Spoiler alert for one of our favorite destinations on our 1 year around the world trip, here is our Legoland Malaysia review. We’re a family of 6 and if you’re like us, you’ve probably grown up with Lego. For me, it doesn’t really feel like Christmas unless someone’s opening Lego to build. As for the others, my wife is 50/50 on it and Emily (12) has grown out of Lego, however, Lexie (10), Phoebe (7), and William (4) still love it.
So how did we find every Lego child’s dream destination? Read our Legoland Malaysia review below and see our reel on Instagram here!
First of all, Johor, Malaysia – what’s it like?
We chose to stay close to Legoland in one of the many high-rise apartments close by, similar to the apartments you find in Airbnb. Johor itself is not that interesting for travelers. It’s mainly a border crossing town from Singapore for which they provide a very slick process for daily commuters and travelers alike. A level of service we really appreciated during our 3-day stopover in Singapore! You can learn more about the Singapore / Jahor border crossing here.
The area Legoland is situated in is a ghost town – we often felt like we were in a zombie apocalypse movie. The 10-minute walk from our apartment to the local shops / Legoland, is through a development of high-rise buildings. We were often the only people in sight with minimal or no traffic – a feeling we’ve had nowhere else! We did find next to Legoland, there is a good selection of shops for meals and souvenir shopping etc. My guess is that it is a subdivision impacted by covid and/or the Chinese property development crisis.
The location felt perfectly safe, had everything we needed with a walkable distance to Legoland and at a great price for budget family travelers. Our accommodation was perfect and the ghost town like environment was actually quite the experience in and of itself.
Our Legoland Malaysia Review
Lego has 10 theme parks around the globe with the other closest option in Korea. This one fit our travel plans nicely, just over the border from Singapore, on our path around SE Asia. To build a fair Legoland Malaysia review, I’ve broken it down into categories:
- Aesthetics 6/10. There’s no doubt about it, this one is a bit run down. It must cost a lot to maintain a theme park and the covid dip has no doubt had an impact here.
- Lego 8/10. In the Lego village you could spend hours admiring all the different real-world buildings in Miniland that they had created, full of little surprises for the kids. We came back to this area several times to have a look (located in the middle of the theme park). The Lego statues around the park were impressive albeit a little tired. The Lego shops had a good selection with a few specials, but otherwise normal prices. There are Lego shops dotted around the park, but the main shop at the entrance/exit had everything in one place. So, hold off on your shopping until the end to save carrying around Lego purchases. A few Lego purchases is a great way to finish the day! They also have Lego building stations everywhere and even in the queues, perfect for our 4 year old when he was tall enough or didn’t want to do the ride.
- Food 6/10. Standard theme park food with a variety of western and Asian options. Reasonably tasty but expensive – as you would expect from a theme park.
- Rides 10/10. For our kids 12 years old and under – there was something for everyone and even the adults. Many theme parks are too limiting for small kids – but this really catered for us all. Our 12 year old who has grown out of Lego had a blast on the rides, particularly the two larger roller-coasters; they’re just that great.
- Queue’s 10/10. This is a big part of theme parks – waiting for rides. We didn’t wait longer than a few minutes for anything. The only place it felt slightly busy was the movie theater and the Lego building room when it rained and everyone was keeping dry. But even then, it never felt remotely busy. We did visit on a weekday.
- Fun 10/10. This is the real highlight of our Malaysia Legoland Review! We had the most amazing day – so much so, that the kids rated it higher than Waterbom Bali, our Mangrove tour in Langkawi and the Singapore Zoo. Even the epic downpour of rain in the afternoon added to the fun as we donned ponchos and darted between locations (we were already wet from the log flume anyhow!). There are short movies for adrenaline brakes and a comfy seat to gather yourself which work really well.
We’ve been travelling the globe for some time now. The kids still rate this as one of their top experiences – and we have done a lot of amazing things! Our Legoland Malaysia review says that if you have a family and you’re travelling on a tight budget – this is totally affordable and definitely worth doing!
Our 8 top tips from our Legoland Malaysia Review
- Check the weather and take a poncho. I could easily see the day being a bit disappointing if rain closed the rides for much of the day. It’s very normal for a tropical downpour in the midafternoon so make sure you do the outdoor rides first especially the rollercoasters, which are the last to reopen as they need to be completely dry to operate.
- Pick your day wisely. Go on a weekday and avoid school holidays and public holidays to beat the crowds. We felt like we had the place to ourselves and didn’t que for more than a few minutes anywhere.
- Stay local and only for a few days. Given there’s not much else for travelers to do in Johor, stay close to Legoland and experience the ghost town vibes for yourself!
- Buy your tickets on Klook. They’re cheaper and the bigger the family, the bigger the saving.
- Allow two days if you want to also visit the Lego Sea Life Aquarium and Legoland Water Park which are located next door. Many people were switching between parks during the day, but you really do need a full day at just the Legoland Park to be able to enjoy all the rides.
- Make sure you check the opening days as the different parks are not open each day. For example, the Water Park is closed on Tuesdays and the main Legoland Park is closed on Wednesdays so time your visit accordingly.
- Check the height restrictions for each ride, both minimum and maximum. We have found Malaysia are very vigilant when checking children’s heights with no leeway for kids that are a fraction to short. We were very lucky with our kids heights but they are pretty tall for their ages.
- Consider you children’s ages before visiting, this park is fabulous for children under 12 but if you are just brining teenagers, they will not find any “thrill rides” so unless they are a Lego fanatic you might be better spending your money elsewhere.
