Legoland
On Friday we drove down to Legoland for M’s birthday treat. The journey went better than expected, because L slept most of the way and M didn’t whine “are we there yet” too often. We booked one of those £26 Travelodge rooms for Friday night and arrived about 4pm, so we unloaded the car and then went for an early tea at the Harvester next door and then had an early night. L woke every hour or two, probably a combination of the roll-together double bed and not having fed as much during the drive down. I ended up swapping for the firmer sofa-come-single-bed during the night, but L managed to squirm around and take up most of the mattress so it wasn’t very restful.
On Saturday we were up fairly early, and having declined the Travelodge “breakfast” which costs a fortune and isn’t that nice, we found a Sainsburys on the way to Legoland and went in their Starbucks cafe for an unhealthy breakfast of Danish pastries/muffin and coffee. We got to Legoland for it opening and it was heaving. We went on a Saturday because of the jousting event and we have passes so it was no more expensive than a school day. But on reflection, the event didn’t come close to making up for how busy it was on a weekend and the length of the queues. Ah well, M would have been disappointed if we’d not gone this weekend and it was his treat.
The weather was perfect for visiting Legoland - warm, but not too warm, and sunny. Warm enough to go on the wet rides without worrying, but not so hot that it was an effort to be out all day in the sun.
We had to be a little bit more selective than usual in deciding which rides to go on because the queues were long. We watched the Lego 4D Racers show because that’s always a favourite. Then M and I went on “the leaf ride”. Fairy Tale Brook is a ride we go on every time we visit (we used to live near Legoland and went alot in the past) but this time M got into looking out for the objects (TV, mixer etc) in the scenes, and it was lovely to go on a ride with just the 2 of us, without L. We queued up for the new dino safari ride but it’s poorly designed (IMHO) because it’s little jeeps that only seat 2, so all the parents who were one parent with 2 small children were having to leave one at the ride entrance to take the other child on. Seeing as the ride is aimed at the little ones, this is just plain daft. And I couldn’t go on because I was carrying L (in a wraparound sling, so he was hardly going to fall out!) as he isn’t the minimum 92cm tall.
We worked our way down to the lighthouse area to watch the stunt show - glad we found seats over on the left and not in the splash zone, because the people sitting there looked like they were pretty much drowned by water sprays! After lunch in the restaurant we went to the castle area, wondering what all the people were lining up for. It turned out to be the queue to watch the jousting. It started opposite the castle entrace and was all the way back to before the toilets in the pirate area - huge queue! We decided to join it on the off chance we’d get in to see the next show, and we did, though A had M sat on his shoulders for 20 mins (ouch!) otherwise he wouldn’t have been able to see. The show area was just a field, no tiered seating or anything sensible like that!
Next, A and M went on the Pirate Falls flume ride and I went to watch for them coming down, in the seating area for the cafe next door. I stood watching and waiting for them to get on the ride for about 45 mins and got a sunburnt face, but they enjoyed the splash when they finally got there. M continued the wet theme by having a go on the gold wash. Then we walked back through miniland for M to go in the water park in duploland (wouldn’t let him go there til last thing in the day), where he stripped down to his undies and got as wet as possible. He was having a whale of a time, but we pulled him out when he started shivering, dried him off with a muslin (all we had) and put him back in his clothes to warm up again. I went to buy doughnuts and drinks while A and M built racing cars and tested them.
Then it was back to the top to shop and for M to spend birthday money. He bought a Star Wars set and the Knights Kingdom chess set. We finally left Legoland about 5.45pm to start the long drive home.
The drive was fine while it was light. L slept a bit and was generally fairly happy. We stopped for something to eat at a Little Chef, but once we got back on the road L started screaming and it was awful. We were all tired and he was hard to console. We stopped for another feed and he had a wee, then he started crying again as soon as we set off. We worked out he hates driving in the dark, because he stopped crying when we went through a motorway section that was lit. In the end we found he calmed down if we had the interior light on and I reached back through the seats to stroke his head. He fell asleep eventually and we got home just before midnight.
Both L and M were stars really, with the long drives and everything. We had L in disposables but managed to EC quite a bit. Whenever we stopped I took him to the toilets and he usually had a wee. We caught pretty much all the poos while we were away, so that was more comfortable for him. The only big one I missed was on the way home when I’d only just taken him for a wee in the Little Chef (horrible toilets there, ugh) and thought he couldn’t possibly need to go (and felt a bit embarrassed going back and forth to the loo with him). Legoland has decent toilets and the baby changing rooms have a changing mat and a loo in the same room, so I could go too. The only awkward bit was in the Baby Centre, where they have one big room with alcoves with baby changing areas, but no toilet.
