INFORMATION

Legoland Discovery Centre is at Barton Square, Trafford Centre, Manchester M17 8AS.

For more information call 0844 844 8181 or visit legolanddiscoverycentre.co.uk/Manchester.

ACCORDING to the experts behind the world’s best-selling toy brand, on average every person on earth owns 86 Lego bricks.

We headed to the Legoland Discovery Centre in Manchester where you can find 2 million of the brightly-coloured bricks under one roof.

At Barton Square, part of the massive Trafford Centre complex on the outskirts of Manchester, Legoland brings you all the fun of the famous toy, but on a much bigger scale.

There was quite a queue forming outside the attraction, but the waiting children were kept occupied with a variety of Lego-related fun, both outside and just inside the entrance, as well as a few famous characters as part of a special event.

The last few weekends have been Star Wars Days at the Legoland Discovery Centre – no doubt ahead of the much-anticipated new Star Wars film due out next month.

This meant the opportunity to meet a range of characters from the famous films. There was a Lego Stormtrooper, a Darth Vader and a team of Jawas on hand who looked and sounded like the real thing. There was also a Star Wars-related hunt through Miniland and a chance to help build a giant R2D2.

The great appeal of Lego for children and parents is its ability to capture youngsters’ attention and fire their imagination. And we felt this was certainly true of all of the features at the Legoland Discovery Centre.

The permanent Star Wars section allows children to move characters on amazing Lego sets as they recreated scenes from the films. Elsewhere there was the chance to duck and weave through lasers in a Ninjago themed area.

And while the extra Star Wars themed-events have ended, the centre is now hosting a Holiday Bricktacular throughout December. This offers the chance for people to build a Lego Santa, see the Manchester Christmas Markets recreated in the small plastic bricks. There is also a Santa Express Lego train to enjoy.

Although the Star Wars theme was definitely a major highlight for the two generations of the films’ fans in our family during our visit, there was also plenty of other attractions to keep us occupied for most of the day.

Upon entering the Legoland Discovery Centre we were ushered first to the factory to learn how the popular bricks are made. Once through this section we were free to head to what became our eldest’s favourite part – the Kingdom Quest laser ride. Hopping aboard the ride we were tasked with shooting the bad guys with our laser guns – all in Lego form of course.

A short stride away we ventured into Miniland, with top attractions from across the country recreated in a variety of bricks. George was fascinated with a football match, a small boat whizzing round on water and the way the lighting changed from night to day.

Next up is the high-rise playgym which was a big draw with something for a variety of ages – including a nearby café providing parents with a much needed coffee stop. It wasn’t long before we were pulled to the Lego Racers area where the boys were able to create and then race their creations, pitting their wheels against those of other young visitors.

Further rides came next with Forest Pursuit, where the youngsters were able to navigate their own powered vehicles around a track with just a press of the peddle and a chance to steer themselves around the course.

Merlin’s Apprentice provided some of the fun of a funfair and was well-liked. There is also a Duplo Farm section for the younger visitors, and a Lego Friends area too.

We missed out on a trip to the venue’s 4D cinema, due to our youngest taking the time for a nap, but it is something we’ll be sure to check out next time we head to Legoland in Manchester.

The Lego shop at the end is fantastic and has just about everything a child could want in brick form. Indeed we had to make a hasty exit before our eldest decided he did want pretty much everything there.