After the tough trip to Koh Phangan with Peter last year in December 2014, we resolved to try some place closer to home for our short June vacation – and something that didn’t involve traveling by air. The usual suspects were considered – including staycations and immediately offshore islands in Malaysia and Indonesia, before we finally settled in for a 4D3N trip to Legoland Malaysia.
Planning for it was pretty easy: the Legoland Hotel offered bundled deals for entrance into the two theme parks themselves, and the place is just a short 10 minute drive from the Tuas Checkpoint. The outbound trip took to the Park/Hotel took a little longer than we thought – largely on account that we spent 30 minutes in the queue at the Malaysian customs (we left on a Sunday afternoon, forgetting that it was also the last day of the Malaysia school holidays with lots of vehicles returning up North), while the return clearance was very quick through both checkpoints.
Many Singapore families with young kids have already been to Legoland Malaysia and we’re kinda late to the party. So, we’re not sure if what we’re gonna say about the place and the hotel is going to add anything new to the volume of opinion and knowledge about the trip, but here it goes anyway. We’ll do a review of the Legoland Hotel in two parts.
Firstly; the stuff that went well.
Driving from Tuas Checkpoint up north to Legoland was an extremely easy drive, and had less traffic on the highway than a typical low-peak day on Singapore expressways. Even if you don’t have a GPS equipped car or Google Maps, there are road signs that will direct you. Right after the Malaysia checkpoint is the toll-booth. If you don’t have a Touch n’ Go card, take the left lane and buy one at the manned counter. It took just about 10 minutes drive from the MY checkpoint to get to the Hotel.
Hotel carpark: two levels, brightly lit, and watched by security too. On the last day morning, I ferried luggage separately to our parked vehicle, and could feel the security guards watching me from their guard post.
Check-in at about 1545 hrs was smooth. That said, it wasn’t as quick as some of the luxury stays we’ve had even though there was no one ahead of us in the queue. There is a play area right beside the Hotel Reception, so the kids didn’t mind. There was a longer queue on the check-out morning, but a hotel staff saw that I wasn’t arriving, and pulled me out of the queue to do a separate out-processing.
We had a Premium Adventure room on the second level, and even though it sounds small at 36sqm, the room can comfortably sleep five persons. The room has two separate areas connected by a sliding door; one room faced the Theme Park and had a king-size bed, and the other room had a bunk bed with an additional pull-out bed that could sleep three persons. Both rooms have TVs too. The TVs have their own overlaying user-interface that shows hotel information, including weather, amenities, admissions and the like. The wallpaper make for a very cheerful ambiance and we enjoyed lounging around in the room.
The room has lots of Lego-styled amenities that excited Hannah. The treasure hunt within the room (clues on the room wallpaper!) leads to a number combination code that will unlock a floor-chest, and the payout is a little bag of Lego bricks. If you get stumped on the hunt, give Reception a call and they’ll reveal the combination code to you.:)
Air-conditioning was on over-drive for both rooms, and we had problems fine-adjusting the temperature even. Oh well – better cold than warm!
The room had a fridge but no chargeable snack/drink items – a good idea I think; otherwise kids are likely to just raid every snack about and the parents have to pay for them! The four mineral water bottles (replenished everyday), scented teas and all-in-one coffee sticks are all complimentary.
The ground floor – where the Reception and Concierge are – also has play areas for kids. Including a castle and pirate ship set pieces, tons of both plastic lego bricks and also rubbery type ones, a small Lego souvenir shop, and an area for dancing games. Hannah and Peter loved these hangout places, and we allowed them almost free reign of the area after meals on most days.
There’s a small pool on level five with a scenic view of the general area, and the pool is watched by lifeguards too. The pool seemed a little small for the typical volume of hotel guests and was crowded in the afternoon we checked it out, and we didn’t return again to it.
Next post – on the things that didn’t work as well!
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