Legoland Windsor Resort


Legoland Windsor Resort, also known as Legoland Windsor, is a child-orientated theme park and resort in Windsor, Berkshire in England, themed around the Lego toy system. The park opened on 17 March 1996 on the former Windsor Safari Park site as the second Legoland after Legoland Billund in Denmark. In common with the other Legoland Resorts across the world, the park's attractions consist of a mixture of Lego-themed rides, models, and building workshops. The park was acquired by Merlin Entertainments in 2005, which now operates the park, with the Lego Group retaining part ownership. The facilities are mainly targeted at children between three and twelve.
The park had 2.2 million visitors in 2017, making it the most visited theme park in the United Kingdom and the 10th-most visited in Europe.

History

From 1969 to 1992, the site of today's Legoland Windsor belonged to Windsor Safari Park, which had been founded by the Billy Smart's Circus.
The Lego Group began research for the development of a second Legoland park after Legoland Billund in 1987, with over 1000 sites considered. In January 1992, Windsor Safari Park went into receivership and the site was chosen. Throughout 1992 and 1993, planning, design, site preparation and the design and construction of models began, and new homes were secured for all the safari animals. 1994 saw the installation of services, foundations and infrastructures, and in 1995, one year prior to opening, Big Ben was installed in Miniland. By this time, buildings and attractions were becoming established and in September, advance bookings were opened for entrance tickets. Final installations were completed by the beginning of 1996 and at this point, the Legoland Windsor staff-base was recruited. Legoland Windsor opened on 17 March 1996. During its first season, the park attracted over 1.4 million guests.
In April 2005, Lego decided to sell the Legoland parks, owing to rising losses across the company. On 13 July 2005, Legoland was acquired by the Blackstone Group and control of the parks passed to Merlin Entertainments.

Areas

The park is split into 12 themed lands, incorporating various attractions, restaurants and shops: The Beginning, Imagination Centre, DUPLO Valley, Miniland, Adventure Land, LEGO City, Pirate Shores, Heartlake City, Knight´s Kingdom, Land of the Vikings, Kingdom of the Pharaohs and Lego Ninjago World.

The Beginning

The Beginning is the entrance area to the park. It is composed of a plaza area containing entrance turnstiles, ticket sales, guest services and toilets and stretches to contain a small part of the resort at the bottom of the funicular railway. It is notable for having a view of the area surrounding the resort including the nearby town of Windsor, Heathrow Airport & parts of London.
The main resort shop, The BIG Shop, can be found here which sells a number of LEGO products as well as souvenirs. It holds the distinction of being the largest LEGO store in the UK. Also in the area is the Photo Shop which is where guests can collect photos taken on rides with cameras operated by Picsolve, a company contracted by a number of Merlin Entertainments resorts.
There are a number of food and beverage outlets here with the main sit down cafe is the Hill Top Cafe. It is complemented by a smaller coffee outlet in the entrance plaza and the Sweet Stop which sells sweets and other treats.
The only ride located in The Beginning is the Hill Train, a funicular, narrow gauge railway down a curved slope. The main purpose of the Hill Train is to transport guests from the The Beginning to the lower parts of the resort leading to an area between LEGO City & LEGO NINJAGO World, which is still considered to be part of The Beginning. It is the only ride or attraction to be retained from Windsor Safari Park, being refurbished when the park opened with stained glass windows made from translucent Lego bricks by local school children. It travels 300 metres between two stations, with a height difference between the top and bottom stations of approximately 27 metres.
Previously located in The Beginning was the Creation Centre which opened in 2000. This building has housed a number of attractions since it has opened. The first main attraction it contained was LEGO Racers which opened with the Creation Centre. Here, guests could create their own virtual LEGO racer through an innovative system and went through a process which culminated in them being able to race their character against other guests. The original LEGO Racers attraction suffered from reliability issues and closed at the end of 2004. However, it was revived in 2009 by members of the original team and was able to reopen under the new name of Rocket Racers. However, reliability issues remained and it saw it's final guests over the weekend of the 8-9 October 2011. The attraction space was repurposed for Star Wars Miniland which was based on the Star Wars franchise depicting a number of scenes in LEGO and opened in 2012. Unlike LEGO Racers & Rocket Racers it was classed as a walkthrough attraction with no queue. Instead, guests walked round much like the main Miniland land. In 2016, a large model of the Death Star was installed as the centrepiece of the attraction. However, the attraction closed on December 31 2019 echoing other Legoland Resorts which all closed their Star Wars Miniland if they had them, rumoured due to a licensing deal between Lucasfilm and Merlin Entertainments ending. Currently the space is empty and Legoland Windsor have announced no plans for its future.
The Creation Centre is also home to Legoland Windsor's model makers who display busts of famous figures as well as a view of their studio in a space on the second floor of the Centre. On the ground floor of the Centre is Apocalypseburg which is part of the set used and shares space with a Movie Store. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Creation Centre is currently closed.

