| |
I have just returned from a week in Bavaria with my wife and two daughters
and thought I'd write some notes/impressions while they are fresh in my mind
that may be of use to
others thinking of travelling from other countries to LEGOLAND Deutschland.
Apologies to any Germans reading, this will be all old news/useless for them
(but feel free to provide corrections!)
Location
LEGOLAND Deutschland is situated just south of the town of Gunzburg in
Bavaria, which is at the bottom of Germany and roughly half-way between
Stuttgart in the west and Munich in the east, about 100Km from each. It is
accessed directly from the A8 Autobahn that runs between the two cities.
Getting there
Munich and Stuttgart both have international airports, we flew from London
Stansted to Munich with Go for 60GBP return. There is also an airport at
Augsburg which is about 50Km from Gunzburg but I don't think it is served by
international flights.
It is possible to travel by rail from either airport to Gunzburg, then get a
shuttle bus to the park from the town centre, but having hired a car, I
think I would recommend that option for reasons stated below.
Accommodation
A number of partner hotels have been established in the area and information
on these can be found at
http://www.legolandtours.de/english_basic/index.php. (since I booked it
looks like this site has been upgraded to allow online bookings). We stayed
at the Best Hotel Mindeltal, Jettingen-Scheppach, which was about 10Km from
the park. I have to say, it was a very nice hotel, with very friendly staff
and great facilities for the kids. The only downside was that is was right
next to the A8 and in an area that was is best described as a motorway
service station tacked onto the top of a sleepy village. It did have the
advantage of many different eating facilities nearby including McDonalds,
but the 'local ambiance' was not that great. If I was going again for a
week, I would try and stay in a hotel actually in Gunzburg.
The park
Enough has been written about the park itself here before, and you can see
many pictures of it on brickshelf, so I won't go into too much detail here.
Having been to the three European parks now, here are some comparative
observations:
- Miniland in Germany is perhaps the most impressive of them all,
particularly the Berlin segment, which houses many huge models. Of course,
this year it will look best before it inevitably fades and weathers.
- My kids found the rides to be more 'exciting' than at Windsor, in
particular the Project X Test Track, which I couldn't keep my 8yr old off
of. There are more rides aimed at older kids than at Windsor.
- The shows are in German, I couldn't make head nor tail of the Jack Stone
one :-)
- The park is relatively small and flat, which my wife thought was good
because there was less walking to do. However that was a problem on the
first day we visited which was just before a German bank holiday because it
was very crowded and long queues outside the rides made it difficult to walk
round.
- The Fabrik building housing a small cinema showing a film about how LEGO
is made, a brick moulding machine, rows and rows of crates full of LEGO and
their modelling shop is definitely the highlight (apart from Miniland) for
the
AFOL. The moulder makes 2x4x3 red bricks which are then printed and
visitors can take one home with them. Allegedly, if you go in late, around
7:30, there are no park employees around and it is possible to obtain more
than one.
- Unbelievably you have to pay 3 Euros for parking, but to the non-German
visitor this is not obvious and there is certainly not an excessive number
of ticket machines around. In fact we counted just two. We got away with it
the first time by pleading ignorance :-)
- There is an area for camper vans by the park, no idea what the
arrangements are for using it, though.
- You need two days to do and everything, particularly if your kids want to
do all the rides.
Sprechen sie Deutsch?
The park makes no attempt to cater for foreign visitors. Unlike Billund,
where everything is in three languages, if you don't read German you are
stuffed. This was particularly frustrating in the restaurants and other
catering outlets when trying to work out what was on offer.
Merchandise
There was nothing special or exclusive on offer in the shops, apart of
course for T Shirts, baseball caps and so on. No small dragon kits, no photo
frame sets, as are being seen at Billund now. So, a little disappointing
there.
Other things to do in the area
To be honest there is not a lot to do around Gunzburg unless you have hired
a car. The town warrants a day's visit, particularly if you combine it with
a trip to the outdoor swimming pool complex to the north of the town which
was very impressive, and the likes of which we don't have in the UK (I
wonder why...) If you have a car, the Alps are definitely worth a visit
(150km-ish south), as is Munich zoo. I am told there is a 'Playmobil land'
some 2 hours drive
away, too. Every German toy shop I went in had a very complete selection of
LEGO, even the branches of Woolworth (no S on the end for some reason in
Germany). Many carried S@H 'exclusives' such as the Technic power packs and
bulk brick packs.
Summary
Definitely worth the effort of going. Even better if you have kids and can
enjoy the rides. Go this year and see miniland at its best. It is open every
day until Nov 3rd, then on weekends until Christmas.
That's enough rambling for now. I'll add my pictures to the burgeoning
numbers at brickshelf in due course.
Huw
|
|
Message has 2 Replies:
 | | Re: A foreigner's impression of LEGOLAND Deutschland
|
| Hello everybody, (...) Just returning from my camper vacation, including a visit there, I can fill in here: For EUR 5, you can stay overnight plus the next day. This includes using the sanitary facilities, dropping dump water, and getting fresh (...) (22 years ago, 6-Sep-02, to lugnet.loc.uk, lugnet.legoland.deutschland, lugnet.loc.de)
|
4 Messages in This Thread:
  
- Entire Thread on One Page:
- Nested:
All | Brief | Compact | Dots
Linear:
All | Brief | Compact
|
|
|
|
