chessington or legoland (or both?) for a 4 and nearly 2 year old

[pilsbury]

want to take them for a special day out, but unsure which is more suitable for their age range... chessington obvs has the zoo which is great for everyone and is cheaper but legoland... well its legoland, so its bound to be amazing!

we will be going on a friday or monday to avoid crowds and expensive prices. which do you think would be more fun for them?

[Lochie]

I went to Legoland last summer with similarly aged children. It is amazing but have to say it is so so massive that we could only do a fraction of what was there, and queues for the rides were 45 mins plus, which was hard to explain to a 2 and 4 year old. Plus my then 4 yr old is a bit of a softy and was too frightened to go on a lot of the rides. I went out of term time on a weekday and it was absolutely heaving. So not sure if there is ever a way to avoid the crowds. It is very expensive and I did leave thinking it would have been better value for money if i'd done it when my kids were a little older (my son is now 5 and a half and really into Star Wars so that alone would probably make it worth a visit as there is a great Lego Star Wars section). I'm sure there are some Legoland pros on here who can comment on when to go when less busy and how to avoid queues etc.

I haven't been to Chessington since I was a child so can't comment but would be interested to hear on this as we are thinking of going ourselves.

[Mariamadeit]

Lego land is better in the spring/autumn when the crowds aren't there and when your younger one is three as this is the cut off age for some rides, my daughter wasn't 3 at the time we went and got v frustrated at not being able to go on rides with her brother. Tesco do great money off vouchers for Lego land too so we got in at a fraction of the price.

[LalKJ]

Agree on Legoland. We went with my 2 and 4 year old in October, and there was lots to entertain both. Just to say, I don't think most rides have an age cut-off, it is mainly done on height restrictions - I think for some it's a metre but many are 90 cm. It's worth checking your 2 year old is within heights stipulated before going otherwise you will have to be split with one child able to do one thing and one another - may not work if there's just one adult!

[mima08]

Hiya, I cannot wait to do both (after remortgaging the house). I was told by another dad that his son was a bit disappointed as there was no (or not much?) Lego to play with at Legoland as it's more about the rides & displays? I am sure someone can tell me if that's correct, but it means I'll have to manage expectations...

[Fuschia]

They do have a lego day ... We went last year ... There were some tents with things to do

Use tesco sats out vouchers to get a day pass, then pay for qbots.

If you are with small children that must be accompanied on rides, you need only one per child. They start at about ?15

It's fiendishly expensive to actually pay at the gate

Get there before it opens, dash right through to the dragon rides then work back

Prioritise the rides, don't try to go on them all

Duplo world and water park and the free play area there are best plus the pirate performance

Best time to go is June or sept, well away from school holidays

[Fuschia]

For animals try paradise wildlife park - loads of plsy areas, shows, paddling pool

[Mariamadeit]

Yes there is height restrictions but there is also age limits for several rides, my daughter was asked several times how old she was, she was nearly 3 but as she said she was 2, she was refused entry.

[LI]

Legoland is great, but I think you would have a good time at Chessington as well. Plus it is much easier to get to so you have the option of going for half a day. Young children get pretty tired at both of them so a full day may be too much. Chessington has lots of rides suitable for under 5s, plus the zoo and Safari(your 2 year old may be too small for the safari ride but you can still see the animals from the viewing platform), an aquarium and a soft play. I've been in October at the weekend to Chessington and not had to queue much for any ride, so I would have thought a week day this time of year would be fine.

[curlykaren]

How about Paultons? It's got peppa pig world in it, fabulous gardens, water play park, loads of kiddie rides outside of the peppa pig area and loads of easily accessible lockers for dumping swim stuff/picnic/coats. I found it to be far less frantic than legoland or chessington because there is just so much greenery to relax in/near when not doing rides. Really lovely park.

[coffeelover]

Hi, just wondering if anyone has stayed overnight at Legoland or surrounding areas and which hotel you'd recommend (for a family of 4, 2+2). Done some research but thought I'd widen my options! Thanks!

[scareyt]

Hi we stayed at the Hilton in Bracknell for Legoland, it's about a 20 min drive away but was surprisingly cheap on a Sunday night as part of a package with two days of park tickets. It has a nice pool & saunas which made it a treat. No kids menu for food though so the evening meal in the bar there was quite expensive. But so much nicer than the Legoland food we didn't mind! Having two days in the park was great and we all loved it. Our son was nearly 5 and I'm glad we waited till then to go - I think it would be quite frustrating/tiring for a two year old.

[sbain]

We stayed at Runnymede-on-thames - it was fab. Really great with the kids, there is a playground and a swimming pool on the grounds and the restaurant is very child-friendly. http://www.runnymedehotel.com/rooms/staying_with_kids/

[njc97]

We stayed at the Legoland hotel. Pros: it's incredible exciting for the kids, the swimming pool in the hotel is good fun, you get into park early the next day, we went in autumn and they had Chima fireworks in the evening.

Cons: it's expensive, the food is awful, particularly if you have lunch in one of the restaurants in the park as well.