Imagination Centre

The Imagination Centre is an area themed around education through LEGO. The centre piece being the LEGO Education Centre which is where a dedicated Education team offers National Curriculum workshops. The Education team has been recognised nationally by the School Travel Awards as the 'Best Venue for STEM Learning ' in 2019.
The only Ride in this land is Sky Rider, which is an elevated track ride opened in March 1996 and refurbished between the 2001 and 2002 seasons. The attraction of this ride is the views that can be seen of Miniland as it cruises over Imagination and also allows views of the surrounding area.
Two attractions complete Imagination, LEGO Studios 4D & LEGO Reef. LEGO Studios 4D was previously known as the Imagination Theatre and now shows a number of LEGO themed films throughout the day. In the 2020 season, these were: LEGO City 4D - Officer in Pursuit; LEGO Ninjago - Master of the 4th Dimension & LEGO Movie 4D A New Adventure. The LEGO Reef is an interactive experience opened in 2018 which allows guests to create a digital LEGO fish which will then swim in front of them on a screen.

Miniland

Miniland is a miniature park in Lego form, depicting towns and cities from around the world, using nearly 40 million Lego bricks, in models. The area features a number of animated models, interacting with each other. Motor vehicles use cables under the paths emitting radio wave signals to steer and allow charging when required and overnight. The train system runs on tracks, slowing for stations using slow down bars and also charging, and the boats use rubber loops under the water driven by motors, with sensors to detect the boats for operating bridges and locks. The system, with lights and sounds, is run by 14 computers using 300 kilometres of underground cabling.
The land is divided into different areas as they are depicted, these include: London, the Rest of England, Scotland, Wales and Europe. In 2018, Miniland saw an expansion called 'Explore the World' which added more LEGO models of global sites including the Sydney Opera House, Forbidden Palace & Saint Basil's Cathedral. Also added in 2018 was Miniland USA, another expansion with detailed LEGO models and scenes depicting famous American sites.

DUPLO Valley

DUPLO Valley is a land aimed at smaller children, with the majority of Rides being 'family rides'. Since the resort's opening the land has rotated through a number of different names including Explore Land, Duplo Gardens and Duplo Land.
At the beginning of the 2020 season, DUPLO Valley was reopened following a refurbishment and the construction of a new ride, the DUPLO Dino Coaster. The DUPLO Dino Coaster, originally planned to be called the DUPLO Dream Coaster became the resort's third rollercoaster. Aimed to be a 'My First Coaster' it saw a soft opening before the park's temporary closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was designed by Mack Rides but manufactured by ART Engineeing GmbH. Alongside the opening of the new ride was the re-theming of three rides and attractions: DUPLO Express, DUPLO Airport and DUPLO Playtown begins outside of DUPLO Valley on a pathway starting in Imagination which bypasses Miniland and is a fast water chute ride consisting of two slides guests ride down in rafts. Raft Racers ends in DUPLO Valley next to Drench Towers. Drench Towers is a water splash area with multiple slides which was placed on land previously occupied by Mole-in-One Mini Golf. Splash Safari is a smaller splash area for toddlers which consists of water features made of DUPLO models and is located below Drench Towers.
Also in DUPLO Valley is the DUPLO Valley Theatre which is a puppet theatre which shows classic fairy tales. It is located adjacent to Fairy Tale Brook. One of the resort's family restaurants, Farmer's Joe Chicken Company, is found opposite the theatre.

Lego City

Lego City, formerly known as Traffic, is themed around transport.
Balloon School: Experience the ups and downs of a hot air balloon ride.
Coastguard HQ: a boat school ride for children
Fire Academy: help the firefighters here participants are challenged with powering a LEGO fire engine and putting out a ‘burning’ building.
L-Drivers: drive school for 3–5 children
LEGO® City Driving School: drive school here children can drive their own car

Heartlake City

Heartlake City, based on the LEGO Friends produce range, includes two rides: The LEGOLAND Express, a railway ride round Kingdom of the Pharaohs, and a Disk'O coaster called Mia's Riding Adventure. Also in the area is the "Return to Skeleton Bay" pirate stunt show, and "LEGO Friends to the Rescue", a live music concert around the harbour performed by the LEGO Friends.

