If your kids are anything like my son, they are in loooove with Legos. He can play with them all day long. So when he had spring break (kindergarten first timer!) it was only logical that he asked, begged and pleaded to go to Legoland. I was skeptical – how do you center an entire theme park around Legos (those things you step on in the middle of the night) but boy was I wrong. Legoland was a big hit with our 5 and 2 year old and our family. The park was extremely creative, manageable and surprisingly low stress. (We loved it so much we actually visited a second time already!)
Given the fact that we were visiting the park during spring break, crowd size was a big concern for me. Adhering to the advice I repeatedly saw online, we got there when the park opened. To facilitate our early arrival, we stayed at the Omni La Costa Resort (see below) and thankfully had only a 15 minute drive. If you are in the San Diego area, Legoland is about 45 minutes to an hour away depending on traffic. (As a side note, as soon as we pulled into the parking lot our kids were amazed by the Legoland Hotel which is literally next to the park entrance. Of course, the first question was when we could stay there and I don’t blame the kids. Definitely something we would like to do at some point.)
We bought our tickets through AAA and got a pretty good deal. Unfortunately I couldn’t find a “kids in free” offer so we paid for the young ones (next time subscribe to Lego magazine far in advance because I heard they send out this type of discount all the time.) Because we had our tickets, we were able to walk right into the park.
AMAZING KIDVENTURE!!
MINIFIGURE TRADING
Legoland is all about creativity and one of the activities you definitely want to have your kids participate in is minifigure trading. It’s easy – bring a minifigure and your kids can trade minifigures with the park employees. The employees wear Lego minifigures on their name tags so they are easy to spot. My son loved inspecting the minifigures and “negotiating” for trades with the employees while in line or walking around. If you don’t bring a minifigure you can buy one for $5 or 3 for $10 (build on your own) at the first store you see as you walk into the park. The minifigure people should not have accessories because you will likely not get any accessories as you trade throughout the day.
Legoland has a pretty logical layout. If you explore the park clockwise you will start at rides concentrated for younger visitors. If you continue until the other side of the park you will see the more intense roller coasters, game rooms, etc. Though there are some exceptions to this layout, it made total sense for us to start our adventure in Dino Island (left hand side.) We bypassed the first 2 rides we saw – Dinocoaster and Safari Trek. They each had a long wait already (40 minutes+) and we figured it was because they were literally the closest rides to the entrance. If you do decide to wait, there is a dino dig for the kids right next door to the rides.
The extra 10 minute walk paid off. The rides in Fun town (about half way to the back of the park) were essentially empty. We went on 5 rides in the first hour and a half. The kids loved the Lego cars which they actually got to drive (no track!) The kids are in charge of steering, accelerating and stopping. The rides are split up by age group, 3-5 and 6-13. The 3-5 group drive around in a loop track whereas the 6-13 group maneuver around a track with 2 way traffic and stop signs. At the end of the ride, each child receives a Legoland driver’s license (you can also purchase one with your child’s picture.) Similar to the cars, Legoland has boats that the kids can steer while being guided by rails on each side. The boats are a lot more difficult to steer so mom and dad had to help out a lot more. The kids also loved the sky patrol ride where they were able to navigate a lego helicopter.
Legoland has quite a few water rides and features. The Swashbuckling Adventure is a pirate boat on a track where you can fire water cannons at other boats. Bystanders also man cannons which shoot directly (and I mean directly) into your ship. The water is freezing and my daughter did not particularly enjoy the experience. Because the cold water is really the only “thrill” on this ride, I would bypass if the line is long. We waited about 10 minutes.
Next door to the pirate ride is a splashpad for the kids to play in. If your kids love water as much as mine, make sure you bring a swimsuit, towel and change of clothes. If the weather is hot there will likely be a lot of kids splashing around and you may spend quite some time in this area.
We had lunch at the Garden restaurant which offers various sandwich and salad options – including grilled cheese for the kids. The outdoor patio overlooks the Lego Miniature Garden – a great view. The line to order food was pretty slow but once we ordered the food was delivered to our table pretty quickly.
KID INDULGENCE
Legoland offers “Kid Kits” at many of their restaurants where kids can pick their entree (usually chicken tenders, hot dog, quesadilla), drink (including milk or juice), chips and fruit. As kids pick their food, they put it inside of a Legoland lunch bag – the bag is disposable but both of our kids “saved” their bags and brought them home. The kits cost approximately $10. The kids loved picking their own lunch.
The Miniature Garden is a must see for both kids and adults. You can find the New York skyline, Las Vegas, New Orleans, Hollywood – all made out of Legos. To my son’s delight, there was also a Star Wars section which included scenes from all of the movies, a huge Deathstar and a lifesize Darth Vader and Chewbacca. The best part of the miniatures is that many of them have moving components – many of which can be activated when the kids push a button. Our whole family liked this area.
If your kids are looking to burn off some energy, Castle Hill has a great structure with slides, rope climbing, bridges, ladders and tunnels. This area is recommended for kids 5 and older but our 3 year old was able to climb up some of the structure on her own and slide down the slides. She did need a parent to watch over her whereas my 6 year old took off on his own. Note, we got to Castle Hill probably around 1:30p.m. and the increase in wait time for the rides was definitely noticeable.
KID INDULGENCE
Don’t miss the absolutely delicious apple fries. They are covered in cinnamon and sugar and come with a vanilla whippped cream dip. They were delicious and well, we tried to convince ourselves healthier. Beware the line may be long.
