When I’m not reading, I’m planning vacations. I like to share our experiences in case I can help someone else. Plus it’s fun for me to relive my vacation while writing this.
Today I’m going to tell you about the first stop during our fall break travels, LEGOLAND in Florida.
Because it’s near Orlando, LEGOLAND has a reputation as an add-on to Disney World, and compared to Disney it doesn’t get much love. But we just went to Disneyland last year and my kids (who love building Legos) are at the upper range of this park’s audience (ages 2-12), so we decided to make LEGOLAND a primary destination and even stay on property. I’m so glad we did!
What’s at LEGOLAND
I loved the fun and colorful Lego themes everywhere. It is not a super big park, but make sure to refer to your map so you don’t miss any of the “lands.” The Lego Movie World is off the beating path and our favorite ride was there – the virtual reality ride (like Soarin’ at Disney) in the UniKitty building. My kids also loved the “driving school” in Lego City where you get to drive little cars on realistic roads with stop signs and stop lights. To my husband’s dismay, they still wouldn’t go on everything because that’s just the way they are, but most kids would be fine going on everything here. Even the coasters are pretty tame.
LEGOLAND Florida also has a water park (not open year round though) but you have to have this option added to your ticket. I had assumed it was two different parks with two separate entrances, but the waterpark is towards the back of the regular park, so you can’t just enter the waterpark. Also this means you have to take all your swim stuff with you if you plan to go to the waterpark. At the waterpark, you need to get a locker ($9) if you don’t want to spend all your time worrying someone is going to steal your stuff. This is worth it! And you need to bring your own towels. Of course they have Lego towels for sale, and we did buy a couple as souvenirs.
We stayed three nights and bought the two-day park hopper ticket. We had been warned that two days may be too long for LEGOLAND, but I disagree. The first day we explored the park leisurely, not feeling like we had to hit everything and get to the waterpark the same day. Then the second day, we hit our favorites again, what we missed the first day, and then the water park. The two-day ticket is not much more expensive than the one day, so I highly recommend the two-day ticket.
We traveled during fall break so it wasn’t too crowded, and most of the families were younger children (not in school). However, I think my kids ages (9 & 10) were actually perfect because they are fairly self sufficient and easy to manage. I saw lots of screaming kids in strollers and didn’t miss that at all!
LEGOLAND Beach Retreat
LEGOLAND Florida has two onsite hotels, The LEGOLAND Hotel and the LEGOLAND Beach Retreat, and it is building a Pirate-themed hotel that looks great. I decided on the Beach Retreat because it was a bit cheaper, and the reviews claimed it was a bit more “laid back.”
The LEGOLAND Hotel is literally outside the gate of the park; however, our “Retreat” was about .5 miles away and had a shuttle that went back and forth. You also get a parking pass if you prefer to drive yourself. The shuttle stops running between 12-3 p.m. which I did find a bit odd.
As a family with a boy and a girl, I am always trying to find a room with three beds; I know larger families have the same problem. Legoland was great for this because most rooms have a king bed plus bunk beds with a trundle. So it can easily sleep 5 in a room. Both kids had a small Lego set waiting for them. Also there was a channel (49 – I remember this well) that runs the Lego movies ALL DAY EVERY DAY COMMERCIAL FREE. During all down time in the room, the kids watched these movies. Over and over. I can’t believe they don’t get sick of them, but those movies are really good even for adults. In fact I think these movies are what actually makes the whole place so much fun.
At Beach Retreat, each “room” is part of a duplex which is part of a cove. Each cove has its own playground. It also has a really nice pool area with floating Legos, a sandy area, and a cool playground. There is also bar service near the pool.
The onsite restaurant, Sandy’s, has a pretty good menu and is a great place for a birthday celebration. For around a $100 birthday package, you get two appetizers, meals for all, a cake, a Lego gift, crown and pin and card for the birthday kid, plus they sing to you, and you get a S’mores kit to use later. My daughter really felt special!
I booked our room through the LEGOLAND website, but I found much cheaper park tickets through Undercover Tourist. Do not pay full price/gate price for Legoland tickets!!
I want to mention another close restaurant we found that was so good if you are looking to get off property for something less kid oriented (still kid friendly) with fresh seafood: Harry’s Old Place.
Getting there
Note that the Tampa airport is actually closer to LEGOLAND than the Orlando airport. We flew into Tampa and rented a car. Besides the cost of the car, it only cost us $7 in gas to get there and back. So this is another option if you are searching flights.
Loved LEGOLAND!
All in all we LOVED LEGOLAND. If you have specific questions just ask me in the comments, and I’ll answer the best I can. Thanks for reading!