Another LegoLand question

[magicbri]

Hello theme park gurus,

Since following this forum improved my family's Disneyland experience so greatly last October, I knew we had to come back here for more help.

My wife and I would like to take our 5 year old son (and Lego fanatic) to LegoLand this year for the first time. We have had a last minute change to his school status, and are now considering heading down there for August 15 and 16th.

We are compulsive planners but the amout of info available for LegoLand is non-existent compared to DL. We have seen some mixed reviews about crowds, but we are hoping for some more input.

Are we likely to "survive" those two days, or will the crowds make it completely unenjoyable? Our idea is to spend a day and a half at LegoLand and a half day at SeaLife Aquarium. Our hope is that in the day and a half we would be able to experience everything at LegoLand and still allow our son ample time to "play" at the interactive attractions.

Is this a reasonable plan, or should we bag it and try to take him out of school sometime in September?

Thanks in advance for your expertise,
Brian

 

[skiingfast]

I think that sounds ok. I wouldn't do two days but if you are doing the aqaurium too it will make it a stretch for one day. Will you also be doing the water park?

I would do the aquarium later in the morning. Don't get sucked into it's hour ealier than park open and then go to the aquarium and miss the park opening.


As far as lines, I would go right the first day and hit the coasters. Go left the other day hitting the 3rd coaster and the thing on the track that you pedal(I forget the name). It looks fun but it is quick and the slowest loading attraction ever! While the lines may look short it really is the posted time.

I really like legos still and am passing on my collection to my DS. But Legoland is positively for the kids not the adults. You could walk in and out in an hour and be fine.

 

[magicbri]

Thanks for the info Skiingfast.

We are just reading such conflicting reports about how bad the crowds really are on a summer weekday.

Thanks,
Brian

 

[23bw]

We visited Legoland on July 5th and it was moderately packed even by DL standards. Right at opening the lines were relatively short for most rides. Pretty much walk-on for the first 30 minutes after the park opened. By 11:00am the park filled up pretty good with ride queues between 25-60 min waits. It was hot so we didn't have the patience to wait for the more crowded rides. By 1pm I was done with LL but but the kids seemed to enjoy it. I think we stayed there until 2pm and headed back to the hotel pool to cool down.

Like skiingfast said, there is little there for adults. Though the kids enjoyed the rides.

 

[skiingfast]

As far as lines, I would go right the first day and hit the coasters. Go left the other day hitting the 3rd coaster and the thing on the track that you pedal(I forget the name). It looks fun but it is quick and the slowest loading attraction ever! While the lines may look short it really is the posted time.

It's called the sky cruiser and is quit visible because the track circles a small hill.

But it really loads slow I can't think of anything that loads this slow at Disney. So when you child says I want to do that! Do it early when the line is short.

 

[magicbri]

23BW,

Thank you for the current update. I appreciate the information. We are moving forward with our plan and hopefully will enjoy ourselves and not spend the entire time stuck in lines.

Anyone have any recommendations for "budget" hotels nearby?

We're looking at the La Quinta and the Carlsbad By The Sea Resort (formerly a Holiday Inn apparently). Both seem to have extremely mixed reviews, so we're open to suggestions.

Thanks,
Brian

 

[skiingfast]

I think it's a tough one if you want to save money. Everything close is either pricey or dumpy. You can try staying inland a bit, or up or down the coast(but that mean you might have to fight some I-5 traffic).

Last time I considered this my top ideas were the La Quinta and the Hampton Inn by the Polamar airport.

 

[ykmom]

We stayed at the hampton inn. It was about a 10 minute drive, with a complimentary hot breakfast.

 

[DahliaRW]

My ds and dh just stayed at the rodeway inn on Pio Pico Drive and said it was clean and comfortable. Not much of a breakfast, but it was the cheapest in the area I could find for them (they just stayed one Saturday night) in the area and is close to LL.

As for LL, they went on Saturday, got there around noon, stayed until close. They purposely did not do the waterpark and felt that they could have used an hour or two more, but not a whole other day (they did the zoo today instead of a 2nd day). My ds is 6 1/2.

I don't know if it'll still be going on when you're there, but right now there is a kids eat free promo at certain restaurants between certain hours.

 

[Astro Orbiter]

Have fun!

Bring his swimsuit and a towel - the Soak-n-Sail is full immersion wet - slides, dumping buckets, and water guns.

At 5 he might be too short for some of the coasters, which will reduce the number of things you have to wait for. Could be a good thing!

Mid-day is the busiest, because there are often lots of camps there - especially T/W/Th. They clear out around 2 or 3. Locals won't be back in school when you're coming, but it's close enough that we might be doing the end-of-summer-bucket-list visits.

If you want do do all the shows, etc. you'll probably want the 2 days. We are passholders, and spend most of our time playing and not riding these days. The great places to play are Pharoh's revenge (outside Lost Kingdom Adventure) and the Hideaways (where you might want to stay with him in the massively huge playground). And Soak-n-Sail. Make sure you hit Build-n-Test to build and race lego cars. Miniland takes a bit of time, too, especially when you slow down and look at the fun things the builders have hidden.

For that age, Adventurer's Club might spook him (the dark thunderstorm when you first get in has made many a kid shriek - after that the only thing that would startle anyone is the polar bear). Power Tower we like, but if he's not a fan of heights and edges he may not make it to the top. Fairy Tale brook is probably not his cup of tea, though it rarely has a wait. Treasure Falls has been deemed by DD/DH as the lamest log ride ever.

It's not Disney. It's designed for the 5-8 year old. Let him run and go along for the ride!

Deb