LegoLand Billund - 20/8

[Mushroom]

Me, Rach, Jared, Mouse AT & 10WaTT decided to go on a trip out to Legoland in Billund. After a bit of research, we realised how simple it was.

Day started at Stansted airport, all ready for our Ryanair flight to Billund at 7:30am. Once Rach and Dave turned up, we headed through security and headed up to Wetherspoons for some breakfast. Once finished was time to catch our flight. Got on, flew out and had the standard trumpet.

Getting off the flight we could see the park in the distance. Got out the airport, bit of a faff trying to get a taxi for 5 of us. Then it was off to the park, 5 minutes later. Honestly, it was only about 5 minutes, and 100DKK later we were at the park. Saw the queues at the entrance of the park and thought it was going to be busy.

We headed off to the back of the park for Polar X-Plorer, their new Zierer coaster. Got there, and it had no queue! Got on, found the seats & restraints very comfy. Up the lift hill and whoa, it certainly picks up the speed, there is something for everyone in this coaster, g-force and airtime! It may not look good on camera, but my god it packs a punch. The vertical drop is a LOT better than 13. Just a small section after that which is tame, but it does go past their penguin enclosure. We quickly got another ride on it.

Next up were the Robo Arms next to Polar. You could program these yourself within reason. Me and Rach put our own one in. And it was cool getting thrown around the place. Jared has video of that. We then decided to ride the other coasters, next was their wild mouse coaster which was smooth. Nothing to shout about it. After this was their Dragon coaster. A powered Mack coaster. Normally it runs with 2 trains, but today we didn't see that in action, but could see it working. That was cool. And then onto the oldest coaster, Timber Ride, a Zierer Tivoli - Small. It was really well themed, and if you were not looking for it, you might miss it. When going around we saw a trim brake. Somehow we managed to get the train to overshoot the station, and they had problems getting the people off the front row off.

It was then decided to get some of the other attractions done. Rapids were ok, but the best bit was it's vertical lift hill and drop. Their log flume was ok, get a bit wet on their main drop. Splash battle was a much needed wetness as it was quite hot. We decided to take a look around their mini land, and some of the stuff they have done with it was just wow. We were running out of time, and decided to go get a few last rides on Polar X-Plorer. And by the end of the day it had warmed up and it was just flying around the track. Just simply amazing. Why can't Zierer get more big projects like Polar, doing things right!

It was getting around 5pm, our flight was at 7:10pm, did our tat shopping. And off back to the airport in a taxi. Another un-eventful flight home, landing at around 7:30pm UK time. And I was home just after midnight in Leeds after various stops.

I seriously recommended getting out to Legoland, it is not like Windsor, it is a proper park with the subtle bits of Lego. Such a easy park to get to. When we were near Polar X-Plorer, we saw the plane that we were on taking off over our heads. That is how close the park is to the airport. Well worth the trip!

I didn't take many photos, but done a review for Season 3 of RCRS (releasing in Jan/Feb). I will guess the others will fill in other bits I have missed and some photos. =]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUSrER_Ke48[/youtube]

 

[Jake]

Didn't realise it was so close to the airport. Might try and squeeze in a trip here before the year is out... Thanks for the inspiration!

 

[peep]

^Ditto, thought a train or something might be involved.

How much does 100DKK convert into? Basically, is that cheap? (I think it's £10, so yeah, cheap, but just want confirmation oh and was that for all 5 of you?).

It doesn't sound much like a Legoland park though, surely a Lego park should be rammed with Lego theming?

 

[Mushroom]

Yeah, around £10 for all of us!

It was quite strange, the Lego was there, but you didn't notice it. There is a skull on top of the splash battle, don't notice it straight away but it is fully made of Lego. But the Lego was in the back of the mind. It is done the best I feel! Well it is the original too =]

 

[MouseAT]

It doesn't sound much like a Legoland park though, surely a Lego park should be rammed with Lego theming?

Actually, this really is the proper Legoland park, not a half assed effort like the UK one.

Miniland is incredible, as you'd expect. The other areas have large amounts of theming made from Lego, probably on a bigger scale than the equivalents at Windsor. They're just subtle enough to blend into their surroundings somehow. It's hard to explain - I think it's because the models don't feel like they've just been "plonked down" like the ones at Windsor. I'll follow up with a trip report and a load of photos later this week once I have chance.

I'd been to the park once before, around 18 years ago. I was hoping that I wouldn't be disappointed with the place after all these years. I needn't have worried - the place genuinely blew me away. My expectations of the place were easily exceeded, and I'll definitely be making the effort to go back some time.

 

[pinklottie91]

Great trip report. Sounds like you had a good day and has certainly got me thinking about making a trip there! Can't believe it's that cheap.

Also, good POV of Polar X-Plorer.

 

[MouseAT]

Legoland Billund is the original Lego park, and it really shows. It has a wonderful atmosphere, and actually feels like a proper Lego park, not “a kids park with Lego in it” as I described Windsor after visiting. Windsor is a poor imitation by comparison, and I believe Mushroom has similar thoughts about Legoland Deutschland.

I had been to the park before around 18 years ago. Back then, the park was around half the size, and only had one coaster (Timber Ride). I didn’t get the cred back then as I was terrified of roller coasters as a kid, and besides I had more important things to do, like getting my Lego driving licence…

…going on a Lego safari…

…riding in Lego helicopters (which are one of the few attractions that are no longer at the park – I think they used to be where the frog hoppers are now)…

…visiting pirate hide-outs…

…and being amazed by the amazing stuff in Miniland:

(If you’re interested, some more of my old photos of Legoland Billund from the early 1990s are available on MyCF).

