NOTE: The Ride Access Pass does not include admission into the attraction, you need to also purchase a park entry ticket. They are separate things. The Legoland RAP is free. We paid for out visit, this post is not sponsored or biased in any way.
WHAT IS A RIDE ACCESS PASS?
Legoland offers a Ride Access Pass, “which is a virtual queuing system designed to make reasonable adjustments to assist guests who have a physical disability or medical condition that prevents them from standing for extended periods, permanently non-ambulant guests, and guests who do not understand the concept of queuing.”
To set expectations and prepare children properly as its a bit ambiguous– you will still have to queue with a RIDE ACCESS PASS, just for a shorter amount of time in a less people-heavy queue separate from the main line – which is accessed via a dedicated entrance at each ride. It can still be quite busy especially in holidays and summer months.
There are limitations on the RAP – a maximum of three companions at a time are permitted to accompany the guest with a disability onto a chosen ride or attraction. This I can presume will be a challenge for families with more than 2 children. The rides do still have conditions for individuals with disabilities to go on, even if they have got a RAP – i.e. need to be able to physically transfer on/off the ride unaided and sit upright with/without carer assistance. I saw a family of a child in a wheelchair being asked about their physical mobility because of this so be prepared as much as you can if you are asked as this was likely quite upsetting/intrusive for that child/parents.
TIP: We decided to stay onsite at the Legoland hotel in part for practicality and proximity to the site and primarily because hotel guests can access the park with the Legoland City rides early from 9.30 am, before the day guests. That quiet(er) half-an-hour to go on rides would have been ideal for a SEN child with social anxiety like our son. What is not mentioned is that you cannot use the Ride Access Pass until 10am so that was a downer.
APPLYING FOR A RIDE ACCESS PASS.
In honesty, I found the different application steps longwinded and confusing so have broken what I did. Even the staff give different accounts of what you need to do, I think this is because the Pass is moving online but the lack of clarity caused us a lot of stress. Please use the actual Legoland or Merlin sites to book and follow the steps. My explanation of what I did is to show that multiple steps and bookings need to be made.
STEP 1. For our family, we have an active Nimbus Access Card that we have been using with multiple venues and services with our son. I purchased this HERE for £15 and it is valid for 3 years, so my Step 1 might look a tad different than others. I just needed to register my son’s Access Card with Merlin Entertainments to create his Merlin Ride Access Pass (so I started with Step 2). For those without a general paid-for Nimbus Access Card you register for FREE through Nimbus for a Merlin Access Card HERE.
STEP 2. You then link your Nimbus access card to a Merlin Ride Access Pass HERE . Guests must submit their application to Nimbus Disability for a Ride Access Pass at least seven days in advance of their intended visit to Merlin Theme Parks. The Ride Access Pass user will be issued with either a Red or Yellow ID Ride Access Pass Photocard. Guests with a red card require a carer to accompany them on all rides except for Desert Chase, Thunder Blazer, L-Drivers, Driving School. Guests with a Yellow card do not require a carer to accompany them on the rides. You get an email confirmation where it says print tickets. Which you can’t. I contacted Legoland Customer Services, and they said, you need to take this digital version/order number ‘to the park to collect your physical Ride Access Pass card.’
STEP 3. You THEN need to prebook your session to use the Ride Access Pass ONLINE via the accessibility section of the Legoland website HERE for the date of your visit. (This is NEW and is catching people out). YOU CANNOT BOOK THIS ON THE DAY. A lady we met at the park was struggling as she had purchased a package where she could visit the park for two days – if you also have a deal like this then you need to make multiple bookings for each day you visit the park. I cannot find clear info on how long in advance this needs to be done, but from feedback from other parents these are getting booked up weeks in advance – so some parents are booking for the next weekend but then finding no RAP slots so please take note of this. There is a backup list system in place if you contact Legoland that involves seeing if there are cancellations etc but there is no guarantee.
*Now this is where we had a hard time- collecting the PHYSICAL RIDE ACCESS PASS. Anyone with an ASD child will know preparation is key and any stress or diversions from plans on the day can end in meltdowns. Skip forward to our arrival to the hotel and my visiting reception to ask how I get to the hub to collect the physical RAP card. The girl admitted she had no idea and to visit the gift shop where the staff also did not know. I then called Legoland Customer Services. This representative said we didn’t need to collect a physical pass just the online RAP (Step 3). Talking with other families in online forums about this and it seems like some people are still being told for their first visit or if they don’t have one you need a PHYSICAL RAP card and to queue (can be up to an hour) at the RAP Hub at the park entrance. Or like me others are told you just need the online code. I cant advise what is right with conflicting instructions so I emailed Legoland and have asked for clarity (are there differences for RAP use with Lego hotel guests or is it because we have a physical Nimbus card I wonder). With that in mind, without the photocard colour allocation you may find that a 14+/adult may need to accompany the RAP holder on all rides). No one asked me for a physical card and on all rides I accompanied my son. I found that the staff in the park each had a different understanding of the RAP, most were kind and approachable. A lot of the staff were very young and given how busy it was I can emphasise that without clear information/training on disabilities some could come across as disinterested/insensitive.
TIP: You can contact the Ride Access Pass Team via email at rideaccesspass@legoland.co.uk but from my experience, this may differ from what you find on the day!
