Need advice locals - day trip to legoland

[BonneyRose]

We are planning on renting a car for a day trip to legoland. Trying to figure out if we should go to legoland on Thurs or Friday of our trip in September.
Thurs - disneyland is open 10-9 and Fri - disneyland is open 8-7 (due to halloween party). Seems like Friday might be the better day for legoland but I'm worried a bit about the friday night traffic aspect. I know here in the seattle area, friday night traffic is always worse. Would like to hit some beaches on our day trip too. Any thoughts? Advice?

 

[SDdisneyguy]

We live in Carlsbad and traffic is bad going north on I-5 both Thursday and Friday. It's a 60mile drive but it takes about 2 hours going north in the evenings.

Traffic is especially bad going through Capistrano and Tustin area just before you get to Anaheim.

Good luck !

 

[whoever]

Have you been before? It was a serious let down for us. Don't expect anywhere near the level of DLR and it's not even that inexpensive at 75% of the cost.

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

Traffic coming back from San Diego is such a nightmare. I would get a hotel room down there, spend the night and then come back in the morning (after 10:00). Or see if you can wait until 10:00pm that night to attempt the drive back.

 

[smartlabelprint]

Add a day to dlr. haha! Otherwise if you can rope drop friday at dlr I'd go Thursday to Lego.

 

[DznyPrnces]

I think legoland is worth it. No, it's not Disney. But my kids loved it and would like to go back. But yeah, traffic is going to suck. Maybe get dinner before you hit the road, and just expect to sit in traffic. We went last June, and the park closed early, at least in our opinion. Like, 6 maybe? So we had dinner after we left the park before we headed back up to the LA area.

 

[BonneyRose]

Ok so traffic will suck either day sounds like Any recommendations for dinner in the legoland area? Thankfully we have some coupons for legoland so the kids will get in free. Yea it doesn't look like disneyland level but this will probably be the only time we will ever go. The kids are the right age for it and are into legos, ages 5 and 9, boys. Thought we'd take a day off of disney and hit legoland and beaches for the hubby. I'm the disney nut. We have a 5 day hopper to disney. Any beaches in legoland area you'd recommend? Also advice for what time to head down to legoland that morning? Legoland will be open 10-5. Thanks!

 

[nutshell]

Almost everyone tells me Legoland is a letdown.

 

[SteveMP]

I try to avoid fridays when i can. This past friday took me 3 hours to get home from DL, usually an hour 45 minutes. Same driving home from my Newport Beach office. Usually around 2 hours but had it tKe 4 one Friday as the increased traffic seems to cause more accidents, causing more traffic. Legoland is pretty fun for kids the right age, maybe 7-11ish.

 

[cruisehopeful]

Traffic will be bad, but you can avoid it by staying in Carlsbad until at least 7:30pm or later. There is an outlet mall very close to Legoland (Carlsbad outlet mall). They have plenty of places to eat and you can waste some time in the shops. Or, go for a nice walk on the beach. It is usually still quite warm through September and into October.

Another area not too far is the Oceanside harbor. They have some restaurants (none that I recommend) and a couple shops. You can walk from their to the ocean. You'll see a really sunset from that area.

 

[jenbright]

Hi Bonney Rose. What ages are your kids? We live in the Portland OR area and have had Legoland annual passes a couple different times. My boys are 7 and 8 (almost 9) and this most recent trip in August was great, but likely to be our last. I feel like Legoland is geared toward younger kids and was great for my now 7 year old who wouldn't ride the roller coasters until this year. I know this isn't an answer to your traffic question....but if you're on the fence about whether or not to include Legoland I'm happy to answer questions!

 

[MacMama0930]

Hi Bonney Rose. What ages are your kids? We live in the Portland OR area and have had Legoland annual passes a couple different times. My boys are 7 and 8 (almost 9) and this most recent trip in August was great, but likely to be our last. I feel like Legoland is geared toward younger kids and was great for my now 7 year old who wouldn't ride the roller coasters until this year. I know this isn't an answer to your traffic question....but if you're on the fence about whether or not to include Legoland I'm happy to answer questions!

I felt this way after our last trip; that it was going to be our last time. My son, age 9, out grew it. But before that? LOVED it. But I also think the reason why we loved our trips was because we stayed at the Legoland hotel, which was just as fun as being in the park. I can't say how I'd feel about just driving there and staying the day. Maybe it would've felt like a let down? The hotel experience was just amazing, IMO (much better than Disney onsite hotels).

 

[SDdisneyguy]

In regards to dining around LegoLand. I haven't been there for about 4 years when my DD outgrew it but there used to be a BBQ place inside the park that was really good, I don't remember the name but it was Buffett style.

Outside the park , across the street by the Carlsbad outlets you have a few dining options...

PF Changs
BJs Brewery
Fish market
Miguel's Mexican Kitchen
Islands Hawaiian Burgers
Ruby's Diner
Rubios Fish Tacos
Panda Express
In n Out
Taco Bell

Have fun !

 

[SteveMP]

In regards to dining around LegoLand. I haven't been there for about 4 years when my DD outgrew it but there used to be a BBQ place inside the park that was really good, I don't remember the name but it was Buffett style.

Outside the park , across the street by the Carlsbad outlets you have a few dining options...

PF Changs
BJs Brewery
Fish market
Miguel's Mexican Kitchen
Islands Hawaiian Burgers
Ruby's Diner
Rubios Fish Tacos
Panda Express
In n Out
Taco Bell

Have fun !

I believe outside there is still a Karl Strauss ( my fave) and a Noodle & Co down the street as well

 

[whoever]

but there used to be a BBQ place inside the park that was really good !

The Knight's Smokehouse. It's pretty darn good BBQ AND... they serve affordably priced beer.

 

[felice]

Why not just take one of the tours to Legoland, which are offered by StarLine ? Then there's no hassle in relation to driving down and back. Probably going to be much easier than driving there and back. The beaches could be visited on a different day entirely.

 

[wendydarling78]

We aren't local (from NE Ohio- LOL!), but we spent time in CA this past summer. We did Disneyland and then drove down to do Legoland and Sea World. The traffic in between was AWFUL! Seriously! Don't know how people live with that daily!

We were originally going to drive down for a day at Legoland and then do another day trip to Sea World. But once we got to CA and saw the traffic, we were like- heck no!

I ended up booking us a room at the Legoland Hotel THE DAY OF! It had previously been booked solid and must've had a cancellation! My daughter and niece LOVED it! The theming in the room was super fun! And my sister and I were glad not to drive back that night! There are lots of partner hotels that offered room/ticket/food packages.