LEGOLAND
We bought a 3 day park hopper ticket through Costco. They’re usually $89.99 (same price for adults and kids), but DH happened to see a limited time deal online for $10 off. Last visit a year ago, we went for 2 days and didn’t do everything we wanted to. With 3 days, we STILL didn’t get to everything, we were close though. I think we’re very atypical. We usually arrive late around 11 am, DS likes to build, and I guess they kids just dawdle. Please keep in mind that this is our experience Monday-Wednesday in the first week of June. We went on a Saturday one year and said never again.
Day 1 (Monday) - to the left!
Going into Legoland, we usually go left because there is more for little kids that way. It’s more crowded though since most people go left. To the right are more thrill rides. DS doesn’t like thrill rides and DD isn’t tall enough. Going left, one of the first rides is
Coastersaurus, which sadly, we’ve never been on due to DS’s aversion to thrill rides (hopefully one day, I can bribe him on
). Next to it is Dino Dig, where kids can dig for dinosaur bones in the sand (we meant to come back to this, but didn't get to it). Across is
Safari Trek, which the kids like (DD especially), but is very slow loading since each car only fits 2 people and there are only so many cars. It goes along a track and there are
Lego animals to look at. The line can be over an hour long on weekends. Our first day was a Monday, but the line still didn’t look short, so we skipped it. We went on our second day after the water park closed (at 5 pm) but before the park closed (at 6 pm) and DD went on multiple times with no wait.
Moving on, we come to the new Lego Friends Heartlake City area. There is a show featuring people dressed as the Lego Friends singing and dancing. Seating is on the ground, so DD watched for a little bit, but we didn’t stay for the whole show. There is also a new carousel (
Mia’s Riding Camp) with Lego horses and I think 2 pink cars. There’s a waiting area with Legos to play with. Around the area, there are lots of cute Lego sculptures of the Lego Friends and animals.
The Lego Movie Experience is also around here. It features actual Lego sets from the movie (pretty cool to see). Wyldstyle was outside for photo ops. DS doesn't like characters. DD usually does (the Disney ones anyways), but she refused to stand next to Wyldstyle for a photo. Not sure why, maybe not so cute and soft? Close by is the Duplo Playtown entrance, which is a pretty big playground where everything looks like lifesize Duplos. There are a couple slides, some play houses (hospital, store, police station), stationary motorcycles, and cars (tow truck, ambulance, etc) to ride on. There is also a little train towards the very left of the area (
Legoland Express). It just goes around in a circle, but the kids like it. I think we went on twice (no real wait, just for the current ride to be over), the kids got to sit in the front car the second time.
Leaving this area, we come to the
Sky Cruiser. This is another slow loading ride with a typical long wait. To add insult to injury, the entrance is up a number of steps, so you can’t even see how bad the wait is until you’ve trekked up. Each cruiser can only fit 2 people, you then pedal around (it still goes if you don't pedal) and see parts of the park from a higher view. It’s nice, but I wouldn’t wait an hour for it. I think we probably still waited 30 minutes. At least there is a nice play area and it’s very easy to rejoin the person waiting in line. There are 2 ramps in the play area and a lot of Duplo train pieces, also lots of regular Lego wheels but we couldn’t find the bases. DS had fun building trains and sending them down the ramp.
Kid Power Towers is also up here, which we’ve never gone on (you sit in a seat and pull yourself up using pulleys).
Back down the hill, we come to the
Junior Driving School (for ages 3-5) and the
Driving School (ages 6-13), they do ask the kids how old they are. These can have a long wait on weekends too, but it was short when we were there, sometimes just waiting for the previous cycle to end. For both, the kids drive around in a Lego car, no track, so they need to step on the gas pedal and steer. Junior Driving School only goes around in a circle, but DD wasn't so great at steering and would get stuck against the side or the island in the middle and needed to be rescued (pulled away) by the ride attendants. It’s very typical for that ride though, the ride attendants are constantly rescuing kids. Driving School is like driving around a real Lego city, with stop lights, stop signs, even a Lego subway entrance. A lot of kids drive on the wrong side of the street though, LOL. Both of the kids like these rides and went on them a few times. There are a few stationary cars (police car, race car) here that the kids like to sit in and press the button (siren or horn sounds). Around here is also
Sky Patrol, which are helicopters (police, fire, coast guard) that you can control going up and down. Pretty simple ride, but the kids really like it and went on several times.
