Legoland Water Park in Malaysia is kid-friendly and makes a great add-on to your Legoland theme park trip.
UPDATED - 8 December 2019 (Original post 30 May 2019)
#LegolandWaterPark in Johor Bahru, Malaysia may be tame for adults but it's kids-friendly and makes a great add-on to your trip to Legoland theme park. Here's our review and the 12 things you need to know before taking your kids there.
1) Are the rides suitable for young kids?
Yes, for those age three till tweens. Most of the rides are rather mild (unlike some of those at Wild Wild Wet in Singapore), which makes them great for children. The minimum heights for the rides - mostly tube and water slides - are pretty low at 102cm or 107 cm.
We have been to the Legoland water park when one kid was as young as five, and when the oldest was nine. The background is both my girls have low thresholds for thrill rides and I’m not one to cajole them into a ride if they’re not ready. They did not try the individual steep-looking slide and tube rides at the water park, but loved those group rides and are less nervous when someone goes with them. Even though they did not try all the rides, they still enjoyed themselves tremendously.
Big E and Little E's top attraction picks at the water park are:
Splash and Swirl, a slide you can go alone or as a duo on a tube. It's not extremely steep or fast and the best part is when you swirl around (in what my girls call a toilet bowl) and get ‘flushed’ down. A minimum height of 107cm applies.
Lego wave pool. The few occasions we were there, the waves were barely noticeable. But we were happy to just relax at the pool, watching a Ninjago show being screened at the pool’s screen the one weekend we were there. There's not much shade or shelter at the pool, so go armed with appropriate swim gear and sunblock.
Red Rush is a slide you can go together as a family on a raft. It's not extremely steep or fast either and we enjoyed this ride the most - a family that rides and screams together, stays together. Mininum height of 102 cm required for riders.
Brick Blaster is a ride that can take on a maximum of three in one raft at one go. Very exciting when the raft slides up a wall! The only gripe we have is that it's really heavy carrying up the huge raft up a stories high to the start of the ride!
Joker Soaker water playground is a water playground for younger kids that comes complete with short slides and huge bucket of pouring water. Younger kids who don't dare to go on the taller slides will find this more fun and less daunting.
Build-a-boat station. Kids can build a boat using Lego prices at the building station, then head to the a sloped platform to launch their boats. The platform only allows for a few boats to ‘race’ at one time, so it might get crowded on the launch pad on busy days. The fun is in watching the boat navigate rapids and seeing if your creation is sturdy enough to withstand the trip down.
Build-a-raft river. Float along a river around the park in a tube and build huge Lego pieces along the way. My kids were content to go many rounds in the river while building the big floating Lego pieces. There is not much shelter in the river, so we were decked out in our caps and long-sleeved swimming gear - all lifesavers from the blazing sun!
There is not a huge variety of rides but our kids were content to keep going on the few rides above which they liked.
For kiddos five and above, the group rides are great, none too scary and the accompaniment of an adult will make them less nervous. There is probably not a lot of rides younger ones can do, but they'd like some of the non-slide attractions mentioned above, the Imagination Station - an interactive station with Duplo bricks - and Duplo Splash Safari, a Duplo-inspired water playground for younger children.
There’s a very detailed list of the rides on the Legoland website if you’d like to research more.
Note that cotton t-shirts, exposed zippers, wet suits, water shoes, or loose articles like hats or sunglasses are not allowed on rides.
2) Are the rides suitable for adults and teenagers?
The rides are pretty standard tube and water slides and not very thrilling. They are also not as creative as the ones we had been to in Wild Wild Wet Singapore. Adults may like the steeper Wave Ride - a 240-feet-tall open slide - but generally, the ride variety is not huge for adults. So I’d say the park is more suitable for children. That said, I enjoyed the group rides at the water park with my kids and my hubby and I were happy to keep going with them on the rides again and again.
3) When to visit?
I’m not one for crowds and whiny kids in long queues, so we'd tend to opt for non-peak periods to visit. But when you have primary-school-going kids, you’re pretty much confined to weekends or school holidays. Unless you like jostling with the crowd and queuing up, try avoiding visiting during Malaysia's school holidays where it can get crowded.
