We arrived at the Legoland Resort Hotel on a sunny Friday afternoon and it would be fair to say the excitement in the back of the car exceeded that in the front. While I wasn’t exactly bricking it (this won’t be the last Lego-related pun, I’m afraid), my previous experiences of resort park hotels didn’t fill me with the confidence that I was in for a pleasurable stay.
However, from the moment I walked under the hotel’s ‘concierge’ – a smoke billowing Lego dragon – I began to think I was being overly pessimistic. The clouds lifted further upon entering the lobby where a rather whizzy online check-in allowed us to obtain our room cards in speedy fashion.
Making a splash
Before venturing to our quarters for the evening – a luxury family Pirate room – we had another piratic appointment to keep: a ‘splashbuckling’ date at the hotel’s pirate splash pool.
The facility is divided into two areas: a small heated pool perfect for children of any age, and a separate area replete with mini slides. The sessions in the pool are just 30 minutes long – but this is of course calibrated to the age of the patrons and seemed just right. The changing facilities are also spacious and well kept, albeit an overenthusiastic soap dispenser managed to disgorge its contents into my daughter's eye, leading to the sort of screams one might associate with an actual piratic encounter.
After leaving the pool, we headed up to the hotel’s mezzanine level for some light refreshments. While nothing special, it is all perfectly pleasant and the bar reasonably well stocked.
Legotopia discovered
With energy levels restored, we headed to a brand-new hotel facility – the sensory room. Spoiler alert but this is by a mile the best thing about the hotel and warrants the stay alone. There is no other way of describing it than ‘Legotopia’.
It was enjoyed as much by our eight-month-old as it was by our six-year-old. And both my wife and I were mightily impressed too. We particularly liked the interactive tool that allows you to build your own Lego creature and then watch it swim on a screen, committed, as far as we are aware, to Lego posterity. For a room teeming with boisterous tots, it felt incongruously mindful.
The one 'bricking' point
An afternoon of swimming and brick building left us feeling peckish so we headed to the hotel’s native Bricks restaurant which offers table service and an a la carte menu. To be blunt, what it doesn’t offer – at least if our meals were anything to go by – is particularly tasty food. Perhaps this is to be expected but despite a wide-ranging menu, the quality was low. The same went for the breakfast offering which was also mediocre, though at least included in the price of the package, unlike the evening meal. My advice to Legoland would be to offer fewer options but make them better.
Yet the food really is the only slight wrinkle in the whole offering, and no one is going to a theme park hotel for its grub. I should add the caveat that there is another restaurant on the site – the Tournament Tavern – which offers an enhanced dining experience.
Entertainment aplenty
Back to the entertainment, and the resort’s evening offering is bound to delight any child – it certainly delighted our daughter. First she met a range of Lego characters before watching a magical story time and participating in a Master Builders show where she learnt how to make a Lego castle. A disco is the denouement but I confess we snuck off to our room before this got underway.
Our cabin for the night
So what does a luxury Pirate room at Legoland resort offer? Well a trove of delights, some quite literally found in a trove at the end of a fun treasure hunt set for all young guests, including, unsurprisingly, some brilliant packs of Lego.
Block party!
The following day we entered the theme park full of excitement and anticipation. This review isn’t centred on the park but it warrants a brief nod as it is such good fun. Our favourite ride was the immersive Flight of the Sky Lion – and the classic Legoland portion of the park has to be seen to believed. However, the greatest compliment we can pay the Legoland Adventure Resort Hotel is that it in no way played second fiddle to the theme park over the course of our two-day visit.
More information on short stays and packages at the theme park can be found on the Legoland Adventure Resort Hotel website.
