With its latest VR coaster, Legoland Malaysia can be great for repeat visits
Back in May, we posted about our visit to Legoland Malaysia, where we said we wished we had more time to sit on more rides. Our 4.5-year-old (nicknamed Barnacles) enjoyed himself so much during our first visit that he had repeatedly been asking whether we could head up to Legoland again in the near future. Just around the same time, Daddy was given the chance to try The Great LEGO Race VR Coaster – the world’s first Lego virtual reality roller coaster ride – and we decided to take a drive up.
If you are an adrenaline junkie who loves roller coasters, or just love Lego and racing vehicles, you and your kids might like the latest VR coaster that replaces Legoland’s three existing Project X roller coasters. The provided VR headset helps to ‘conjure’ up a magical imaginary world to bring the ride to life, pitting the rider against five other Lego Minifigure competitors that were launched during different time periods since 2010 (Pharaoh/’10, Surfer Girl/’11, Pirate Captain/’12, Trendsetter/’13, and Wizard/’14), driving cool Lego-built race cars.
What we found cool about incorporating VR into a roller coaster ride was that having the headset on eliminates the external environment, but allows the rider to anticipate the roller coaster’s next turn or drop, and this particular one has 15 turns in total – the most corners in any Legoland ride.
While the ride itself only lasts three minutes, the entire experience right from the admission point is a fully immersive one – you will hear roaring engine sounds once entering to psyche riders up. You’re also unlikely to hear “When is it our turn?” -type comments from your children, as the queue area has hands-on interactive elements to entertain riders waiting for their turn to ride. You’ll also get a ‘race briefing’ before putting on the virtual reality headset. If you are a Formula 1 racing fan who likes Lego, you are sure to enjoy the experience.
Ever since we had children, we have become quite the pair of ‘germophobes’, always carrying a small bottle of sanitiser around with us. We find that our children tend to stick their fingers into the dirtiest spaces! We were thus a tad concerned about the cleanliness of the VR headsets, given that they would be worn by many people throughout the day. Our fears were assuaged as we found out that every headset is wiped down with sanitiser after every use, and given a thorough cleaning at the end of every day.
We found out that Legoland Malaysia is the first in the world to launch the VR ride, with the next launch only in 2018 in Legoland Florida and Legoland Deutschland Resort – not exactly a stone’s throw from our sunny shores. The ride is suitable for children aged six onwards, so if you have primary school-going children, it’s well worth the effort to take the drive up!
While our two children (who in 2018 will be 5 and 2, respectively) did not get the chance to take the VR ride, they had a ball of a time in Legoland. The weather was thankfully kind to us, wit our one-and-a-half-day visit there seeing only a few light drizzles, which cooled the air and made it pleasant to walk around. The kids loved the Shipyard playground and the Lego Duplo playground (which is thankfully sheltered). Our 4.5-year-old also loved the live Lego Ninjago show – another world’s first – in the fully air-conditioned theatre so much that he requested to go back to watch the show a second time the following day. The light effects were spectacular, with the show featuring six handcrafted Lego puppets with 32 different parts and standing 1.2m in height, controlled by one to two people.
Needless to say, Ninjago is his new favourite Lego series and, even before leaving on our second day, he was pestering us to ask when we were going back again, and whether we would be able to stay in the Ninjago-themed room the next time around. Looks like purchasing a Legoland annual pass may possibly be on the cards in the near future – in fact, we might go back just for the awesome breakfast and dinner buffets at the Legoland Hotel!
Mummy and Daddy Daycare are the pseudonyms of a Singaporean husband and wife who are raising two young boys aged four and one, nicknamed Barnacles and Kwazii from the children’s Octonauts series. Get into the minds of this couple who describe parenthood as a lifetime adventure – you are always learning something new! Whoever said parenting was a walk in the park?
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