Legoland and Peppa Pig World

We're just back from a three day holiday to Legoland and Peppa Pig World. We travelled to Basingstoke on Sunday, stayed overnight there and visited Legoland on Monday and Tuesday, and then Peppa Pig World on Wednesday (yesterday) before coming home.

Unfortunately, Louise caught a bug on Sunday and started to feel ill just as we left in the car, and developed a chill. By the time we arrived, Louise had a fever, headache and a bad throat. The hotel was also far too hot, and not helped by the warm weather (by UK standards, anyway) I only slept for a couple of hours on Sunday night so we both felt worse for wear on Monday. Matthew slept well and was raring to go!

Legoland was great - there's a lot to see and do, even for toddlers, and we were very glad we'd booked two day tickets since we both felt rough on Monday and had to leave early. We did manage to go on a few rides on Monday:

• Fairy Tale Brook (a boat ride with fairytale characters, some of which Matthew found a little scary)
• Chopper Squadron (a helicopter ride Matthew enjoyed)
• Duplo Train (Matthew loved this and cried when we got out of it)
• Dino Safari (a ride in a toy jeep around Lego dinosaurs, which Matthew really enjoyed)

We also had a look round Duplo Playtown - a play area for toddlers with splashing water - and the Miniland, which features miniature cities made out of Lego.  Matthew had a go with a remote control boat, too.

After a good night's sleep, we all felt better on Tuesday even though Louise was still not 100%.  We set off to Legoland a little earlier and made a list of the rides we thought Matthew would enjoy.  After working our way round, we had a little time to spare and even managed to go on a couple of Monday's rides again:

• Hill Train
• Boating School (real boats you steer yourself - we were going to do this Monday but the queue was too long)
• Atlantis Submarine Voyage (a ride to see underwater fish in a submarine - Matthew found this a bit scary and cried to get out)
• Orient Expedition (a train ride where passengers are sprayed with water)
• Balloon School (toy hot air balloons)
• Sky Rider (toy rockets which travel in the air on a track above the park)
• Dino Safari - again
• Duplo Train - again

During the day, Matthew had a go with a remote control truck and saw a 4D Bob the Builder film, which was in 3D and had splashing water, wind and simulation snow falling in the arena, so Matthew got to try 3D glasses for the first time.  We also had a look round the Lego models of famous people, and had a go at a car racing game.

Yesterday we went to Peppa Pig World, which has only opened this year and we found impressive, especially considering it is all based around one UK TV cartoon show.  All the rides are in keeping with each other and match the theme of the show very well.  Matthew wasn't as well behaved as he was at Legoland, but that's probably because he loves Peppa Pig and knew more about the characters and stories than in Legoland.  He thoroughly enjoyed the rides but cried in most of the queues, especially the queue for Daddy Pig's car ride which was the longest of the day.  We went on all the rides:

• Grandpa Pig's Little Train (twice)
• Miss Rabbit's Helicopter Flight
• Peppa's Big Balloon Ride
• Daddy Pig's Car Ride
• George's Dinosaur Adventure
• Grandpa Pig's Boat Trip
• Windy Castle (it rained during this so we got wet)

We also went round Peppa Pig's house, had a look in Madame Gazelle's School House, bought toys in Peppa Pig's Toy Shop, played in George's Spaceship Play Zone - where Matthew enjoyed a really big slide - and had lunch in Daddy Pig's Big Tummy Cafe.  I had several goes at trying to win Matthew a toy at Candy Cat's Games Kiosk but failed!

Matthew was generally well behaved during the holiday, and slept well considering he was in the same room as us, but wouldn't go to sleep until we'd turned off the light even though he was happy to just lie on his bed and watch the telly.  He got quite excited in the hotel restaurant, though didn't really misbehave except on Monday evening when he wouldn't stay seated and kept wanting our food.  He ate with adult cutlery on adult chairs as well, which was a new experience for him, and generally ate all his food.  As usual he was great in the car and didn't moan much at all considering the amount of time we spent travelling.