Legoland

Back in the spring we asked Kip if he would prefer to have a friend birthday party this summer or go to Legoland Resort instead of a party. He easily picked Legoland.

Originally I thought we would spend two days and one night like we did with Great Wolf Lodge. I'd heard the hotel themed rooms are really cool and I wanted us to have enough time to do both the amusement park and the water park. However, once we started looking into it, that plan was just too expensive. It would cost over $1,000 for us to spend one night and that was much more than we wanted to spend knowing we'd spend a heck of a lot more at the park once we got there. But I was really debating it since YOLO and it looked super cool! We hadn't planned anything yet and then last week I realized we had hardly any time left/free weekends to book a trip. We really only had that upcoming Saturday free, so we quickly scrapped the overnight and decided to just go for a day and hope for the best. It ended up being perfect! 

We left around 8 am and got to the park right before it opened at 10 AM. It was a gorgeous day in the mountains of New York and the kids were pumped. The theming of the park was really great and since the park is only a few years old, everything was still looking pretty fresh and new. There were awesome Lego constructions everywhere. Both kids were into taking photos.

For Dan's birthday I got him and the kids matching shirts that said "Master Builder." They look really cute all coordinated.

The kids did the little Duplo train first and then we all went on the 4D mini figure ride, Kip and Dan did a little roller coaster, and then we all went on a 4D Ninjago ride. And lots of photo ops in between.

Ivy ended up being too little for a lot of the rides which really upset her but fortunately there were several little playgrounds and things to climb on which helped.

Kip and I did the dragon roller coaster which was quite thrilling. 

And he and Dan did a tower climb ride.

There were several places for kids to free build with Legos. Both Kip and Ivy enjoyed those stops.

We had lunch and then headed to the Lego City part of the park. 

We stood in line for these car rides where the kids solo drive little Lego car. As we were in line, the one for Ivy's age got closed for maintenance. We were really disappointed because it was pretty much the only ride she could do independently. So we ran over to a little playground set and the kids played there for awhile and then when we left, the car ride was open again. I was super happy because Ivy was thrilled and she did SO good driving. Kip did good too, but we knew he would be, he's had a lot of powerwheel practice. 

Peep those life-sized Lego flowers in the photo below, SO CUTE. There was stuff like that everywhere.

We cooled off in the theater to watch a Lego Friends 4D movie and then headed to the pirate part of the park. 

I mentioned before that when we were thinking about this trip I wanted two days so that we could do one day at the water park. That's because I thought it was a legitimate water park where one could spend the whole day there (like Great Wolf). Well, it was in no way a water park. The keyword was water playground. It was a glorified splash pad and the reservations were only for 20 minutes of play. I'm really glad we didn't plan the trip around that as I would have been really mad and disappointed. It was so lame, we didn't even bother going at all for our reservation. It would have taken us 20 minutes to trek back through the park and out to the car to get changed. Apparently other Legoland Resort locations have a full waterpark, just no this one. 

 

Anyways, instead of the playground we took the kids on this pirate ship ride where you sprayed other ships with water as they sprayed you. They hated it. Cried the whole time as we got drenched. Sigh.

And then immediately after, Kip was happy to get wet on a rough rider ride with Dan.

The park is on the side of a mountain (in Colorado terms...a wee foothill) so you start at the top and wind your way down. There were two ways down, one with the rides and one with Miniland which was Lego models of landmarks around the world. We started on the ride side and in order to get back up to the top, Kip wanted to ride the gondola instead of walking up through the Miniland, so we missed that part but the kids were fine with it.

Back at the top we did the carousel and stopped for popsicles.

The kids decided to spend the rest of their time in the build and play area working on making their own vehicles. I think we were in here for an hour. They each got a base plate for a vehicle and worked diligently. Ivy tested hers several times on the ramp and Kip finally tested his on the track versus some other boys. His was by far the fastest which thrilled him to pieces.

They didn't get to keep their creations so we took lots of pictures. 

We saved the last hour of the day for the big gift shop and it did not disappoint (there were approximately 5 gift shops throughout the park). So much to look at and we surprised Kip with a bigger budget than he was expecting. He picked two Ninjago sets and Ivy found herself some things as well. And I got our ornament and magnet for our collections. 

On the way home we stopped at the outlet mall for a legitimate dinner and a tiny bit of shopping. And we were home by 7:30. 

Overall, it was a great time. We all had fun and the kids both want to go back. 

Full disclosure, however, us adults prefer Storybook Land. At Legoland you pay for the branding just like Nickelodeon (and I assume Disney). Is if fun? Yes! Are the parks and theming and details impeccable? Absolutely. But I'm a bigger portion size for a smaller price tag kind of girl. Keep it simple. At Storybook Land we can go on ride after ride with no more than 5 minutes wait time. We can traverse the park in under 30 minutes leaving plenty of time to go around and around and go on rides many times over. The only things that cost extra are little quarter machines. The food is average but so are the prices. It's worth it. At branded parks everything is an up sell and no one likes to feel that when the plan is to have fun and you already spent several hundred dollars just to walk through the gate. It's not right or wrong, it's just my preference. 

Will we go back? Maybe. The kids really loved it and we did it for them so if it makes sense, we might return. It was only a short car ride away after all and we've got several master Lego builders in the house.

Peeks from the Week

The kids had an eventful summer week. 

On Monday Mandy took them on errands, to the playground, and to see the animals at PetCo.

On Tuesday it was gloomy and rainy and the kids were besides themselves with grief. So I suggested Dan take them to Chuck-E-Cheese. That's unlimited summer pass has paid for itself 2x over. They scored 600 tickets and played this pirate water game for a solid 40 minutes.

On Wednesday they went to another playground, out for pizza, and then Rita's Italian Ice for a cool treat.

Thursday there was some imaginative play and building in the morning, Kinetic Sand treasure hunting, and in the afternoon an animal show at the library with friends.

I looked at the calendar earlier this week and got frantic. We still have a solid month left of summer but nearly every weekend in August is booked. We've birthdays coming up. Our trip home to Kansas and Denver. Then Dan and I have our anniversary weekend. And then it's September. 

So we've committed to doing as many pool nights as possible, we've bought our trip to Legoland for this weekend, and we knocked out the school supply list to get that out of the way. I'm trying to remind my self that there is still time left to soak in the sun.