Embracing Water and Rain at LEGOLAND® Windsor Resort

*This is a paid collaboration with Nestle Pure Life

After the glorious heatwave this summer, we have had the worst luck with the weather. It has poured with rain during our last three days out. We've decided to just embrace it though and true to form after the thermometer topped 26 degrees with sunny skies on the day before our visit, the heavens opened during our first trip to LEGOLAND® Windsor Resort. We didn't let the bad weather put us off though and we honestly had the best day. I've always read very mixed reviews about LEGOLAND® and thought it might be too young for our eldest Harry who is 11 but this wasn't the case at all. If anything, I think visiting in the rain is better as the queues were a lot shorter (around 20 minutes or less for a lot of rides). 

Nestlé Pure Life has teamed up with LEGOLAND® this summer and invited us along to check out the park's 'Summer of Fun'. It's important to stay hydrated during days out - even in the rain! So the kids picked out their favourite Nestlé Pure Life Water Buddies Emoji bottle of water to bring along for the day. These bottles are fun for kids and something they actually don't mind carrying around. We joined in with the 'Make a Splash Challenge' (see below) and each time we found a letter, we'd remember to take a drink of water. You can refill your bottle at one of the water fountains around the park and bottles are recyclable too (there are special recycle bins around the park too). 

Make a splash challenge & water rides at LEGOLAND® Windsor Resort

We joined in with LEGOLAND®'s 'Make a Splash Challenge'. The idea is to try as many water rides/attractions as you can throughout the day and spot the hidden letters as you do. Then re-arrange the letters to make a word and enter at www.LEGOLAND.co.uk/MakeASplash for your chance to win lots of fantastic prizes. We found all but one letter throughout the day but managed to figure out the word. We've entered our word online - fingers crossed!

We started the day as we meant to go on with the Viking River Splash ride. This type of ride is always Jack's favourite and he was having the time of his life as we rocked around the rapids. We ended up wet through but it was loads of fun. Most of the bigger rides at LEGOLAND® require a grown up to ride if your child is under 1.3m tall (minimum height requirements apply) - for us, this meant that us grown-ups had to go on the majority of the rides too (Heidi and Jack are around 125cm tall) - the park really is for the whole family.

First letter spotted........

Next up was Pirate Falls and just when we thought we couldn't get any wetter....we did! I think when it's raining you have two choices - either embrace it and accept the inevitable or *try* and stay dry which is never going to work

Our favourite rides at LEGOLAND® Windsor Resort 

Heidi is the thrill seeker in our family and loved the Jolly Rocker. She spent the whole afternoon explaining the funny feeling this ride gave her in her belly. The boys decided to sit this one out so it was up to Steve to brave it with her.

We all absolutely loved the LEGO® NINJAGO® ride. Queues were fairly long for this one as it's popular so I'd either recommend heading straight there as the park opens or waiting until the very end of the day when a lot of the crowds will have disappeared. First of all, you go through NINJAGO® training school and learn all the moves required for the ride. Then it's four riders per cart and you spend the whole ride using your Ninja skills against virtual bad guys. This is a 4D ride and you use your arms to battle the virtual enemy. It's not overly scary and suitable for the whole family (subject to height restrictions). Obviously, I am super competitive and the kids were crying at laughter at me saying I looked like I was a DJ as I was moving so fast. I've got the moves - what can I say? My plan paid off though and I ended up victorious - even beating Steve's high score. Yes!!! 

Another ride we all really enjoyed (and also part of the Splash Challenge) was the Atlantis Submarine Voyage. We joined this ride at around 4pm and the queue was only 20 minutes long. This ride is like nothing we've experienced before. Up to 14 people climb aboard a LEGO® Submarine. You then sail around the reef and can spot sharks, fish, rays and more from the submarine windows (and they are real). There are little missions to complete on board during the 'mission' and it was just a really cool ride. There are rockpool sessions throughout the day in the mini reef as you exit too. 

Hiding from the rain at LEGOLAND® Windsor Resort 

Sometimes the rain did get a little too hard to handle so we made use of the info on our 'Make a Splash' leaflet and headed indoors to dry off a little. There's a fair bit to enjoy inside but our favourite was probably the LEGO® Star Wars Mini Land. We are huge Star Wars fans and this display of models was like nothing we've seen before. The level of details was outstanding. The models moved, appeared to fly before our eyes and some were on such a grand scale. It was really interesting to watch time-lapse videos of some of the builds. There are lots of photo opportunities in this area too. Star Wars Mini Land is towards the entrance so I'd maybe leave this section until the end and pop in just before you leave.

