Legoland Florida - Updated Post 52 (September 2012)

[SueM in MN]

I was disqppointed in the two week notice for assistance with hearing issues.

I also wonder about not being able to leave a service animal with "other guests".
-steve

I have a feeling that it doesn't really sound like what they meant it to mean.
It says the dog can accompany the guest thru the lines, but can't go on the rides.
It makes sense for the dog not to go on most of the rides, since they sound fairly extreme.
But, if the dog can't go on any rides and can't be left with or handled by any other guests, why would the guest even go thru the lines?

I think they mean to say that the guest can't just leave the dog with some other random guest.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

While I was at Legoland I gave information about DisBoards and the disABILITIES Forum to at least three management people. One had already seen my original posts. I don't know if any of them will register with DisBoards and comment here. But I am sure they will be tracking this thread for future decisions.

 

[lovethattink]

Thank you for your review and information. We are going on a field trip with out homeschool group. A few of the kids have ASD. My teenager is also going with us and he has severe nut allergies so your comments worry me. Do you know if they used latex gloves? He is also allergic to latex. I'm sure they would allow us to bring him a lunch from home? I'm so glad to know about the lack of shade. Hopefully it will be a little cooler 'til our field trip. Would you please tell me more about the wave ride? My 7 year old has trouble holding himself in the seat during the faster turns in Toy Story Mania. We usually have to shoot an arm over to him to secure him better. I'm assuming the ride you mentioned we should just plan on skipping from the get go?

 

[Cheshire Figment]

The ride vehicles are in the water. They look like an airboat, but the propeller does not spin. The Guest is standing and holding onto a large wheel. The boats are on arms which have a spinning core (think Dumbo on steroids). To a small extent you can control how deep or light in the water the boat is, and its actual direction in relation to the spinning. Hard to describe, but you'll see what I mean when you are there.

 

[shinysparklybubbles]

thanks for posting this! We were thinking of popping over there for a day next month, but with what sounds like terrible food allergy awareness I'll just stay at Disney instead.

Good warning about the lack of shade too!

 

[KPeveler]

Thanks for the info - if any solo travelers hit Legoland, I would be interested to see how they handle the "helper required" thing!

 

[lovethattink]

Watching the news showing opening weekend!

 

[dclfun]

Thanks for the review. I think we'll skip Legoland for now. I had joined the VIP lego club partly for my grandson and partly to get the free ticket vouchers. Having just gotten out of the hospital for an emergency colostomy ( stage 4 colon cancer with lung and back tumors) I was disappointed to open my email and find that "due to the amazing response, if you haven't yet printed your voucher, you can't"....um....just because I wasn't well enough to print the voucher, I should still be entitled to it. I'm thinking though that since the dates are limited, it will be miserably crowded then. Full price is too high for us even with the buy one adult/child free promo. Hopefully they'll have a FL resident deal we can jump on eventually as I'd love to make it a destination for the grandkids.---Kathy

 

[buckeev]

Thanks for the reports CF!
I hope to give LegoLand a try in mid Dec. with my 13 y/o Autistic son...he loves characters and this would give him the chance to catch a few new ones.

 

[fakereadhed]

Just wondering how much distance there is to cover in the main area of the park. Lots of walking?

Also, on the water ride where you stand, are there any safety straps or anything to stabilize you? My DS has low trunk tone and poor balance but I know this ride will appeal to him.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

The entire Park is 150 acres. The chunk that remains of Cypress Gardens and the lake take up some of that. My feeling is that it is actually smaller then the Magic Kingdom.

And there is another report with photos that does how the water ride. I would suggest that you go and make a decision when you see the actual ride.

 

[fakereadhed]

The entire Park is 150 acres. The chunk that remains of Cypress Gardens and the lake take up some of that. My feeling is that it is actually smaller then the Magic Kingdom.

And there is another report with photos that does how the water ride. I would suggest that you go and make a decision when you see the actual ride.

Thanks! That helps.

 

[jessica52877]

Thanks for the great info!

I "hope" the helper required bit is an extra step to caution and not a rule. Having dealt with parks in the past where the rules are followed to the letter-I am much less excited about the opening of Legoland than I was yesterday.

Actually I am disappointed. When I first heard Legoland was going to open in Florida, I looked at the info they had for Ca. They have gluten free menus! I was really excited. I hope this will all "shake out" once the opening jitters have worn off.

Livndisney, please email me. My user id @yahoo.com Or a pm is fine!

