Last Saturday, my husband and I bit the proverbial bullet and drove the short distance to Legoland in Windsor (although this being southwest London, a 27 mile trip took 1 hour and 15 minutes with the diversions). This marked Sophia’s second trip to Legoland, the first being 2 years ago as part of our California summer vacation. Aside from wildly different weather, the parks are pretty much the same – extortionately priced but still good fun for everyone, including parents I promise! I must advise those who are planning a visit to buy tickets in advance online (Get Instant Access To – LEGOLAND) because at least you won’t pay the £41.40 adult rate at the gate. Plus, look out for offers on various consumer products for discounts as Sophia went free – saving about £32 in the process – simply because of a Nutella lid.

What I really like about Legoland is that kids as young as Sophia (almost 5) can go on just about every ride with an adult. When we were in California, we had to focus on the Duplo area which consisted of a playground, mini rides, and a lego station because she was much younger; however, this zone does occupy a decent part of the park so it’s not a waste of time with smaller kids either. In any event, Sophia wanted to go on everything, even rides that made me dizzy just looking at them! The lego decorations around the park are amazing, especially the larger dinosaur models on the safari ride and the enormous spider on the tilt-a-whirl. The one gripe that I had, perhaps unsurprisingly, was the wait to get on rides. With school holidays over and less than ideal weather, the park wasn’t overly crowded at all yet we still averaged a 45 minute wait for the more popular attractions like the boat ride. In comparison, we went to Disneyland at the height of summer and rarely stood in line more than 20 minutes. Plus, the rides last an unbelievably brief amount of time so I think they need a better time management system. In the end, we stayed from 11am to 6pm (closing time) and saw everything but the last zone – the aforementioned Duplo area. Although Sophia insists she’s a big girl now, even she might admit to being slightly disappointed by this

Some final words of advice – go on the newly built Atlantis ride, a submarine voyage with views of sea life; buy birthday presents at the gift shops as they have sets for as little as £3.99; and finally, watch the Pirates of Skeleton Bay stunt show at 4pm – Sophia is still talking about it several days later!

If you look closely, I'm screaming on the (mini) roller coaster!