All you need to know about Reserve & Ride at LEGOLAND Windsor – how it works, how much it costs and is it worth it?
What is it?
Reserve & Ride replaces the Q-Bot system and helps you avoid the often long queues at Legoland Windsor – at a price.
Using Reserve & Ride means you don’t have to physically queue for the included rides.
How does it work?
Standing anywhere in the park and using your mobile phone, you reserve a place on a ride and are given a countdown waiting time (or no waiting time if you pick the most expensive Ultimate option).
So instead of waiting in the queue you can go on other rides or do other things. At any point after the time is up (you don’t have to be there at the exact moment), you go through the ride’s Reserve & Ride entrance where you will be able to bypass the normal queue.
You can make a reservation on only one ride at a time.
Options
There are different types of Reserve & Ride options at various prices.
Reserve & Ride Regular (£25 per person) – You do not have to physically queue but your wait – or your countdown – is as long as that for the people queuing. (Haunted House Monster Party costs £4 extra).
Reserve & Ride Express (£40 per person) – This cuts the waiting time in half, eg if the normal queue is 40 minutes, you only have to wait 20 minutes (doing what you please elsewhere) before you can access the ride. (Haunted House Monster Party costs £4 extra).
Reserve & Ride Ultimate (£90 per person) – No waiting time at all. Just book the ride and go straight through the Reserve & Ride entrance. Reserve & Ride Ultimate also Includes the free add-on for Haunted House Monster Party.
You can also buy:
Reserve & Ride One Shot (£5 to £7 per person) – This allows you to use Reserve & Ride at ONE included ride of your choice and get almost instant access to it.
Which rides are included?
Aero Nomad
Balloon School
Deep Sea Adventure
Desert Chase
Dragon’s Apprentice
Driving School
Duplo Airport,
Duplo Dino Coaster
Fairy Tale Brook
Fire Academy
Haunted House Monster Party (only included in Reserve & Ride Ultimate or available as an additional £4 add-on to Reserve & Ride Regular and Express)
Jolly Rocker
Laser Raiders
L-Drivers
LEGOLAND Express
Lego Ninjago the Ride
LEGO Ninjago the Ride
Mia’s Riding Adventure
Merlin’s Challenge
Thunder Blazer
Pirate Falls
Raft Racers
Spinnig Spider
The Dragon
Thunder Blazer
Viking River Splash
The rides within LEGO Mythica are not included in Reserve & Ride.
Where do you get Q-Bots from?
You can pre-book your Reserve and Ride through the LEGOLAND website here.
There is also a Reserve & Ride office just inside the main entrance at Windsor on the right and another at Heartlake City within the park.
What is the difference between Q-Bot and Reserve & Ride?
Q-Bot and Reserve & Ride are the same – Reserve & Ride replaced Q-Bots from 2020. The only difference is that Reserve & Ride always operates on your mobile device whereas LEGOLAND also offered handheld devices for Q-Bots users as an alternative.
Our review of Reserve & Ride
We used the reservation system for two days and there is no doubt it makes the park a more pleasurable experience.
You can get around so many more rides and if you work it correctly you can virtually hop from one ride to another without queuing all day.
It was a very rainy weekend and queuing for long periods would have been miserable.
The whole system is well designed and works seamlessly, the staff are very good at getting you on the ride as soon as possible.
However the cost is substantial.
Our Top Tips for Reserve & Ride at Legoland
*To benefit most, book your next ride as soon as you can – basically, as soon as staff have scanned your phone to let you on the ride before.
*Don’t wait until your countdown time is at 0 before going through the Reserve & Ride entrance. Go in at about two to three minutes, as often (especially on the indoor and larger rides) even this entrance has a short walk and wait before you board your ride.
*Check your dates and the weather. LEGOLAND will be much busier on a sunny day in the school holidays or at the weekend, than a rainy midweek day in October, when the Reserve & Ride system won’t save you as much time.
*It doesn’t cost any more to book Reserve & Ride on the day, so you can always wait and see when you arrive what the queues are like, if you can’t decide. HOWEVER, you risk not being able to get one as there are a limited number available.
*One way to make the Reserve & Ride cost effective is to use it as a means of cutting your visit from two days to one. On any school holiday or weekend it would be nearly impossible to see all of the park in one day without it. So it may be worth investing in a Reserve & Ride instead of a second day’s admission. That could add up for you.
*Reserve & Ride does not include entry to Legoland, you have to buy entry tickets separately.
*Children under 90cm do not need to pay for Reserve & Ride but can go with Reserve & Ride users on reserved rides – height, weight and age restrictions permitting.
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For more details visit the LEGOLAND website.
What if the system doesn’t t work. QBot only works if you can connect to the park WiFi or if you can get network at all. Unfortunately we had a serious problem finding WiFi or network or even obtaining a device. Our qBot was based on an accessibility pass; my child could not manage to queue even to collect her pass (35min) after pre-registration, it was all stressful from the start.