Legoland?

[Spork24]

We are going on the Disney Wish this July and looking to book a couple days in the Orlando area the weekend before we leave on Monday. We have already ruled out Disney, as we are doing that already this year but no longer have APs. (and I need a break). My kids are 7 and 8 (one boy and one girl)

My son is dying to go to Legoland because one of his favorite you tubers went. I'm not really excited about going to Legoland at all, but especially in July. I have looked at staying onsite or at a nearby airbnb, but honestly I would rather do seaworld or go to the beach.

In general, I am looking for. you guys to convince me that I should take them to Legoland, haha. (or convince me that I shouldn't)

Specifically I am looking for more info on hotel recommendations, Legoland's version of fastpass, The Waterpark, age appropriateness (seems like a lot of kiddie rides). Any other advice is also appreciated.

 

[pluto377]

Those ages are perfect for Legoland! We went in June last year so I get you about the time of year. From what I remember there are some nice shady areas. There are some really fun rides that you can all do together. Not many thrill rides.

We did the waterpark too, but I don't think my kids did too many of the slides. They just weren't into those. But they had a great time in the splash areas.

The Legoland Beach Retreat is a great place to stay. Perfect rooms for families because there's a bunk bed area that you can separate off with a curtain. Each room also has a nice patio for eating outside. And each little ring of bungalows has a playground in the middle, so you can sit on the patio and the kids can play!

I'm not sure about their version of FP, but we certainly did not need it. Lines were super short.

Personally I liked Legoland better than Sea World. It's not so crowded and it's a more chill vibe. It doesn't feel like a super stressful theme park day. You don't really need to plan it all out. Just show up and pick what you want to do.

 

[Spork24]

Those ages are perfect for Legoland! We went in June last year so I get you about the time of year. From what I remember there are some nice shady areas. There are some really fun rides that you can all do together. Not many thrill rides.

We did the waterpark too, but I don't think my kids did too many of the slides. They just weren't into those. But they had a great time in the splash areas.

The Legoland Beach Retreat is a great place to stay. Perfect rooms for families because there's a bunk bed area that you can separate off with a curtain. Each room also has a nice patio for eating outside. And each little ring of bungalows has a playground in the middle, so you can sit on the patio and the kids can play!

I'm not sure about their version of FP, but we certainly did not need it. Lines were super short.

Personally I liked Legoland better than Sea World. It's not so crowded and it's a more chill vibe. It doesn't feel like a super stressful theme park day. You don't really need to plan it all out. Just show up and pick what you want to do.

Thanks Pluto.

Did you go on a weekday or a weekend. I have heard that weekends can be quite crowded, which is driveing my concern about the fast pass?

 

[ClapYourHands]

Legoland is great and your kids are the perfect ages. The rides aren’t super thrill rides, but they’re fun. They are also very Lego based. So you’ve probably seen the Dragon coaster, which is an okay ride, but what makes it special is you start off inside and go through rooms with huge life-sized Lego statues.

Even the kiddie rides, like the safari, can be fun, not because the ride is anything special (it’s not), but because it takes you through cool Lego builds. Like the ride vehicle is something you’d see at Six Flags, but the chance to see life-sized safari animals from Legos is fantastic for a Lego lover.

The whole thing is built next to a lake, and the water ski show was super fun to watch. The plot was silly, but my kids loved the action. And, honestly, how often do you get to see Lego characters waterskiing?

Don’t discount the enjoyment of walking around and just checking out the builds. There is an area that has models of famous buildings (including the Kennedy Space Center with a rocket that periodically “launches”). Scattered through the park there are other statue-sized builds that are fun to find and pose with.

Also there is an indoor (air conditioned) center for hands-on play with legos. Some area are just bins of legos for free play, but you can also sign up for a class to do certain things. When we went (2019) there was even a robotics course older kids could sign up for that integrated coding to make their builds do certain tasks.

