) We flew with Aer Lingus to Munich Airport, which meant we had to get a train from there to Munich Central Station, and another train from there to Gunzberg. It's then a five minute trip by bus or taxi to the theme park. All of the public transport went fairly smoothly, the trains go quite regularly so not much waiting around.

We were staying in the holiday village, in the Lego themed cottages. I would well recommend staying in the holiday village because there are absolutely tonnes of playgrounds there, it's an easy safe walk to the theme park itself, and there's a good choice of excellent restaurants.

I reckon between flights, accommodation for three nights, public transport, our Legoland tickets for the 2 days, food and spending money, it came in at under €2,000 for the four of us, which we felt was very good value. (You can book the accommodation and theme park tickets together on the Legoland site.) We didn't pay for the Express pass in Legoland, and really didn't need it, but I guess that would depend on what time of year you visit.

We knew my son would have the time of his life there, but my parents and I didn't expect to enjoy it as much as we did! There are so many rides that are perfect for all ages - my son was too young for some of the fastest scariest rides, but my parents and I all got to go on them! The weather was a bit drizzly, but it really didn't affect our enjoyment of the park - sure we were getting soaked on some of the water rides anyways. The atmosphere is really lovely and safe both in the theme park and in the holiday village. All of the staff were very helpful - though very "German" at time about ensuring all rules are strictly adhered to! Two days in the park were just about perfect to make sure we got to go on everything, without getting bored. (At a busier time of year when there might be queues, three days would probably be required.)

The buffet breakfast which is included with the themed cottages is AMAZING - so much to choose from, would really set you up for the day. The restaurants we ate in were the Steakhouse and the pasta/pizza place in the Castle - would recommend either of them, really decent quality and lots of choice for both children and adults. All of the restaurants in the theme park and the holiday village have Lego play areas for the kids, which meant we could really relax and enjoy our meals while he was off playing.

The Egyptian themed cottage we were staying in was just gorgeous. Two bedrooms (a double bed in one, bunkbeds in the other), plenty of wardrobes, a decent sized bathroom with an excellent shower. Housekeeping was great, the place was absolutely spotless. There's a 24-hour Reception and staff there were very helpful with anything we needed. There are also shops, bowling, other activities on site which would be great for older kids in the evenings - however myself and my son were in bed straight after dinner every night! My parents went out for walks in the evenings (it felt very safe even after dark) and there are bars to go to for drinks etc as well.

I think the only mistake we made was on the first day we walked the main road down to the theme park and back - we didn't realise there was a pedestrian trail. The main road is very dark and dangerous to walk in the evening (no footpaths), and it's a much longer trek too. Don't attempt it, especially with kids! When we discovered the pedestrian trail the next day we were very relieved - in fairness it's well signposted, I don't know how we missed it!

We will definitely be going back, hopefully with some of my siblings and their kids, in the not-so-distant future. My parents just adored the place and can't wait to return! It's great value for money, a nice easy holiday, suitable for all ages. It was the perfect time of year to go. If anyone has any questions I'd be happy to answer. Great place to visit!

greenspurs

Queues …. janey , the Q's.

75 mins for Peter Pan - 2min 'ride' …. not worth waiting for, unless you have 5 yr olds with you.
90 mins for Thunder Mt - 2 mins, but well worth it !
Fast Passed for Ratatouile - great fun.
15mins for Space Mt (whatever its called now) - 2 mins..Sooooo worth it.


We weren't aware Fast Passes were free ? 2 per day ?
Our fault I suppose, but the concierge at the hotel, didn't mention anything about it, and we just 'thought' you had to pay for them !! #Doh

fdevine

greenspurs wrote: »

Queues …. janey , the Q's.

75 mins for Peter Pan - 2min 'ride' …. not worth waiting for, unless you have 5 yr olds with you.
90 mins for Thunder Mt - 2 mins, but well worth it !
Fast Passed for Ratatouile - great fun.
15mins for Space Mt (whatever its called now) - 2 mins..Sooooo worth it.


We weren't aware Fast Passes were free ? 2 per day ?
Our fault I suppose, but the concierge at the hotel, didn't mention anything about it, and we just 'thought' you had to pay for them !! #Doh

Fastpass is free but can't be stacked AFAIK. Get the first one early and once you've used is get your next one and so on. There are itineraries out there with advice on how minimise queuing. Queue for Peter Pan is nearly always ridiculously long. Think we did it once over three visits......