How far from Universal to Legoland.... worth it?

[jfoofj]

So we will be staying onsite at HRH for 6 nights in January. I'm not doing to much in the way of advanced planning for this trip- we are looking for a relaxing go-with-the-flow kind of vacation. With 5 full days to explore the 2 parks I am thinking about maybe going to Legoland for a day or part of a day. I've looked at their website and I am not too sure though, that it would be worth it. My boys are 12 and 13 and while they love legos, their hardcore lego days are behind them. Legoland looks like it caters to a younger crowd. The kids would still want to go, and I figure we might as well go while we are there if I can figure out logistics. We won't be renting a car- not sure how far it is from HRH and if a cab would be feasible if we decide to do this. Looking for advice, insight, options. If it is a ton of money and will be a pain in the butt to get there I might just scrap the idea of going all together.

 

[BrinkofSunshine]

Legoland is a little under an hour away from Universal (a little over 40 miles)... I'm pretty sure a taxi would be crazy expensive for that! If you decide to go, you should try to see if there's a bus or shuttle that runs down there.

I've never been to Legoland, so I'm not sure how it is.

 

[pcstang]

If your boys are over Legos I would skip it. We have been twice and my 4 and 8 year old liked it ok. It reminds me of a permanent carnival, if you know what I mean. It is around an hour away and is geared for under 10 or so. Just my 2 cents. By the way, we are AP holders for universal and my kids love it there. My 4 year old daughter always wants to go back to "lando and unibersal."

 

[letsgoreds]

Yes, it caters more to the younger set, IMO. You would need to rent a car or look into taking a shuttle from the outlets. It is not expensive to rent a car. With that age group, I would head out to Kennedy Space Center and/or the ocean. If you really don't want to rent a car (even just for the day), there are often bus trips/tours out to KSP.

Check it all out online, and see what the kiddos say. There are always BOGO coupons out there, just need to look a bit to see who is currently offering them, making Legoland more reasonable, price-wise.

Gator tours is a reputable tour group.

http://www.gatortours.com/

 

[DOOM1001]

I'm in my 30's and loved Legoland,I'm not buying an annual pass for it but I thoroughly enjoyed my visit.It took me about 35-40 minutes from Legoland to the general Disney area so add another 10-15 minutes to get to the Universal area.Forget about a taxi it's just too far to go via taxi,it'll be a couple hundred bucks.Take the shuttles they offer or rent a car,I'm not sure of the cost of the shuttles but I have an AP to just about every park in Florida and always have my car with me,even having a car a couple of times I've been in Orlando and wanted to do a day at Busch Gardens in Tampa I would take their shuttles from Orlando,they're free to anyone with a ticket and saved me about $20 in gas to got to and from Tampa.If Legoland has free shuttles that would be the way to go.

 

[Metro West]

I'm going to move this thread over to the Orlando Attractions board. You will probably get more responses.

 

[Upatnoon]

So we will be staying onsite at HRH for 6 nights in January. I'm not doing to much in the way of advanced planning for this trip- we are looking for a relaxing go-with-the-flow kind of vacation. With 5 full days to explore the 2 parks I am thinking about maybe going to Legoland for a day or part of a day. I've looked at their website and I am not too sure though, that it would be worth it. My boys are 12 and 13 and while they love legos, their hardcore lego days are behind them. Legoland looks like it caters to a younger crowd. The kids would still want to go, and I figure we might as well go while we are there if I can figure out logistics. We won't be renting a car- not sure how far it is from HRH and if a cab would be feasible if we decide to do this. Looking for advice, insight, options. If it is a ton of money and will be a pain in the butt to get there I might just scrap the idea of going all together.

I would skip Legoland as it is targeted at younger kids.

If you want to go to another theme park, rent a car and go to Busch Gardens. Lots of coasters teens would enjoy.

Or if the weather cooperates, head to a water park.

 

[mommyto3girls]

They do have a shuttle that leaves from Orlando Premium outlets Vineland. It was $5 each for the shuttle. It leaves in the morning and then takes you back 30 minutes after park closing, so you will be there for the day. We have 3 daughters-12, 7, and 5(that very day). They all had fun. They do have a few roller coasters-my older girls rode the Technic many times. I bought the buy adult get a kid ticket free online and for the one single ticket we needed from Costco for $50. Only thing that was super annoying was that they shut the rides down at exactly closing and you are not rushing out of there to sit on a shuttle for 20+ minutes with little kids. My daughter was so excited to ride the carousel one more time and even though the ride was still lit up and we weaved our way through the girl working would not let her ride-I couldn't believe it. She could have given her a quick ride that was 25% of the normal time since she had neglected to put the closed chain up. She had a birthday pin on and everything. She was upset and the only tears of the day there.
That was the only thing that spoiled the day for us and just be aware that 6 pm means everything is done.

 

[mommyto3girls]

Oh the drive took about an hour, but the driver was slow. If I had been driving it would have been considerably less time.

 

[jfoofj]

Thanks for all the replies and input. After researching some more, we have decided not to do Legoland. We might venture over to Downtown Disney one night and let the kids hit up the Lego store there... it has always been a big hit on our Disney trips. Plus, I might need a little Disney fix myself... we haven't been since 2010! If we do rent a car for the day we may opt to head out to the Kennedy Space Center. Legoland seems like a lot of money for one day, especially considering our kids ages (12 and 13).

Thanks again!!