WWYD? Legoland or MNSSHP?

[pinoke]

We did the party last year, and DS ( 10) has asked to do it again. Then I saw a deal for Legoland and he was intrigued, and with the cab ride there, the price would be comparable. We only want one big added expense-so-WWYD?

 

[msmama]

Legoland is far. It says it's about a 45 minute drive, but it feels longer, I think. There's a whole lot of nothing between WDW and Legoland. Personally, I don't think I'd want to do it in a cab (i don't know what cab fare is but you may want to look into renting a car for a day, too. I think mine was about $60).

The good thing about Legoland is that it is off the beaten path, so to speak. It was mostly families so you don't have tour groups and teenagers like people can complain about at WDW. My son is only 5 so we did mostly the little kid rides, but there is probably enough to entertain bigger kids too (stuff we skipped). No rides bigger than say, comparable to BTMRR though.

If your son is a lego lover then I say definitely GO FOR IT. If legos aren't a favorite though then I'd stick with the party.

 

[kmb584]

MNSSHP. In a heartbeat. Without a second thought. MK transforms into something incredible on party nights, Boo-To-You is a not to be missed parade and HalloWishes are the best fireworks that WDW has, in my opinion.

There is also the trick-or-treat aspect to consider, rare character meet and greets, and the opportunity to mingle with the Villians, who tend to be hilarious while completely in character.

On the flip side of the MNSSHP coin, the waits for rides are nil. Non-existent. We do 2 parties each October and spend one solely taking in the "no wait" aspect before enjoying the parade and fireworks. As a for example, last October we were allowed to stay on Peter Pan 3x without having to get off, I rode BTMR 5x without have to unboard, you get the picture.

 

[jess1662]

We did Legoland last year and I would definitely recommend MNSSHP instead. We have 2 lego obsessed boys and had been to the Legoland in Denmark, so we were very excited to try this one.

But after being at Disney for a couple of days, everything at Legoland seems kind of... well, lame. We went during the school year so it was BEYOND empty. Seriously, there were only 35 people at "rope drop." So the kids were by themselves on most of the rides, which sort of took away some of the excitement. The workers bordered on rude. At the Lego factory tour, they had all this fake machinery (it was just brightly colored plastic) at kid level and not blocked off, and they fussed at the kids for trying to touch it. And the live water show was soooo lame when compared to the shows at Disney. It all just seemed kind of sad.

I'm sure it would be okay anywhere else, but after experiencing the magic of Disney, you may regret "wasting" a day somewhere else. We're definitely doing the Halloween party this year instead of another day at Legoland.

 

[Claire&TheBoys]

Here's a review I did last year of LEGOLAND. It may help:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2894647

I would have to say that we had a lot more fun at MNSSHP last year than we did at LEGOLAND. (Why is auto-correct making that all caps??) My then-6-yr-old did love the Lego park, while my then-9-yr-old thought it was "lame" even though he loves Legos.

 

[mm1971]

We did the party last year, and DS ( 10) has asked to do it again. Then I saw a deal for Legoland and he was intrigued, and with the cab ride there, the price would be comparable. We only want one big added expense-so-WWYD?

I'm not sure Legoland does anything special for the seasons as we have not been around then. My family would prefer MNSSHP. LegoLand is about 45 minutes away as well. A 45 minute cab ride would not be in the cards for us. Good luck deciding.

 

[Mickeymagic123]

We did Legoland last year and enjoyed it. The park was still very new and pristine, went in September, not busy at all. I think it's great for younger kids (my son was a few months shy of turning 3) but I think older kids would find it a bit boring. Can't speak to MNSSHP as I've never been. As PP noted, it's about a 45 minute drive to Legoland. When we did it we rented a car for one day from the Car Care Centre at WDW for $55.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

Why not ask your son for input? Give him the option or one or the other and see which he prefers.