STEP 4. On the morning of visiting the park YOU MUST ACTIVATE your online Ride Access Pass that you booked in Step 3. I would advise doing it before entering the site as otherwise you are fiddling around on your phone = more stress! How I did it was to go to the email confirmation that you received when you prebooked the RAP and then you enter the email you used in the booking process, and create a password. Staff have the QR code on their lanyards that will direct your mobile to this page. I realised that on the Legoland app, in the Explore tab you scroll down to Reserve and Ride then login to the RAP portal there. I then kept that open on my phone. It’s a bit of a clumsy setup but we got round it as a family by using my phone for RAP solely. So, you don’t have the same panic I did, when you activate the RAP again you will get a message come up about collecting the physical card/wristband first!
TIP: This is a phone-heavy pass (so charge up before your visit and then bring a phone charger with. A portable power bank charger if you have one. The site says it offers free Wifi but this is pretty unreliable so make sure you have plenty of mobile data.
HOW DO YOU USE THE RAP ON THE DAY?
The Ride access pass does take a couple of goes to get the hang of – it helps to have an idea of the rides you want to go on and an ideal order. I opened the Reserve and Ride Portal via my mobile. Then select ONE ride from your choice of attractions (you cannot queue up multiple reservations) – that ride will have its page with useful info (rider heights etc) and a button to activate where you will either see a wait time timer (so you can have a wander to get a drink etc) or (for us especially the first hour after opening) we found that the QR a code appeared immediately. With this code, you go directly to the Ride Access Pass/Reserve and Ride entrance (it will say in the ride info – i.e. go to the exit, which is for the most part clearly signposted). Each ride is different, check out this Accessibility guide to view the locations. I did not find this until after our visit as there are so many different links on the website. I would advise to print it and take it with you. So, for example with the Sky Rider the RAP entrance is at the exit – but this is up the hill from the main ride and not clearly signposted. We spent 10 minutes looking for it and then joined the normal queue as it was short but it was pretty overwhelming for my son (this was up steps so another family would not have this option). When we got to the staff they said lots of people had the same difficulty and they had raised it higher but nothing had changed. I think if you have been to Legoland before you would be more confident in using the RAP but for first timers like us we did struggle.
Tip: don’t forget to check the rides Maximum height. We obviously checked the Minimum and the ages, but say with Driving School my son was at the height limit so they just said ‘no not you’, to his face. I do understand the need for the rules but you don’t get it checked until you have queued up and the staff are pretty brisk.
Our experience…
For an idea of what using the RAP looks like. The first ride we did was Coastguard HQ where it advised go to the exit (note: quite a lot of people were walking out as we went in so best an adult lead and prepare that it can be busy) the girl let us onto a boat coming in immediately as there were no other Ride Access Pass users. Pretty easy experience. You very visually go in front of the main queue and towards the end of the day I noted this can raise some reactions from other visitors. The majority of the rides are not much more than five minutes long and I was surprised when we got off that you cannot book your next ride immediately. One staff member wrongly told me I had to wait an hour to book something new. What happens is – a timer will be counting down until you can book your next ride. The Ride Access Pass guest will be timed out of the system for the same length of time as the main queue line. I found it on average to be about 20/30 minutes. This was ok when you are walking between ‘areas’ but a bit of a pain for rides right next to each other. I should have packed fiddlers/crossword for the wait times. For Laser Raiders, we entered through a set R&R entrance into a separate queue and waited for about 15 mins, once we got to the front of that we then joined the main queue near the front which was around 7 minutes. As an idea the main queue was 45 minutes, so there is a definite benefit. That said whilst the R&R rides are shorter they are still loud, involve standing up and full of people so don’t forget ear defenders etc. Having different options for entry each time also was quite difficult for my son as there was no routine, sometimes you could see how long a queue was sometimes you were not sure how long the wait would be. I did note that there was no set staff monitoring the RAP areas – checking in on children’s needs, if the families needed support etc which I think would be of a huge benefit. What rides are included in the RAP? Again, info online seems to differ, so I found it easier to view the active rides on the Reserve and Ride portal on the day. Some rides they also suggest are only available to be ridden once in a day using the RAP.
Tip: On the day certain rides may register as FULL or unavailable on the portal, this was happening constantly to us. I asked staff who explained – it can be because a Reserve and Ride queue is full but also when the main queue is busy (which when you go in peak times is constant), they try and ‘put off’ RAP to shorten the main queue time. This happened at the ride we had gone to – the main queue was 60 minutes but there were only 6 people in the R&R queue so they let us in anyway. I think it’s best just to go to a ride and ask if unsure.
This is just one parent’s helpful advice to others about the application/use of a RAP. It is not my advisement that with a RAP your child will be able to access/enjoy Legoland. You are the expert in your own child’s needs. For our family, my 13-year-old is diagnosed Autistic with sensory sensitivities and social anxiety. This was our first visit to the park, and I will write more in-depth about our wider experience. We did a LOT of preparation, the RAP was invaluable for us (though there are definitely flaws), as the main park queues were monstrously long – he had ear defenders and other sensory supports. It was a challenge. It was busy and loud but we managed 6 hours and for the most part enjoyed ourselves. In terms of rides we would have found information of pictures of what the rides looked like to sit on, what the queue areas looked like and what happened in the ride helpful – the closest thing was the Accessibility guide HERE which is helpful for parents with children with physical considerations to see beforehand how children will be getting on the ride and if it is suitable. The closest I could find is a sensory guide HERE that gives parents an insight into if a ride has say lights/water etc and the ride duration which was useful.
I hope this helps and it is not gospel, just what I used found that helped me in the sea of info. If anyone has any ideas and tips they want to add please just send me a message as I find the best help comes from other parents. Or if you want to share your realistic experiences to help prep others please just add it to the comments.