If you're planning a trip longer than a day, hotels are also cheaper outside of Malaysia's school and public holidays. The Malaysian school holiday timing differs from those in Singapore, so check online on Malaysian school holiday timings before planning your trip.
4) How much and where to buy tickets?
The Legoland Malaysia website has a few options, like packages which include tickets to the main Legoland theme park, water park and the newly-opened aquarium, SEA Life. There are savings if you book online and/or purchase tickets for more than one theme park (called combo tickets to be used up either over one or two days) compared to buying physical tickets at the Legoland entrance.
But I hardly purchase tickets from the Legoland website because the catch is you have to select your day of visit upon purchase and the ticket can only be used on that day (we’re talking per entry tickets now, not annual passes). The trips we made to Legoland have so far been for a few days as the kids like to visit the water park and Puteri Harbour and I appreciate the flexibility of visiting the attractions subject to weather. If the weather is expected to be sunny, we’d head to the theme park and water park first and leave Puteri Harbour - which is sheltered - if showers are forecasted for the day.
Unlike for the Legoland theme park, I hardly see promotions offered by banks’ credit cards for Legoland water park. So your best bet, if you like some flexibility for your tickets, could be Klook. Their Legoland entrance ticket fees are comparable to the online Legoland website prices and Klook tickets are open-dated (meaning the tickets typically have validity dates of a few months). You just have to bring printed copies of your tickets and skip the ticketing queue.
Well, if you’ve already planned for a day trip and there is only that one day you can go, then that doesn’t leave you with much choice. You’re going rain or shine. But I think if there is some flexibility in your travel plans, choose an option that doesn't restrict your visiting day. A friend once told me she and her friends spent half a day under a shelter at the Legoland water park as they held pre-purchased dated tickets - the trip felt like a waste of time and money.
5) Are one-day combo tickets worthwhile?
The one-day combo tickets sold on Legoland’s website are very reasonably priced. The catch is you can only visit the attractions on the same day, or two-selected days if you choose the two-day combo. Unless you have visited the parks for the umpteenth time and only looking to go for selected rides at both parks, I wouldn’t recommend it.
There are sufficient rides and attractions to entertain the family for an entire day and my kids were not even ready to go at the end of the day when the parks were closing! That is more so for the theme park. The water park is not as big as the theme park and half a day might be alright but it’d be a lot of rushing off from one park and shorting yourself of the park’s experience.
6) Are annual tickets worthwhile?
There is no annual pass for only the water park. But you can get a three-park pass -theme park, water park AND SEA Life - annual pass which is quite a steal if you plan to go there again within the year. There are promotions on Legoland's website at times, where the annual pass can cost the same as a single-entry ticket, which makes it very worthwhile.
That said, we have not bought annual passes much as we love Legoland. I don’t like the feeling of being obliged to go to a place just to make my spending worthwhile as I value flexibility more.
7) Are re-entries allowed?
Combo tickets and annual passes (see above) allow for multiple entries (on the day/days you opted for when purchasing tickets). Day tickets allow only one entry per day.
8) Where to stay?
Many folks opt for Legoland Hotel which is right next to the theme and water parks as it is the most convenient and also for the full experience of a trip to Legoland. But it is also one of the more expensive hotels in the area, one reason why we have not stayed at the Legoland Hotel ourselves. But reviews for the hotel is great (see reviews below) and if you have a big family and/or travelling in a large group, it can be quite worthwhile staying there as they have rooms that can accommodate up to eight.
There are many more less expensive options which are not too far from the theme parks. One area popular for Legoland visitors is Puteri Harbour which is where Sanrio Hello Kitty town and Thomas Town are. We always stay at Hotel Jen at Puteri Harbour. We like the spacious room, club lounge, breakfast selection, great service and its location next to restaurants and shops at Puteri Harbour. They provide shuttle services to and fro Legoland - just a 5 to 10 minutes ride away - during mornings and evenings.
There are also many serviced apartment options like Somerset Puteri Harbour Iskandar Puteri which is next to Hotel Jen and Somerset Medini Iskandar Puteri a two-minute walk from Legoland. The former has a scheduled shuttle service to Legoland. But the thing with serviced apartments is that they are not full-fledged hotels so don’t expect the frills like an extensive breakfast buffet spread.
