Mr Tin Field is a correct AFOL – that’s Grownup Fan of Lego earlier than you suppose I’m being impolite. One among his high causes for having children was so he would legitimately play with LEGO once more. So, it wasn’t too troublesome persuading him we should always hop throughout the border from Oman for a keep on the LEGOLAND Dubai Lodge.
Me? I’m not such an enormous LEGO fan. It by no means grabbed me as a baby. However, with a observe up keep booked on the QE2 resort nearer to Downtown Dubai, I used to be completely happy to go alongside for the trip.
On this evaluation of the LEGOLAND Dubai Lodge I’m going to share what the children and AFOL in our household thought, plus the expertise for non-AFOLs like me. As a result of, let’s face it, LEGO followers are going to like staying proper within the brick, I imply thick, of it regardless.
*This submit accommodates affiliate hyperlinks*
Our keep at LEGOLAND Dubai Lodge
We booked our LEGOLAND Dubai Keep and Play deal in the course of the Easter college holidays.
Included was our Journey fully-themed room (I’ll go into the room choices in a bit), buffet breakfast every day and entry to one among three Dubai Parks and Resorts parks for every evening of our keep.
We set off from Muscat tremendous early, crossed the border with out a lot faff (we’re Oman residents), skirted across the again of the town getting glimpses of the Burj Khalifa by means of the haze and arrived at Legoland Dubai in time for a late lunch.
Once we lived in Devon in South West England we by no means contemplated staying at LEGOLAND Windsor*, regardless of it being about the identical journey time because it was for us right here within the Center East. We’ve modified!
Arriving at LEGOLAND Dubai made me want we’d made the hassle earlier. Whilst a non-AFOL.
Our women had been beside themselves after they noticed the resort. We’ve by no means stayed wherever fairly so ‘themed’.
Themed rooms at LEGOLAND Dubai
There are 5 room ideas accessible: Journey, LEGO Buddies, Kingdom, NINJAGO and Pirate. They’re situated on totally different flooring with hallways which are adorned with the identical theme.
The LEGO Buddies and NINJAGO rooms are the costliest.
Commonplace themed rooms can sleep as much as 5 individuals. They’ve a King-sized mattress, bunk mattress and pull out mattress beneath the bunks.
Inside every theme you may improve to a fully-themed room (with extra decorations) or a collection which sleeps as much as eight individuals with a King-sized mattress, bunks and couch mattress.
Our Journey fully-themed room
We determined to e book an Journey fully-themed room because it reminded us of our 10 day tour of Egypt the earlier Easter. The worth distinction between this and a baseline Journey themed room was about £20 per evening.
If the children we excited once we arrived on the resort, they had been beside themselves as we took a trip on the disco elevate and used our wrist bands to unlock our room.
By the way in which, the wrist bands are tremendous helpful. They meant we didn’t want to fret about leaving the room with out the important thing.
LEGO theming
Whilst a non-AFOL, I used to be impressed with our room. It appeared precisely prefer it did within the photos on the LEGOLAND Lodge web site.
The furnishings and fashions had been good and there didn’t seem like a lot put on and tear. The lavatory is the one place there isn’t any LEGO ornament however the whole lot else was brick-tastic from ground to ceiling.
The women made fast work of the in-room treasure hunt, liberating their small LEGO units from the protected and setting about making them whereas we unpacked.
They then discovered the Duplo field.
Household room format
The format of the LEGOLAND resort rooms is fairly distinctive within the Center East. Most resorts that say their rooms accommodate households don’t provide everlasting beds for the children. Households of 4 or extra should all pile into the King measurement, request or deliver additional beds, or e book two rooms.
We largely discover ourselves doing the latter as the women are properly into their pre-teen years.
At this resort there are bunks for the children with an additional roll out mattress beneath to sleep as much as three youngsters and a King measurement for the adults. These are separated by a brief hall off which you will discover an open hanging area and the door to the toilet.
In themed and absolutely themed rooms the toilet as a walk-in bathe, sink and bathroom. There are baths within the household suites.
Meals on the LEGOLAND Lodge
The buffet breakfast within the resort’s Bricks Household Restaurant was included in our Keep and Play package deal. The meals on provide was actually good with a spread of cold and warm worldwide dishes and, to the women’ delight, doughnuts and frozen yoghurt.
We discovered one of the best time to reach was at 8am. The LEGOLAND park doesn’t open till 10am and Motiongate is even later at 11am, so we had been consuming properly earlier than the frenzy.
We additionally ate lunch within the Bricks Household Restaurant on two days. That is al a carte and, to be sincere, a bit expensive for fairly fundamental meals. However we’ve discovered that’s the case with most locations within the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) international locations.
Youngsters meals value greater than £10 and grownup meals had been between £12 and £20 every.
We made the error of pondering the meals within the resort could be cheaper than the LEGOLAND theme park however after wanting the costs in each locations we may have saved cash within the park.
One other place to eat within the resort is the Skyline Lounge. I assumed this is likely to be on the roof just like the title suggests, however it’s truly on the other facet of reception to the primary restaurant. Skyline serves the identical menu because the restaurant.
