We arrived in Johor Bahru on the Thursday night.

Considering that Malaysian weekend starts on Friday we had promised ourselves to save our first trip to Legoland for the quieter Monday.

BUT excitement got the better of the big kids and we found ourselves stepping through the Legoland gates the very next morning.

Even more excitement later, and we found ourselves with four brand new, shiny annual passes!

Actually this was easy maths – with 3 weeks living opposite the place and the day tickets being only a little less expensive – a year of Legoland was the sensible choice – honestly!

Legoland Malaysia has the only water park in the world and they are currently building the new Sea Life Centre (to open in April 19)

If we manage to get back within a year our ticket gives us access to all 3, all year round, at a cost of about £230 for all of us, about £10 more per person than a one day ticket.

Legoland Malaysia has over 70 rides, slides, shows and attraction from the iconic leisurely Lego Driving School to the exciting thrills of The Dragon roller coaster.

The theme park is smaller in comparison to both Windsor and Billund (we haven’t visited else where) but with most of the memorable rides of both parks and being much easier to navigate, it’s ideal for the shorter legs of our 3 and 5 year olds.

Legolands’ throughout the world are aimed at a younger audience than other major theme parks and Malaysia is no different; you won’t find any “big” rides here.

The park was ideal for our 5 year old who at 111 cm tall, met the min height requirement for every ride and could easily pass for 6 years old – which some rides require.

Our 3 year old however often found herself tagged out whilst her older brother enjoyed the ride – but at Legoland they have this covered; near by any larger ride is almost always a smaller one or a Lego building activity which any age child can take part in.

Before we decided to visit we were told by a number of seasoned themeparkers to give this one a miss and opt for a less hot Legoland elsewhere in the world – I am happy we decided to ignore these warnings, as the heat was never a problem.

Yes it’s hot and sometimes sweaty but just like the rest of Malaysia they have provided plenty shade to jump from and to.

Most noteable at Malaysia Legoland though compared to even a trip to Windsor, during the summer; is that there are no queues to stand sweltering in, every ride is fully air-conditioned and there’s a full water park next door to cool off at.

The theming is just as colourful as other Lego parks we have visited, if a little spars when it comes to Lego sculptures – in comparison to England and Denmark, but this one is only 3 years old so perhaps time will improve this.

What is abundent however are character meetings; in atleast 4 areas throughout the park our little and big voyagers posed for pictured with everyone from Emmet, Lucy and Batman to the Wizard, Dragon and Nexo Knights, as well as chefs, soldiers, ninjas and pirates.

With no one else but our family around we were often “called in” from some distance to join them – and even start a few dance offs with the Lego movie gang (Lucy had all the best moves)

OUR TOP 5 RIDES:

1. The Dragon – the biggest rollercoaster at Legoland, no loops or barrel rolls but plenty of speed and sideways gforce to enjoy – also some nice theming to begin with.

2. Ninjago the ride – one for all the family – plenty of loud sound effects and great visuals – not to mention the competitive angle.

3. The Beetle Bouncers – our little girls favourite ride – it doesn’t look like much but the drop does throw your stomach into your throat – the smile on her face makes it one of our favourites too.

4. Dino Island – the wetest ride at Legoland (perhaps even considering the water park) the build up is pretty mild and could do with some music but the splash and aftermath are something to behold!

5. Lego Mindstorms, Dr Heartbeat – meant for 7 year olds, Dexter was lucky to be invited in to perform heart surgery through coding and robotics at this brilliant guided workshop.

Being the low season there were a few ride and restaurant closures but on the weekends this was not the case and even then there weren’t many more visitors with the queues going up to 5 minutes at most.

By our 10th visit during our stay we had boarded every ride at least once and mostly 5 or 6 times with out getting off.

The staff were also great – allowing us to remain on many of the rides for more goes, interacting so friendly with the kids and even remembering them by name from day to day.

This was just as true in the water park where we visited a little less.

Our 3 year old was a little more restricted here with only 4 activities for her to enjoy and 2 of which she wasn’t so keen on – the Joker Soker (an awesome splash zone with lots of slides and water falls designed to get you as wet as possible) and the lazy river (but mainly because she is still slightly traumatised by the Lost World of Tambuns not so “lazy” river – more like “typhoon river”)

Our 5 year old again could go on every slide and pool and there are a couple of Lego building activities too.

The water park has a decent amount of thrills both big and small set out around a very small surface area, so less walking is needed than other water parks we have visited.

Both our kids are good around water, Dexter is a very good swimmer and Avery can hold her own now for a couple of meters but nether-the-less it was good to see plenty of alert lifeguards posted everywhere around the park and a plethora of different sized life jackets to hand – so it felt extremely safe.

With a season pass and 3 weeks to use it every trip to Legoland became a relaxing affair, each day we would pick a different route, swapping from starting at the water park or theme park and and making our way down our least traveled path.

We took a packed lunch to offset the cost of the tickets most days, which although it says no outside food, we were never questioned on.

We did by the end relax on our budgeting food strategy and had a few days of trying out all the meals the park had to offer – which was plentiful and varied – just as you would expect from Malaysia.

There were “fast food” options like burger and pizza but even these seemed to be prepared fresh and the local food like Rengdang, Swararma and Roti Chanai were delicious (as we’re the sweet treats, cakes, and ice cream)

Once again although more expensive than a similar meal anywhere else on our travels; the food was extremely reasonable compared to other legolands’.

Best of all though during our stay (and the reason for our timing) was that for one glorious weekend a number of worldschooling families, just like us, descended upon the park.

For 2 days Legoland became an opportunity for like minded parents and children to socialise and share stories of their recent travels.

The kids played happily together like they have known each other for years, mostly in the play parks whilst the parents chatted and stayed cool in the shade with fresh watermelon.

This was in the most part (actually totally) due to the organisation of an amazing, kind hearted Malaysian – See Ming, who has for our trip (and I know for many other families) given a great deal of advice and time, and connected families who may have otherwise have been following the same paths and never known!

THANK YOU SEE MING X