Birmingham's Legoland Discovery Centre celebrates first birthday - review

Just yesterday it seemed the attraction had opened its doors in Birmingham but now it moves into its second year on the banks of the canal along King Edwards Street.

I took my wife, Kelly, daughter, Annabelle and her friend, Harper, to enjoy the celebrations for ‘Birmingham’s Biggest Birthday Party’ at Legoland Discovery Centre.

Friday evening was full of fun, surprises and birthday goodness. Dance parties, the chance to meet a magician, make friendship bracelets with girls from Heartlake City and also the give some of the Lego film characters a high-five.

The Lego workshop is always good fun too although, left to my own devices, it took me what felt like an hour to complete my frog – but the finished piece was a work of wonder, plus Annabelle got to take it home too.

Having visited the attraction twice before, it’s nice that neither I nor my daughter has grown bored of it yet.

There’s always plenty to do whether it’s dropping by when the new movie, gloriously named The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part, opened or simply to visit with family and friends.

The girls loved running around in the soft play area, which was revisited at least four times during our three-hour evening visit.

Building cars to race down the race tracks is one of my personal favourites. Far from being an engineer of any description, just getting the thing to move in a straight line is an achievement for me.

There was a new 4D film to catch too. And yes, we got wet again, but it was all good fun.

The characters really jump out of the screen and with the added bonus of lights, wind effects and the odd splash of water too, the children have never left there without beaming smiles.

There is a choice of three films most the time, which includes Nexo Knights 4D, Ninjago 4D and Lego Movie 4D, which has been specially created for the Birmingham venue.

Another favourite of mine is Mini Land, where the master builders have created some of the Midlands best-known buildings, mainly focussed around Brum landmarks.

This time I realised the castle was in fact Warwick Castle, having visited that attraction for the first time earlier this year.

The reason for mentioning that is only when you put two and two together do you realise the true detail and skill that goes into each creation. It’s pretty amazing.

Duplo farm is fun for the younger children while the rides are also great for kids of any age.

Merlin’s Apprentice Ride is fun and even a bit of a workout because, the quicker you peddle the higher to ride goes. Back-to-back goes, as there wasn’t much of a queue, really put my leg muscles to the test.

Kingdom Quest sees you travel in a cart whilst having to shoot baddies using a Laser Quest-style gun to rack up the points.

I still remain undefeated too, even though there was another adult playing along this time. Kelly had to settle for second place . . .

All the staff at Legoland are also very helpful and you can spend a good few hours building, playing, watching, learning and eating in a fairly small venue which never seems too overcrowded.

Now into moving into a second year, it’s definitely worth popping along with your family to check it out.