On Friday 18th July, we got back in the car and
headed north up the M3 towards London, and our destination for the day,
Legoland at Windsor. We were about 5 minutes away from the carpark when Elle received a
call from Kate to relay the bad news that Pippi had a stroke earlier that day.
The news was that she seemed physically OK, but that she had lost the ability
to speak. This was terribly distressing
for Elle, but she put on an incredibly brave face in front of the kids, so
their huge excitement in anticipation of the day wasn’t diminished.
After completing the call and parking the car, we entered
Legoland not long after the gates opened at 10am. We then went and collected our Q-Bot device, which
would assist us greatly during the day to minimise the waiting times for rides.
Pleasingly, Grace and William had both just grown to exceed
120cm in height, and so were able to go on every ride without adult
supervision. Also, Xavier had just
exceeded 100cm, and so was able to go on every ride with adult supervision.
First up, we went on two dragon themed roller coaster rides,
one of which started in finished in a castle.
This is shown in the photo immediately below, along with the knight on
horseback and dragon, all made form lego bricks.
Andrew, Grace and William then went on the ride below, where
they spun around beneath a giant spider made of Lego.
Elle then took the kids on big dragon-themed water
ride. This was popular, and was
revisited later in the day for another go.
Andrew took Grace and William on the more traditional
‘flume’ ride including a drop and splash section at the end. The photo below of them about to splashdown
was taken automatically by a fixed camera and the image displayed on a wall as
they exited the ride. Note Grace
bunkering down at the front, and William gritting his teeth and holding on
tight.
All 3 kids then got the lego car licences and went for a
drive. Going solo in a ride like this
was a first for Xavi and he struggled to get the gist of both using the
accelerator and steering. As such he was
only in motion for about 50% of the available time. But, he was very happy during that 50%.
Another ride we were all able to go on was the Atlantis
submarine, which took us underwater into a large aquarium containing sharks,
sting rays and many other fish.
Elle and the kids then took to the skies on a little
helicopter ride.
All up, we probably spent about 80% of the day seeking or
experiencing the great rides. Aside from
breaks for lunch and other snacks, the remainder of the time (about one hour,
close to the end of the day) was spent walking around Miniworld. Miniworld is what Andrew always dreamed of
visiting when he was a kid (in Denmark, because they only had the original Legoland
in the 1970’s). It is where they build
replicas of iconic buildings and structures, arranged by city or country.
By 5pm, we were all tired, especially Xavi, who fell asleep
on Andrew’s legs while waiting for Elle ot battle the crowd to buy a few
souvenirs.
Fortunately, he did wake up on while being carried out, just
in time for the family photo.
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