We pitched up at Manchester’s Trafford Centre a little late, but very excited. The entrance to the new Legoland Discovery Centre is, inevitably, via the Lego shop, but I managed to steer Harry to the queue.

We didn’t have to wait too long before having our photograph taken and then heading up in the lift to the Factory. Again we had to wait, but there was a really cute Lego film playing and a clock counting down to the next Factory tour, which made the wait easier to bear (sometimes it’s the simple things).

Harry absolutely loved the Lego movie and would have happily stayed in the holding bay watching it for the rest of the day, but through we went to the Factory tour. This is a very basic introduction to how Lego is made. An actor playing Professor Brick tells the children that plastic granules are melted down and then stamped into shape, etc. He got a few children out of the audience to “help” with the (fake) machinery. Harry was transfixed and thrilled to get a souvenir piece of Lego at the end.

From there, the next stop should have been the Kingdom Quest ride, but we were advised that there was quite a wait and it was suggested we try the 4D cinema instead. But first we passed through Miniland which was just gorgeous. It’s basically a model village with various landmarks made of Lego (nearly 1.5 million pieces apparently). There’s Blackpool complete with tower, pier and big wheel; Manchester with another wheel, the Urbis Centre and Old Trafford; Liverpool with a working Cavern Club (which Joe, our 14-month-old moptop, loved). Every few minutes, the lights dimmed to show off the lights on the models and fireworks appeared on the walls. This was Harry’s favourite part.

Leaving David and Joe to share a banana, Harry and I headed for the 4D cinema, despite realising that it was showing a Bob the Builder film. Neither of us is a Bob fan, but the film was great. Or rather, the effects were great. The 3D was so good that even I almost reached out a time or two and if you’re wondering about the 4D… that simply consisted of a wind machine and some light foam sprayed over the audience at the end. Not entirely convincing, but I think I loved it even more than Harry did.

Harry was keen to go on the ride, so, leaving David and Joe alone again, we queued. For about 20 minutes. I wasn’t expecting a rollercoaster, but I was expecting a big more than a sedate two minute trundle trying to shoot Lego movies with a laser. Harry and I were both very disappointed.

We found David and Joe who were, by that point, a bit fed up. Joe had had a little play with some Duplo, but the rest of the Lego was too small for him and he was bored. We just stayed long enough for Harry to pose with his head in the mouth of a Lego lion and then we left. We missed a Lego workshop with demonstrations and a chance to build your own Lego car and race it on a track, but it was late and the boys (including their dad) were restless.

Legoland Discovery Centre is good fun and we enjoyed ourselves, but there isn’t actually that much to do. If we’d paid the full price of £13.95 for adults and £10.95 for children over 3, we would have felt very hard done by. Particularly since it’s one giant advert for Lego.

Place: Legoland Discovery Centre

Reviewer: Keris Stainton

Price:  £13.95 Adults, Children over 3 £10.95