Legoland - Part 1 of 2

Saturday, March 21
Today we did Legoland. All day long. From 10:00am when it opened to 6:00pm when it closed. I was curious about Legoland. It's the only one in North America. The rest are in Europe I believe. It's geared for ages 5-12. Max absolutely LOVED it. And in fact, wanted to go back again the next day. Now Keith and I, we were slightly underwhelmed by it. But let's keep in mind we're adults who've experienced the can't-be-beat, over-the-top magic of Disney. I'm sure that taints our view. While Legoland can't touch Disneyland (but really, who can?), it still a great park filled with lots of rides and amazing lego creations.

The Lego creations...that's the part I was the most curious about. We weren't quite sure what to expect. Was it just an amusement park called Legoland with a few lego related things thrown in so that they could use the Lego brand? Was everything (rides, seating, buildings) just made to look like lego creations so they could use the brand? We didn't know but soon found out. The entire amusement park is FILLED with actual lego creations. And they are everywhere. Some of them towering high into the sky. All made with millions of actual teeny tiny lego's. It is very cool! This post includes photo's of the rides. My next post will be photo's of some of the amazing lego creations throughout the park.

Admission into the park isn't cheap. They charge $65 per adult and (i think) $55 per child which I personally think is a bit ridiculous. Plus they charge $12 to park in a huge parking lot in the middle of nowhere. When we were standing in line to buy our tickets, a lady came up to us and wondered if we'd like a discount coupon. I was about to say "no thanks" when she mentioned that she had extras and they were coupons to "buy one get one free" on admissions. Sure!! Needless to say the 4 coupons she had were snapped up within 2 seconds of her offering them to the lineups of people waiting to get in. With the coupon, we ended up saving half the price on admission costs. I had found discount coupons online before we left, but they didn't even come close to the discount coupon from that very nice lady.

Weather wise - a cool front had blown in overnight so Saturday started off overcast and cool but by the time the afternoon rolled around the sun had came out in full force and we had beautiful warm (downright hot!) temps. The park was busy. Spring break and all. So we did end up doing quite a bit of waiting in lineups.

Max's favourite ride of the day was "racing" at the racetrack. He's sure that he won first place because all the other drivers were busy driving into each other and getting stuck at the sides and he just kept "driving on the inside" (Keith told him to do that) and made a few laps around before the others got untangled and on their way again. One cute thing about legoland is they have all these "adult" style rides created on a miniture scale for kids...for example a drop-zone type of ride.

That very last photo of Max and Keith...oh that ride. I couldn't believe Keith was taking Max on it and that Max wanted to go. I was freaking out! Thankfully, when it was their turn, the operator said they could only do "level 1". Max actually had to wear this inflatable puffy little vest before he was fastened in to give him more bulk. Bigger riders can select up to level 5 - with 5 obviously being the most extreme ride. Keith and Max's ride was pretty calm in comparison. Watching the riders choosing level 5 - WOW. They were just thrown up and down and around and every which way at a very fast speed - it was INSANE! I would have been sick within the first 2 seconds.

Now that Max is a little bit bigger, Keith is thoroughly enjoying taking him on the bigger rides and Max loves it too. I'm more than content to stay at the sidelines and take photo's. Somehow age has not agreed with me when it comes to going on wild rides.

At the end of the day, we drove back to our hotel and asked the front desk for a mexican restaurant recommendation. Keith and I both love mexican food and San Diego is a great place to indulge. They directed us to "Tio Leo's" which was just down the street from the hotel. It was reallllllly good. Lots of spicy kick! Mmmmmmm! :) We crashed when we got back to our hotel room after dinner... all three of us were exhausted from our busy day.