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NickD

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All sounds interesting stuff, however I'm still concerned of all this going ahead seeing how clogged the traffic around that can take up to hours to clear from park closing, but it's good the park trying to tackle its traffic issues despite limited resources and it's tricky area.

The hotel expansion is no surprise to me at all, considering that the main hotel is always running on full capacity, the way otherMerlin parks have expanded accommodation recently (notably Chessington) plus how close proximity the expanded area is to the main hotel actually is.

It's a shame we will likely be losing Dino Safari, which is a decent little ride with some great models even with its low throughput which is likely around 300 PPH and often receives long queues on busy days (being Legoland is often), but if this is the only option for the park to allow further expansions to the park, then so be it I guess.

Chances are it'll be a new second hotel (castle theme), but likely joined to the other hotel like the ones in Towers & Chessington. I've heard from another source (Southparks) if true, windsor council is looking at increasing overnight accommodation in the windsor area and even though this like the other hotel will be three times more than other nearby hotels, this may well be the sweetener the park needs (if approved).

The haunted house is a ride the park desperately need as it ticks all the boxes of being another immersive experience, indoor/dark ride attraction, high'ish throughput and another attraction older guests can probably enjoy. In addition to some slight amendments, I just hope this can go ahead even with the issues previously as for a park getting over 2.2 million guests a year, the council do need to realise the park is a business gold mine and is surely bringing a lot of good to the area (minus traffic).

Despite being a major attraction, I don't think the attendance level will increase as much as they think as ironically the park's biggest years on growth have been in 2012 and 2014, when in one year we saw just the new Star Wars and hotel whilst last year we only saw a rethemed log flume and new play area. When the park's last big ride Atlantis opened in 2011, the attendance level was very much the same as 2010's.

This purchased farm land is an interesting thing too, could we be seeing another form of accommodation in a few years time (Lego enchanted forest anyone) or maybe a second exit, to divert traffic from the main road. I just hope all this works out as its all exciting if it goes ahead.

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It's a shame we will likely be losing Dino Safari, which is a decent little ride with some great models even with its low throughput which is likely around 300 PPH and often gas long queues on busy days (being Legoland is often), but if this is the only option for the park to allow further expansions to the park, then so be it I guess.

Dino Safari has to go anyway. I've seen the poor thing suffer with my own eyes. I've heard that the ride hardware is designed to be used indoors, which is why the cars pack up whenever it rains. Still, it would be a shame to see it go, considering it's the queue audio that gets me all the time. Heck - even when I'm checking the toilet block I always hear Johnny Thunder's excited remarks; "Kilroy! I've discovered a massive volcano in the distance...and it's about to blow!"

 

But to be honest, I think Adventure Land does need to fit in with Atlantis Submarine Voyage a lot more (with the exception of the hotel)...and with S.Q.U.I.D Surfer around the corner, it's already had a start.

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Adventure land died with Jungle Coaster. Atlantis doesn't work with the area, wave surfer has had an awful overlay with stickers to make it squid surfer and there's a bright and colourful hotel in between them. The area hasn't worked for a long time!

No surprise they're resubmitting Ghost, and a hotel expansion was to be expected. Nothing too exciting about the future really.

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Dino Safari has to go anyway. I've seen the poor thing suffer with my own eyes. I've heard that the ride hardware is designed to be used indoors, which is why the cars pack up whenever it rains..

This surprises me greatly seeing as the ride is ten years old and was the last ride installed prior to Merlin buying the park's in 2005. However the issue does sound feesable considering in recent years the ride seems to always close during rain (I think it's another of those that can't run at night either).

I think this would be the final nail in the coffin for the 'old' adventure land we knew even though that very much died in 2010 with just the surfer & Atlantis rides just left on top of the new haunted house ride (could we see another re-themed area I wonder?).

If these plans are approved (which I hope they are), I can see Dino closing down at the end of this season, maybe even before the end as the hotel would involve quite a lot of ground work. Most redeveloped rides/attractions of previous years have closed in September/October time.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Well it seems despite resubmitting the application for the haunted house, Windsor Cancel (council) have ruled out the application due to it being too similar to the old one.

Source- Southparks

http://www.southparks.co.uk/2015/07/15/legoland-windsor-resort-haunted-house-experiences-further-set-back/

Really hope they can get around this as its ride the park really need and would add to the lineup well. If they lose this again, I wonder if they can appeal to the high court/ government or discretely build it (snd claim the construction is hotel related) I wonder.

Windsor cancel (council) have just made it to. Y list of enemies

(The term cancel implies an event or plan scheduled to go ahead that no longer happens).

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Typical NIMBYs.

I can't blame them for whining about the roads, if what I hear about Legoland is right they need a serious redesign, but some of these parks have stupid local authorities.

Maybe they should just offer to repave all the local roads or build some nice fences and be done with it, bribery seems to work for others just fine.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Yesterday didn't seem like a good day for LEGOLAND. Another powercut and only 3 RIDES open. Not sure what ones but I know Atlantis was one of them, and even when it was open it broke down 3 times. Not sure how the park is running today but I will see tomorrow when I go.

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Yesterday didn't seem like a good day for LEGOLAND. Another powercut and only 3 RIDES open. Not sure what ones but I know Atlantis was one of them, and even when it was open it broke down 3 times. Not sure how the park is running today but I will see tomorrow when I go.

I hope they offered guests compensation!
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Bet they told all the guests who visited tough potatoes and charged them DOUBLE to get out of the car park...

OF COURSE they would've offered compensation...

A refund or just free return tickets though? Because the latter isn't really good enough if people are only visiting on a one off visit and have travelled from a distance.
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Given that:

 

1 - No park ever gives out full refunds

2 - Power cuts aren't exactly the fault of the park

 

Free return tickets are the standard in the situation... I don't know exactly what you expect the parks to do when an unplanned incident forces mass closures...

 

Though I'm sure if guests contacted the park for further discussions they would be open to it...

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Haha - I'm sure about 5 years ago Merlin started charging for Maps. It was very short lived though!

Happened at Thorpe in 2007 for a short period of time. I think that was introduced before Merlin were in charge though, and only lasted a few months. I can't remember of other parks stated charging though!

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