Fun Town Stage is close by, but we saw the show before and didn’t need to see it again (features firefighters, a fire truck, and some antics).
Moving on, is the restaurant
Fun Town Market. There’s a good amount of seating both inside and outside. The food was unremarkable, the kids had some chicken strips. Outside is the
Fun Town Police and Fire Academy. This is rather different, you get on a fire truck with your party and then 2 people have to pump a handle so the car goes, another person has to push a lever so it goes forward. It was fine with DH and I pumping, but I’ve gone on with just DS before and a ride attendant had to come on and pump for us (which is actually not uncommon on the ride, ha ha). There are 4 trucks doing this at the same time, so it’s kind of a race. You get to the other side, then everyone needs to jump out and spray a water cannon at a bad guy in the window of a building until the panel drops, then you race back in the truck and pump your way back. Of course, there’s no prize for “winning”, but it’s fun. Across from this, there is soft serve ice cream at
Lego Club House Snacks. Next to that is the water park entrance. In this area is also
Adventurer’s Club, which we’ve never noticed before. I had to bribe DS into this. We had a deal that if he would try something he thought looked scary or too thrilling, he would get money (a couple dollars) towards souvenirs. After all, if you don’t try something, how do you know you don’t like it? It’s indoors, dark, and there was lightning effects at the entrance, so he was really scared! He held my hand really tightly and we speed walked through.
Not that it really was all that scary…. There’s Lego mummies, bears, wolves, and I think the point was to find 7 keys, but we walked through so fast I didn’t see any.
Moving on from this section, there is
Flight Squadron (fly in a Lego plane). Again, it’s one of those simple rides that the kids really like and we went on a few times. Further down is
Skipper School, which is a small boat ride (2 people per boat) that you control yourself. There was a bit of a wait, maybe 15-20 minutes, but there is a play area nearby with big form pieces to build with. DH stood in line and I watched the kids play, but it was awkward to rejoin him, we had to go through the exit. On our previous visit, there had been an attendant doing iPad check-ins that would send a text when we could come back. Not this time though, maybe it was only a test, or maybe it wasn’t crowded enough this time. Across from this is
Captain Cranky’s Challenge, which is a big pirate ship that swings back and forth. DS wavered on if he wanted to try this for souvenir money, but we didn’t end up doing it.
From here, we went downhill to the
Miniland area (center of the park) instead of continuing in a circle around the park. Miniland is not to be missed. It has Lego models of cities (San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, New York, Washington DC, etc), and also a Star Wars area (the Death Star is new). The are buttons around that will start some action (like the band playing, or a Star Wars spaceship moving). We looked around here for a while and then it was parking closing time.
Day 3 (Wednesday) - to the right!
Yes, I'm going out of order, but we went to the water park on day 2 and it makes more sense to finish up the park. We went to the right this day since it feels like we always miss a big part of this side of the park always going left first. First stop was going to be
Lego Build and Test, you get a car base to build on and then race it against other cars. DS really likes it, but unfortunately there was a Education Program going on and it wasn't open until 2 pm (we meant to go back but ran out of time). There is also
Duplo Play,
Hero Factory, and
Mindstorm (age 9+, so DS couldn't go anyways), all of which had Education Programs in progress. It felt more crowded that day with school groups. We had to watch out a bit for groups of kids running. The
Coast Cruise is close to here, but there was a bit of a line, so we waited until 5 pm and it was walk on. This is a big boat ride (fits maybe 20 people) around the Legoland lake. You get to see Lego Mount Rushmore and some world sites (Sydney Opera House, Taj Mahal, Eiffel Tower, etc). It's nice and relaxing. Next stop was the short 4D movies at
Lego Show Place. We saw the Legends of Chima one first, then waited/wandered around the area for a bit (15 minutes?) and then saw the Clutch Powers one. There wasn't really a wait and they let people in maybe 10 minutes before show time. There are 3 doors on different levels. For some reason, they were directing people to the bottom door, but it wasn't necessary since the the top seats weren't full. We prefer the top door (don't like to sit too close to the screen). Near here is the
Aquazone Wave Racer (it looks like an airboat that goes around over water), which we've never been on. DS won't go on it, but he likes pressing the button to make water shoot out at the riders. It seems that it's on a timer though, you can't just keep making the water shoot up, which is a good thing for the people on the ride.
