Southern California Trip 2025: Part II - Legoland and Knott's Berry Farm

On Tuesday we went to Legoland. We got there right at opening to go on the new Emmett's Flying ride, but of course, it was down for an undetermined amount of time. Instead we went on Unikitty's Disco Drop, which was also new, and then Allison and I rode the carousel.

Emmett's Flying ride opened after our carousel ride, and it was fun, but the wait was way too slow. Even once we were getting loaded it just seemed to take forever to get it going. 

After Emmett's, the kids just wanted to build with Legos. I went for a walk and found this out of the way area with Lego roller coaster tracks. They're putting in a new roller coaster where the Driving school was, which takes some time to get around the construction to get to it. There weren't many people there, and I knew Allison would want to build with coaster tracks, so I texted Oscar and the kids to come over to it while I continued walking.

I'm curious to see what the new coaster ends up being. An employee told me because they're so close to the Carlsbad airport, they can't build their coasters very high. I think at best it will be a low to the ground coaster like Manta and Arctic Rescure at Sea World San Diego.

I went through this walk through exhibit then continued walking around the park appreciating all the fun Lego architecture.

Oscar and Tyler decided to take a break and head back to the hotel. Allison and I picked up lunch at "Everything is Ramen" then she wanted to play some more. I walked around close to where she was playing and met a Ninjago character.

Once I pulled her away from building, Allison and I walked over to do Lego Explorer River quest. The last time we were here in 2019, it was fairy tale themed. Since then it's become Dinosaur themed.

It looks really great, though I think they could have done more with the cavern. Before it was Aladdin with a neat genie on the ceiling. Now it's just a few dinosaur eggs inside the cavern. 

Allison played with Lego boats for a good long time while I wandered some more.

Eventually I pulled her away from her fun to go on the Coast Cruise. This is Legoland's version of Jungle Cruise with a tour guide telling you silly jokes. It's definitely worth the ride to see some of these incredible Lego creations up close.

I then took Allison on the Technic Coaster and Dune Raiders slides. When we came in 2019, she was too short for Technic Coaster, and the slides were closed our entire visit.

I also took her on the Dragon. She'd been too short for it last time too. As a coaster it's just okay, but the dark ride portion of Lego Merlin and King Arthur is really well done. 

Oscar and Tyler joined us for the last part of the day to ride Lost Kingdom Adventure and get some more Lego play in. We attempted to do Ninjago at the end of the day, but the ride got stuck halfway through and we were the last to be evacuated.

The next morning we drove up to Knott's Berry Farm. We went straight to the back of the park to ride Hangtime and Accelerator twice with next to no lines. We got front row on Hangtime both times, which was fantastic.

From there we went over to Silver Bullet (Allison's 2nd 54 inch ride), then rode Pony Express, the Knott's Berry ride, and the Calico Mine Ride.

After getting some food and doing the bumper cars, we went on Ghost Rider. We had about a 40 minute wait, but it was worth it for such a great coaster. We then rode the swings and the pirate boat while Oscar picked up lunch. We definitely made good use of the meal plans we'd purchased.

The kids and I rode the Supreme Scream while Oscar finished picking up burritos. It's high enough that it's just a gravity drop rather than pushing you down forcefully. I loved it!

We then went up the observation tower then split up to get food. Allison wanted pasta (again) while Tyler wanted chicken tenders. 

Our meal plans didn't come with desserts, and I'd been hoping to try something berry flavored since the theme park was originally a berry farm and they still have berry festivals. The people in front of us had a different sort of plan that gave you a free drink with each meal, and they decided they didn't want their drinks for their last meal (it was the end of the day, so I'm assuming they were just taking their food home and didn't want to take home drink cups without lids). They said to pass their cups along to the next person, so we got free drinks! I finally got my desired Berry kick in trying the Knott's Berry juice, which was very tasty.

We tried to ride Sierra Sidewinder before heading out, but the line was long and slow, and we had a long drive ahead of us, so we decided to call it a day after 10 minutes of waiting in a barely moving line. Oscar, Tyler, and I got to ride it in 2019, but Allison was too short for it then. We'll make sure she gets a ride on it the next time we come to Knott's.

The next day we went to Legoland again. The tickets we'd purchased were buy one day get one free, and they had to be used within 3 days of each other. Tyler and Oscar hung out at the hotel and came over later, but Allison and I got there right at opening and stayed through closing. First we rode the Kid Power Tower and then the submarine ride scavenger hunt.

I then took her over to the Royal Joust, which she was too young for before (they have an age minimum of 4).

That was really it for rides until the boys joined us later. She just wanted to build, especially in the Lego Dreamzzz area where she could work on this Lego dragon.

I dragged her away to do a little touring around, but once Tyler and Oscar came, both kids went back to building. Building is great and I love to see their creativity, but I think they've gotten too old for the Legoland theme parks. The Legoland Discovery Centers have similar building areas, and they're much less expensive. There's even one in Kansas City not too far from the kids' cousins. I think any future Legoland visits will just be at the discovery centers.

I didn't want to just sit around, so I walked around and met a couple characters.

Tyler mostly wanted to make and race his Lego car. The life size Lego Ferrari is just mind blowing.

We were able to ride Ninjago and Technic Coaster with Oscar and Tyler, then we went over to the Sea Life Aquarium. The aquarium stays open a little longer than the theme park, and they won't kick you out once you're in there, so it's a good way to end your day when the theme park is only open until 5:00pm. 

They have a little scavenger hunt throughout it as well.

The next morning Oscar went on a run while the kids and I went to the Legoland aquarium just to pick up the scavenger hunt prize (they'd already closed it the evening before). We then went for a swim in the morning before going over to Sea World in the afternoon.