Best option to get to Legoland for the day?

[kkayluvsdis]

Hi All,
We are considering yet another WDW vacation for this coming February. However, our kids are totally into LEGOs right now and we'd love to visit Legoland. We're trying to decide between doing some type of split stay, but we realize that might over complicate things and we do love being on Disney property. Does anyone have experience in visiting Legoland for just a day? How much hassle is renting a car? Any other transportation options you might have? Typically we do not rent a car for our WDW vacations and just utilize the Magical Express and WDW transportation while on property.

Thank you so much for your time!!

-Kelly

 

[goofy4tink]

You have a couple of options. You could just get a cab there. If it were me, I would book a car service since they're comparable in price and nicer than a cab. Or, you can rent a car if you're comfortable driving there. I have used Alamo/National at the Dolphin....I would rent on a day that I was going to be at Epcot, them walk over to the Dolphin, do the paperwork, and return later in the day to get the car and drive back to my resort. Or, just take a bus from a park to the Dolphin. Or you can rent at the Car Care Center. You can get picked up and taken to the office.

 

[mom2AidanAndEli]

We actually did just this in August 2013. We were staying at POFQ, no car. I looked at cabs--hugely expensive! I looked at renting for a day from onsite. And then also looked at the Legoland shuttle. And ended up going with the shuttle. Now, I understand the pickup place for the shuttle may have changed, so you'll need to check on that.

But for us, we took a cab from our resort to the outlet mall. Then the shuttle ran from there, at about opening time. It leaves Legoland just after park closing. When we got back to the outlets, there were a bunch of taxis waiting to take guests back to their resorts.

The Legoland shuttle at that time was only $5 per person, round trip. The cab fare was about $20 each way. So it came out to just over $60 for our family of four. This was very comparable to the one-day rate to rent a car. I just found it easier to do this way--no directions or driving to deal with, no shuttling back and forth to the car care center.

Worked great for us! Like I said, just check where the drop off point is for the shuttle now. It should be on the Legoland website--that's where we found details and booked it.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

A taxi cab would cost around $95 EACH WAY, plus tip. Ouch.

The Legoland Shuttle is still only $5 roundtrip, but it now leaves from I-Drive 360 (8350 Universal Boulevard, Orlando), not from the outlet mall. That's a much longer cab ride than the outlet mall. For more details about the The Legoland Shuttle, see http://florida.legoland.com/en/buy_tickets/Admission-Tickets1/shuttle/

A car rental is likely to be the least expensive solution. And it's the one offering the most flexibility. You can come and go on your own schedule. You can also use the car to stop at a grocery store for beverages, snacks, and sundries. You even use it as an opportunity to have dinner at an off-site restaurant (saving money and allowing you to try something new).

Car rentals are priced in 24-hour increments. You have to pick up the car during the hours that the rental car company is open. You then have up to 24 hours to return it. There's a "sticky" thread about renting cars at WDW at the top of the DISboards Transportation forum. You have many different choices, not just National/Alamo at the Dolphin.

 

[kkayluvsdis]

Thank you so much for the responses! I will take a look at the shuttle schedule and price out the rental car option. I appreciate it. BTW, how did your kids like Legoland? Was it worth the trip?

 

[mom2AidanAndEli]

My kids were older when we went -- 11 and 13. But my 11-year-old lives and breathes everything Lego. We literally have a Lego room in our house! The 13-year-old went along grudgingly, knowing how much his brother loves it.

It's definitely geared for much younger, but they still had a blast! Just wandering around looking at all the sculptures is amazing---my husband and I enjoyed that as much as they did! There's some hands-on stuff which is good too. We went in August so we also visited the water park. One full day, open to close, was perfect for us. The day we went, though, there was absolutely no one in the park. In fact, when the shuttle pulled up and we got off and started walking in, my husband and I are looking at one another like, "Is it even open?" There was just no one there. It was the end of August, so I guess school was already in session there. The boys could just walk on to every ride as many times as they wanted. No waits at all for anything. I think at the most they had to wait for one car to fill up and leave on the roller coaster and then were on the very next car. If there had been waits at all, we wouldn't have had any time for the water park, but I think could have still done most of the rest of the park in one day. Miniland is amazing!

 

[FencerGirl]

We took our daughter in 2012 when she was 3. She could ride most of the rides, despite being a peanut. We all enjoyed the mini city and the gardens portion. For what it's worth, we had discounted charity tickets and felt that we would have been disappointed had we paid full price. Keep an eye out for discounts.

We rented a car and drove there. It was great because we had lunch on the way, which saved some $. On the way back we stopped at Publix and got snacks for the week.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

I have used Alamo/National at the Dolphin....I would rent on a day that I was going to be at Epcot, them walk over to the Dolphin, do the paperwork, and return later in the day to get the car and drive back to my resort. Or, just take a bus from a park to the Dolphin.

Although the idea of renting a car from Alamo/National at the Dolphin the day before going to Legoland seems like a good idea on the surface, there's a practical reason why I would not recommend it.

The hours of Alamo/National at the Dolphin are 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. daily. You can only start a rental during business hours. Even if you rent right before the 4:00 p.m. closing, you would have to return the car by 4:00 p.m. the next day (the Legoland day). That would mean either leaving Legoland by around 2:30 p.m. or paying for a 2-day car rental.

It would be better to have one family member rent the car in the morning of the Legoland day and pick up everyone else. You would then have the car for up to 24 hours, paying for only a 1-day rental.

You can return outside of business hours. The return time for billing purposes is the opening time the next morning.

As i wrote before, there's a "sticky" thread about renting cars at WDW at the top of the DISboards Transportation forum.