Leggo My Lego's...On Second Thought, Just Keep 'Em - Two Days in Legoland

Theme parks tend to bring out the best in kids.  Nowhere was this more evident than in Legoland.  Leading up to this trip, we had no problems getting the children to behave.  A mere “I guess you won’t be going to Legoland” was enough to get them to fall in line.  It was great to see them so excited once we got there.  They got a real kick out of the plethora of well-made, life-sized sculptures of

people...

animals...

and movie characters.

Indiana Jones and Short Round

Like a big dork, The Wife had to get pictures next to the Harry Potter characters.

The kids preferred to pose with popular cartoon characters...

...live...

...or sculpted.

There were fun areas where the children could design their own mini-figures or play the Lego Universe computer game.

They also had an "adventure" area where kids could journey to distant tombs, jungles, and polar reaches in search of missing treasure.  Yeah, it was pretty cheesy, but the sculptures were well made.

The older kids also enjoyed their large waterpark.  Even though they hardly know each other, it was great to see The Boy and his cousins splashing so well together like they were old friends.

But the best part of the park was really the miniature replicas of American cities.  They modeled the unique buildings and landmarks of major cities down to the smallest humorous details.

Washington, D.C.

Las Vegas

New York City

 New Orleans

Other well-known landmarks around the world.

They also made dioramas of each Star Wars movie as well.  Both kids and parents were mesmerized by these small replicas.

Episodes 1-5.  I refuse to photograph ewoks.

Unfortunately, theme parks also bring out the worse in adults.  Legoland didn't make this problem any better.  The Lego store was packed with all the merchandise that can be found on their website.  However, there are really no unique items or things on sale.  The eyes of our kids lit up like they were in a candy store—a very expensive candy store.  As any parent can attest to, it is hard to say no to your children when they are that excited.  We ended up spending way too much on items we regretted later.

Afterwards, we hit the rides.  Wow, they were disappointing.  I expected them to be cheesy and kid-friendly, which was fine.  I didn't expect to have to wait 45 minutes for my children to get on a lame two minute ride.  Unlike Disney which has a really convenient Fastpass system which allows you to reserve your time on a ride while you do something else, you have to wait in line at Legoland.  Alternatively, you could spring for their unadvertised VIP pass.  But at $150/person, it’s utterly ridiculous for a family of four.  Little kids generally don’t do well with half-an-hour waits.  Their impatience often led to parental anger.  There was no shortage of testy moms and dads yelling at their kids for the smallest transgression.  I saw some parents scolding other people’s children because they were “hogging” some of the activities.  We were no exception.  At the “Skipper School” ride, The Wife snapped at some annoying kids who kept bumping her boat too hard and turning it so that it was going in the wrong direction.  Little things like that normally wouldn't get her riled up.  However, the frustration at dealing with the huge crowds and long lines eventually got to her.  I can’t believe that I would actually look forward to bringing the kids back to Disney World in the future.

My son drove pretty well in the "Driving School" ride.

Conversely, my daughter propagated the stereotype of female Asian drivers.

This ride was fun and wet for all of the three minutes it lasted.

With no motor on the boat, "Skipper School" was more like drift school.

We ended up going for two consecutive days, Big Brother and his family joining us on the second.  We visited the Sea Life Aquarium which was included in our passes.  It was no Baltimore or New Orleans aquarium, but it wasn't nearly as bad as much of the online reviews rated it as.  The life-sized LEGO scuba divers inside the tanks were a nice touch.

I had to take a picture with the Scuba diver since I am working on my open water certificate.

Lego man sleeps with the fishes.

They also had some nice petting tanks that were a new experience for the children.

There were starfish and sea urchins available to pet.

Sometimes the ocean just isn't big enough.

Although our passes were good for another day at Legoland, we had more than our fill and drove back to San Diego.  We stayed at the Homewood Suites near the airport for the next three days.  While the hotel isn't bad, it definitely made us miss the West Inn and Suites in Carlsbad.  The rooms are big but just not as comfortable.  The morning breakfast was a madhouse as there were not enough tables to fit all of the guests.  Although they offered complimentary dinners on weekdays, we decided to eat at the nearby restaurants in the adjoining strip mall.  After Legoland, we were just tired of fighting the crowds.