We arrived in Carlsbad late on Saturday, settled in at the hotel on Sunday, and activated our 5 days pass on Monday. The dates have to be consecutive, so that meant we could only use our card Monday thru Friday. Monday was President's day, which I figured would be the busiest day of the week followed by Friday. We decided to do Legoland first and Sea World after Allison's nap since Sea World was open later. We kept our expectations low for Legoland since we knew we'd have opportunities to come back on less crowded days.Our first ride was Deep Sea Adventure, which had its own play area built into the line. It amused Tyler longer than Allison, but it was better than nothing. The ride is like a game where you look for treasure and tap on your screen when you find it.
Next we went to the carousel so Allison could finally ride the "Lego Horsies!" I'd been telling her about. Unfortunately we hadn't realized the horses with pink poles didn't go up and down. She cried the whole ride when she realized it wasn't moving. I would have gladly given her mine instead.
Oscar and Tyler got in the line for Coastersaurus, another one I'd been telling them about, while dad, mom, Allison, and I waited through the Carousel line again. She was the last person allowed on and we got the last moving horse for her, which was coincidentally the one I had riden on previously. She was all smiles this time! Dad stood in front of her so he could watch her happy face. She was absolutely thrilled!
On our way over to Coastersaurus Allison sat and posed with the Lego Friends.
Allison and I joined up with Oscar and Tyler in the Coastersaurus line, which Allison kept calling CoasterRex. It's a small roller coaster that you ride twice and pass around two dinosaurs. Mom and dad opted out of this one and mom got a picture of us going around the loop. Ty and I were in the front row!
From there we continued walking around the park and stopped off at this dragon structure and climbing wall.
We made our way around to the neat Lego Egyptian structures near the Lost Kingdom Adventure ride. This also had a 45 minute line, so we came back for it another day. Instead the kids ran around in Pharoah's Revenge ball play and rode the Beetle Bounce. Allison didn't know how to shoot any of the foam balls out of the guns, but she enjoyed climbing around the area and stealing other kids' balls.
Cute kids playing with bubbles! We'd passed a huge play area near our entrance called the Hideaways as we were coming into the park, so we worked our way back around to it and let the kids play there before mom, dad, Oscar and Allison went back to the hotel for a nap. Tyler and I got some apple fries with whipped cream, which were overpriced but very tasty. The play area is so big that we kept losing track of Allison, even while trying to chase her around. Luckily it only had one exit which mom and dad were sitting by, so we knew she had to be in there somewhere and always found her in the end.
After everyone else left Tyler and I rode all the 42 inch+ rides that Allison couldn't go on - the Technic Coaster, Bionicle Blaster, and AquaZone Racers. Bionicle Blaster was essentially the same thing as the teacups. If anything it was less intense than teacups since the spinning wheels were so tight we couldn't even give ourselves that much extra spin. Why it had such a high height requirement was beyond me, especially considering how low the height requirements are for most of their rides. I wasn't super impressed with the other thrill rides either. The coaster had one great drop, but it was jarring the rest of the ride. Aquazone was slow and boring.
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| Ty loved this Lego donkey |
After that Tyler wanted to go back and play at Pharoah's Revenge again. I sat down outside and would watch for his clothes every once in awhile, but at one point I realized I couldn't see him anymore. I went in and searched around multiple times but still couldn't find him. I said a prayer and continued looking then left the play area and was just about to notify an employee when I saw Tyler holding a woman's hand and leading her towards where he'd last been playing. She was on the phone calling me from the SafetyTat tattoo he'd shown her on his wrist. I hadn't heard it inside the busy play area, but I wrapped Ty in a tight hug just as she was leaving me a message. I'm proud of him for showing her the number and asking her to help him find me. I've been using those tattoos for a couple of years now, and it's the first time I've been called with them.
On Tuesday we came to Legoland in the afternoon after Allison had already taken a nap. We'd spent the morning at the San Diego Zoo Safari park, and she fell asleep on the drive home but transitioned nicely to her bed back at the hotel. Mom and dad were worn out from the Safari park, so it was just the four of us. It was still a bit crowded in the park, but noticeably less so than the day before. First we walked around and saw all the neat Lego structures. The Death Star in Lego Star Wars is their biggest of all requiring over 1,000,000 pieces.
They have aMini land version of Legoland, with rides like the Carousel that aren't in the actual Legoland.
Lego Vegas looked neat!From there we got in line for Ninjago the ride. It was about 25 minutes, but it'd been an hour the day before. They didn't have a play area but they did have fun Lego structures to amuse the kids in line.
