Legoland Discovery Centre, Birmingham Review

Reviewed by Jenna Farmer

Whether you’re visiting with toddlers or teens, Legoland Discovery Centre Birmingham truly has something for everybody. We visited this week with my son **** (editor’s note – name removed), aged 3, and was surprised just how much there was to keep him busy for hours on end. Located near Brindley Place, it’s just a few minutes stroll from a multi-story car park (although this did cost £10 for our stay so it may be worth looking around for more affordable options) in the heart of Birmingham.

On arrival at 10am, the centre was quiet and there were no queues to enter. We headed to the soft play (no surprise there!) first: there’s a few different options here depending on their age. The main LEGO CITY play is aimed at children between 3ft-5ft but there’s a smaller soft play at the back of the centre for children under 5 too.

After that, we checked out Miniland. We’d visited Miniland in Legoland Windsor but far preferred the indoor, most-interactive option in Birmingham. Centred around all of Brum’s landmarks (yep, there’s even a mini Primark made of lego!), it’s a truly impressive feat but there’s plenty for little children to do: they can climb the tunnel and pop up in the centre of miniland or take part in a various interactive elements, such as operate a lego football match. We could have looked around here for hours as it’s so impressive.

Unlike Legoland Windsor, there’s not a huge amount of ride options. There’s two here: the first of which is Kingdom Quest (as long as your child can walk unaided they’re okay to ride this but must be accompanied if under 1.3 meters), where your job is to navigate the medieval ride and zap enemies with your lazer gun to save the Princess. This ride was a lot of fun and really interactive. The second was Merlin’s Apprentice (children must be 90cm and not be unaccompanied if under 1.2 meters) where you use the pedals as you go round and round.

After whizzing around, we were ready for some downtime. My lego-mad son loved the brick pits located all around the discovery centre and also made his very own lego dots creation. There’s also the option to book a class to learn about how to make a specific build which you can then take home to keep.

We then stopped for lunch. There’s only cold lunch options here but we felt the prices were reasonable and varied. Most sandwiches were around the £3 mark and there were both vegan and gluten-free options. For children, there is a £6 option which included a sandwich, drink of choice and two snacks. This was a little on the pricey side but not extortionate. We did see families eating food from home and there was space to do this-the cafe had ample space, although it would be nice if it offered some more cooked options. The cafe was clean and there were plenty of staff around to offer.

The final thing on our list was the 4D cinema-and we saved the best till last! There’s a choice of 3 4D films that rotate and play at regular intervals. We were lucky enough to catch a screening of LEGO CITY 4D: OFFICER IN PURSUIT and it was one of the best 4D films we’d seen-my son loved all the interactive elements, from being soaked by a sloberring dog to popping the bubbles that appear in front of your eyes. We just wished we had more time to catch the other 2 screenings.

Legoland Discovery Centre Birmingham won’t take a whole day to cover but we spent a good 4 hours at the centre and could have stayed for longer-should you be in Birmingham for the whole day it’s worth noting there’s also the SEALIFE centre very nearby and you can choose to buy a multi-attraction ticket.

Rating: 5/5

Tickets from £18.30 per person. For more information or too book tickets visit: https://www.legolanddiscoverycentre.com/birmingham/tickets-passes/.

Legoland Discovery Centre Birmingham, Arena, King Edwards Rd, Birmingham B1 2AA