It’s been a year since Mini Figure Speedway opened and yet I’ve only just got round to having a chat about them! Crazy! But here are our thoughts on Legoland Windsor’s latest edition.
Queue-Line / Pre-show / Station:
It’s not very often you’ll find a rollercoaster queue-line be heavily themed particularly here in the UK. So, by those norms, it’s an okay queue line. Not excessively themed but enough where you can understand the concept of the ride. Whenever we’ve visited we’ve waited a max of 5 minutes due to it being off-peak. At the end of the queue line just before the station is a holding point where there is a pre-show. It’s a nice way to draw away the fact you’re waiting to be boarded into the station. It’s not too long of a show and it’s mainly screen-based too. The prominent thing which bugs me is the point you leave the pre-show to enter the station. That section doesn’t feel great. You have an enclosed walkway grid I do appreciate why it’s put together this way but some theming to make it feel nicer would be nice.
I won’t deny the disappointment I’ve felt in this station. I feel a little more could have effortlessly been done to enrich the theming. It feels very tinny and thin on the ground in comparison to the usual Legoland charisma. However, it’s not exactly a bare tin there is theming loosely and audio. The audio surely holds up this part of the ride experience. The staff are brilliantly efficient with throughputs and again with their being two trains loaded at once it does help keep queues down. The carriages are nice and comfortable too.
Theming:
I love Roxy the enormous Lego figure in the centre of the track. A similar approach to Wickerman and Big Bob but I appreciate how cool she looks. The head chopper billboard is brilliant on-ride and looks great. The tiny Lego figures around the outer areas of the ride are pretty cute too. The racing theme for a dueling coaster is an iconic one to go with but it works. Of course, landscaping around the area hasn’t exactly had much time to grow into it but I’m sure it’ll get there. But the temporary fencing under the billboards off-ride is an eye sore and does affect how it is viewed off-ride. Trying to get a nice photo of this coaster is tricky in all honesty.
The Layout & Ride Itself:
Now this is where I love these coasters. The backward spike to launch forward feels much higher than it probably is but that’s an advantage of the location being on a hill. When you’re racing through the station it genuinely looks like a pretty steep drop as you can’t see the track only ahead of you. The speed is much faster than it looks off-ride and going backwards is pretty intense for a family coaster. But no objection here. The interaction and how both tracks vary from each other to create that interaction is so much fun. I love that passing by virtually in sync (after all someone has to win) is incredible. There’s so much happiness this coaster brings and it’s the ideal addition to the line-up. The length is just excellent not too long and not too short.
Overall:
These coasters are brilliant and gave Legoland that new piece of life. It’s lifted the park’s atmosphere and offering. The park has chosen so well to have the duelling coasters tied into the racing theme as well. They truly are two of the best family coasters and that excellent introduction for those younger guests to get a feel for a more thrilling ride that’s family-friendly too. As much as I had hoped for a better theming you can’t take away from how fun it is.
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Have you experienced Mini Figure Speedway yet?