The distinction is that this seems like a extra grown up area with a bar, excessive tables with bar stools, couch seating and fewer ‘in your face’ LEGO theming. It’s mild reduction for non-AFOLs. Though I’d have been way more enthusiastic about it if it had been a roof bar.
There’s a cheerful hour (purchase two chosen drinks and get one free) every day from 12pm to 2pm and 6pm to 8pm.
Options to consuming on the resort
If you wish to discover different and even cheaper locations to eat we advocate taking a brief stroll or taxi trip to Dubai Outlet Village the place you will discover eating places in addition to discounted designer manufacturers. We bought pizza and comfortable drinks at Papa Murphy’s for about £30 for the 4 of us.
Riverland can be simply exterior the resort grounds. This huge leisure area with buildings impressed by Fifties North America and seventeenth Century France has eating places, bars and small sights lining a artifical river.
I say small, however you will discover the world’s largest camel sculpture and the world’s largest out of doors inflatable assault course right here.
It’s all very Dubai!
We went to Riverland for dinner one night and, whereas the costs had been additionally very Dubai, the meals was good. We ate at The Keg which is modelled on a conventional Irish pub with wooden panelling and a tiled bar.
There have been numerous different choices, however this one pulled us in as a result of we’re lacking Sundays down the pub within the UK.
The theme parks
We had three parks included in our three evening Keep and Play deal: LEGOLAND Dubai, the LEGOLAND Water Park and Motiongate.
After I was wanting Dubai Parks and Resorts on Google Maps I hadn’t realised fairly how shut the LEGOLAND Lodge was to all of those.
I used to be nonetheless none-the-wiser once we arrived as we didn’t see a lot driving in the direction of the resort and our room was dealing with the elaborately adorned frontage. So it was a little bit of a shock once we walked out the again entrance, handed the pool and there they had been.
It takes lower than two minutes to depart the resort grounds and stroll to the doorway of each LEGOLAND Dubai and the water park.
Motiongate is a bit additional away however nonetheless solely a ten minute stroll.
LEGOLAND Dubai
We determined to begin our theme park tour with LEGOLAND realizing that our women had been on the high finish of its target market. Our technique was to work as much as the joys rides at Motiongate the next day.
We’d not been to a LEGOLAND park earlier than so can’t examine them, however in case you’re an everyday who hasn’t been to Dubai but, it has 40 rides in comparison with LEGOLAND Windsor’s 55. Apparently the location can be a lot smaller, which is definitely a bonus in Dubai as you wish to minimise the quantity of strolling you do within the warmth.
It was the primary time we’d been to a theme park the place we knew the children would have the ability to go on all of the rides. In reality some had been a bit too tame for them. This mixed with the non-existent queues meant we solely spent three hours wandering by means of the park’s six zones.
Our favorite rides had been The Dragon, Submarine Journey, Rescue Academy and the Misplaced Kingdom Journey. These had been a bit extra thrilling for older children.
We additionally frolicked wanting on the large fashions in MINILAND and making race vehicles within the Construct & Take a look at expertise.
If we had youthful children I’m certain we’d have spent extra time within the numerous indoor and out of doors play areas, and on a number of the decrease key rides.
Nonetheless, solely spending half the day right here meant we had loads of time to go to LEGOLAND Water Park within the afternoon.
Tip: purchase a few the memento drinks bottles on the park entrance. These can be utilized for bottomless refills round LEGOLAND Dubai and the Water Park on the day you buy them.
They value 79 AED (about £17.25) every or 69 AED (about £15.05) while you purchase two or extra. We shared two between us and bought greater than our cash’s price of juices and comfortable drinks. You want the liquids within the warmth!
LEGOLAND Water Park Dubai
We had an important afternoon right here, spending two and a half hours driving flumes, tubes and rafts.
There’s additionally a wave pool, a lazy river full with bricks and the good Joker Soaker water playground. In addition to 20 water sights there’s numerous solar loungers out and in of the shade.
For me, as a non-AFOL this was much more enjoyable than the theme park.
Motiongate
The following day we moved onto the most important Hollywood themed park within the Center East with rides and sights primarily based on films by the DreamWorks Animation, Columbia Footage and Lionsgate studios.
We’s seen a number of the rollercoasters from the Legoland Water Park the day earlier than, which gave us a heads up about how totally different they’d be.
Total, we had an important day at Motiongate. It was well-worth saving a complete day for it. There have been a great deal of the massive thrill rides that we craved after LEGOLAND and the movie set staging was good.
There have been additionally only some queues regardless of it being a weekend within the Easter holidays.
In addition to the rollercoasters and movement simulators for older children and adults there have been loads of enjoyable issues to do for youthful youngsters.
The Smurfs Village has a decrease key rollercoaster, play zones and reveals and there are light sights with characters little ones will recognise within the Dreamworks Animation Zone.
A few of our favorite rides had been within the Lionsgate and Columbia Footage areas. We haven’t launched the children to movies just like the Starvation Video games or Zombieland but however that didn’t cease them having fun with these excessive adrenaline rides.
We spent seven hours doing 17,000 steps across the Motiongate and got here again to the Legoland resort exhausted.
