Legoland California review: A Vacation Scrapbook

For the next few weeks I’ll be sharing about our recent California trip.  I thought I’d start today with the last thing we did–visit Legoland California! Read our Legoland California review below.

As you can see from the f picture, the lines to buy tickets weren’t too long. We arrived about 10:30 a.m. (The gates had opened at 10 a.m.) And we stayed until they closed at 6 p.m.!  I had visited the Lego Store near us and picked up 3 Lego magazines in order to get the coupons for “Buy one adult ticket, get one child ticket free.”

We were also blessed by Legoland California to get two free tickets in exchange for this honest review.  So, our admission price was half what it would have been!  (I’ll share at the end of the post some different ways to get discounted tickets.)

Legoland California

One thing you will definitely see all through Legoland California are some incredible sculptures made of Legos.

The first ride we went on was Fairy Tale Brook.  We rode in little boats and saw fairy tale creatures built of Legos.  They were even moving!

We enjoyed getting our picture taken with Emmet.  My daughter didn’t want to stop holding his hand!

This cute train ride was in Duplo Village.  Sometimes when the younger children were on a ride, the older kids went to look in the stores which were spread throughout the park.

Another thing in the Duplo Village were Water Works:

Driving School

Both the older and younger kids did the Driving School (called Junior Driving School for ages 3-5).  It was so cute to see my 3-year-old son driving a car!

 

 

Where to Eat

We ate at the Fun Town Market Restaurant.  The hamburgers were huge and really filled us up. We even got free cups of ice water, so it wasn’t too expensive.

Landmarks made of Legos

We all enjoyed visiting Miniland USA which included several U.S. city’s landmarks built of Legos.  Really cool!

Some of these Miniland buildings we saw while we were riding in the Coast Cruise as well.  Our boat captain was pretty funny and kept making fun of my son’s Yankee ball-cap.

Lego Star Wars

And, of course, we also loved Lego Star Wars!

Where Mom Can Rest & Legoland California app

I got to sit and take a break while the kids played at The Hideaways.  I also spent some time exploring the free Legoland California iPhone app and discovered they updated the wait times for the rides throughout the day.  That was quite useful as we decided how to plan the rest of our time there.

My oldest even went down this slide, although he said it was a tight squeeze!

Roller Coasters at Legoland California

While the older kids went on the totally awesome Lego Technic Coaster, the younger ones did the Bionicle Blaster twirly ride and Dune Raiders slide.

The Lego Movie

And one of the highlights was visiting the set of The Lego Movie.

Popular Rides

Another ride that I did with the kids was Kid Power Towers. We set out to do the Sky Crusier, which is probably the post popular ride. It didn’t have less than an hour wait all day long. So we headed next door to the Kid Power Towers. You ride it in pairs. I was with my 3-year-old. You pull yourself up with a rope and then let go to float to the bottom. I was proud of myself for doing this one since I’m afraid of heights!
         

Toward the end of the day a few kids rode on Captain Cranky’s Challenge while others played in the Skipper School (and another slept):

Rides Where You Get Wet

There are a few rides where you can get wet, and the Aquazone Wave Racers was one of them!

We Loved Legoland!

So, we left Legoland California happy that we had gone there over the more popular California theme park.  It was the right place for the kids’ ages, 13 down to 2.  My oldest was a little bored since there were so many “little kid” rides, but the little kids were thrilled to get to do almost everything!

The park wasn’t too crowded.  We did wait in line for different rides, but not too long.  My older kids tried three roller coasters and definitely like the Technic Coaster the best.  They love Legos, so they loved Legoland.

Here’s the Technic Coaster:

Other Legoland California attractions

By the way, there are 3 other attractions connected with Legoland California that we didn’t check out:  the Chima Water Park, the Sealife Aquarium, and the Legoland Hotel.  We only went to the main park and only did about 1/2 of it even though we were there all day.  Some coupons and specials give you options for 2 or 3 days.  You could definitely spend that much time there!

Ways to Save MONEY at Legoland California:

(I know these are now expired, but maybe the same companies run these promotions every year.)

– American Tire Depot: IN-STORE PROMOTION – if you purchase a certain
dollar amount at the American Tire Depot or Evans Tires, you can fill
out a form online or in-store to receive 2 or 4 LEGOLAND tickets
directly from ATD/Evans Tires.  If the form is completed online, you
will receive an email stating “Thanks for your submission, please allow
us 6-8 weeks to process.” Promotion runs through December 31, 2014.

– Buy 3 Merlin Annual Passes, Get 1 Child Merlin Annual Pass FREE: not
valid on the monthly payment option or with any other promotions,
discounts or offers. 4 Merlin Annual Passes must be purchased in the
same transaction and must include at least one adult Merlin Annual Pass.
Promotion runs through August 31, 2014 and expires 8/31/2014

– Circle K / Unilever Promotion: Free Child with Paid Adult “Pick One
Hopper” to LEGOLAND California Resort. Coupon offer available at Circle
K locations in California with the purchase of any Good Humor, Popsicle
or Fruttare brand product. Promo runs through June 30, 2014 and expires
12/31/2014

– Wendy’s: Free Child with Paid Adult “Pick One Hopper” to LEGOLAND
California Resort. Coupon offer available on Wendy’s 30 oz cup,
trayliners and on coupons inside all San Diego, Orange County, Inland
Empire, Los Angeles, Ventura, Palm Springs, Santa Barbara, Bakersfield
and El Centro restaurants. 

– LEGO Store & Shop.LEGO.com: Free Child with Paid Adult to LEGOLAND
California Resort 1-day Pick One Hopper. (Valid 1 for 1). Receive this
offer with ANY LEGO purchase inside a LEGO Store (Does not include
LEGOLAND Attractions) in North America, AND/OR on www.shop.LEGO.com with
any LEGO purchase. Promotion runs through June 30, 2014 and expires
12/31/2014.

Sign up at lego.com to receive their free magazine.  It includes a coupon for Free Child with Paid Adult.  You can also sometimes get the magazines at Lego Stores and Discovery Centers.

Also, children under 3 get into the park for FREE!

Read our other California vacation posts:

• Here We Come (San Francisco and Sacramento)
• Visiting My Sister’s family (and Mom’s funeral)
• Monterey: the town and the aquarium
• Los Angeles
• Hollywood

 

(Disclosure:  I received 2 free tickets to Legoland California in exchange for this honest review.)