mommyof2boys1girl
I shall call him squishy and he shall be mine...
- Joined
- Dec 27, 2007
- Messages
- 528
We had booked our Greyline tour to Legoland before we left home - I called the day before to confirm our reservation and our pick up location. We were told we would be picked up outside the BWPPI (about 3 hotels down) at 8:15, so we planned on leaving the hotel by 8. I forgot to ask if we could bring the big double stroller, but I had enquired when we booked and was told it would be fine, so we trusted in that and packed it up. We brought a backpack full of snacks, hats, water bottles and hoodies (it was still pretty cool in the morning...) and went to wait at the stop (which also happened to be a busy bus stop so there were lots of benches.)
The bus showed up right on time, and thankfully we were on the list, and no one batted an eye at the stroller (though we were the only ones with one) and we hopped on and headed for the depot. There we got in line, and at that point were asked to pay the fuel surcharge. Many people ran into problems here, as the one in line had the tickets/vouchers, while the other (usually the Dh) had the wallet with the cash/credit cards. Then we were told which "gate" to wait in. Ours was the last bus to pull up - we were getting worried, as all the other busses were loading, and some were even leaving....but eventually ours pulled up.
(sorry - at IL's, and internet connection/useage not reliable, therefore posts will be made in increments....)
Then we were on our way to Legoland - the tour bus driver managed to straddle that all-important line between keeping up a constant stream of chatter to amuse everyone and being just plain annoying! She chattered all the way down, but didn't say much on the way home, which was good, as my kids pretty much crashed out.
It seemed like a bit of a long drive, but we arrived by 10:30. And it was way nicer to stare out the window than worry about traffic and which exit to take, etc... As we had purchased our tour through a "middleman" tour company, and not directly from Greyline, we had to go to the "admissions" desk to get our vouchers exchanged. The rest of the bus passengers waited by the bus for the driver to do the same with their vouchers - since it would take her a long time to exchange them all, she let us wait in line ahead of her, which meant we got into the Park about 30 minutes faster than the rest of the group!
Thank goodness Dh had the presence of mind to snap a few pics outside the gates - I was so agitated by the fact that we were at a park entrance AFTER the gates opened,
that I could think of nothing but getting us inside the gate as fast as possible! Part of my control freak, type A personality....which is a pain when it conflicts with my obsessive "get a picture of absolutely everything" policy....sigh
A few rides were already pretty busy, and the kids spotted the "Coastersaurus" ride right away, so we did that one first (at least, the boys did - Allie and I waited.) the line for Safari Trek was 40 minutes, and we weren't going to miss so much of our day by waiting, so we decided to try back later. We basically went CCW around the park - Allie loved the Storybook Land boats, even though the boys thought it was a bit cheesy, they were still fascinated by the fact that it was all Lego. We waited forever for the boys to do the Skyride, then we got hungry.
We ate at the Fun Town Market, which was great - they have a fantastic salad bar, which I LOVED! Dh got a Philly Cheesesteak (SP?) sandwich, made fresh to order, which he said was yummy (sorry, no pics).
I have to take this chance to toot the horn of my oldest, as this is one memory that will stick out in my mind from this day. We were looking at options for lunch, and the kids all noticed the "kids lunch" pack things - I can't remember the price, but something like $8 or so for nuggets, hot dog or PB&J, with a souvenier cup and Legoland "gift bag" to hold it all. Because Ds2 and dd are not big eaters, we usually split 2 kids meals between the 3 kids, which would have worked, except each child wouldn't get their "bag". As the kids were squabbling over who would have to share what, and who wouldn't get a cup, my oldest ds walked over to the counter where the bags were displayed, chose a boy (pirate) and girl (pink) themed bag, and handed one to his younger brother and sister, saying "Mom, I'm too old for these, and they are really important to Babe (ds2) and Beegee (dd - pronounced Bee Gee, like the band), so I don't really need one at all". Well, my throat swelled up, tears welled, and I had to drop everything and just give him a huge hug! He's getting so mature in so many ways...anyway, I digress....
After lunch, we had to run to the Funtown Fire Academy, and the boys decided to try their luck. Of course, they got the furthest firetruck from me, so pictures were lousy, but they won their race, which had them just thrilled.
Then we passed by Pirate Shores, where the kids wanted a few seconds to cool off. Under strict instructions not to get too wet (ha!), since I didn't bring a change of clothes, I let them go. Wanna guess how that went over?
Overall, the rides were fine for the 2 older kids - they could ride almost anything, but not so much geared for dd, who is tiny for her age as it is. Combine that with the fact we'd just spent 3 days at DL, and it meant they were pretty much into the "Mom, we're so over these rides" stage by the time 2 pm rolled around. Then came the kids' favorite part of Legoland - Miniland USA. Though they didn't recognize many of the displays (Canadian kids aren't taught much about famous American architechture), they still loved the detail of all the displays.