Something else I didn't expect was the LEGO® Games Zone - an indoor area filled with PS4's where the kids (and grown-ups) can play all of their favourite LEGO® games. Harry and Jack decided on a Star Wars tournament as Heidi tried one of the mini rides next to the consoles.

If the Sun pops out...... 

Towards the end of the day, the sun finally decided to pop out for a short while and we were able to have a whistle-stop tour of some of the outdoor attractions. There's a huge mini-land to walk around with lots of buildings and landmarks you'll all recognise play LEGOLAND® has it's very own Splash Safari and Drench Towers water play area which looked fab - much bigger than expected. We'll definitely check it out next time (remember swimwear).

LEGOLAND® puts on a variety of shows throughout the day including a Pirate Skeleton Bay Stunt Show which we managed to catch - it's more suited to under 8s put it was still fun. The shows involve acrobatics, special effects and a soak zone. If you take a picnic or snack, watching a show is the ideal time to tuck in.

The grounds around LEGOLAND® are just fab to walk around. H, H and J spent the whole time pointing out everything. Our afternoon was filled with 'Look - we have that figure at Grandma's house' or 'Check out this giant LEGO® flower'. The attention to detail is great. I've read a couple of reviews saying that the park looks tired but I didn't find this to be the case at all. Everything seemed to be in really good condition.

During the summer, there's a 10m long beach with buckets and spades for kids to play with and plenty of deck chairs for us grown-ups to relax. The beach was sadly closed on the day of our visit due to the rain but we still managed a quick sneaky pic before we left.

We spent from 10am - 5pm at LEGOLAND® and managed to try around 12 rides, enjoy some of the indoor experiences and watch a show.  We had such a good day out and all really enjoyed ourselves but we feel like we only just scratched the surface - we've been thinking about buying Merlin Annual Passes next year and our trip to LEGOLAND® has really confirmed that we definitely will. I think you need two full days to explore the resort properly with older kids and we can't wait to return next year. We'd love to try the water play areas, 4D cinema, LEGO® City Driving School, Raft Racers and more. 

5 Top Tips for enjoying LEGOLAND® Windsor Resort in the rain 

1 - You can buy Ponchos from stands all around the park or park vending machines (cash only). They cost £4.50 each and are available in adult or child sizes.

2 - Usually the mobile app is supposed to be really good but if your phone is like ours, it's impossible to use when it's raining heavily. The same goes for paper maps. We relied on using the laminated map signs around the park.

3 - Lockers are available for £2 (you need a £2 coin). We popped our bags and my DSLR camera in here as didn't want them to get wet. On a dry day it's fine to carry a small bag around with you as there are places to leave them on the rides (at your own risk though).

4 - I didn't see any picnic areas that were covered over. On rainy days, I'd recommend dining in one of the on-site restaurants. We dined at City Walk Pizza and Pasta which is an unlimited buffer and as far as UK theme park food goes, it was pretty decent if I'm honest. It was £57 for the 5 of us to enjoy unlimited pizza, pasta, garlic bread, salad, ice cream, juice, water and diet fizzy drinks. I'd read before our trip to visit after 2pm so we had a big breakfast and lasted until then - good decision as it was pretty quiet then.

5 - Take bottles of water with you. These can be re-filled at water points (free of charge) throughout the day, will keep you hydrated and won't make you feel sick like the unlimited pop deals can.

Essential Info 

• We travelled to LEGOLAND® Windsor Resort by train - the journey takes 4-5 hours from Newcastle but is nice and straightforward. We travelled from Newcastle-Kings Cross-tube to Paddington-Slough-Windsor. 

• We stayed in the Travelodge Windsor which is joined onto Windsor train station. I'd recommend as it's nice and central.

• We travelled to LEGOLAND® from our hotel by Uber which was £12 for an Uber XL. There is also a shuttle bus from the station (£4 per adult and £2 per child). 

• Find out more about LEGOLAND®'s Summer of Fun here

• Nestlé Pure Life Water Buddies are available to purchase from Ocado, WHSmith, SPAR, B&M stores, Poundland, ASDA Cafes and NISA. 

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