Legoland, Windsor

We love Legoland so much that we seem to return every year, and this year Charlotte was now tall enough to go on the big rides. Mummy doesn't do rides very well but Daddy happily obliged on all those I couldn't stomach. We loved them all, the big ones, the scary ones, the more sedate ones, something for every age. I think our family favourite ride is Atlantis, the submarine ride. This is excellent but over so quickly... I wish it was longer. The fish ponds at the end for the kids to feel the sea urchins and crabs were excellent. We got really soaked on Pirates Fall which was Mummy's favourite, Daddy's favourite ride is The Dragon roller-coaster and Charlotte's was the L-driving school. At 4 she is still 2 years off the bigger driving school, and I can't wait for her to be old enough for that. When my brother and I were younger we went to Legoland Denmark and I still remember the driving school there, and I've kept my driving licence.
New for 2012 was the amazing looking Legoland hotel, living only an hour away we had no reason to stay but I would have loved to sneak in and look around. Also new was the Star Wars miniland experience, or geek central for Daddy! Mummy doesn't do star wars but Daddy and Charlotte said it was excellent.
The weather was a bit unpredictable the day we went, but thankfully we managed to time it so when it rained we could dive into the theatre for a 4D experience. This was the first time we have done this and it was excellent, so well done conveying all the emotion with no words just expression and with the added 4D extras.
We had reviewed Legloand last year, but its just so much fun that I thought I would do another update.
http://www.legoland.co.uk/

Windsor Castle, Windsor

After our successful trip to Buckingham Palace we thought we would visit Windsor Castle. The first Saturday of each month they have children's activities, and also in December they have 2 state rooms set up with a Christmas theme display.

On approach we noticed the Royal Standard was flying, we tried to do Queen and corgi spotting. We were told by some very helpful guides that a good place to spot her was from the Crimson Drawing Room as this overlooks the queens garden but alas she wasn't there.

We collected our excellent audio guides, with a children's version for Charlotte to listen to, to take us round. The audio guides are really good with so much information, Charlotte really does listen to it as she asks us to find the things they are talking about. After passing the jubilee gardens and up to Edward IV tower where you get a wonderful view across the Upper Ward and quadrangle, this is where important visitors are greeted.

Heading towards the Henry III tower was the moat education room where Charlotte got to do some colouring and look at some pictures.

We headed to the State Apartments, and passed Queen Mary's Dolls house, which was fascinating with so much detail to it, also on display were dolls dresses which were so wonderfully made. The state rooms were quite different to Buckingham Palace, being a castle there was a lot of armour and swords on display. The fire in 1992 was covered quite a bit as you walk through the rooms that were destroyed. The difference in the old and new is obvious but the rooms are still to such high stadard and in keeping with the rest of the castle. The room containing all the Shields for the Knights of the Royal Garter was stunning.
We had lunch in the Undercroft Cafe, it was a little pricey but the food was wonderful.

We then went to St. Georges Chapel, where we got to sit in the inner chapel and look again at the shields and crowns for each of the Knights of the Royal Garter. We noticed coffins and shrines for most of the previous kings and queens, the most opulent was for Queen Victoria's children and grandchildren.
We had a really good few hours going round Windsor Castle, and even readitdaddy left having enjoyed it more than he expected.

Legoland, Windsor

We had been promising Charlotte a trip to Legoland for some time. She was so excited she almost burst on the way there with excitement.
Outside there were staff giving out sword balloons which keeps little ones entertained while you are standing in shock at the admission prices.

We headed for duplo land first via a couple of rides on the way, the puppet show at duplo land is always good to watch. Completely forgot that there is a water play area and we had forgotten costumes and towels, seems everyone else had forgotten this too.
Charlotte is just under that magic 1m height for the bigger rides so there were a few things we couldn't go on, but everything else she loved. We came off one ride to go rush straight onto another, and sometimes go on it twice. The new ride this year was Atlantis, an underwater adventure and it was excellent, but seemed to be over all to quickly.

We love the parent rivalry at the fire academy, racing your fire engine to the burning house to put the fire out and then back again.
The best bit for Charlotte was getting her driving licence at the L-drivers school, this is a mini-version of the driving school for 3-5 year olds. She loved it and was so pleased with herself.

The bit we enjoyed as a family was the pirates of skeleton bay stunt show. Real goodie badie show with all the boos, hisses and hes behind you bits with some excellent stunts.
The mini-land I thought was starting to look a bit tired, as legoland opened in 1996 I'm assuming some if it is original so I'm not surprised. But some bits do get updated, Charlotte easily spotted Will and Kate on the balcony of Buckingham Place.
We took our own food, so can't comment on the quality of food or prices. Being out of season quite a few of the food places were closed down.
Everywhere is pushchair accessible, with bays to leave pushchairs if you are going on the ride. All the toilets were clean with nice low basins for the kids and large cubicles.
As I said earlier we did go out of season, on a week day so queues were almost non-existent. This was a real bonus. Even with not having to queue we only just managed to do everything in a day. Legoland have realised this and next year the Legoland Hotel is opening. We saw it being built and it looks great.
Charlotte enjoyed the day so much, and keeps on asking to go again. But the admission price is shocking, considering she is too little to go on some of the rides but still has to pay child price and now you have to pay to park. Being end of season things were looking tired and some bits weren't working on the fairy tale brook, but we all left with a big smile on our face and slept very well that night from all the walking.