Legoland: Worth leaving Disney for a day?

[the other micki]

Would our boys (ages 12 and 10) enjoy Legoland? Our 12 year-old has always enjoyed Legos; our 10 year-old, not as much. Do they have anything that's different from what's at Disney? I hate to leave Disney property, so it's gotta be worthwhile!

[Kenny1113]

My DSs loved legoland. They are huge Lego fans. We went to universal for their first time in the same trip. DS10 thought it was better than universal. DS8 wasn't sure (he's more of the thrill ride junkie. They have a lot of tame coasters (crazy mouse type), an area where the kids can drive ,a pirate show and a HUGE area of Lego built replica cities.

[BrerGnat]

I'd say if your kids are not HUGE lego fanatics, at that age, they probably won't love Legoland. Legoland is geared heavily towards kids 3-12, however, at the higher end of the age range, there isn't a whole lot in terms of rides. Your kid would have to be a serious Lego Maniac to really enjoy Legoland.

That said, the first time DH and I visited Legoland (in California), we went as two adults with no kids. We had a great time because we both LOVED legos as a kid (and, okay, as adults too). :blush: Just seeing all the impressive Lego models was enough for us. We've visited quite a few times with our kids (now 7 and 6) over the years, and they have always LOVED it, but they are both serious Lego maniacs.

They will be opening a water park this summer in FL. The water park in CA is very fun, and I'd definitely recommend it. It's an "add on" to the theme park, but you can't access it without admission to the park (the water park add on is around $12/person). If you will be there over the summer, and can find some sort of good promotional offer (often, Legoland does buy one adult, get one child free), then I think it's worth a trip. However, make sure it's something your kids are really interested in. Show them pics online.

[wickedgin]

Short answer: Probably not.

I took my DS11, DS9, and DD7 there last December. We love LEGO, and we had a good time. However, my two oldest seemed to feel like they were too old for most of it; they were only interested in about half of the attractions. If not for the long winter-break-crowd lines, we probably would have finished up the park in ~half a day. I think if you've looked at photos/videos online and you're still interested, and you have reasonable expectations and the time and money to spare, you'll have a good time, but it sounds like you are looking for a really compelling reason to leave the World for the day, and frankly, I don't know if LL fits the bill for you.
Good luck with your decision.

[the other micki]

Thanks, everyone, for your thoughtful replies! :thumbsup: It does seem like my boys may be a little too old for it now. Too bad it wasn't around 5 years ago (in Orlando).

[homeschool mom]

It just struck me this morning that I had completely forgotten about LL being built in FL. My boys who will be almost 12 and 14 when we go to WDW in Dec. have begged to go to LL for a couple years now. Of course, they wanted to go to CA and that's a bit far from PA.
We don't have any time in our schedule to fit it in. After reading the previous posts, I'm not too worried now. It sounds like my boys may be a bit too old to enjoy it. :(

[BrerGnat]

It just struck me this morning that I had completely forgotten about LL being built in FL. My boys who will be almost 12 and 14 when we go to WDW in Dec. have begged to go to LL for a couple years now. Of course, they wanted to go to CA and that's a bit far from PA.
We don't have any time in our schedule to fit it in. After reading the previous posts, I'm not too worried now. It sounds like my boys may be a bit too old to enjoy it. :(

Well, IMO, you are never "too old" for Legoland. DH and I went for the first time as a newly married couple with NO kids back in 2002 to the one in CA. We had a blast that day. But, we have both loved Legos since we were kids, so it was very cool to us. :thumbsup: We didn't even do many rides or anything, but had a great time seeing all the lego sculptures, lego themed buildings, etc. It's a fun place.

[buzznwoodysmom]

We've never been, but my boys are 10 and 12 as well. We looked at the website and my boys had zero interest in going. They both said it looked too "kiddie". Honestly, I was kind of hoping they would decide not to go. It didn't look too appealing to me. My boys both loved Legos at some point in their lives, but they still didn't seem at all interested.

We have left Disney poperty to do Universal and SeaWorld, so we are not opposed to leaving the Disney bubble. My boys loved the Universal parks, but we didn't love Sea World. It was OK, but not worth leaving Disney for. We've even gone to Kennedy Space Center once. We had done the Houston Space Center about a year before we did the one in Florida. We all thought the one in Houston was much funner, so we kind of thought that was not worth leaving Disney for either.

[disneynarula]

I can't speak for Florida but the Legoland here in Germany has IMHO a very limited age appeal. Our DD(2) could not go on anything and there were not enough "Big Rides" to keep a teen entertained.

My boys age 5 and 8 loved it but I can't imagine pulling them out of Disney for a day.