They would have been happy to simply wander this area indefinitely, but since we were supposed to meet back at the bus by 5:30, we decided to hit the Sea Life area, since we had purchased Parkhopper tickets.
This was a ton of fun for the kids - we've never been to a "seaworld" type of place before, so we had nothing to compare to. It was the first time they'd ever seen a live starfish, real sharks, etc...so they had a fabulous time.
Then we went back to Legoland (note - the exit to Sea Life takes you right outside the park, but as it was only 1 hr till closing, we didn't have any trouble getting back thru the gates - I had our passes ready, but no one even looked at them - they just motioned us through.) We decided to use our last half hour before meeting time to ride the Coast Cruise. Of course, Allie decided she had to use the washroom,
and if we all left the line we'd miss our last chance to ride before we had to leave, dh made the fastest bathroom run in history, and got back just as we began loading into our boat!
We enjoyed the leisurely ride (think Jungle Cruise, but with Lego landmarks instead), then had a family bathroom break and grabbed some snacks at the gate, after dropping a ridiculous amount of money at the Lego store strategically located just inside the gates. Each child was allowed to spend a certain amount of money on Lego kits, shirts and other souveniers. Then we headed back to the bus for the trip home. We got to sit on the top level again, near the front, which the kids loved because they got such a great view all around. Not that the youngest two noticed much - Adam's eyes drooped shut as we were leaving the parking lot, and Allie lasted about 30 minutes before she gave up and nodded off as well. The driver announced the stop locations for the individual hotels on the list - ours was the same as our pickup spot, which was great, since by this point we were all pretty tired. As we dropped off fellow riders, we got a look at the Anaheim GardenWalk, and dh got all hot and bothered about Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. being so close...but we saved that for a different day. We got back to the hotel shortly after 7pm, which gave the kids time to open their new Lego kits and build a bit before bed.
A few thoughts about the day:
Take snacks - some of the food stands are grouped together, and if your kids are the "feed me now" type, it can be a bit of a hike to get them a snack.
There was no bag check like DL
If you do a bus tour, and, like we did, tour right up until departure time, note that there are not many food places near the entrance of Legoland - they are back further into the park, so when you go to the gates to make your final purchases and realize your kiddos are hungry for dinner and you won't arrive back "home" for another couple hours, there is just a little sandwich and snack shop at the gate.
Whoever takes the tickets to the Greyline counter, be prepared with cash/credit cards, etc...to pay the fuel surcharge - the people behind the desks sure were crabby with those who forgot and held up the line to get a spouse to pay....
Coming next - Day 6 - our day off from touring, but not from walking....!!!
The bus showed up right on time, and thankfully we were on the list, and no one batted an eye at the stroller (though we were the only ones with one) and we hopped on and headed for the depot. There we got in line, and at that point were asked to pay the fuel surcharge. Many people ran into problems here, as the one in line had the tickets/vouchers, while the other (usually the Dh) had the wallet with the cash/credit cards. Then we were told which "gate" to wait in. Ours was the last bus to pull up - we were getting worried, as all the other busses were loading, and some were even leaving....but eventually ours pulled up.
(sorry - at IL's, and internet connection/useage not reliable, therefore posts will be made in increments....)
Then we were on our way to Legoland - the tour bus driver managed to straddle that all-important line between keeping up a constant stream of chatter to amuse everyone and being just plain annoying! She chattered all the way down, but didn't say much on the way home, which was good, as my kids pretty much crashed out.
It seemed like a bit of a long drive, but we arrived by 10:30. And it was way nicer to stare out the window than worry about traffic and which exit to take, etc... As we had purchased our tour through a "middleman" tour company, and not directly from Greyline, we had to go to the "admissions" desk to get our vouchers exchanged. The rest of the bus passengers waited by the bus for the driver to do the same with their vouchers - since it would take her a long time to exchange them all, she let us wait in line ahead of her, which meant we got into the Park about 30 minutes faster than the rest of the group!
Thank goodness Dh had the presence of mind to snap a few pics outside the gates - I was so agitated by the fact that we were at a park entrance AFTER the gates opened,
that I could think of nothing but getting us inside the gate as fast as possible! Part of my control freak, type A personality....which is a pain when it conflicts with my obsessive "get a picture of absolutely everything" policy....sigh
A few rides were already pretty busy, and the kids spotted the "Coastersaurus" ride right away, so we did that one first (at least, the boys did - Allie and I waited.) the line for Safari Trek was 40 minutes, and we weren't going to miss so much of our day by waiting, so we decided to try back later. We basically went CCW around the park - Allie loved the Storybook Land boats, even though the boys thought it was a bit cheesy, they were still fascinated by the fact that it was all Lego. We waited forever for the boys to do the Skyride, then we got hungry.
