Saturday, July 8, 2017

harrisons on holiday: californi-yay! part II

day #4
this day was a LEGOLAND day! our beach house was about an hour away from the park so we left early to gas up. last time we went to legoland we stayed at the hotel so parking and entering was a little bit different. we got there pretty soon after it opened and we expected it to be a whole lot less busy! for a tuesday, it was pretty hopping! i should have known though. the rooms at the hotel go for $300-500/night during the summer. can you imagine?! that's insane.

now a lot of people have asked me how it compares to disneyland and it's just different. at disneyland you can: go on rides, eat delicious treats, watch amazing shows, or go shopping. at legoland, you can: go on rides, eat mediocre treats, watch 4D movies, go shopping, but best of all, go to interactive stations. that's what really sets legoland apart from disneyland. there's stations to build and race cars, build and race boats, make and trade figurines, tons of play areas, and splash/water pad. and i love how in the long rides, theres usually a toddler play area where the kids can play while their grown ups wait in line. pretty amazing. now the downside: food is not as good but they have good deals for kids after 5pm.

tuesday we spent a few hours at the park, had lunch and then went to the water park. this section was closed when we came in january so we really wanted to check it out. it is super fun and would be awesome to do it you.

day #5
this was a FULL ON legoland day. the parks opens at 10am to the public and 9am for hotel guests. we showed up at 9:30am and got in the park early- score! of course we rode ninjago back to back with the rider swap. then we hit up the main rides we knew the kids loved the best. we had lunch at the pizza buffet then grandpa dave and kristi joined us at the park for half the day. we raced our lego cars, visited miniland USA, and went on coastersaurus as many times as we could! grandpa and daddy worked hard to win landon and porter some awful and giant pokemon prizes which was all that landon really wanted there.

for the medieval jousting horse ride, legoland has a crazy rule that the kids have to reach a certain height AND be 4 years old. well that didn't stop us! we told landon and porter they needed to fib and tell the attendant that porter is 4 [i know, great parents we are]. when we were in line, the attendant kept eyeing us and even made a point to go up to the front and announce the age rule again [very pointedly, might i add]. when porter got in line, he asked him how old he was. porter relied, "uh...uh...i'm..." and i thought i was toast. thankfully landon piped up and said "he's 4! he's 4!" a little too enthusiastically. then porter started saying he was 4 and they let him on. seriously, i feel bad encouraging my kids to ride but that's just a crazy rule. once we got back to vegas, porter and landon would bring that up to each other and tell each other to tell others porter was 4. what did i start?!

we decided to just completely go all out on legoland this day and exhaust ourselves and the kids there. we stayed for dinner because there was a great coupon available and did some of our favorite rides again. all of us were EXHAUSTED but it's better then sitting in CA rush hour traffic. we didn't leave the park until 6:30pm that day. that's right, 9 hours at legoland. we were pooped but we had a blast.

legoland tips
- bring in snacks- lots of them. on their website it tells you not to bring in outside food but they don't care and you'll need lots of snacks.
- eat at the pizza and pasta buffet. kids under 3 eat free. adults are $20, kids $10 but you can take a small soda for everyone when you leave. and fill up your reusable souvenir cup [which is only $1 refills]
- eat a delicious crepe in the legoland friends heart city [girl area]. i think the apple fries are not worth the hype.
- take advantage of the rider swap [much like disneyland]. you can take the two kids with one adult then switch adults and let the kids go twice in a row [entering in the exit and skipping the line]. we did this on ninjago, a ride griffin could go on, just so the boys could go twice and not have to wait in the lines.
- the park opens at 9am for hotel guests. we showed up at 9:30 and got in no problem. worth coming early.
- at the first of the morning, the rides in the back are less crowded so go there first.
- collect rides buttons at some of the rides. just ask the ride attendant. they're free souvenirs.
- download the legoland app. there are offers on there that save you money and it is helpful to find out wait times/location. it's not as awesome as disneyland's but still pretty functional.
- legoland is always taking your picture and trying to charge you for it. when in line for the characters, just ask them to take pictures with your own camera for free.
- we don't buy a ton of souvrniors at the big shop or at the park. you can buy things before hand and give it to your kids for half the price. the smashed pennies are fun and cheap prizes. building your own mini-figurines is fun and worth the $10.
- speaking of mini-figurines, you can bring in your old, ugly, and hand missing ones and trade any of the workers for the ones they wear/have at their station. pretty fun!
- be on the lookout for the golden figurine. if you find it at the park, you'll win a free season pass.
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2 comments:

KinderTeach said...

When Porterhouse gets busted for a fake id, I'll remind you that you were the first one to fake his age.

Kari said...

We weren't able to try out Legoland when we were in California, but I love your tips for if we ever do make it, and it sounds like my kids might love it!

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