Merlin Groups - Blog

Congratulations to Jacob and his colony who won 50 FREE Tickets to LEGOLAND Windsor through correctly answering the question in the Scouting Adventure Annual 2012!

Look out for next years annual where you could win another group day out at a Merlin UK attraction courtesy of Merlin Groups.

We will hear all about Jacob’s day out soon!

Little Heath Special Needs School in Romford had a fantastic day at Legoland.  It was wet, but we managed to scream, laugh, cry and smile all in the same day!

We are all looking forward to trying out Thorpe Park next!

“It took us an hour and a half to get there on the bus.  We split into groups, I was in the extreme group.  We ran straight to Stealth.  The other group started on Storm Surge.

When we met for lunch, we all had stories to tell.  Miss Basi had to go on Stealth 3 times in a row to sit with different kids!  She was nearly sick, and couldn’t go on another ride for aaagggeeesss!  Then it started to rain.  We’ve never seen rain so heavy, but we managed to get 15 people in a dryer.  After loads more rides and some shopping we all met up to head home.

Although we hit a lot of traffic driving the coach back to school, we were all buzzing with excitement.

Thanks for a great day out!”

We visited THORPE PARK with the whole family and they all loved it. We started early and all ran straight towards Collusus straight after our breakfast which was a silly idea however we all survived the twists and turns and then managed to ride on Rush. We then rode; Nemesis, Saw the ride, Detonator, Stealth and lot of other rides. We were lucky with the weather and the day as we didn’t have to queue any longer than 10 mins to get on a ride. Our favourite ride of the day had to be Nemesis or Stealth which made us all feel dizzy but we certainly loved the adrenaline rush. I would definately return there again and would recommend it to any families or groups for a fun exciting day out.

We arranged a group trip to LEGOLAND for our parents and toddlers group,15 of us went in a mini bus. We were not interested in the bigger rides and were more interested in the smaller childrens rides (although some adults did sneak on the bigger ones!). A group of children and parents went to the driving school area which the children really loved and the 15 minute wait was not too long for the children. After this we went to the boating school where the wait was about 30mins but the children really loved steering the boats. Then we went over to Atlantis Submarine Voyager which was really good.I really liked the snack bar in the middle of the queue - when waiting on a hot day in queues a cold drink is nice! One idea about the snack bar would be to have a drinks refill station so you can refill your capsules.The sub ride was really good - we went in the blue zone and we were right next to the fish so it makes it look like you are actually in the sea - well worth the the 45min wait and this is a very good new ride for the park.
          After this we all went to the Spinning Spider Ride and Vikings River Splash area. The Spinning Spider ride was a little too quick for the younger children but the older children loved it (all the children loved the rapids!) We then had a good walk aroung the park and went for dinner in the pizza house.The price of this was not bad - about £10 for adults and £7 for children. If you go later in the day children eat FREE all-you-can-eat pizza, pasta, salad and drinks - well worth the money! We then went over to the LEGO Racers area, built our own cars and then raced each other. I won (A WOMAN DRIVER) ha ha!
         The ride we liked best was the Wave Surfer.We got wet on this and its fairly fast for small children and the younger children liked the Dragons Apprentice.We then spent an hour watching films in the 4d cinema,then had a play in the Waterworks Area. We waited till later in the day for this so it was quieter.Before the park closed we had a go on one last ride - The Space Tower.
Review of day:
Easy to find,well sign posted,   Waited 5min to enter park,   Great mixture of rides for children from 3-14 years old,   many different kinds of food,   Good service by staff,   Parking very close to the attraction. 
On the whole a very good day out for parents and children and a well stocked LEGO shop (that i spent too much in!). P.S.  Really liked seeing the Dock Tower from less than 5 miles from my house.We had to have a photo taken with this.

Me and some friends had a day in London, doing all the Merlin Attractions. Blogger of the Month! 

1st we went to The Dungeons.

No queue at all we just had to wait for enough people to come to make a group to go round. I went to the start and got near the front, but I soon moved to near the back. I got called up in the dock and got sentenced. And one part I was so scared I ran backwards, But one of the group helped me. I enjoyed the boat ride and the hanging drop ride lots. And I also liked the coffins and the R.I.P. signs on the toilet doors. The actors were really good and scared you.

Next we went to the Merlin Entertainments London Eye.

Get the RV1 bus to the eye only £2 each person. This takes you from the door of the Dungeons to right next to the London Eye.

First we had a go on the ice rink, I really enjoyed this. Then we went to see the 4D show before we went on the eye. The 4D show is included in the price but it’s out the way, so not a lot of people saw it.

We waited for about 10 minutes to get on the eye. Security was really good, Checking everyone before you entered and checking each capsule when you leave. This took about half hour to go round and the sights are great over London. I even saw Lord Sugars building where the Apprentice is filmed. I was please about this because I love the show.

Next was the SEA LIFE London Aquarium. I’m not really keen on sea life centres but I went because I wanted to do all the Merlin Attractions in London in one day.

I must say the London sea life centre is the biggest and best centre I have been to. I really liked the shark walk, you can walk on some glass over the sharks and they are swimming below. If you like sea life centres this will take you 3-4 hours to go round. Then it was time for dinner McDonalds is in the same building so that was a great help.

Then we went to the Madame Tussauds waxworks.

Walk up the steps outside the sea life centre and get the 453 bus. This is only £2 per person, but you must get tickets from the machine near the bus stop as you can not pay on the bus. This takes you from around the corner from the sea life centre to across the road from Madame Tussauds.

We got to Madame Tussauds and 1st we went to the 4D cinema, water, air jets, knifes in your back, bubbles and more. This is a very good 4D cinema, the only better one I have seen is at THORPE PARK (also a Merlin Attraction).  Then we went round the wax works. I had loads of photos with stars and I really enjoyed the big brother filming, this was the best part of the wax works. I went down stairs to the scary part and nearly ran through with my eyes closed.

All in all a really good day and if you want to do all the Merlin attractions in London you can get cheaper tickets by doing them all, Just ask at any of the attractions. All of the attractions would be really good for groups, and if you had a large enough group you could all go around the Dungeons together. Or you could have your own capsule on the London Eye.

Sophie Lou

Blogger of the Month - November Winner

1st glusburn brownies had a fantastic day out to legoland trafford last weekend, as part of our science investigators badge. Highly recommend it to other uniform groups. Helpful staff, great layout only recommendation would be maybe a trail to follow or things to find during your group visit. 

Thank you for a great day of fun and learning.