We went to Legoland!

I thought it was AWESOME!

Rather than overwhelm you with lots and lots of pictures, I opted for some collages.

I loved that all of the rides were very obviously  Lego inspired.  Everyone had their favorites.

Princess’ favorite was the Knight ride.  She got to ride around on a horse and she felt like quite the big girl because she rode all by herself.

The boys’ favorite ride (because they have a collective hive mind, “We changed our mind,” I kid you not they said that once) was the Egyptian mummy ride where they got to shoot bad guys.

I didn’t really have a favorite, I had a blast riding with the kids and seeing their reactions.  I’m guessing my Mom would say the same thing.

Mom and I switched off who rode and who sat out, and who rode with each kid.

One of the amazing things about Legoland was all of the models there.  You could see to scale models of many of the modern wonders of the world, and there was a whole Star Wars section, which my kids all thought was AWESOME!

Of course we had to pose with our favorite Star Wars characters.  Batman posed with Anakin, Superman posed with Captain Trooper Rex, Mom posed with Yoda, I posed with Han Solo, and Princess posed with Darth Vader (because Uncle Sam liked him).

Here’s my quick tips and tricks:

1.  If you can go off season.  We never waited in line more than 15 minutes even though it was a school holiday, it was still fairly uncrowded.

2.  Check online for deals.  We got the “book early” deal (done the day before) and were able to go for a 2nd day free.  We used that to go to the aquarium associated with it.

3.  The kids meals are HUGE!  They cost about what you would expect at an amusement park, but I only ordered food for them planning to eat some of theirs.  At the end of lunch all of us were full and we still had part of a burger leftover and some chips.

4.  Set parameters up front for getting souvenirs.  I told the kids I wouldn’t get any Lego sets that could be found in our local Wal-Mart, Target, or Lego store.

5.  Know height restrictions on rides.  My boys were able to ride alone on all of the rides but one, they are 50 inches tall.  Of course that one was the one ride my Mom wasn’t going to go on.  At the last minute she saw our dilemma and rode with one boy while I rode with the other.  Princess waited on the platform with the attendant.  She enjoyed watching where she couldn’t be splashed.

6.  This park is perfect for young amusement park goers.  It says it’s geared for 4-12 and that’s true.  If you only have teens this is probably not the park for you, there are no BIG coasters, but there’s some perfect ones for my 7 year olds.

7.  Outside food and drinks are not permitted, but if you really need to you can bring a few small snacks.  If we go again I’ll probably bring a few granola bars for the afternoon energy slump.

8.  Take the time to go on the Lego factory tour.  We missed out on it and I really regret that.

9.  Remember sun screen.  We forgot it, and were lucky the day was overcast and the park was closing early.  If you’re going in the middle of summer YOU WILL NEED SUNSCREEN!

10.  Wear clothes you can get wet in.  There are many rides where you’ll get wet, even without the water park being open.  My kids were disappointed because I didn’t let them climb all over a giant water area because it was almost time to leave and I didn’t want them riding home in wet clothes.

and my bonus tip:

11.  Make sure to stop at the Lego Clubhouse and stock up on bricks by the pound for those pieces you always lose.  In my Lego designs I’m always short on 4 and 3 piece Legos.  I don’t know why.

I’ll link this up at Many Little Blessings for Top 10 Tuesday and Works for Me Wednesday.