 

[mom2AidanAndEli]

No real advice on which to do, but a recommendation for transportation. We just did this last week and it worked out great. Legoland runs a shuttle from the Premium Outlets on Vineland in Orlando to the park. We took a taxi from our resort (POFQ) and it was a little under $20 each way. The shuttle is only $5 per person round trip, so $20 for our family of four. So that was about $60 for transportation. Renting a car for one day will be close to that, plus you have to pay for parking and gas. If you plan on spending the whole day, the shuttle is super convenient.

 

[MSSANDRA]

I would make sure that you are correct on your distance and taxi cost and then let your DS decide. He has been to MNSSHP and he can do the research on lego land on line to see if there is enough things there he will enjoy. I will say from what we have found on lego land, if you want to take him....you may want to make it this year. It truly seems to be a younger kids park. Our goal is to get DS6 there this year.

 

[set1208]

We got a deal on BOGO tickets to legoland so we are headed there this October. They have a Brick-or-Treat event on the weekends which we plan on attending and it's included in the price. Halloween decorations, trick or treating, shows. This will be our first time.

If you decide to go, look for promo codes for free kids tickets. There are coupons in this months edition of Lego magazine if you happen to get that.

 

[amym2]

I would say that 10 is about the max age for LL (although my almost 12yo DS would still go in a heartbeat), so if you're going to do it ever, do it now. We enjoyed MNSSHP, but given the choice I'm pretty sure DS (and DD9) would choose LL.

 

[pinoke]

My son is undecided. We did the party last year, and liked-not loved-it. It was fun because we were with friends and the kids ran around. We thought the parade was great, but the character lines were very long so we didn't wait in them. It seems expensive to add that on to our trip since we can go there at night anytime during the week and the decor is the same...
We do have a $30 per person option someone mentioned on these boards, for LL. Good advice about a car rental or shuttle-thanks! I didn't realize it was so far away.
I kind of figured the same thing- if we are wanting to ever go to LL it should be now. DS likes legos but isn't fanatical about them!
Last year we did SW/DC?AQ.....and had a blast! But it's not worth it for us financially as we don't want to keep leaving our DVC resorts. So we were trying to think of something new to try.
I think I am in the definite minority and wasn't blown away by the MNSSHP- for the added expense of over $150....I must be missing something!

 

[FencerGirl]

For our family, LL was worth it because we had the $30 per person tickets. If I had paid full price, I would have been disappointed. I had a 3 year old, though. I agree with one of the previous posters. After time in Disney, it seemed very mundane. The rides were fine and the kiddo could go on most of them. They were pretty basic, but cute. We really enjoyed walking through the old Cypress Gardens portion. That was the highlight of the day for us.

We rented a car to get there and made a few other stops to pick up snacks, etc. for the rest of the trip. We also ate at McDonald's on the way there as it was much cheaper than eating at LL.

Also, the store in the park is not an official Lego Store and they are a bit overpriced.

Once was enough for our family, but I don't regret going.

 

[2Pirates2Princesses]

I would say that 10 is about the max age for LL (although my almost 12yo DS would still go in a heartbeat), so if you're going to do it ever, do it now. We enjoyed MNSSHP, but given the choice I'm pretty sure DS (and DD9) would choose LL.

This is what I was thinking too. Since you have already experienced MNSSHP, I would use this year to give Legoland a try before your DS gets beyond the ideal age for it, plus Legoland is doing some Halloween themed activities/events and they have really great deals on admission tickets (child free with adult admission - and they consider "child" to be ages 12 and under ). If you are not going to have your own transportation then I would look into the round trip Legoland shuttle mentioned by the pp (there's also info about it on the Legoland website). We visited Legoland this past May and had a very fun day there. I think it is a cute little park for kids and families and the Miniland area is amazing. My kids are 4, 6, 11, and 11 years old and while my 11 year olds had a lot of fun, I think they are at the borderline age for it (with respect to the rides) and it was perfect for my 4 and 6 year olds, so definitely a great park for Lego fans and for kids ages 5-10 years old IMO. My DS4 still talks about our day at Legoland over three months later