 

[bearloch]

thanks for info I did have a question I too am 6 feet and a plus sized lady besides the coasters did u have any other issues with rides? Thanks much. also did u notice are meals priced close to disney? thanks again!

 

[Marshay]

Thanks for your report! We are planning to go in January.

My DH is 6'6" so I'm curious if he'll be able to go on that Coastersaurus ride or not, too. At our local Six Flags, some of the coasters have designated "big people" seats which is nice. You can use them for height or weight, if you qualify.

 

[CC12005]

Thanks for the reports CF!
I hope to give LegoLand a try in mid Dec. with my 13 y/o Autistic son...he loves characters and this would give him the chance to catch a few new ones.

Not sure how Legoland FL is but I have had a pass at Legoland CA for the last 4 years. Legoland has very few costumed characters in the parks. Usually just Bob the Builder. Occasionally a Bionicle. They just got a new character Max, that I've seen twice. Then only for special occasions they will have some, such as Star Wars Days. Even for their Ninjago event they did not have any costumed characters. Just Lego models.

 

[CC12005]

Just wondering how much distance there is to cover in the main area of the park. Lots of walking?

Also, on the water ride where you stand, are there any safety straps or anything to stabilize you? My DS has low trunk tone and poor balance but I know this ride will appeal to him.

I'm assuming this ride is the same as the one in Legoland California. Imagine standing in a basket or cage with a steering wheel. As the ride swings out, the rider would prop up arms to stabilize. The ride relies heavily on being able to balance ones self. From your sons description, I would not recommend this ride.

 

[lovethattink]

We spent the morning at Legoland today. It was very nice. We were only able to stay from 10-12:30ish because it started getting hot. We ended up getting annual passes so that we can come back and explore more.

We used the assisted access pass twice. The first time we used it, the employee wrote down the time and sent us away to come back later. The next time we used it was at another attraction and they let my son right on, and didn't write a time to return.

I was very impressed with the employees at the Ford Driving School. I said he might need help. They let him in the exit, and guided him to a waiting area. They let the other children in that area. When they opened the gate, they ushered him to a car first. At first he had trouble coordinating his feet with gas and break. Someone helped him to learn. When his car wouldn't work. He was brought to me, and a new car was brought around for him. He got in and was helped with the driving for a few minutes. He caught on! And was on his way! As I said I was VERY impressed with the employees at the Ford Driving School. They were amazing.

Customer service at Guest Services was a different story. Getting the access pass went smoothly. Getting annual passes was a different story. There was only 1 employee helping the people in there. She was answering the telephone and trying to attend to guests. Other employees were walking in and out of there. Not one employee acknowledged anyone in line, not even management. Everyone ignored us. The one and only person helping guests, had to go to the back for some reason and there wasn't any employees in that area for a good 5 to 10 minutes. We were third in line. It took about a half hour from the time we entered the building 'til the time we got our passes.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

I went to Legoland again today to do some follow-up checking.

They still don't have a power door at First Aid. Actually, I did not see any automatic doors anywhere.

I did get to talk to the Food & Beverage Manager. He said they are changing many signs to make them more accurate and useful. At the quick service locations they will have information posted about what is in the locally prepared foods. And they have removed cucumbers from the prepackaged salads.

I pointed out to him the problems in the Guide for Guests With Disabilities related to handling of Service Animals and also questioning the legality of the "Requiring" a helper for certain attractions.

And I gave him a full print-out of this thread, showing both my comments and questions which have been raised by others. He did say he would discuss this with other managers and the Park Operations Director.

 

[lovethattink]

I went back to Legoland yesterday.

Customer service was greatly improved. When we went to get the access card, there were 2 employees working there and it ran much smoother. The only improvement I'd suggest is for them to keep a few disability maps there. I asked for one, because we are looking to avoid strobe lights. She has to go into a closet to find one.

Just as Disney often changes how they handle the GAC, we found from employee to employee and attraction to attraction it was handled differently. The only consistency was going to the exit. From there, I found it best to ask how to do it at that ride. Once again, it was handled best at the Ford Driving!

We watched the show in the City part. It was cute for a child. My son loved it, though he had to wear his ear muffs to cut down on the noise. The first 3 rows will get wet. There is wheel chair sitting both up front and along the back. There are strobe lights on the fire truck. Sitting in the middle to the left side of the theater avoids seeing most of the strobes. The right side of the theater has full view of them. Though in the bright sun it was difficult to see the strobes.