After Castle Hill, you will find the Land of Adventure. There are many rides in this area that are friendly to younger guests (i.e. smaller wait times) and there are roller coasters too. My son really liked the Egyptian adventure where you use a laser gun to shoot at targets as you ride past different Lego scenes. If you shoot a target correctly, it triggers a response from the characters or decorations. We waited about 25 minutes for this ride but the wait was not a problem because the line moved around a Lego play area. You can keep an eye on your child while you stand in line and they are entertained the entire time. I do have to commend Legoland because a large number of the rides have play areas or structures either in the line or just outside the ride. This area also has a playroom where kids can shoot foam balls at each other through air cannons. Of course this playroom was extremely popular.
The Imagination Zone and Ninjago targeted the bigger kids (40 inches or taller.) It was much harder to entertain my daughter in this area so we ended up watching the Lego 4d movie (the movie is played in 3D with special effects to make the movie more “real” (smoke, lighting, water, etc.) She liked the movie though some scenes were scary for her. There are 2 movies played throughout the day – Ninjago and the Lego Movie. We watched both of them and they were both pretty entertaining. Our kids preferred the Lego movie but my son is not really into Ninjago yet.
Also located in the Imagination Zone are various lego building rooms (with the smaller legos for the older kids) and the Xbox playroom. Luckily we arrived at the XBox room closer to the end of the day and we were more than happy to let our son play the games while we rested.
Legoland has something for everyone to enjoy and we would highly recommend a visit!
Accommodations
The Omni La Costa Resort is located in Carlsbad about 15 minutes from Legoland. I chose this hotel because it seemed extremely family friendly. The hotel offers kid friendly pools, activities and amenities. We spent the weekend at the Omni and though there was some hiccups, overall we had a good time with the kids.
The drive into the property is gorgeous with beautiful flowers and decor. The check-in process was very quick and painless and the staff was great at recognizing our special occasion which was my husband’s birthday. My son came to check-in with me and the front desk gave him a happy birthday balloon for dad – which made his day. Later the hotel also delivered a birthday cupcake to our room. It was a very nice personalized touch.
The hotel has many different resort activities and you will receive a guide upon check in. Some of the activities for families include a dive-in movie and roasting s’mores. The hotel also offers a small arcade and a kids club that offers both crafts during the day and babysitting services.
I decided to book a signature room and our room was located directly next to the family pool and close to the main building/shopping area. We later realized that we were in a great location since we could easily walk to the pools, marketplace and valet. The hotel does offer carts that will drive you to different parts of the property if you feel the walk is too far. Our room was spacious as was the bathroom which had a separate tub and shower (our kids still take baths so tubs are very important.) We had a nice view of the golf course. Overall the room was nice.
Of course as soon as we got to our room and settled in, the kids wanted to head out to the super kid friendly pool. The pool is shallow reaching 3 feet at its deepest and has a sandy beach entrance. Needless to say, the kids loved to splash and play in this pool. The kids wanted to stick around for the dive-in movie which began at 8pm. The movie is projected against one of the walls in front of the family pool which is next door. Though the movie is supposed to be a “dive-in” movie, it was pretty much impossible to watch the movie from the pool unless you were in the dead center. The hotel also does not provide any flotation devices etc and the family pool goes as deep as 6 feet so definitely not kid friendly. It was easier to watch the movie in one of the pool chairs.
We got dinner that night at the on site marketplace which offered pizza, hamburgers, salads and sandwiches. The food was pretty good though selection was limited due to our late check in and there was a long wait (over an hour) if you wanted a whole pizza. We ended up taking the food back to our room and having an impromptu movie night which the kids loved.
The next day the kids enjoyed the water play area, the kids pool and the water slides. If your kids love to play in the water then the Omni family pool area will definitely be a hit. You can definitely spend all day with your kids out there. The pool area does get extremely busy so unless you make it out to the pool area by 10am, the lounge chairs get pretty filled up. We were able to get chairs at the kids pool and it made it so much easier to be able to keep an eye on the kids. If you are planning to have lunch out by the pool, there is a pool cafe which offers either table or poolside service. On the advice of one of the waiters, we ordered lunch around 11:30 to avoid the lunchtime rush. He said that otherwise it could be up to a 40 minute wait for food.
A warning that you may want to share with your kids is that the Omni closes the kids’ pools for 10 minutes every hour and this includes the slides. The lifeguards said that the pools were closed to allow for a sunscreen/water/bathroom break for families. I have seen this done at water parks but never at a hotel. It was kind of intrusive for those families who were trying to relax. Some families were having trouble getting their kids out of the water. The water play area does remain open so most of the kids and parents headed over in that direction.
Unfortunately, breakfast at the Omni was also tough. The kids wanted to head to the pool and therefore the sit down restaurant was not an option. My husband tried to get food at the marketplace. Unfortunately the line to purchase food was ridiculous. He actually chose to drive out of the resort and go to the Starbucks down the street.
Beware that the Omni does not allow “outside food” in the pool area – of course the pool cafe isn’t open in the morning and there is a ridiculously long line at the marketplace but that is their policy. We put our croissants into our pool bag because we were not going to stand in line for 40 minutes for breakfast.
Overall the resort was beautiful and the pool area for the kids was amazing but there was definitely some bumps along the way.
