Home TravelDomestic Legoland

Legoland

by TerriAnn

One LEGOLAND Drive, Carlsbad, CA 92008

Good for: Weekend getaway, families
Price: Starts at $59/child, $69/adult

If you have boys or girls that are 12 or under, you HAVE to make a trip here. We went in 2008 and loved it. Legoland is located in Carlsbad, CA which is between Los Angeles and San Diego in southern California. Our one daughter of 7 (at the time) had a fantastic time, as did my husband and I. The one thing that really stands out are, of course, the creations made of Lego. We had a blast posing with various displays, as you can probably tell (the the mummy one was not made of Lego it was still fun):

The Volvo Driving School is such an awesome attraction. The children line up on the wall, have their picture taken, then get a physical Legoland driver’s license. We paid for that but it was relatively cheap and doubled as a souvenir. Three years later it still hangs on her closet doorknob! By the way, we found out here just how bad of a driver she is. Who steps on the gas and brake at the same time?!

Looking back at our pictures, I’m surprised by how many rides there were and that my daughter could ride on at the time. As I mentioned, this park is not aimed toward the teeny-bopper crowd so almost all the ride can be ridden on by younger ones. That’s not to say they are ‘baby’ rides and are boring – even I thought they were quite fun!

Now they have added a 4D show and a new waterpark section. I’m really hoping that we can visit that area the next time around.  It’s not all play though. Legoland has an educational side as well. From learning how Legos are made to using the study guides available on the official site, this is an enriching experience as well as an enjoyable one. They even have special Home School Days with discounted ticket prices that are more than 50% off! That’s the deal we chose to take advantage of and it save us a significant amount!

The day begin a little slow for us adults. That changed as we entered Miniland USA. Famous landmarks and their surroundings were recreating using only the small construction blocks. The tallest skyscrapers were still much shorter than my daughter at that time and even the Statue of Liberty was only about a foot or so. The photos below are a little small but you can get an idea of the magnitude of work and creativity put into these displays. In case you can’t make it out pictured from left to right are San Francisco, New York, and Las Vegas.

Everything in Legoland made you do a double-take since everything was so detailed. I had to keep reminding myself that they were made of Legos. When you really take the time to look around the park closely, you will find little treasures and silliness here and there. Okay, that is so not me. It was my husband that would find those details and point them out to me. The following photos are:

  1. A pool party scene on the rooftop of one of building in Miniland USA
  2. The flag on top the huge castle-themed marketplace in Castle Hill
  3. The sign above the public restrooms!

I had heard of Legoland many years earlier but was totally uninterested. To my surprise, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. My only gripe was that, in their main Lego store, they had no ‘girl’ hair. For such a huge establishment you would think they would cater to children of both genders. We will be planning another trip here soon!

You may also like

10 comments

Rhea July 13, 2011 - 6:42 am

We LOVE Legoland and are lucky to live nearby so we visit often. Glad you had fun!

Cookies & Clogs July 13, 2011 - 8:29 am

Really? How do you like the water park and Sea Life?

Rhea July 13, 2011 - 8:33 am

Sea Life is really fun. It’s a smaller aquarium so it’s nice. I’ve actually been there more than Legoland. We haven’t actually been to the Waterpark yet, It just opened last summer. We usually go for the rides.

Cookies & Clogs July 13, 2011 - 9:05 am

Oh, good to know! We were debating on whether or not we should go again this summer while in town for BlogHer ’11.

lisa s July 14, 2011 - 7:11 pm

we went last year and LOVED it. The driving school was awesome – I was a little jealous that as an adult I couldn’t drive but our son thought it was great. My hubby loved miniland. 🙂

Cookies & Clogs July 14, 2011 - 10:06 pm

Think there’s enough there to make you want to visit again?

lisa s July 15, 2011 - 6:40 am

in a year or two our boy will be too old for legoland. 🙁 if we can get down to San Diego before then, we would go back.

Cookies & Clogs July 15, 2011 - 9:40 pm

Oh, sad 🙁 So which amusement park will you frequent then?

lisa s July 16, 2011 - 12:29 pm

i know – they grow up too fast. i’m not sure what we will do. we had season passes to six flags discovery kingdom last year only because we got a killer deal on them ($20 each!). Where do you guys go?

Cookies & Clogs July 17, 2011 - 10:25 pm

We don’t really do season passes as once or twice a year to any place is enough for us. I just watch the deals to go to different places throughout the year and sign up for special homeschool days. Depending on where you live, there are some great programs to take advantage of too. Feel free to email me your location and maybe I can dig up some activities for you or write up a review or two of places near you.

Comments are closed.