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| More About This Park |
Notes:
LEGOLAND California is a 128-acre theme park located in Carlsbad, a seaside community 30 miles north of San Diego and one hour south of Anaheim. The Park is the first and only theme park in the United States created by Danish toy maker, the LEGO Company. LEGOLAND California offers interactive attractions, family rides, shows, restaurants, shopping and beautiful landscape features specially geared for children ages 2-12 and their families. Theming unique to LEGO play materials can be found throughout the entire Park. There are more than 5,000 LEGO models in the Park, ranging from a life-sized animated
elephant that squirts trunkfuls of water to a tiny violin case for a LEGO brick musician seated in a miniature Hollywood Bowl, were crafted from 30 million LEGO bricks. Travel Info:
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| Reviews |
Sir Willow
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 3552
View Park/Ride Count
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From July 17, 2003
Introduction: Legoland is a park that my kids have been wanting
desparately to go to ever since they first heard about it 3 years ago,
possibly even more than Disneyland in some respects. So to finally get an
opportunity to go was a wonderful opportunity for them. But they also help
me to point out one thing-Legoland is a park built for kids, hence it
doesn't contain the same kinds of major thrills that a Six Flags or Cedar
Fair park would. So if you're looking for that, you might as well stop
reading now and forget visiting. You're not going to find them there.
However, if you want one of the best places to go with a family including
kids, then keep reading.
The Place: Legoland, CA
The People: me, my wife Margaret, and our kids, Amber and Joseph
The Weather: comfortable. It got a bit warm during the day, but wasn't hot
by any means.
The Crowds: light to moderate. Waits weren't bad at all.
After driving through what felt like a couple of business parks, we made a
turn onto Legoland Drive and found ourselves at the park gates at around
9:15 or so, only to find the gates closing the road into the parking lot
still. Around 10 minutes after we arrived, security came, opened up the
gate to the lot and we were able to drive up to the toll booths, where we
were able to wait some more while they prepared to open the booths. All
along the drive in were letters on the side of the road, one at a time,
spelling out Legoland, Welcome. And all were made entirely of Lego Bricks-
a good hint of what was to come.
They finally opened up the toolbooths, with all the attendants coming out
at once like a military drill team to remove the cones keeping us at bay,
and all with big smiles on as they happily took our parking fees and let us
start the drive around, in, and through the rather large parking area,
until we were finally able to park at what seemed to be just yards away
from the main gates into the park. Again, every parking sign designating
which lot you are in is made out of Legos, with characters, also made of
bricks, accenting the signs.
We already had our tickets thanks to a friend of ours who works as a
military contractor, and a nice thing it was since Legoland is not known
for their discounts on admission. So with tickets in hand, we walked past
the ticket booths and lined up at the turnstiles to enter The Beginning-
which is what they call their entry plaza. We had a wonderful conversation
with the people at the gate while we waited, and they were more than
willing to go get us a show schedule and an empty bag to carry things in
while we waited to get in. Friendly and going out of their way to help
were pretty much standards for the employees here, and I would put the
staff on a par here with Disney and Holiday World easy. I just can't
imagine much better.
After some discussion with the attendants at the gate, we learned that the
SpellBreaker was closed for the day due to maintanance issues, which was a
bit of a bummer since it was possibly my most anticipated ride as I haven't
been on any of the Caripro suspended coasters, but life goes on. Knowing
that, we decided to head away from the coasters to start, and once the
gates opened we headed out to the Sky Cruiser. These are 2 person cars
that give an aeriel view of much of the park, and that you can pedal if you
want a speed boost, or just sit back and let them go. It was a lot of fun
and gave us a good look at much of the rest of the park.
It was also here that I noticed something that Legoland does that I've
never seen before, but I sure wish more parks would do. On several of
their most popular attractions, as you entered the line there would be one
route that would lead to several tables and chairs with lots of lego bricks
for the kids to play with while the parents waited in line. As the line
ended, there was a gate where the parents could claim the kids from the
play area and then hop onto the ride. So much easier for everyone since
the kids are entertained and you don't have to worry about them fussing,
getting bored, or being a pain in line.
