They didn’t disappoint! Even just driving in was cool. There was a family made out of Legos parking their car in the parking lot. So much stuff made of Legos! Cool!
While we were waiting In line, one of the families from Aiden’s preschool came up to us to say hi! His friend Katie was here at Legoland for the day too, with her parents and sister! It was great! We hung out for part of the morning together, and saw each other throughout the day.
Entering Legoland
Aiden and Katie
We headed in the general direction of the Sky Trolley, as that’s a popular ride that has long wait times generally. And we were in the park at open, so we figured it was a good time to hit it, before the line got long. We stopped at a few attractions on the way. One really cool ride we stopped at was the kid’s driving school. They had little cars for the kids to drive – that weren’t on tracks! Even Jeremy was allowed to operate one. It was really cute watching them try to negotiate that track, in total control of their vehicles. It was super cute and a crack up.
We made it to the sky trolley and it was cool, cuz we could see the whole park from up there. The kids wanted to ride in one car together alone, but they weren’t old enough to do that. They were totally bummed that they had to ride with Mom and Dad! They’re getting so big now! That’s one of the things they’ve begun doing on this trip – they wanna ride the rides in a car together, while Mom and Dad ride in a car together. We used to ride one kid with Mom the other kid with Dad…but they’re too cool for that now. Hehehehe
Jeremy driving all by himself (scary)!
The Sky Trolley
Next, we headed over to the “sky patrol”, which consisted of different rescue helicopters – police, fire, coast guard, etc. The kids liked that, because they could control whether the copters went up or down, turned right or left. They like rides they can control themselves like that. We also went on the free-floating boats, which the kids were able to drive themselves. Legoland seems like one of the only places we’ve been that features boats and cars that aren’t just stuck on a track. You can actually drive them around. The kids weren’t very good at driving the boats, so we had to help out with that. But it was still neat to be free-floating in the water!
Sky Patrol
Everything made out of Legos!
Jeremy driving a boat (even more scary)!
After the boats, we headed over to “Pirate Shores.” Legoland is really well themed. The pirate area was one of our favorites. It involved lots of water! Our first experience with the water there was the “Splash Battle,” where you are in a little pirate ship with a water cannon. You can aim and shoot your water cannon at other ships as well as innocent bystanders. You also pass under a few water features on the way, so you’re sure to get wet! But it was only a drop in the bucket (pun intended) compared to what was to come! Next up, the “Swabbies Deck.”
The Swabbies Deck is designed for the younger guests to enjoy some water play. There are some really big water features in this area as well, but they might be a bit intimidating for the younger crowd. The Swabbies Deck has pop-up water jets, fountains, and water cannons for the kids to get soaked in. You really need a swimsuit, towel, and change of clothes for this area. It’s basically like a small waterpark. The kids put on their swimtrunks, and they were ready to go! It took them a minute to build up some courage, but they got right in there after a minute or so. It was fun to watch them run and play. And we saw Aiden’s friend from school and her family again there, so the kids were able to all play together. There’s something to be said for having a friendly face around when you’re somewhere new. After the kids were too cold to continue (a small breeze picked up, and combined with the cool water temperature, they were beginning to shiver), we toweled off, changed, and headed to the Garden Restaurant for lunch.
The Swabbies Deck
After lunch, we made one last stop in Pirate Shores before moving on, and that was for the kids to get a tattoo at “Buccaneers Booty.” Jeremy wanted a blue snake, but the snake he chose was HUGE and wouldn’t fit on his tiny arm. So he settled for a dragon. He was very pleased with the outcome. He wore that dragon proudly. In true Spiderman fashion, Aiden chose a spider tattoo which he requested be airbrushed in red and blue. He knew EXACTLY what he wanted. He got his on his bicep. That was pretty cute. Castle Hill was our next themed area destination. It’s a medieval themed area, with castles, knights, and princesses. The kids really enjoyed one of the main attractions there – “The Hideaways.” This attraction is a multi-level play structure with tons of stuff. It’s huge. There were rope ladders and lots of slides. The boys could’ve spent a whole afternoon there, but we had to limit our stay – as there were so many other things to see and do! If we lived in Carlsbad, we’d totally get season passes to Legoland and take the kids to do all this fun stuff all the time! I wish WE had a Legoland up here! We’d be there tons. But we had to make our way over to LEGO Show Place, to catch the Bob the Builder 4D show – we were meeting our friends there.
Jeremy with his dragon tattoo
Aiden checking out his spider tattoo
Bob was out front greeting the kids. We got a cute pic, then played with some Legos in the Imagination Zone while we waited for the theater to open. Aiden used some letter legos to spell words on a Lego easel. Jeremy used a crane to pretend to scoop up Legos using the levers. Once the theater opened, we grabbed our glasses and got some seats. The kids are getting so spoiled with all this 3D stuff lately. Pretty soon, they’re not going to want to see a movie if it’s not in 3D. Bob the Builder was in “4D”, since it had tactile special effects, like water splashing at you, “snow” floating down from above, and smoke. It was cute enough. Fun for the kids. But Mommy and Daddy were really itching to go see Miniland USA, so we went there next.
Meeting Bob the Builder
Watching the Movie
Miniland USA consists of Lego model replicas of different cities in the United States. We saw Las Vegas, New York, San Francisco, New Orleans, and Washington, D.C. There were a couple more we didn’t even get to. They were so amazing – and detailed! Currently, the inauguration of President Obama is seen taking place on the steps of the Capitol building. In New York, there was a real working subway running below the city! In Las Vegas, we could see all of the casinos from our anniversary trip. They built the Luxor, the Venetian, Paris, Treasure Island (complete with battling pirate ships), the MGM Grand, Excalibur and more! It was so cool to look at. We could’ve spent a lot of time there, just checking out all of the little things going on. But alas, the park would be closing soon, and we wanted to get in a few more rides. So we headed over to the “Land of Adventure.”
Washington, D.C.
New York City
The Land of Adventure is an Egyptian themed area. Its main attraction, the Lost Kingdom Adventure was temporarily closed due to technical difficulties, so we rode the Bettle Bounce while we waited for it to reopen. Aiden was really into the Bettle Bounce, because it goes up and drops you down. Aiden’s such an adventurer these days. Jeremy was on the fence about going on the ride, but decided in the end he’d pass. Lucky for us, once we left Bettle Bounce, the Lost Kingdom Adventure was back open. It was the perfect ride to end our trip with. It’s one of those shooting adventures, where you ride along in a little car with your laser gun and shoot at various targets. The kids like that, and it’s fun for us, too!
After the ride was over, we still had a few minutes left before the park closed. So we went inside the “Pharaoh’s Revenge.” This is a caged-in play area where you can shoot thousands of foam balls at targets and each other. It has two levels, an area up top where you load up and fire cannons, and an area below, where you collect the foam balls and send them up through tubes to the top level. Also you get shot down there. The kids could’ve done that forever. They were racing around, gathering up balls and shooting them. It was quite fun to watch. By the time we were done there, we went back outside and the entrances to all the rides were closed. The park was closed. Boo! We could’ve definitely spent two days there. It was a great day, but we had to head out, because we had a special surprise destination for Aiden before we returned back to Anaheim.
Pharaoh's Revenge (aka Jeremy's Revenge)
Aiden's Revenge
Darth Vader and R2D2 in Lego on the way out of the park
We left Carlsbad and drove a bit further south, down to San Diego. Aiden’s best friend from last year in Preschool moved down there last summer. He was so bummed when she moved. And was so excited when we told him we were going to meet up with her for dinner! We met up with Trenna and her family at the Wave House right on the beach in Belmont Park. They live right there – so close to Sea World, it’s nuts! We had a great meal, sitting outside with a perfect view of the sunset on the water. The Wave House is a pretty cool place, because it has these wave generators where the surfers practice. The kids got a kick out of watching them surf and wipe out. But so did we! The kids had so much fun playing together. They were playing ring around the rosie, and climbing around under the table and hanging on the fence looking out at the ocean. We made a quick stop back at their house before we headed back up to our hotel. It was nice to see them again. All in all, it was a wonderful day. There was a bit of a sunburn by the end – that San Diego sun can be brutal! We missed one spot on Jeremy’s earlobe, and it was seriously burned – all scaly and everything. Yuck! The kids were sooo tired. They slept pretty much the whole drive back. We had a really great day.
Beautiful San Diego
The best part of day 6 was: the fact that Legoland rocked, seeing our friends from back home and hanging out with them in the park, Aiden seeing Trenna after almost a year.
The worst part of day 6 was: the sunburns, not getting to see all of Legoland
The weather on day 6 was: soo nice. It felt so cool and breezy, but the sun was shining. Just right.
What we learned on day 6 was: Even SPF70 might meet its match in San Diego. Legoland is AWESOME, and you could totally spend two days there.
2 comments:
Woah! That's so cool that they were able to do so much by themselves! *sniff* I'm so proud...
Wow! I've heard some really great things about Legoland, too, but I didn't realize it was that big. I thought it would be more like a Knotts Berry Farm or something. Sounded awesome, though.
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