Review: Legoland Windsor Resort Hotel

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Booking

My birthday is in July, but it was cheaper for us to book for a Sunday evening in early October. Our half term is a week earlier than most others, so it wasn’t a peak week, meaning it was a great day for us to book.

We booked through the Merlin Holiday Club and chose a standard Kingdom Themed room – the ‘basic’ rooms seem to be the Kingdom Themed or Adventure Themed, which is great to still have a themed room to make the stay extra special. In our group there were two adults and one child. You can also pay more for other themed rooms such as Ninjago, Lego Friends or Premium Pirate rooms.

A spooky Halloween welcome to the Legoland Hotel

The booking came through straight away and then towards our stay we received emails for booking breakfast (included), dinner and any additional extras.

The day before, we received an email and a text message saying we can check-in, and giving us a QR code to scan when we arrived for our keys.

The arrival

We were at Chessington World of Adventures on the Sunday and received a text message about 3.30pm from Legoland saying our room was ready. Check-in is usually 4pm, so we were already on our way to Legoland from Chessington, and we were really excited.

Parking is opposite the hotel entrance, across the road, so we were thankful to have packed a small wheelie suitcase with our things. Parking is free for hotel guests in the hotel carpark.

You cross the road and are greeted to the familiar entrance of Legoland, with a large Lego dragon blowing his smoky nose above you – Lily was instantly excited.

As you come into the entrance, you’re instantly thrown into the world of Lego, with the biggest pit of Lego Lily had ever seen, alongside the Lego shop and the welcome desks. There were no other guests at the desks, so we got them to scan our QR code for the room booking, which can also be done on the machines.

So much Lego, so little time :D — So much Lego, so little time 😀

As it was our first visit, we preferred the reception staff to tell us what to do and where to go next. They told us our room number, gave us our keys and pointed us towards the lifts for the rooms. To get through to the rooms and to access the stairs or lift, you need to scan your keycard, which is great for security.

We dragged Lily away from building her first Lego creation and went to find our room.

The room

As soon as we got to the room, Lily was absolutely buzzing. She was so excited by the Kingdom theme and instantly grabbed the treasure map to answer the clues, to find the treasure.

The clue sheet gives you questions about things around your room, to then find the treasure in the safe.

In the safe, she found herself a pop badge, lanyard and a Lego toy to build – instant happiness.

As if that wasn’t enough, there was a huge basket of Lego under the safe for children (or adults!) to play with while you’re in the room.

Lily enjoyed having her own little area in the room

The kids’ part of the room had bunk beds, a TV and a wooden game. The adults’ had a double bed, desk and chair, with a bathroom between the two rooms.

The themed decorations were great and Lily got straight to work on the first of many Lego creations in the room!

Did I mention there was Lego in the room?

VIP Hotel Upgrades / Add-ons

As part of your stay, you’re offered VIP Upgrades add-ons to make your stay even more special, such as birthday packages, driving school package, Lego toys and more. The birthday packages I believe are left in the room for arrival, but the toy packages you collect from the store downstairs with your digital receipt.

We ordered the goody bag with minifigure voucher and Lego lunchbox, which we made and personalised in the theme park when we visited the following day – we found it great value for money and she was so excited by the bundle.

In the store, you can also get 20% discount with your Merlin Annual Pass.

Her Lego box will now come to every hotel visit with her Lego to keep her busy!

Entertainment / things to do

As well as the Lego in the room and in the reception area, you can also take part in a competition in the hotel – simply take your creation to the ground floor reception, where you will receive a sticky note to put your name and room number on and leave it on one of the shelves.

Lily was so excited to win and she had a note put under our door overnight to collect her prize the next morning. What’s more, her creation was then on display on the podium for everyone to see!

She was so proud of her winning entry on display!

Evening entertainment is in the main area by the Skyline bar. You can also find a small arcade and some games to play there too. There is a small outdoor play area and we had exclusive entry as a hotel guest to the Monster Jam show by the lake too (check your seasonal entertainment as it may vary).

Of course, entry to the theme park is included in your stay (check your booking for the day you are visiting), and we joined a queue to get into the themepark around 9.40am for the 10am park opening. Tip: get there early as the queue got long quickly and there is a mad rush for the Flight of the Sky Lion ride first thing. Incredibly, we made it on the first ride!

Food/Drink

You can get food and drink in the Skyline Bar or you can pre-book dinner in the Bricks Restaurant.

Breakfast is also in the Bricks Restaurant in the hotel – again, you need to pre-book a timeslot, although it is included in the price. You receive a choice of a hot or cold continental breakfast – I had pancakes with fruit, Daddy had the cooked breakfast and Lily had the cereal with fruit and pastries – we all enjoyed them all!

The Bricks Restaurant was well decorated

Dinner was our only real disappointment as it cost a great deal for what it was, and they took so long to serve that we missed the evening show! There were menus for children, vegan or normal diets, with a variety of choices. The menu only showed the price for 3 courses, and we didn’t realise that you could buy each separately and didn’t need to pay for 3 courses – if we had known, we wouldn’t have had the starters.

The food was OK (though the pumpkin risotto was good!) and the staff were nice, we just found it expensive.

Meeting a Lego brick in the queue for the theme park

Conclusion

We had a brilliant time at the Legoland Resort Hotel – it was a really great stay and we are so glad we experienced it.

Compared to other Merlin hotels, it wasn’t the greatest value for money and it was quite loud – plus I can see if being quite overwhelming if you are sensitive to sound and everything going on around you.

So much excitement at Legoland - she LOVED it! — So much excitement at Legoland – she LOVED it!

However, the staff were super friendly, the beds were comfy, and Lily absolutely loved having Lego in the hotel room to spend hours playing with.

I probably wouldn’t rush back (plus would need to save!), but we did have a brilliant time and we are glad to have gone in an off-peak time too. Everything was clean and you felt safe, plus the theming was very well done.

Tips for visiting

Try and stay off-peak if you can, particularly mid-week or on a Sunday night for the best deals
Get to the queue early to enter the theme park if you’re staying – you’re near the entrance to Flight of the Sky Lion, so head straight there first if you want to avoid the later queues!
If you are checking out on the day of your theme park stay, drop your keys at reception and they’ll give you a special key to get back out through the hotel again as you will need the key to get into the lift/through the doors to the resort
If you’re eating dinner, you can do so at Skyline Bar without pre-booking or pre-book at Bricks.
Remember you can order courses separately at the Bricks Restaurant rather than the single price for 3 courses on the menu
Pre-book your breakfast timeslot, although it is included in your stay. We were there at 7.15am but it can get busy 8-9am.
For information on accessibility in the resort, click here
If you forget anything, such as toiletries or need anything else, there is a small shop within the Lego store, alongside Lego toys to purchase
You get 20% off hotel stays with your Merlin Annual Pass with the Merlin Holiday Club – just remember to book theme park entry for any additional guests with Friends & Family rates.