Our next stop was in the same area-the Kid Power Tower. You sit down on a
seat with a partner and once you are fastened in, you can grab a rope and
pull yourself up the 30 foot high tower while it also slowly rotates.
Then, if you want, you can let go and get a brief kid-friendly free fall.
The ride cycle was long enough that me and Amber were able to get in 3 full
climbs and drops, with the last drop ending just about as the ride was
ending. Margaret and Joseph however opted for only one climb, as Margaret
felt her rope was a bit rough. In any case the ride was a lot of fun and
offered a nice view of the park, some of the lego sculptures around, as
well as a glimpse of the nearby ocean.
Right around the corner was one of the kids favorite rides, and what turned
into possibly my scariest-the Driving School! Here the kids sit down for a
brief video tutorial of how to drive a car and what rules they should obey
if they want to earn their drivers licenses. Then, after the parents are
shuttled out to a seating area to watch the kids are allowed to, by
themselves, drive fully independant cars with a gas pedal, brake, and free
reign to drive around several little streets set up as a neighborhood with
stop signs, stop lights, intersections, the whole nine yards. Quite cool
for the kids as they got to "really drive" (at a max speed of maybe 5 mph).
Turns out Joseph at 6 is a pretty decent, if cautious driver, and got high
marks as he earned his license. Amber, however, scared me to death driving
consistently on the wrong side of the road, stopping at green lights and
going at red lights and oblivious to it and us yelling at her the whole
time. And to think, she only has about 7 1/2 years til she's going to want
to drive a real car. I told her mom that she's the one that gets to teach
her as I'm scared now! :) But the kids loved getting their licenses and
have been proudly showing them off to anyone and everyone they can ever
since we got home.
We then walked around the back of the park oohing and ahhing over the
incredibly beautiful landscaping adn all of the great theming, making our
way through Funtown with the intention of returning later and over to
Castle Hill to start getting in the coasters and other popular rides before
the lines grew. We crossed over wood and stone bridge passing by the
sleeping and snoring guard and headed into what is probably the best
medieval themed area in a park I've ever seen. We made our way over to the
center of Castle Hill and the kids were prompt to jump in line for the
Joust, where each child rides individually on their own horse with a
"lance" that they use to duel a lego target (with a jester holding on),
ride through a knights encampment, and finally joust with the dreaded (and
hilariously commenting) Lego Black Knight. Needless to say, the kids had a
blast, and we were all quite eager to make our way over to the Dragon
roller coaster.
The Dragon is a custom Vekoma Roller Skater that starts out as a flat, tire
driven dark ride through several rooms in the castle where you are treated
to entire scenes built of legos that include the guards allowing you entry,
the dining hall with the bard and one figure shooting a crossbow, the
wizards lab with bubbling flasks, and finally running into the full sized
dragon who has knocked a hole in the wall, glimpsing his treasure, then
dodging his tail as you finally hit the lift hill. The lift then takes you
outside the castle where then get to enjoy the roller coaster part of the
ride, which by itself is quite a bit longer than a typical rollerskater,
and is quite a lot of fun. For a family coaster, it's a blast, and when
you add on the incredible theming and dark ride portion, it wasn't hard to
convince us to take a couple rerides.
I was still thinking about getting the coasters out of the way as quickly
as we could, so we made our way down the hill and past the closed
Spellbreaker (cry!) and into the Imagination Zone. It was here that we
were able to hop on the Technic Test Track, a Mack Wild Mouse which is
supposedly a mirror of the Mack standard with an extra drop model. The
idea is that you're in an experimental technic car with the components
checking off as you go up the lift. But lo and behold, near the top the
breaks don't check and you're off as a runaway car. In any case, it was
smooth, with a nice opening drop after the lift before it turned around to
the switchbacks (with accompanying tire squeals on every turn), then ending
with a few more brief drops. There was one spot where there was a fairly
good brake grab, and one other light brake, but it was otherwise pretty
light. It lacked the intensity of the other mice I've been on, but
considering the location that wasn't unexpected at all. As for where it
ranks, I would put it on a par with DCA's for operations, smoothness, etc,
but just a little below for intensity.