Whether you choose to stay close to the Legoland parks or at Puteri Harbour, both areas are not terribly exciting except for their main attractions which are the theme parks, though Medini Mall - a stretch of restaurants and fast-food joints right next to Legoland - has upped its attraction recently with additions like supermarket, Ben's Independent Grocer, and VR amusement center, VRinity late 2019, along with new playgrounds.
Puteri Harbour also has a selection restaurants and shops including the DC Superheroes Café, Sushi King and Toys ‘R’ Us which kids would like, and it also has a great harbour view and occasional events to boot. Sanrio Town and Thomas Town would, however, close at the end of 2019, which unfortunately is likely to lessen the attractiveness of the area.
9) How many days to stay?
One day for one park (Legoland theme park, Legoland waterpark, Puteri Harbour's Sanrio Town, while SEA Life which only needs an hour can be squeezed in somewhere) is just right but there are other nearby attractions worth visiting in Johor, like cheap eats and shopping in Johor. But cheap eats and shopping are usually not on our kids’ priority list. So far we have limited our trips to four day three nights where we hang out at each park for a day (Legoland theme park, Legoland water park and Puteri Harbour) and we keep the last day for R&R and swimming at the hotel, and then make a slightly earlier trip home so as not to get stuck at the custom peak hour queues.
10) What’s there to eat?
Unless you hold re-entry tickets (see above), you’re basically confined to dining within the theme park. Beach Grill at the water park serves rather decent food, though it is nothing to shout about (as with most theme parks) and probably overpriced for Malaysia standards. The fare is common but kids-friendly like pizza, pasta, fries etc. Note that you’re not allowed to bring food into the water park.
11) What else is there to see and do in the vicinity?
The Legoland theme park is situated right next to the Legoland theme park. Their entrances are within a short walkable distance from each other. Legoland's aquarium, SEA Life, officially opened on 9 May 2019. There's also Puteri Harbour which houses Sanrio Hello Kitty Town and Thomas Town (this will close end 2019). See “8) Where to stay”.
12) Best way to go?
We have friends who drive to Malaysia all the time, but there are also those who have qualms about driving a Singapore-registered car to Malaysia. Whichever way you feel, there are still cheap options like taking a bus or coach. Driving directions and other transport modes are covered in detail by Legoland over here.
With young kids, I find it a pain holding their hands and luggage while queuing at the customs hence we’ve opted for private chauffeured cars for all our trips. There are several such transport companies if you google online. We’ve gone with Go Heng Transport Services and MST Transport so far and basically, they will ferry you point-to-point between Singapore and your Johor destination at timings you opt for. The former charges SGD70 per way and the latter SGD100 per way which you pay in cash to your driver when your reach your destination. Not the cheapest option but it does away some of the hassles of travelling with young kids.
Bonus tips for your trip
- Before you go, check for ride maintenance dates. My kids love the Red Rush ride. So this ride must be working when we’re there. The Legoland website shows the ride maintenance dates typically up to a month. This is also another reason why we prefer tickets and trips with some flexibility.
- Invest in proper swimming gear and swimming cap. There is not a lot of shade when you walk from ride to ride at the park. And if you’re going to be out playing in the water for the entire day, a long sleeve swimming top and cap would be ideal. You can wear a tee-shirt for sun protection but the lifeguards won’t allow you down the slides with non-proper swimming gear. Note that cotton t-shirts, exposed zippers, wet suits, water shoes, and loose articles like hats or sunglasses are not allowed on rides.
Here are some other good reviews of Legoland Water Park in Malaysia:
Legoland Malaysia Water Park review by Where's Sharon
Splashing good time at Legoland Water Park by A Juggling Mom
Review: Legoland Water Park by Jay's Brick Blog
Have you read our tips for visiting Legoland theme park? Check it out here!
What other great tips do you have for visiting Legoland water park in Malaysia?
Disclaimer: We paid for all our trips and meals, and the opinions expressed here are strictly my family's and my own.
©Vivian Teo. All content and photos are copyrighted to Vivian Teo unless otherwise specified.