Richard Bannister

Back in 2004 my travels brought me to Legoland Windsor twice in the same season. The first trip took in two Dragon-themed roller coasters and the Miniland area, while the second was a quick hit-and-run for a Mack-built wild mouse that had been in an advanced state of functionality earlier in the year. (That ride was subsequently relocated to Legoland Florida where it continues to operate to this day.)

I came very close to scheduling a similarly brief return visit during my trip to London last year, but couldn’t quite bring myself to pay for a night of accommodation (not to mention park admission) for an ART Engineering kiddie coaster. The twin-tracked Zierer coaster added this year was somewhat more of an incentive, but in all honesty the primary motivation for staying an extra night this time round was the opportunity to catch up with my London-based brother over dinner. Getting in another park day at the same time was a bonus.

I had to decide in advance how long to stay in the park today. Option one was to remain until closing time, while option two was to cut my afternoon short at about 3:00pm so as to arrive home in Ireland before midnight. The latter was my preferred choice, but I decided to sacrifice a few hours of sleep when I realised that the late flight was a quarter of the price of the one two hours earlier. As it turned out I was glad of the extra time; I could easily have spent a few more hours exploring.

My day began at Minifigure Speedway (#3145). The park’s latest attraction is a pair of intertwined coasters from Zierer that look and feel very much like the Gerstlauer Shuttle Family Coaster (or for preference the Vekoma Family Boomerang). The two tracks are for the most part mirror images of each other, with the only real difference being a slight adjustment to the curve radii that allows the two trains to pass face-to-face at speed (as seen above). Guests are not able to choose their side; a staff member at the split point sends twenty people at a time to the left or right hand queue as per availability.

My first lap was on the red “all stars” track. I ended up in the front seat, which was respectable enough if not overly memorable. After a thirty-five minute wait I was assigned there again, but I asked politely if I could wait a cycle for the blue “legends” track, and the staff member was happy to oblige. Being the first into line meant that I got the unexpected bonus of another front seat. Once again the experience was perfectly fine for what it was, if not something I’d go out of my way to queue for again.

As the other coaster on my shopping list was experiencing technical problems I made my next stop at Ninjago: The Ride, a Triotech-built dark ride that over the last few years has become a staple of the Legoland chain. Players demonstrate their ninja skills by means of gesticulation, and this is great when it works (and hilarious to watch). Unfortunately it does seem somewhat temperamental; today the system wasn’t working in my car at all, so after about thirty seconds of silly waving I gave up and watched the screens instead.

I had to wait a thoroughly embarrassing 40 minutes to ride DUPLO Dino Coaster (#3146), a beautifully themed kiddie coaster. The ride experience was everything I expected it to be and more, thanks to a supremely irritating giggling dinosaur soundtrack that played every time the train crested the lift hill. It's vaguely amusing to me that 882 other people have the ride ticked on Coaster-Count as of this writing, less than fifty of whom are children. One wonders what percentage of riders in a typical year are adults without children in tow.

My next stop was at the Haunted House Monster Party. I’d sort of assumed this to be a dark ride, but realised about half an hour into my wait that the building was much too small for that. Sure enough it turned out to be a Vekoma Mad House, otherwise known as a haunted swing. I suspect I may have been in this hobby too long, as the visual effect was entirely lost on me today. I overheard a fellow guest describing their experience as “weird”, which is more or less spot on for what I felt. On a happier note though it meant that I could sit down for a few minutes, which I very much appreciated.

I was a great deal more excited by Flight of the Sky Lion, my first encounter with a Brogent Technologies m-Ride Flying Theatre. The hardware can be thought of as a more compact version of the manufacturer’s i-Ride product (used by most existing flying theatres). The primary difference is that individual ride units are not raised from ground level; instead, guests climb stairs to the level they will experience the show at. The individual seat blocks are then rotated 180 degrees to face the screen when the show begins.

I’m not usually one for superlatives, but they are deserved here: Flight of the Sky Lion was exceptional. I was lucky enough to be seated in the centre car, so I got the best that the ride had to offer, but even leaving that aside I thought that the rendered footage was superb and very well synchronised with the ride motion system, providing a convincing flight sensation that was far better than normal for the type. Our “flight” followed a defined path rather than jumping from one location to another every few seconds, which made the whole experience feel almost real.

I had two hours to go until closing time, and I figured that it would be unconscionably rude not to reintroduce myself to dragons. I started with Dragon’s Apprentice, mainly because I could, and found myself impressed; a small family coaster that from the outside looks little different to a SBF single helix was smooth, forceful, and fun. The bonus dip and turnaround at the end was icing on the cake.

With that done, I wrapped up my day with three laps on Dragon, notable for being the longest coaster ever manufactured by the now-defunct WGH Transportation. It features a dark ride section followed by a faster outdoor section with three lift hills. The first two prefix drops and helices, while the third feels almost like an accidental addition required to get the train back to the station. Was the experience life changing? No, but I did very much enjoy it.