Side note on the mice issue. I noticed that this mouse, the one at DCA,
and the one that everyone raves about at Hershey, are all made by Mack,
with the DCA and Hershey mice actually being the same types of mice
(layout, car, etc). Perhaps that might be why they all compare so
favorably? :)
This was also our longest wait of the day for anything, taking about 15
minutes for us to get on, and actually had a bit of a line. I was happy
that we caught it early, as I can imagine it built up a line later.
part 2 is next...
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| 1-21-04 12:36:30 |
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Sir Willow
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 3552
View Park/Ride Count
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The were getting a little warm at this point, so we moved accross the walk
to the Aquazone Wave Racers. The best way to describe this is to let you
see a picture about 2/3rds of the way down on this page:
http://www.themeparkreview.com/cali2001/lego/lego1.htm
Riding with Joseph steering, we quickly learned that if you turned in near
the dock, then quickly turned your boat out you could get a really fun
whipping action, and that made for quite a fun ride-especially when dodging
around the people shooting the water cannons at you! It was here, however,
that my wife had her one complaint with the park. The op wasn't very clear
in his microphone and she didn't realize that she had to stay standing
behind our daughter in the boat. So at one point they started to change
positions and got yelled at to move back. Probably not a big deal, but
they really weren't situated as a result when the ride ended, and since
they were all the way out when it came to a stop, it brought their car in a
bit hard and gave her a good thump on the hip. So when you ride, make sure
that you keep the kid in front and when you notice the ride ending steer
your boat in towards the dock to lessen the impact when it comes to a stop.
We had managed to do all of this by noon, and we were getting hungry, so we
checked in at the nearby Upper Deck Sports Cafe. Finding a wait of 20
minutes for a table, we put our name on the list, then took the time to
enjoy the new Bionicle Blaster accross the walkway. In essence, it's a
Lego version of the teacups, except its far more difficult to turn and get
spinning. In this I almost felt that the "kid friendly" was a bit much as
a couple of kids riding would never get it to spin at all, and I was only
getting a bit of spin working as hard as I could with the kids helping. It
looks great, but as far as teacup rides go, this was among the most
unexciting ones I've been on.
By the time we got off it was almost time for our table, and after just a
few more minutes wait we were seated. This is themed to a sports stadium
and is done very well. Additionally there are near life size lego versions
of Kobe, Shaq, C. Webber, and a couple other NBA stars. We talked a bit
about the menu here for kids, and I'm happy to say that those that were
worried shouldn't have been. In addition to the menu items mentioned on the
earlier thread, there was also a kids only buffet with hamburgers, hotdogs,
chicken strips, crisscut french fries, jello, corn on the cob, and a bit
more all served on plates that look like a sports ball. (golfball,
baseball, football, basketball, etc) My wife and I both had the BLT, and
it turned out to be one of the biggest BLT's I've ever had on wonderful
sourdough bread. While we finished eating and enjoying our free soda
refills, the kids went into the play area and let us finish our food in
peace (a very nice touch!!). Our total bill was about $32-not bad for a
sit down restaurant anywhere let alone inside a wonderful park.
At this point, we decided to slow down a bit and really start checking out
the rest of the park. First stop was the rest of the Imagination Zone,
since that's where we were. We stopped in at the Maniac Challenge and
Bionicle Revolution "shops" where the kids tried to play around with the
computers a bit. Unfortunately a good number of the computers needed to be
rebooted or have the games activated as others had messed them up. And
there really wasn't time for the kids to play a game enough to figure out
what they were doing. I also quickly discovered that 2 of the 5 or so
games they had running were ones that we already had at home. I also
noticed that it was about time for the Lego Racers 4d show to start, which
was right next door, so we made our way over to that.
The theater for the show was fairly basic. You got your glasses (same as
the Disney 4d ones) as you walked in, then chose a place to sit among the
concrete tiers with wood benches. While waiting for it to start, they
played the same commercial a few times, which interestingly enough didn't
transmit through the left lens of the glasses. Finally the show came on
and we were treated to a dialogless movie about the "good guys" team car,
driven by a doofus, racing against the bad guys team in a thrilling race
through all sorts of various places with 3d effects and some wind and an
occaisional mist thrown in to add some realism. It was ok, and mildly fun,
but not quite up to the standards of the Disney productions-especially
since it was pretty much just the movie, and not the entire theatre
involved as most of the Disney ones are. I also found the lack of dialog
intriguing, but I'm guessing that makes it easy for them to use at all of
their parks worldwide without having to worry about translating it.