Next to this is the
Bionicle Blaster, which is like a spinning tea cup ride. We tried it last time and felt a little nauseous afterwards. DS didn't want to go on again and I was perfectly fine with that! Further down is the
Lego Technic Coaster, it's a cute 4-person Technic car on a roller coaster track. Looks fun, but I couldn't convince DS to go on. I would have gone by myself, but the line looked a little long.
Moving on to the next area is the
Lost Kingdom Adventure. You sit in a 4-person car on a track and go along shooting laser guns at targets on mummies, bats, spiders, etc. When you hit the target, sometimes something will happen (like a snake coming out of a basket). The wait looked at little long, so we came back to it closer to the end of the day. It's fun, but for some reason it's not as immersive as a Disney ride, maybe it's the lighting. Next to this is
Pharaoh's Revenge, which is a 2 level enclosure with lots of foam balls to shoot out of air cannons and air shoots. DS liked shooting people and DD like picking up the balls and putting them in the air shoots. Adults quickly become targets - don't stand in the middle (hug the sides)!
Nearby is
Beatle Bounce (4 person seat that goes up and down), which we've never been on. Across from that is
Cargo Ace, a little 2 person plane that goes around. DD really liked this one and went on it I don't know how many times. There's a small bit of centrifugal force as it makes the turns. Adults only fit in the back seat and it's still cramped. In the same area is
Dune Raiders, which is a 6 lane tall slide where the kids race down in sacks. There are also a couple of corkscrews slides next to it. DS enjoyed both.
Moving on to the next section, there is
Knights' Tournament, which we've never been on. It's a 2 seater robotic arm that rotates around, even upside down. It looked too thrilling even for me. But now I'm reading the description on the Legoland website which says you can pick the intensity, so maybe it's actually not that bad and we just happened to see all the thrill seekers. Across from that is
Royal Joust, which are Lego horses that kids sit on and can rock back and forth while it goes around on a track. It's really cute, but too bad there's an age requirement of 4+ in addition to the height requirement (DD is 3). DS went on, but thought it was just okay. I was able to convince DS to go on
The Dragon for souvenir money. It's pretty tame for a roller coaster, but DS still thought it was too fast. There are castle themed Lego sculptures to see inside the ride (before the roller coaster part) and it felt more immersive, more similar to a Disney ride. There's panning for gold around here (for a fee) at
King's Treasury. You pan for "gold" nuggets and then exchange it for a medallion. DS was going to use his souvenir money here, but then decided on the bag of semi-precious stones instead. The sign says the bag must close, but the employee there was very nice and told us that we could overstuff it. The kids had some chicken strips at
Knights' Smokehouse Barbeque (DH and I were still full from breakfast at Bricks). We had the BBQ here last trip and it was good, we liked the variety of BBQ sauces. At the edge of this section is
Hideaways, it's a large multi-level play structure. There are slides, rope ladders, and obstacles. The kids liked it, but I felt like I needed to follow DD around in the structure. I was worried about the bigger kids running into her or kids going down the rope ladder (only supposed to go up) and stepping on her as she's going up. There is a path at the edge of this play structure that leads to the private entrance for the Sheraton and MarBrisa resorts. Next to Hideaways, is
Granny's Apple Fries. I think this is the only snack unique to Legoland. Fried pieces of apple, dusted with cinnamon sugar and topped with whipped cream - yum! Across from Granny's, is
Enchanted Walk, a quiet little area with some Lego woodland creatures to see. Nearby is
Wild Woods Golf, which is mini golf for an additional fee, we didn't try it (too much of a time investment).
Leaving this area, we come to a wet area on the left. There's
Splash Battle (boat with water cannons) and
Soak-N-Sail (water play area with slides). We've never gone to this area since we spend at day at the water park, so on a park day we don't really want to get wet. Looks fun though.
At the end of the day, we had 30 minutes left and went to
Sea Life. It's a really small aquarium, so we were able to walk through and pretty much see everything without lingering in that amount of time. DD was asleep in the stroller by then, so we could move faster. DS enjoyed the quiz trail, which is a series of questions located on the walls throughout Sea Life. There's a sheet of scratch off answers (A, B, or C) next the maps. The prize is a sticker when you turn in the sheet to the gift shop (it doesn't matter if you get it right or wrong).