Afterwards we went on the Safari Trek which does have a built in building area. While it was nice that the kids didn't have to wait in line, it made for an incredibly slow line. Since they have a gate from the play area directly to the front, several families would have 1 adult wait and then call the rest of their party to come to the front when it was their turn. Yes we did the same thing too, but we stayed in the play area, which is what I'm sure the intention is. Lots of people joining later weren't in the play area, so there was really no way to judge just how many people were going to get on the ride before you.
Fairytale Brook is one of the few quick lines at Legoland. These boats don't stop unless they absolutely have to, so it loads up quickly. Allison ended up doing it 3 times, once with all of us, once with Oscar the next day, and once with me and mom on our final day. It's nice and relaxing and the structures are very impressive.
The Lego horse in this picture above is life size, and the genie in this picture on the left is on the ceiling of a cavern the boat goes through. It looks much cooler than seen here.
There's a sneaky big bad wolf who snorkles under the water and peeps out to scare you before becoming a friend and spinning around with Red Riding Hood at the end.Our last ride was this pointless helicopter ride. All it did was go up and down and side to side. It wasn't even looking out over anything particularly impressive.
We came back on Wednesday afternoon but only had about 90 minutes before the park closed. We'd gone to San Diego Zoo in the morning and stayed until rain began falling. It rained and even thundered for a few hours but had stopped for the most part by the time we made it to Legoland. It was chilly and gray, but the early rain really cleared out the crowds. We were able to do a more rides than the previous days with more time.
After a few rides we split up so Allison didn't see Tyler doing the Royal Joust. Royal Joust requires the rider be at least 4 years old. We figured she would throw a fit if Tyler got to ride a horsey and she didn't, so Oscar took her back over to the carousel.
Tyler and I did Knight's Tournament, which had a 90 minute line on Monday since it's so low capacity. It only had a 5 minute line this time, but I think they make it less intense when you ride with a child under 48 inches. The idea is to twist you around like a sword in swordfight, but when we did it we barely moved. When it was over Tyler was disappointed and asked "is it just a short ride?" I'd seen people going upside down and moving much faster around when I'd watched it earlier, so I'm pretty sure they tone it down if you ride with a child that requires a booster seat.
After that we met up with Oscar and Allison to do Coastersaurus again and let the kids do Junior Driving School. This also has a tremendously slow line on busy days, but we had zero wait. Tyler figured it out but Allison kept forgetting to keep her foot on the gas and didn't even make it around an entire lap. They give the kids Driver's Licenses when they're done, but we decided to revoke hers.
Skipper School had a great play area right in front of the boats. Dad and Oscar waited in line until they were at the front then Oscar hopped out so grandma and grandpa could ride with Tyler and Allison.
The fish frozen in the ice was just brilliant!Lego Art!
From there we did the Lego factory tour. Tyler stayed here to make and race his own Lego car while mom and I took Allison on the Carousel, Fairy Tale Brook, and Coast Cruise.
Allison enjoyed all the Lego dinosaurs, dragons, and other animals on the Coast Cruise.
The Taj Mahal, London, Eiffel Tower, and Mount Rushmore looked incredible. George Washington is even having his ear cleaned.
Lego New York looks even better from this cruise than it did when we walked by on the other side.
We finally got around to visiting the Sea Life Aquarium within Legoland, which I hadn't realized was part of our Go Card until a crew member pointed it out to us our first day. It was better than I expected. Before I knew it was included I didn't think it would be worth a $22 per person add on, but it was definitely worth going for free!
We really liked these aquarium viewing bubbles for the kids and the simulation of a bioluminescent beach. It reflected their footsteps perfectly!
There were Lego structures mixed in with the fish, stingrays, and sharks. We admired the two impressive Neptune structures at the end before heading back into the main park.
Oscar took Tyler on the Dragon Coaster while the rest of us took Allison back to the Hideways play area. Allison was just on the edge of 40 inches, so I didn't want to take her through the line just to be told she couldn't go. We'd tried measuring her beforehand and the gate guard said he thought she was okay but that it'd be up to the person manning the ride. I wasn't willing to make her wait for it if there was a chance she couldn't go, and she had plenty of fun playing at Hideaways. She spent much of it just running back and forth across a shaky bridge. Tyler joined up with us later and they played until we all went back for lunch.
It was a fabulous and fun trip and the grandchildren truly enjoyed the Park. Great job sweetheart
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