After the show we made another stop in the "storefront" areas nearby, in
the Build and Test center. Here you can check out a set of wheels at the
counter then dig into the tons of Legos in the bins scattered around and
build your dream Lego car, then race it agaist others. The kids had a
blast with this, as both grabbed a set of the larger wheels, and then with
mom and dad's help (mostly Dad's!) they built their cars. After building
them up, we got a couple of pictures of them with their finished products,
then headed over to the ramps where they lined up with several other kids.
One dropped the gate and the cars were off and running down the ramp.
Amber's car, being on an outside lane, steered a bit sideways at first and
stopped on the wall right after it started. But Joseph's took off like a
bat on fire-tearing down the strip and easily winning, while running so
fast that it literally exploded after it crossed the finish line! His face
was a mixture of excitement over winning and sadness/shock over the
scattered remains of what had been his car, and I was really wishing that I
had a video camera to have caught it on tape! Amber took another run since
she really didn't get to race and won her heat quite easily to. Then,
choosing not to buy the cars (which was an option), we put the legos
backed, checked the wheels back in, and headed out for more fun.
We took a slow stroll through The Begining again, completing the circle.
Along the way we allowed the kids to duel lightsabers with a lego Darth
Vader accompanied by 2 Fett's (Jango and Boba?) and R2D2, and then hopped
onto the Coast Cruise that goes around the manmade lake in the middle of
the park. Here you get a good look at some dinosaurs "building" a bridge
accross the lake, an incredible Lego version of the Sydney Opera House,
several other lego figures, and our first real glimpse of Miniland-
miniature versions of several major US cities built entirely of Legos, and
something that we were saving for the end of the day. A fun, but relaxing
boat ride, accompanied by a guide/pilot that didn't hesitate to crack some
nice bad puns and have some fun while doing his job from the back of the
boat. We actually observed him later slapping his knee as he laughed at
his own jokes! Hmmm, me thinks this guy and I may have a bit in common.
:)
We then came back to the Explore Village, where I took the kids on the
Safari Trek while Margaret took a seat with a sore foot. Here they have
little jeeps, again only seating 2 at a time, that take you around a
"safari" filled with lots of Lego Beasts-alligators, giraffes, elephants,
and more. My kids took one jeep by themselves, and I had planned on riding
by myself to take some pictures. Alas, I ended up playing "foster dad" to
a couple kids behind me to small to ride by themselves and with only their
dad accompanying them. So I had a new friend who was probably 3 years old,
and he just absolutely loved it, costantly pointing out all the animals
that he found on the way. He would have been jumping for excitement except
for the seatbelt holding him in, and he was as much fun to watch as the
ride itself was.
After this I rejoined my wife and now waiting kids ("hurry up, Dad, geesh")
and we meandered over to the Fairy Tale Brook. This was one of our
favorite rides in the park, and, being somewhat hidden, it had no lines
allowing us to ride a couple of times without having to get up. You hop
into leaf shaped boats that hold up to 4 people ("our own lillipad" Amber
called it) and float through various scenes from Little Red Riding Hood,
Hansel and Gretal, the Three Pigs, Jack and the Beanstalk, Sleeping Beauty,
and the 3 Billy Goats Gruff-all fashioned out of the plants around and
Legos, and done with a twist of humor. For example, Lego Prince Charming
on his Lego Horse is busy chatting on his Lego Cell Phone, while Jack
dropped his Lego Chainsaw at the bottom of the beanstalk. It was a lot of
fun, and I actually would have liked another round as were spotting all
sorts of things the second time around that we missed the first. But alas,
the kids wanted to move on, so move on we did.
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| 1-21-04 12:38:18 |
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Sir Willow
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 3552
View Park/Ride Count
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Part 3- the last part!
