Where is the best PAB-wall in the UK

[UserNameInvalid]

Hi there,

I've read so many stories about the great hauls and loots people got at in-store PABs especially in the USA.

Am now looking for the best place to go in the UK.

Milton Keynes has only a small collection.

I've not been to Brighton or Blue Water or the one in Legoland.

I am ver fortunate to live at max 2 hours drive away from all of them, Blue Water being the furthest.

Recently I emailed Legoland to find out if you can shop without buying an expensive ticket to legoland.

They replied that you must buy a ticket, but can get a refund if you exit the park within 30 min.

So can anyone tell me about the PAB walls in the UK.

And is it worth going to the one in Legoland?

And what about in-store special offers: many offers in Legoland, or are they the same as online?

Thanks!

UserNameInvalid

[emilec]

Hi there,

I've read so many stories about the great hauls and loots people got at in-store PABs especially in the USA.

Am now looking for the best place to go in the UK.

Milton Keynes has only a small collection.

I've not been to Brighton or Blue Water or the one in Legoland.

I am ver fortunate to live at max 2 hours drive away from all of them, Blue Water being the furthest.

Recently I emailed Legoland to find out if you can shop without buying an expensive ticket to legoland.

They replied that you must buy a ticket, but can get a refund if you exit the park within 30 min.

So can anyone tell me about the PAB walls in the UK.

And is it worth going to the one in Legoland?

And what about in-store special offers: many offers in Legoland, or are they the same as online?

Thanks!

UserNameInvalid

The Brighton one doesn't have a great selection. Probably about 20 holes worth of pieces. These are mainly filled with basic pieces, roof slopes, plates, bricks, wheels/car bits etc.. in standard colours no rare colours last time i checked. The only things i have bought from these have been plant/tree/flower pieces and odd fence and window frame pieces. Managed to fit 300+ small flower stems and 100ish flowers on sprues in one of the small cups though!

[brickbitz]

I believe the Brand stores are all similar although I think Bluewater is the largest, it's the only one I've been to.

They sell by cup, a smallish cup costs £6 and a large cup costs £11. You can obviously fit a lot more smaller pieces in than larger pieces, so it really depends what you look for.

As for selection I haven't been since the end of last year, they do change the items around quite a bit, so I don't know what's currently available.

The Big Shop at Legoland has a huge PAB selection with some good stuff last time I was there. They sell by weight though and it was £34 per Kilo last year.

The other thing to note is that Legoland is now run by Merlin and not owned exclusively by TLC anymore.

The shop there is not part of the LEGO group as such, so they do not have LEGO store exclusives i.e the Emerald Knight, Medieval Market etc. They also do not have the same sales or discounts as you may find in the Brand Stores or online at S@H.

However they do run their own discounts, currently some discounted Exoforce and Speed Racer sets from reports. Again I haven't been yet this season but I believe the discount place is now under the Creation centre. The old discount tent is now gone and yes a couple of years ago it was full of unboxed bags from sets selling by weight. There were some real bargains even though I missed that one too , hopefully we'll see the like again.

You will probably struggle to do the Shop and Discount centre in 30 mins. If you are going to go 2 or 3 times a year, it'll be better to get an annual pass so you can try out the new Egyptian themed rides and area as well. Plus you get 10% discount in the shops with an annual pass.

Hope this helps.

Hi there,

I've read so many stories about the great hauls and loots people got at in-store PABs especially in the USA.

Am now looking for the best place to go in the UK.

Milton Keynes has only a small collection.

I've not been to Brighton or Blue Water or the one in Legoland.

I am ver fortunate to live at max 2 hours drive away from all of them, Blue Water being the furthest.

Recently I emailed Legoland to find out if you can shop without buying an expensive ticket to legoland.

They replied that you must buy a ticket, but can get a refund if you exit the park within 30 min.

So can anyone tell me about the PAB walls in the UK.

And is it worth going to the one in Legoland?

And what about in-store special offers: many offers in Legoland, or are they the same as online?

Thanks!

UserNameInvalid

[mrchris]

blue water has a larger selection than milton keynes. i visited both within the same month and there was very little overlap between the two as well. the holes in the wall in blue water are smaller as well, so MK is wasting lots of space that they could use for a better selection.

Edited April 9, 2009 by mrchris

[paul_delahaye]

Bluewater, definitely the best of the 3 shops IMO, and the best pick a brick i every achieved from there was a tub full of compressors and pneumatic pistons only found in the old mindstorms ultimate builder set, (this was a couple of years ago) The had white lego ladders in the PAB wall last time i was there about a month ago.

Brighton, the crazy one way system just to get into the town nearly got me a ticket! They used to offer 10% off etc, but sadly no more, however all the 3 lego shops do have the quite generous loyalty point scheme!

Milton Keynes, I found this shop the most disappointing of the 3, nothing special, certainly not in the PAB wall, but it was a couple of years ago.

Legoland, my local lego shop :-) good pick a brick wall, although smaller than last year, and mainly full of basic bricks, a few exceptions and specials. Regarding the egyption ride, i would not waste my time again, guy said it was the best ride in the park, and it had a hour queue on opening weekend, 1 hour 40 minutes later we get into the room where they show the training video, we then exit through a door to the left only to be led into another queue for another 20 minutes. There is a real problem with loading people onto and off of this ride, it is very inefficient. The ride was over in no more than 2 minutes, back to Pick a Brick, it's £45 per kilo in the wall, same as last year, which is steep, we have seen a steady increase since the original days when it used to be £30 per kilo. The only saving grace is 10% discount with an annual pass, The broken up sets they sold 2 years ago when they were selling bricks for £10 a kilo was great :-)