Legoland

So you were expecting photos and ramblings about Legoland hey? Well, having left London early on a Saturday morning, we were expecting to make it there by midday. What we didn't count on, was a parade of returning soldiers (I think that's what it was) which meant all the roads out of Windsor were blocked.


After a few hours of waiting, we did manage to catch the right bus to the land of the little, plastic blocks. The first stop was Miniland which, as you might expect, is a mini recreation of cities around the world in Lego (with a definite bias to European cities). The attention to detail was amazing and it's strange seeing familiar London scenes, such as the Tower of London, the Gherkin, soccer pitches (with streaker) and the Tube in miniature.


We were drawn in by the countdown at the space station and hung around until it was time for lift off. It must be noted that you shouldn't be allowed to have a countdown unless you are counting down to something (even vaguely) significant. It must also be noted, that if you cannot see any strings, pulleys, cogs or other moving parts, it most likely means that what you're studying is not going to move. The 'takeoff' of the rocket was the most underwhelming event of the day (yes, it beat the parade) as it was just a tiny puff of smoke under a stationary model of a rocket. Grrr.


Pulling ourselves away from Miniland we headed towards the rides. During the rest of the afternoon, I realised three quite obvious things: 1) Kids live shows can be painfully boring - I am long past the days where people running around in costume, following a very thin plot is amusing. Although I am told the show improved in ridiculousness, if not in quality. 2) Kids can be quite violent. You give kids some Lego blocks to play with and they won't fit them together or build structures. They will slam them on the table, fling them on the floor and throw them at each other. And I learnt all this because 3) Lines at amusement parks are very very very long. I had forgotten just how long.


We were lucky to have a sunny day though, which made waiting around (and the rides where kids splashed everyone with more water than the ride necessitated) much more enjoyable. We went on the Jungle Coaster, Vikings' River Splash, Long Boat Invader and were spinning the fastest on the Spinning Spider. Finally it was time to leave (but not without Lego muffin tins as a souvenir) for the train ride back to London.