LegoLand

 You all know how much I dislike Lego's in general so this was a real sacrifice to take the kids to this theme park.  But as Buffy Gentry said, "you don't want to go to Disneyland in 90 heat and 10,000 tourists! Plus, they are still young and vacation means a bit of adventure!

We had wanted to arrive early but got stuck in the nightmare of parking lines!  I should have known then that the place could use some organizing reevaluation.  Instead of having one line for hotel guests, we had to wade through the public line till the very end.  Even then there were no real signs and we just had to keep asking the folks waving us forward to make sure we were going in the right place.

I will say the front desk was great.  They held us luggage till room was ready and we paid a small tip to get it to our rooms.  They gave us our bracelets which included eating free while there.  It was a big part of the bill and I had opted knowing the kids would get hungry and thirsty in the park. In retrospect, I should have just paid as we went as you really could never eat that much food for the cost.

They give you a map which is pretty worthless.  Yes, it tells you the names of the themes and a lose idea how to get there.  But there are no cross overs so if you are half way on one side and want to ride a ride on the other, you either go up and over or back down and over.  I have a pretty good sense of direction but we were constantly asking, along with everyone else, the staff how to get to point B. They really should just color code a strip for each theme and you could just follow the color! I found the design of the park to be very frustrating!

It really is designed for kids 7 and below.  But even my 7 year old only found about 6 rides that were fun for his age.  There are more Lego built attractions than actual action rides.  It was complicated by the fact Zachary is a very cautious kid.  As much as he might want to ride the two smaller roller coasters, it was beyond his comfort level for the first day,  Zachy has to study and think about anything that "might" be scary before he can gather his courage to do it.  Miles on the other hand, the scarier the better!

Our waitress for breakfast had suggest the Nijango ride.  I literally dragged Zachy through the line, telling him it wasn't a scary ride and he had to try something!  He moaned and groaned all through the line!  It turned out to be every ones, even Zachy's, favorite!  We did this ride 3 times in the two days!  You sit in a car, 4 across and go through ninja land.  You use your hands to move back and forth to shoot lasers at the bad ninjas!  Aim up for high , middle or low aims.  In no time we must have looked like a group of zombies waving our fingers as fast as we could!  At the end, Miles had the high school, then Jim, me and Zachy.  Zachy never really cares if he wins as long as he has fun!  Miles on the other hand---well, modesty is not his strong suit!  In the next two rides he would remain champion but at the last one Zachy came in second!  I think Jim and I just had no muscles energy left!

Zachy enjoyed the boat ride around all the Lego replicas of famous places like New York City, San Francisco bay, ect.  It was pretty amazing and they told you how many Legos it took to make each one which Miles, my number kid, found fascinating.  Zachy would ride it again the next day with Jim when Miles and I went to water park.   I would try to interest Zachy in smaller rides but he insisted those were for babies.  He was right as it really was for 4 and under.

They did have some great food there we could eat on our plan.  I chose a Noodle house one day which Zachy insisted he would hate!  But you love Noodles!  Only in New York, Mimi!  This is not New York!  Needless to say he loved it and ate his and part of my noodle soup!  The other yummy place was the ribs place!

Miles took on the dinosaur and dragon roller coasters.  They were fast but not high.  Zacky studied them.  There were a few rides we would all go on.  Then Miles saw the big roller coaster and he and Papa were off!

They also had a kid friendly skit-show for the kids by the Castle area.  The boys love any acting show!

The next day found Miles and I at the Water Park for 3 hours while Papa and Zachy rode the boat again and a few other things Jim talked him into trying.

The Water Park.  I thought I had read they would give us towels and had lockers.  What I didn't read or missed was they SOLD towels and lockers were $15!  I gave our stuff to Jim and told him to have run with Zachy and we'd meet them back at hotel in a few hours.  I climbed up the mountain of stairs with Miles for 3 slides.  It was his first time to try out real water park slides!  First one was an inner tube with 3 other people and a great fun one for him to start.  The second was a fast moving blue zig zag slide.  The third, and Miles favorite, was the tube slide.  It didn't move that fast but he loved being in the dark and never knowing when it would end!  When he wanted to do it again, I told him I was going to restroom and would meet him back there.  They had lifeguards where you came out and I knew he'd be fine.  When I came back he was just so happy!  He played in the wave pool for a bit while I watched.  Finally, I told him we had to leave if we were going to do some rides that night!

We walked dripping wet through park to the hotel.  A change of clothes and some food and we were off for our last trip to the park.  The sun was just getting ready to set which gave the park a new look and a new way for me to get lost!  Grrrrr...

Zachy had studied the rides again all day with Papa and had decided he was ready to ride the Dino coaster!  He was so excited and I wondered where this kid was yesterday!  In line we met this mom with a girl about Miles age.  In no time they were talking and definitely kindred adrenaline spirits! Zachy had a blast and now wanted to tackle the dragon coaster.  A bit higher but he was ready with Miles encouragement.  Miles talked Papa into the high roller coaster one more time!  It was now dark and I wondered if Z would cancel but he just kept walking to it.  Once again, he loved it!  Time was running out though so we met up with Jim and Miles.  I had wanted to go this Pharaoh Tome ride.  The boys had thought it was a haunted house so had not wanted to go.  But now they said, Mimi, you do everything for us so we are going to ride this for you! Turns out it was cars that went through the tomb and you had water guns trying to hit the targets.  Needless to say they loved it and wished they had tried earlier!

Our last ride was to go back to Nijango and let Miles beat us one more time!  Zachy was ecstatic he came in second!

I will say the lines were never too bad.  A popular ride might take 20 minutes but compared to Disneyland, it was nothing.

So...you are thinking our days are over after rides?  Oh, no my friends because the hotel area is hopping with kids building with the Lego pit! Small acted shows to entertain.  I had to smile as my boys wiggled up front every time!

First night Jim and I sat in the bar with a drink while they played with all the other kids.  I thought it a sign of the time when ALL the kids were making guns or weapons.  No buildings were going up or creative inventions, anyone over 4 were making weapons.

The second night we left them to it and went upstairs to pack..  It was a safe environment and all the kids got along.

All in all, it was an OK place.  It was worth staying at the hotel despite the higher cost and we did get the package with the second day free.  We never did the aquarium or animal safari.  If I had skipped the food package, it would have been a better deal. The food would have still been a big cost but not the cost of the package.

I would say if you have kids 5 and below, it is a fun place.