I sent Wendy from OverTheTopMommy.com to Legoland to share her experience of the perfect Legoland Birthday for her daughter.
Deciding to take my daughter and 2 of her closest friends to Legoland California was the most perfect outing for a trio their age. The girls are “pre-tweens” (they’re 9 years old), which is an age where you’re not little anymore, but not a teen either. We hadn’t visited Legoland since our daughter was 4 years old and were excited to be returning again for a Legoland Birthday.
We decided to make a trip down on a Sunday in October and actually stayed overnight, since the girls had some days off of school. I honestly don’t think we could’ve picked a better time of year to go. The crowds were very low and the park was decorated for Halloween, since the Brick-or-Treat nights happen on Fridays and Saturdays in October. The weather was absolutely beautiful. Often times in Carlsbad, it can be a little overcast and cloudy because it’s so close to the beach. On the particular day we visited, it felt like a mild summer day, which was great because our tickets allowed for us to also visit the Legoland Water Park, which was still open for the season.
The girls loved getting to go into Legoland a half hour early as hotel guests. If you stay at The Legoland Hotel this is one of the best perks and you’ll definitely want to take advantage of it. There’s a specific area in the park that’s open early, featuring some of the rides that will have longer lines during regular park hours.
With that extra half hour, we ran over to ride Coastersaurus first. It’s one of the more popular rides at Legoland and we rode it two times in a row. Next, the girls wanted to venture over to Fairy Tale Brook, where they got to have their own boat. It’s such a cute ride with a ton of fairytale characters all constructed from LEGO bricks.
All over Legoland, there are areas where kids (and adults) can stop, play, build with LEGO bricks, run through water features, and interact with things. It’s very hands-on and engages kids of all ages. As a mom, I liked being able to sit down and relax while watching the girls do some of these activities. One of their favorite areas was Duplo Village. It’s an entire area set up with play structures, slides and a little train to ride the LEGOLAND Express. The girls content just sitting for quite a while and building with the oversized Lego bricks. I liked that I could sit down and relax, while keeping an eye on them. It gave me a chance to re-energize for the next part of our day.
After the girls went to Driving School, where you don’t have to be 16 to get your driver’s license, we grabbed some lunch at Fun Town Hot Dogs. I felt like the food was reasonably priced and really actually good for a theme park. The girls liked the souvenir kids cups that came with the kids meals. There are so many food choices throughout the park though and I can’t wait to try some of the other ones next time we visit.
After lunch, we visited Miniland USA. This is an entire area, constructed with over 20 million LEGO bricks in 1:20 scale, that features 7 different reproductions of areas in the United States. There’s also a Star Wars area in Miniland. It’s fun to walk through and take time to appreciate how much detail went into building the models. We also enjoyed riding the Coast Cruise which takes you to see some of the sights along the lakeshore and through some of Miniland USA.
Just a few more of the girls’ favorites included riding Sky Cruiser, Safari Trek, navigating through Kid Power Towers, and stopping by the LEGO MOVIE EXPERIENCE to take a picture with Wyldstyle from The LEGO Movie.
Finally, the girls were ready to head over to the Legoland Water Park, which also includes the newest addition, LEGO Chima Water Park! By the time we changed into our swimsuits and headed over, there were only about 2 hours left to experience all of the fun in the water park, but it was plenty since the crowds were so low that day. The girls even got me onto a few of the slides! (That’s huge!)
We had the best time at Legoland California Resort and cannot wait to go back for our next visit. It is the ideal place for kids of all ages to visit and there’s truly something for everyone to enjoy there.
Have you had a chance to visit Legoland yet? If so, what is YOUR favorite memory?