Day 2 (Tuesday) - to the water park!
Near the entrance are lockers, changing stalls, and restrooms. This was the first time I've rented a locker (normally, I would leave my wallet in the hotel room, but we were in between hotels this day). The small was $8 for the day with in and out privileges. I only had a purse, but you could probably fit a regular sized backpack in it. The kiosk prints out a wrist band with a bar code on it, you then pick a block of lockers and scan the wrist band, and one of the empty locker doors will pop open. Scan again and the same door will open. Convenient not to have to remember the exact locker and no key to lose. Also, near the entrance are whole body dryers for $5, which we didn't try.
Near the entrance is
Imagination Station, which has foot pedals to pump water that will shoot out and move turn tables. DS enjoyed this. The lazy river (
Build-A-Raft River) entrance is nearby. There are single and double tubes, some of them have a base for building with the foam Legos floating in the river. I wish there were more Legos in the river though, we usually only manage to grab a couple (this time we didn't manage to get any). There are Lego people around the river that spray water. DS doesn't like to get water in his eyes, so I maneuvered our double tube away from him (not so easy when sitting in the tube), but I got drenched instead, LOL. DD was with DH and she liked the river a lot, so they went around a few more times.
To the left of the lazy river is a path that leads to the 3 big slides. There's a shallow pool here with the
Joker Soaker (platform in the pool) and water cannons, we didn't spend much time here. I convinced DS to go on
Orange Rush, you go down in a huge tube (fits 4 people or up to 750 lbs). There was a group of 3-4 boys (they looked about 9 or 10 years old) behind us and the ride attendant asked if we minded going together (we didn't). It was really fun! It'll be nice when DD is tall enough (42 inches) and we can go on as a family. DS liked it enough to go on it a second time. We also went on
Splash Out, the blue body slide. I was told that I couldn't catch DS at the bottom, but could wait for him a little further away from the exit of the slide. The water is shallow (maybe less than 3 feet?), so I didn't think it would be a problem, but DS didn't get good footing coming down so his head went underwater. The material on the bottom is more cushy than the rest of the pool. Not a big deal, but he wasn't happy about it, ha ha. There are also 2 enclosed tube slides, the
Twin Chasers, but of course I couldn't convince DS to go on after he dunked his head. Just as well, I don't like enclosed slides that much anyways.
Leaving this area, to the left of the entrance and past the lockers, is
Duplo Splash Safari. DD really liked this area and the small slides. The ramp slide was especially fun (fits 4) and we all went on as a family several times. She liked the single open slide too, but didn't go in the enclosed slide. The pools is zero entry, shallow, and has Duplo animals that sprout water (elephant, alligator, polar bear). There's a decent number of loungers here with most shaded by umbrellas. Past this area is the
Splash Zoo, which is a splash pad with Duplo animals. The water is really cold, so DD didn't stay long.
To the right of the entrance, past the lazy river, is the newer Chima area. To the right, is
Pirate Reef, which we've never been on. It's a boat ride with a drop and big splash. To the left is
Cragger's Swamp with 3 types of slides. Cooler's Twist is a curved open medium-sized slide, Crug's Run is a medium enclosed slide, Cragger's Splash is a small open slide. DS went on the slides, but he didn't like how there's water splashing down in the slide structure. There are several water cannons in this shallow pools area with pretty big range. DS loved splashing other people, but he hated getting splashed - ironic, I know.
We found that we could sit in the pool towards the side of the slide structure, closer to the back, that was out-of-range of the water cannons.
There are chairs around this pool, but not much shade.
Past this area and up some stairs, is DS's favorite -
Eglor's Build-A-Boat. You get a boat base (about a foot long), build on it, and then send it down a miniature Chima themed river. For some reason, the water on one side of the river wasn't on this time, so the boats didn't go down as well. There is another restrooms, changing stalls, and lockers area here. Nearby is the
Lion Temple Wave Pool, which we didn't try. There is also the
Speedorz Arena, which is a covered area with ramps to race Chima toy cars (or more like motorcyles). There is a lot of seating here.
That concludes my trip report! Thanks for reading!
Hopefully it was a great time in the park.