We went on a weekend in June, and it was in the 90s and humid the whole time. That part wasn’t great. But we stayed hydrated, did some air conditioned stuff, and some water stuff and we were okay. We did the water park the second day, and it was just okay. There was far off thunder (could not hear or see anything but it was on radar I guess) that afternoon so we didn’t get much time there before we had to get out of the water. I think that’s pretty standard for Florida amusement parks in summer.

I can’t answer about local hotels because we just drove down from our hotel near WDW. I can’t remember the drive time but it was under an hour. We didn’t have fastpasses, and didn’t think we really needed them. I think that’s partially because it’s so Lego-centric that you don’t need to always be on a ride, and we spent a lot of time doing other things. For reference, my kids were 11, 9, and 4 at the time. I was worried that it might be too young for the older ones, but they both had a great time.

 

[pluto377]

Thanks Pluto.

Did you go on a weekday or a weekend. I have heard that weekends can be quite crowded, which is driveing my concern about the fast pass?

I think we went on a weekday, but I'm not sure they get that crowded even on weekends.

 

[unrequited23]

Some of the smaller bags of lego (around the $5 mark) have coupons for buy an adult admission get a child admission free for all of the different Legolands.

 

[hpsalb]

Our family has loved LEGOLAND! We also had passes to SW this past year, which is fun, but we really loved LL more. Those are great ages for LL!

We’ve stayed both onsite and elsewhere, but the LL hotels are an experience themselves. I’d recommend staying there if you’ve never done them.

We’ve never done the quick passes so I’m not much help there. My kids aren’t into big rides so they aren’t worth it to us. Whether or not they might be useful depends on when you plan to go and what you want to do.

Honestly, I do feel like kids age out of LL at a certain point, so I’d aim to do it at these ideal ages.

 

[herdtoDisney]

My dd is 8 and loves Legoland! Your kids are the perfect ages OP.

I can't speak to their hotels/resort because we live less than 2 hrs away so drive. But I would stay in one of their properties if I was traveling there just for convienence sake and the lego theming. The resort a PP mentioned sounds neat and the Legoland hotel is literally next to the park entrance-easy to walk to if you need a heat or rain break.

It's never been super crowded when I've been. Of course, it's going to be hot, but there is some shade (Legoland was built on the grounds of Cypress Gardens and they kept a lot of the mature vegetation). The seating for the waterskiing show is mostly covered. That show is really neat! One of the skiiers is a gentleman well into his 50's who was there in the Cypress Gardens days!

 

[HollyMD]

For those that have been, do you feel 1 day is enough, or 2 due to the short opening hours?

 

[ClapYourHands]

For those that have been, do you feel 1 day is enough, or 2 due to the short opening hours?

I thought one day was enough. We went back for an unplanned second day. If the weather shuts down the rides for 2 hours or more, they will give you a free return ticket. So we went back for day two because the extent of the delay meant there were a few things we didn’t get to ride. Also, we only got tickets for the main park, but our rain date tickets included the water park, so we thought we’d come back and try that for free. But if there hadn’t been a shut down for weather, we’d have done everything we wanted in a day.

 

[Moushe]

For those that have been, do you feel 1 day is enough, or 2 due to the short opening hours?

one day is enough, just get there early so you can rope drop and you should be able to see everything.

 

[HollyMD]

Awesome, thank you both for your replies!

 

[MichiganDisneyFan]

We've gone twice to Legoland - kids were maybe 7/4 on the first trip and 8/5 on the second. Stayed at the Legoland hotel both times. We all loved it. Like other posts - it's small and easy - kids can ride pretty much everything, and the theming is interesting enough for the adults.

Regarding one day or two - you could pack it all into one day. For us, with Peppa, the main park, the old Cypress Gardens, and the water park - we can very easily burn three days there and not get bored. YMMV.

 

[jormom1030]

The apple fries with caramel dipping sauce are amazing!

 

[HollyMD]

Thanks, everyone!