We recently spent 4 days in Southern California, Carlsbad specifically, and took the kids to Legoland and it was AMAZING. We have done Gilroy Gardens several times, but this was the kids' first BIG theme park.
After Luke's final soccer game on Saturday, we packed up and made the 5+ hour drive. Isn't he just the cutest thing.
We were able to visit with my sister and her family for a little bit on the drive down, so that was super fun. We finally got to the hotel around 8:30 or so and got ready for bed. The next day was LEGOLAND DAY! I know the kids didn't really have any idea what to expect, neither did Aaron, but they were so excited.
Here is the first ride we went on, a small boat ride where we saw several different characters from storybooks.
One thing I learned to LOVE about Legoland is that in each of their 'land's', there is a play area for the kids. In FunTown, there was a large play area with lots of slides, duplos to play with, a train to ride and more! After standing in line for a little bit, it was nice to just sit and watch the kids get some energy out.
One of the kids' favorite rides were these little cars. Only kids in a certain age group can drive these cars (older kids can drive more advanced cars just next door) and they operate the cars themselves. Aaron and I LOVED watching the kids maneuver the loop- Chloe mostly forgot to turn and ran straight into the walls.
There is a large presence of public safety at Legoland including a few rides geared towards public safety, which I love. The kids with a lego firefighter.
Another Massive play structure. This picture certainly doesn't do it justice. When we went on Sunday, this gave me a little bit of anxiety because of all of the people and trying to find my kids when it was time to go. But Monday and Tuesday there were much less people. The kids loved this one but it was a challenge to find them because it was basically a big tree house with all different levels and slides.
My little Knight in Shining Armor :)
One of the neatest parts of Legoland is MiniLand USA. Miniature recreations of some of the most famous buildings in the country can be found here. Including motorized cars, buses and boats.
The Lincoln, Jefferson and Washington Memorials.
The Capital Building
The White House with Marine One
A ferry boat in the New Orleans section
The Freedom Tower and World Trade Center Memorials
There have recreated the entire Las Vegas strip too!
This is the MiniLand Marina
The Hollywood Bowl
Mann's Chinese Theater
New York
Legowood... Chloe wasn't having it. Ha!
Recently, an entire Star Wars area has been added to MiniLand.
The Death Star...
Towards the end of the day, we went over to the SeaLife Aquarium at Legoland
Even at the Aquarium, the kids can play with legos.
The first day was a huge success. There were way more people then we were expected so we mostly scoped out the rides and made plans for things to do on Monday and Tuesday, when we knew there would be less people.
Day 2 started with the animal cars. Because this ride usually has a long wait, there is a play area for the kids to use while the adults wait in line. In full view of the parents at all times, the kids can go play in a lego area while the parents do the boring line waiting. SMART. There were several rides that had this option for the kids.
We rode helicopters there you can fly up and down and left and right. They loved it.
Round 2 on the cars, they couldn't get enough.
One of the rides is a tour boat there they share information about the park and some of the lego structures.
Sydney Opera House
Taj Mahal
Mount Rushmore
Statue of Liberty
The Octopus Band
The Nijago Land has one of the best rides. It's 3-D and interactive.
Meeting Lego Batman
In the HeartLake City land, the kids rode the carousel and watched the Lego Friends perform.
Chloe's very first roller coaster, Coastersaurus!
This trip was AMAZING. The kids loved everything about it and Aaron and I loved that we could take a break from rides and lines and play with legos or at a playground. This park is ideal for younger kids as far as rides go- Luke was old enough and tall enough to ride everything ( Chloe wasn't). There are 3 roller coasters and 1 thrill ride, but most are family friendly. The staff was so nice and helpful and park always seemed very clean. We bought a souvenir cup- totally the way to go- that allowed for unlimited refills our entire visit from those machines where you can choose up to 100 options. I always feel do dehydrated going to theme parks because I don't want to drink soda all day and I don't want to pay for water either. This cup allowed to get soda, sugar free lemonade, sugar free poweraide and more.
The Aquarium was fun and there were a lot of neat things to see. They have a touch pool and a fun stamping activity for the kids to complete as they tour the Aquarium. The Aquarium takes about an hour to tour.
Legoland also has a water park. It wasn't opened when we went, so hopefully if we get another trip down, we will experience it.
Our passes allow for unlimited visits all year so I would love to get back down there one more time this year. If you have young kids, around 5-7 this park is amazing. However, my younger kids LOVED it and us adults thought it was pretty fun too!