Looking at my show schedule, I realized that it was almost time for the
last showing of The Big Test-featuring a bunch of "volunteer firefighters"
trying to pass their test to get on the squad. Hilariously entertaining,
they were actually able to throw in a few firesafety tips while having us
in stitches over their bumbling stumbling attempts to put out a fire, and
in the process managed to spray most of the audience with the hose (while
the guy holding it was trying not to fall off the top of the ladder), blow
up their fire engine, and drill in their chant of, "You put the wet stuff
on the hot stuff." And one cast member gave a whole new meaning to, "Hey
Verrrnnnnnn!!!!!!" Huge marks for a very entertaining show that the cast
was very much into themselves.
Taking a little time to meander after the show and enjoy some of the sites,
we slowly made our way back over to Castle Hill and allowed the kids to run
around for a bit in The Hideaways-a giant play area with wood forts, rope
climbs, bridges, slides, etc. After letting them run off a bit of steam,
we caught the last show of the Medieval Merriment, which consisted of 3
actors trying to figure out what to do about the dragon in the castle and
how to keep from getting lost on teh way in and out. Mildly amusing, but
again it was a nice rest in the middle of the day.
The highlight of the park, and their pride and joy, was just down the hill,
so we finally took some time to explore, admire, and stand in awe of what
they call Miniland. Here they have recreations of San Francisco and other
California landmarks, the Capital Mall in Washington DC, New York City, New
Orleans, and a New England Harbor. The kids were enthralled, and we were
amazed at the attention to detail. People, moving cars, trucks, and boats,
detail on the facades of the memorials, the skyscrapers, a Mardi Gras
parade, and so much more. Words can just not do justice to this part of
the park as it simply has to be seen to really understand. Pictures will
give some idea, but they can't convey the depth that is here. It would be
easy to lose a few hours looking, and we had a hard time not doing that.
But there was still a bit yet that we wanted to see and do before we left.
We made our way over into FunTown again and the kids and I hopped into the
Skipper School where we were able to drive boats over a winding course.
The amount of freedom that you had to actually steer them was fairly
impressive, and I saw a couple get turned around completely before getting
themselves straightened out and going the right way. Here Amber excelled
while Joseph struggled with the driving, especially in the "rapids". But
both had a great time on it and enjoying their experiences driving a "real"
boat.
We closed out FunTown by stopping in the Lego Club House to let them build
a bit, then had a lot of fun exploring the Adventurer's Club, where you
walked through an ancient Egyptian ruin, a jungle, and a snow cave in
search of "keys" to fulfill your quest. Then we took a walkthrough of the
mostly shutdown Lego Factory-with it being empty and the machines not
working a good sign that the end of the day was approaching.
With some things starting to slowly close up shop, we began the walk out,
making a brief stop at the Duplo Playtown (with lots of sets that kids can
play town in-a house, fire station, doctor's office, etc), we made it back
to the entrance. Picking up our souveniers at The Big Shop (a foam swoard
for $7, a magnet, keychain, earrings, and a souvenier book-total for all
about $25) we made our way out after a wonderful day and started off on the
3 hour drive home.
SUMMARY AND IMPRESSIONS: What can I say, this park was absolutely
incredible! The staff was fantastic, extremely friendly on the whole, and
almost all seemed to be having a great time and enjoying their jobs. Many
went out of their way to please and see if there was something they could
do to make our time better.
The Theming was astonishing, easily on the same level as Disney, and in
some cases I'd say even more so. The Castle Hill area really gave a feel
of being in a Castle and village in Medieval times, and everything was done
to fit into the themes of the areas. The landscaping and vegetation were
gorgeous, and it wasn't unusual for them to label the plants, trees ect for
those curious. Also notable was the very large amount of bonsai used in
the Miniland area, which I've already raved about, but not enough (however
I won't bore you with more)
This isn't a thrill park, and teens and young college will probably be
bored to tears here, but that's ok since it's not meant for them. It's
meant for kids and their parents/ grandparents to have a great time and be
able to do it together, and I don't know that there's another park out
there that does it better. And even for those others, just admiring
everything they've done with a standard Lego Brick will leave you in
amazement. Overall, I can't recommend this park enough to families, and it
moved very quickly up to my list of favorite parks. Now if only we could
manage the money to go visit again... :)
Thanks for reading this monster report. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I
enjoyed visiting the park it's written about (well, ok, I doubt you enjoyed
it anywhere near that much, but you know what I mean)
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| 1-21-04 12:39:02 |
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