Disneyland to Legoland

[jacs1234]

We have our accommodation booked at the view room at Carousel Inn. We are going to rent a car and take the kids to legoland for two days. Do you think we should spend the night at Carlsbad or just drive home in the afternoon and go back the next day?

It's funny, because the first time we took our kids to LA, they were not excited at all about Disneyland, but were over the moon at the thought of going to Legoland. Disney stuff isn't huge over here, but all kids love lego.

It's changed now though and they talk about Disneyland every single day. (We're not telling them we're going though, we'll tell them the day we leave).

 

[CrazyDuck]

Are you sure you need 2 days at Legoland??

 

[jacs1234]

Well, we did get 90% of it done in one day last time, but it was rush rush rush. We have 4 kiddies so it was a bit slow to get around. We thought if we had that extra day, or even extra half a day, then we could do a couple of their favourite rides over and over, spend some time in that fort playground and spend time digging for dinosaur bones etc.

We are toying with the idea of just one day, but last time we wrote down that we needed extra time.

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

If you go for two days you might consider visiting the little aquarium they have there, too. We enjoyed it with my nephews.

Personally, I'd stay at the same hotel and drive down both days. When family comes out from Texas, and we drive to San Diego to go to the zoo, and then go back to visit Sea World. I live near LAX. So, for me, it's not a big thing to drive down from DLR to Carlsbad on both days.

 

[ConnieB]

It's about 70 miles one way from Disney to Legoland....so considering traffic, just over an hour each way. Besides the obvious "will you have the stamina to drive an hour each evening after all day in the hot sun walking/running around" or "will your kids tolerate two hours of driving each day", lol....also consider that it's 140 extra miles. Is the car you are renting unlimited miles? What kind of gas mileage does it get? When we were in that area a month ago gas prices were $4.29 to 4.69 a gallon...so assuming that your rental gets at least 20 miles to gallon it's about $40 worth of gas. If your rental has a limit on miles and then you start paying, that adds up FAST.

But....you can stay at a Ramada, Quality Inn, La Quinta, Days Inn type hotel for probably $60 a night. So is the $20 savings worth the driving? It wouldn't be to me, but then I tend to run myself into the ground going from open to close at places and then as soon as we get out to the car my remaining energy mysteriously drains down to 1%, lol. So, an extra $20 to have a bed to collapse in vs an hour of driving tonight and another hour back in the morning....priceless!

Now...as you can tell from my hotel ideas, we don't need fancy rooms.....clean and safe are the priorities to us, especially when it's a one or two night stay. If your family prefer the better hotels, then of course the cost difference might be more significant.



Oh...and I just went to look if they still have it....and they do....Legoland has on ONLINE special....buy one day hopper (Legoland and either the waterpark or the aquarium), get a second day free. So, that would be nice to be able to go more lesiurely and not be paying extra! The Aquarium was small but nice, and a very nice respite from the hot sun.

 

[jacs1234]

Thanks for the tips. My dh will be doing the driving and he thinks he'll be tired after the day in the park, plus we could visit somewhere different for dinner while we're there. We don't need fancy hotels either, especially as we need two rooms to fit us all in.

But....you can stay at a Ramada, Quality Inn, La Quinta, Days Inn type hotel for probably $60 a night. So is the $20 savings worth the driving? It wouldn't be to me, but then I tend to run myself into the ground going from open to close at places and then as soon as we get out to the car my remaining energy mysteriously drains down to 1%, lol. So, an extra $20 to have a bed to collapse in vs an hour of driving tonight and another hour back in the morning....priceless!

I'll look into those hotels. Thanks for the suggestions. We won't be there till late November but I'm hoping there will be some kind of special happening.

 

[mmmears]

We've done several trips with 2 days at Legoland and then a few days at Disneyland. I thought it was much more relaxing to stay in Carlsbad for a couple of nights. That way, we did Legoland at our leisure and spent some time at the hotel pool each day. I don't like the traffic between the two, so I'd rather not drive back and forth two days in a row.