How do these Dubai theme parks examine to Yas Island in Abu Dhabi?
We visited Yas Island final yr so had been evaluating it with Dubai as we went. Had been LEGOLAND Dubai, the water park and Motiongate pretty much as good as Warner Bros Studios, Yas Water Park and Ferrari World on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi?
No.
The Dubai Parks are a bit older so – sometimes for this area – they don’t have the most important, quickest or most excessive tech rides.
At Motiongate just a few of the rides and cafes had been shut and I observed some shifting components within the tour-type rides had been damaged.
A giant bonus was that food and drinks was less expensive in Dubai than within the Yas parks.
We’d positively contemplate going to Motiongate once more if we had been again in Dubai, whereas we’d not trouble with LEGOLAND. However a whole lot of that’s to do with the age of our youngsters.
Actions on the resort
Our early breakfast routine meant we, I imply the children and AFOL, bought to play with LEGO within the resort foyer. When you’ve stayed at a LEGOLAND Lodge elsewhere you’ll be acquainted with the LEGO pit within the foyer space the place you may go freestyle together with your creations.
We additionally spent a whole lot of time right here on the finish of our days. I’m undecided who loved that almost all.
On the Dubai resort there’s additionally a big citadel play body within the foyer and rooms the place you may e book a artistic workshop for you and your little ones.
The full of life leisure workforce had been additionally on the go within the afternoon and evenings, enjoying video games with anybody who nonetheless had power after a full on day on the parks. They noticed us within the Skyline Bar one night and roped within the women for a recreation of charades whereas Mr Tin Field and I loved a beer.
All this offers the resort extra of a resort really feel, so even in case you aren’t going to the parks you realize the children shall be entertained.
The pool at LEGOLAND Dubai Lodge
The pool is small and shallow with a roped off toddler space and huge LEGO bricks you may play with within the water. There’s additionally a splash park with water jets.
There are just a few cabanas and a restricted variety of solar loungers which you’ll seize on a first-come-first-served foundation. There’s additionally a small bar promoting drinks and snacks.
When you come to this resort to calm down by the pool I believe you’d be disenchanted. It was busy and discovering someplace to sit down was troublesome. However with the LEGOLAND Water Park only a brief stroll away they don’t actually need to promote this space.
Tip: in case you are in your technique to the water park the resort pool is the place you choose up your towels. In any other case you’ll must hire one on the water park.
How lengthy do it’s essential to keep at LEGOLAND Dubai Lodge?
We initially booked 4 nights pondering that we would wish a full day at every of the theme parks and the LEGOLAND Waterpark.
Nonetheless, after chatting with buddies who had already been, they persuaded us that we may do the LEGOLAND theme park and waterpark in someday.
And our expertise was this was simply doable.
There have been only a few queues for any of the sights despite the fact that it was Europe’s Easter college holidays. Nonetheless, the truth that Eid was additionally developing meant that a whole lot of locals had been travelling. So I don’t know if Dubai Parks and Resorts are at all times as quiet as they had been for us.
Anyway, we had been very glad we modified our reserving to 3 nights. It might have been troublesome to entertain our 11 and eight-year-olds in LEGOLAND for longer than three hours, so a visit to the water park within the afternoon made for a enjoyable day.
We would have liked the second full day for Motiongate, which had much more for our women to do.
If in case you have youthful youngsters then you definately may wish to take issues at a slower tempo. Three nights could be best for doing two of the Dubai Parks and Resorts theme parks, however for 3 parks you may wish to add an evening.
The place is LEGOLAND Lodge in Dubai?
LEGOLAND Dubai Parks and Resorts is a forty five minute drive alongside the coast south west from Dubai Worldwide Airport, so you’re fairly a distance from Dubai’s predominant sights just like the Burj Khalifa.
If you wish to see this and Downtown Dubai we’d advocate relocating. We did precisely this and stayed on the QE2 Lodge for the second half of our Dubai metropolis break.
Summing up our LEGOLAND Dubai Lodge evaluation
For non-AFOLs, neglect about all of the LEGO stuff, this can be a good household resort. The rooms are genuinely designed for households and provides area for each adults and youngsters to calm down after busy days.
The leisure workforce had been actually enthusiastic and we actually rated the breakfast buffet. The al a carte costs had been a bit a lot, however as I discussed earlier you may have different choices shut by.
By way of the situation, the resort is the proper place to remain for the theme parks – you can not get any nearer which takes all of the faff out of the start of the day and getting again to the resort while you’re all operating out of steam.
The mixed resort and theme park offers are good worth in case you intend to do multiple park. And with entry to Motiongate included within the offers you don’t should overload on LEGO the entire time.
For LEGO followers, the theming is de facto spectacular and makes this an additional particular place to vacation.
So, you don’t must be a LEGO fanatic to remain on the LEGOLAND Dubai Lodge. However in case you do have a fan in your loved ones you’ll make their yr by reserving.
Disclosure: this submit accommodates affiliate hyperlinks marked with *. When you click on on one among these and make a purchase order I could earn some fee. This doesn’t have an effect on the worth you pay.