I think it’s safe to say I had fond memories of the place, and was really hoping that I wouldn’t be disappointed all these years on. I knew that most of the “old park” was still there, and that for the most the newer rides and attractions had just been added on to what was already there, but there was always that niggling thoughts of “have Merlin ruined the place the same way they have Windsor” or “are my memories just skewed as a result of being a 10 year old at a Lego park?”

I needn’t have worried. I was completely blown away by the place. It exceeded my expectations across the board.

Upon entering the park, it was clear that the old part of the park was largely unchanged.

As for the new areas, they were all tastefully done. The Lego seems to blend subtly into the surroundings and landscaping. Unlike Windsor, things don’t seem to feel like they’ve just been plonked down in the middle of the nowhere – it really feels like Billund has an eye for detail that’s missing from the UK park.

It was a pretty quiet day, but we decided to play it safe and get the creds out of the way early on. Polar X-plorer was the logical place to start.

In a word, wow. This is one of the best family coasters I’ve been on in years. It has forces, it has airtime hills, and it has a great drop system. It seems to gain speed out of nowhere, and is just downright fun. It’s not massively forceful as it’s aimed at families, but it’s got enough going for it to please enthusiasts. It’s the ride that Th13teen wishes it was. Can we have one of these in the UK please?

The coaster was walk on, so immediate re-rides were in order before it started to get “busy” (by which I mean a less than 10 minute queue).

Behind Polar Explorer are programmable robot arms, which allow you to select the intensity of your ride. We decided to have a go whilst we were nearby. Fun was had.

After that, it was on with the creds, starting with the smoothest and most comfortable wild mouse I’ve ever been on, followed swiftly by the Dragen powered coaster. Less than 90 minutes on park and that’s 3 out of 4 creds down. With that, it was time for the awesome looking rapids.

Billund’s rapids have an elevator lift and a fairly large drop towards the end. They look amazing, but looks can be deceiving. They have a few small drops throughout the circuit, but no real “rapids” as such, so you tend not to get wet on the way around. Then comes the final drop:

Boat hits water. Boat slows quickly. Mouse slams sideways into bar at side of seat. Mushy slams sideways into Mouse. Mouse goes “ouch” followed closely by something that translates roughly as “fukaxe”. Mouse has bruises for a couple of days afterwards.

With the rapids out of the way, it was time (after 18 years of waiting) to get the remaining credit of the day – the Timber Ride:

It’s a small Zierer Tivoli coaster which happened to have a really fit ride-op. We all piled on one train, completed three circuits and managed to overshoot the station on the final run.

We were now back in the older part of the park, so I was basically directing the group to where all the rides were, prompting bemused comments along the lines of “how the hell do you remember all this?”

As we were en-route to the flume, I decided to indulge in a bit of nostalgia and ride the old Minetog (mine train), which takes you past huge Lego models of Mount Rushmore and Chief Sitting Bull.

It was a baking hot day, so the Lego Canoe log flume seemed like a good plan.

The flume meanders around past a selection of Lego animals, including lions, meerkats and bears before ending in a single, fairly small (but quite wet when you have a full boat) drop.

On our way to find some food, we were amused to find a Lego man who looked oddly familiar… does anyone else think this looks suspiciously like East Coast(er) General?

It was time for lunch. The pizza and pasta buffet next to Polar X-plorer filled stomachs and quenched thirst quite successfully.

After food and some re-rides on Polar X-plorer, I persuaded everyone to indulge my nostalgia once again and ride the Lego pirate boat ride (arr!). Again, this is one of the rides I remembered from my last visit.

It was hot enough for the splash battle to look like a good plan.

It’s basically the same ride type that they have at Alton Towers. I got away without getting too wet, probably due to the park being quiet enough for a lot of the guns to be unmanned.

With most of the rides out of the way, we had a wander around Miniland. There have been a few small changes over the last 18 years, mostly minor updates to trains and vehicles.

I think we can safely guess where Legoland Windsor got their tram idea from:

They’ve added a new Lego Star Wars section to Miniland. Most of it was stuff from the new trilogy, but they’ve done an amazing job with recreating the landing pad on Endor and the battle of Hoth.

A quick ride on the monorail took us for a circuit around the Lego driving school. It’s had some changes over the years, including some re-branding, and the removal of a section of road that used to cross over the park train line, complete with level crossings. Danish health and safety law must have finally figured out that having 8-13 year olds driving across train tracks might not be such a good idea.

I think this is where the coaster re-rides all started. After a quick re-ride on the wild mouse, we got on with whoring Polar X-plorer for the rest of the day. It was good first thing in the morning, but by this point in the day it had time to warm up and was even better. Several re-rides followed, leading to the inevitable on-ride group photo:

We’d forgotten all about the robot arms, and had just about run out of time, otherwise we’d have gone back for another ride on them. As it was, we spent some time tat shopping before getting the taxi back to Billund airport ready for the flight home.

So, conclusions? I love the park. I’m definitely a Legoland Billund fanboy at this point, and I’m not ashamed to admit it. It’s got something for everyone, and is perfect for families.

On a quiet day you can get everything done in a day, and I reckon you could comfortably cred run the place in one day even if it’s busy. However, during busy periods I’m fairly sure you’d want two days to fully appreciate everything the park has to offer. There’s quite a lot to do, and if the rides all have big queues you’d miss out on a lot of the little stuff that makes the park feel special.

For those who want more photos from the trip, the ones that didn’t make this report (including loads more of Miniland) are available at https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3850289574437.143239.1194178070&type=3&l=cb1abf94aa