We ate at the Fun Town Market, which was great - they have a fantastic salad bar, which I LOVED! Dh got a Philly Cheesesteak (SP?) sandwich, made fresh to order, which he said was yummy (sorry, no pics).
I have to take this chance to toot the horn of my oldest, as this is one memory that will stick out in my mind from this day. We were looking at options for lunch, and the kids all noticed the "kids lunch" pack things - I can't remember the price, but something like $8 or so for nuggets, hot dog or PB&J, with a souvenier cup and Legoland "gift bag" to hold it all. Because Ds2 and dd are not big eaters, we usually split 2 kids meals between the 3 kids, which would have worked, except each child wouldn't get their "bag". As the kids were squabbling over who would have to share what, and who wouldn't get a cup, my oldest ds walked over to the counter where the bags were displayed, chose a boy (pirate) and girl (pink) themed bag, and handed one to his younger brother and sister, saying "Mom, I'm too old for these, and they are really important to Babe (ds2) and Beegee (dd - pronounced Bee Gee, like the band), so I don't really need one at all". Well, my throat swelled up, tears welled, and I had to drop everything and just give him a huge hug! He's getting so mature in so many ways...anyway, I digress....
After lunch, we had to run to the Funtown Fire Academy, and the boys decided to try their luck. Of course, they got the furthest firetruck from me, so pictures were lousy, but they won their race, which had them just thrilled.
Then we passed by Pirate Shores, where the kids wanted a few seconds to cool off. Under strict instructions not to get too wet (ha!), since I didn't bring a change of clothes, I let them go. Wanna guess how that went over?
Overall, the rides were fine for the 2 older kids - they could ride almost anything, but not so much geared for dd, who is tiny for her age as it is. Combine that with the fact we'd just spent 3 days at DL, and it meant they were pretty much into the "Mom, we're so over these rides" stage by the time 2 pm rolled around. Then came the kids' favorite part of Legoland - Miniland USA. Though they didn't recognize many of the displays (Canadian kids aren't taught much about famous American architechture), they still loved the detail of all the displays.
They would have been happy to simply wander this area indefinitely, but since we were supposed to meet back at the bus by 5:30, we decided to hit the Sea Life area, since we had purchased Parkhopper tickets.
This was a ton of fun for the kids - we've never been to a "seaworld" type of place before, so we had nothing to compare to. It was the first time they'd ever seen a live starfish, real sharks, etc...so they had a fabulous time.
Then we went back to Legoland (note - the exit to Sea Life takes you right outside the park, but as it was only 1 hr till closing, we didn't have any trouble getting back thru the gates - I had our passes ready, but no one even looked at them - they just motioned us through.) We decided to use our last half hour before meeting time to ride the Coast Cruise. Of course, Allie decided she had to use the washroom,
and if we all left the line we'd miss our last chance to ride before we had to leave, dh made the fastest bathroom run in history, and got back just as we began loading into our boat!We enjoyed the leisurely ride (think Jungle Cruise, but with Lego landmarks instead), then had a family bathroom break and grabbed some snacks at the gate, after dropping a ridiculous amount of money at the Lego store strategically located just inside the gates. Each child was allowed to spend a certain amount of money on Lego kits, shirts and other souveniers. Then we headed back to the bus for the trip home. We got to sit on the top level again, near the front, which the kids loved because they got such a great view all around. Not that the youngest two noticed much - Adam's eyes drooped shut as we were leaving the parking lot, and Allie lasted about 30 minutes before she gave up and nodded off as well. The driver announced the stop locations for the individual hotels on the list - ours was the same as our pickup spot, which was great, since by this point we were all pretty tired. As we dropped off fellow riders, we got a look at the Anaheim GardenWalk, and dh got all hot and bothered about Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. being so close...but we saved that for a different day. We got back to the hotel shortly after 7pm, which gave the kids time to open their new Lego kits and build a bit before bed.
A few thoughts about the day:
Take snacks - some of the food stands are grouped together, and if your kids are the "feed me now" type, it can be a bit of a hike to get them a snack.
There was no bag check like DL
If you do a bus tour, and, like we did, tour right up until departure time, note that there are not many food places near the entrance of Legoland - they are back further into the park, so when you go to the gates to make your final purchases and realize your kiddos are hungry for dinner and you won't arrive back "home" for another couple hours, there is just a little sandwich and snack shop at the gate.
Whoever takes the tickets to the Greyline counter, be prepared with cash/credit cards, etc...to pay the fuel surcharge - the people behind the desks sure were crabby with those who forgot and held up the line to get a spouse to pay....
Coming next - Day 6 - our day off from touring, but not from walking....!!!