Land of the Vikings

Land of the Vikings is situated behind the Hill Train; this was opened in 2007, and is based on the plunderings of Nordic Vikings. This land is home to two attractions, Vikings’ River Splash: An attraction manufactured by ABC Rides and features Lego models, water sprays and cannons along its course. The other attraction is Spinning Spider located at the bottom of the area, this ride is a spinning teacups style ride where guests ride in log-style gondolas as an animatronic LEGO spider gnashes its jaws and breathes smoke on a web above.

Kingdom of the Pharaohs

The Kingdom of the Pharaohs contains "Laser Raiders", an interactive dark ride through an Egyptian tomb where visitors shoot targets to gain points. Also in this area is Scarab Bouncers, Aero Nomad, Desert Chase and Thunder Blazer. The latter three rides are fairground based attractions such as a carousel and a Ferris wheel ride.

Pirate Shores

Pirate Shores features a log flume, Pirate Falls, a play area and a pirate ship ride named the Jolly Rocker. From 1996 to 2010, this area was known as Wild Woods.

Knights' Kingdom

Knights' Kingdom features The Dragon roller coaster, which starts inside the castle themed station, passing Lego tableaux, before travelling outside reaching a speed of around.

Adventure Land

Adventure Land is situated around a lake at the bottom of the park. The main attraction is Atlantis Submarine Voyage by Sealife, which features "submarine" vehicles used to travel through the tank. NEW for 2019 is the Haunted House Monster Party, featuring Lord Vampyre and his ghoulish ghouls.
YearAttendanceRef
20051,400,000
20061,480,000
20071,650,000
20081,815,000
20091,900,000
20101,900,000
20111,900,000
20122,000,000
20132,050,000
20142,200,000
20152,250,000
20162,183,000
20172,200,000

Park operation

Legoland Windsor typically opens from March to November, with closures on some days.

Attendance

Attendance has steadily risen since 2005. Legoland Windsor regularly draws more attendees than the original Legoland Billund Resort in Denmark; in 2011, it became the tenth-most popular theme park in Europe, a position it has held every year since.

Resort hotels

Legoland Windsor Resort currently has two hotels. Both pride themselves on there theming quality and fun for the children. Across the hotels, nine different types of room are offered, each one coming with a separate sleeping area for children and adults and a treasure hunt in the room that concludes with a prize.

Legoland Hotel

The Legoland Hotel opened its doors in March 2012. The Hotel is located at the back of the park, in the Adventure land section, on the old site of the Jungle Coaster. Guests enter the hotel on the ground floor but enter the park on the 2nd floor. The hotel is home to the Bricks Restaurant and the Skyline Bar, both on the 2nd floor. The resort featured 6 different types of themed rooms, they were Pirate, Kingdom, Adventure, Premium Pirate, Premium Kingdom and Premium Adventure. Over the year's these room themes have changed, the hotel no longer offers Premium Kingdom rooms but now offers Ninjago and Lego friends rooms. Guests staying at both Hotels get access to the pirate themed indoor pool and fitness facility as well as a treasure hunt in each room and access to select attraction before the general public in the park.

Castle Hotel

The Legoland Castle Hotel opened its doors on 1st July 2017. The hotel was opened by competition winner James Waine who designed a model that was built by professional model makers and put outside the hotel. The hotel offers two different themes of rooms, Wizard and Knights. The hotel is uniquely only accessible from the park, guests must check in at the Legoland Hotel and travel through the hotel and the park to reach the Castle Hotel. The Castle Hotel is located next to the Legoland Hotel. The hotel is home to the Tournament Tavern restaurant, which offers table service meals. Guests staying at both Hotels get access to the pirate themed indoor pool and fitness facility as well as a treasure hunt in each room and access to select attraction before the general public in the park.

Holiday Village

In Legoland Windsor's ten year plan, the park expressed the interest in building a holiday village that would consist of 450 Lodges that would be built in two phases. These lodges would range from barrel style glamping to large family lodges. The majority of phase one would consist of Lodges that could sleep up to a family of five. The new Holiday Village is planned to be located near the front of the park.

Rides and attractions

Operating rides

Former rides and attractions

Reserve & Ride (formerly Q-Bot)

For the 2008 season, the Q-Bot queuing system was introduced. For a per-person fee, guests are provided with a small pager-like device to "reserve" places in queues virtually, allowing guests to use their queuing time elsewhere in the park. The initial contract between Q-Bot developers Lo-Q was for 1 year from 8 April 2008. This contract was extended for 2009 before a new 3-year contract was signed on 26 March 2010. Three tiers of the device are available at different prices which reduce the queue time by different proportions.

Incidents

Since opening in 1996, the park has won a number of awards: