My oldest is a huge Lego fan. Our house looks like a Lego battlefield. There are pieces strewn across the floor like land mines just waiting to be stepped on. Every tabletop in the house has random pieces scattered across it. I find pieces in pockets when I do laundry, in between couch cushions when I straighten up, even in the bath tub. They are everywhere. So I always knew he would love LegoLand, but at 8 years old, I figured he was creeping up on aging out of the theme park. So when we decided to book a Disney Cruise leaving from Port Canaveral, I jumped on the opportunity to add on a trip to LegoLand.
Now to be clear, LegoLand is not actually on the way to Port Canaveral. It is in Winter Haven, past Orlando but towards the wrong coast. But still, adding it on to this trip was way more convenient than doing it as a standalone trip and quite frankly, if we didn’t do it now it probably wasn’t ever going to happen.
We drove from Charlotte and spent the night in Jacksonville and then headed from there to LegoLand in the morning. It was a picture perfect Florida day – cool but comfortable with a beautiful blue sky.
From the moment you reach the entrance, everything is built out of Legos. The details are incredible – adorable Lego mini figures are hard at work building the entrance signs, painting the decorations, even spraying water on a fire-breathing dragon.
Rides
There are a variety of rides for everyone from toddlers to pre-teens. At 6 and 8 years old, our kids were able to ride everything in the park. For kids on the upper half of the theme park’s 2-12 target age, there were multiple roller coasters, a suspended coaster (where the track is above you and your legs hang down), and an interactive laser-shooting ride, to name a few. My kids’ favorite roller coaster was The Dragon, which is probably the most (relatively) thrilling ride there. They also loved Lost Kingdom Adventure, where each of them manned a laser blaster and attempted to hit the most targets as their jeep rode through the ruins of an Egyptian temple. As with everywhere else in LegoLand, the background scenes in the rides are worth the trip.
On the tamer side but still a fun attraction, both my boys got a kick out of the Ford Driving School. This was actually our longest wait of the day, as you had to wait in a pretty long line and then go into a room to watch a safety video before you were allowed to drive. I think part of the appeal of this ride for them was that you were not on a track but on an actual road (complete with traffic signals!) and in complete control of your vehicle. And you even get a driver’s license!
While the boys enjoyed the rides, it is important to level-set. LegoLand’s rides are by and large rides geared towards younger kids. If you go expecting Universal or even Disney level thrill rides, you will be disappointed. The rides were the main reason I knew our window of opportunity to fully enjoy the park was closing. 8 years old was pushing it – some of the rides were way too young for him and even the ones targeted to older kids were still relatively tame. But a ride is a ride, and a ride with Lego theming is bound to bring enjoyment at any age.
Attractions and Entertainment
MiniLand USA was the highlight of the park for us. US cities and landmarks are all recreated out of Legos – more than 20 million in total! It was fun to walk through MiniLand and have the boys recognize different landmarks or cities that we have visited. To add to the fun, many of the exhibits are interactive. They have buttons the kids (or adults!) can push to make a band play music, an elephant shoot water, or even start the cars’ engines on the Daytona International Speedway.
Just beyond the cities and landmarks area, there is a Star Wars MiniLand complete with scenes from each of the six Star Wars episodes. A life-size Darth Vader and R2D2 are standing guard nearby.
While MiniLand was by far our favorite attraction, there were lots of other fun activities including hands-on building areas, a 4D movie, and character meet and greets.
Exploring the Park
Even outside of MiniLand, we enjoyed just walking around the park and seeing all the different Lego theming everywhere. The creativity and attention to detail were amazing. Imagine having to conceptually design every detail of all the public spaces, and then go back and actually have to design and build it out of Legos. For the theming alone, the park is a worthwhile destination.
LegoLand – Worth a Trip
We spent 5-6 hours at the park and it was the right amount of time for us. We definitely did not do everything that LegoLand has to offer – we skipped a few rides and interactive areas, avoided any rides where we might get wet, and missed the water-skiing pirate live-action show (which looked like it would be fun!). But although we didn’t necessarily hit everything I would have liked to, I don’t feel the need to go back. I’m really glad we checked it off our list and we absolutely loved exploring the park, but it is a one and done for us given our kids’ current ages.
