conan617
04-03-2015, 12:25 AM
Cast of Characters
Me - Big Daddy - that's the name on my magic band :mickey:
DS - Turning 14 while in FL
DD - Turning 11 in Jan but celebrating in WDW
Day 4 - CSR, Legoland and MK
We checked out of Loews and drove over to CSR. We waited about 1/2 hour to check in (next year - online check in for sure) and then another 1/2 hour to check our bags. We drove to Legoland which is about 30 miles away, but takes about an hour to drive. Legoland is definitely not WDW. The traffic and crowd control - even in September - was terrible. 1/2 hour in the parking lot just to park and 10 min just to get in and I bought our tickets ahead of time. I don't know if the kids were exhausted from our late night, but tempers were short, and the heat was high so it was a tough start to the day. My son was a little under the weather too. I kept pouring Gatorade and drinks into them and after we had been in the park for two hours we decided to sit in an air conditioned restaurant and just rest for awhile. We talked about what rides we wanted to ride or attractions we wanted to do and we had a hard time listing them. My son said "this place reminds me of a carnival with expensive legos for sale." Well after we sat for awhile we got our second wind and explored some of the park. The lego miniature city was pretty neat. It was replicas of cities like Las Vegas, New York, Washington D.C. all made out of legos. Also a miniature Star Wars lego section was pretty cool. There are a couple rides, but they are on the scale of Primeval Whirl (Primeval is better though). We explored and rode rides until about an hour before park closed and then hit some shops and left.
The kids slept the entire way back to CSR. When we got to our room at CSR my son said, "It was fun at LegoLand, but I don't need to go back". I agreed that it was OK, but I think we are spoiled by WDW and Universal. We called for our luggage and after it was delivered we took a bus to MK. MK had EMH until 1AM and we closed it down. I never thought the kids would make it, but once they hit MK they hit another gear. We had some fastpasses for HM, BTMRR and SpaceMT between 8 and 10PM and once those were done the park emptied out and we rode Space and BTMRR over and over and over. I asked if kids wanted to go back to the hotel because we had to get up early to go to Discovery Cove and the said "no way!" Once MK closed we caught the bus back home and were getting in the door about 2AM.
Final thoughts on Legoland. It may be unfair for me to judge the park based on this visit. DD wasn't feeling well, the Florida sun was punishing and the kids may have been a little too tired to have really enjoyed our day. The lego sculptures are really neat. The rides are enjoyable, but they really are rides and not attractions. The stores were pretty expensive. We actually bought more Legos in DTD than at Legoland. The Legoland ice cream parlor was pretty good. :thumbsup:
Me - Big Daddy - that's the name on my magic band :mickey:
DS - Turning 14 while in FL
DD - Turning 11 in Jan but celebrating in WDW
Day 4 - CSR, Legoland and MK
We checked out of Loews and drove over to CSR. We waited about 1/2 hour to check in (next year - online check in for sure) and then another 1/2 hour to check our bags. We drove to Legoland which is about 30 miles away, but takes about an hour to drive. Legoland is definitely not WDW. The traffic and crowd control - even in September - was terrible. 1/2 hour in the parking lot just to park and 10 min just to get in and I bought our tickets ahead of time. I don't know if the kids were exhausted from our late night, but tempers were short, and the heat was high so it was a tough start to the day. My son was a little under the weather too. I kept pouring Gatorade and drinks into them and after we had been in the park for two hours we decided to sit in an air conditioned restaurant and just rest for awhile. We talked about what rides we wanted to ride or attractions we wanted to do and we had a hard time listing them. My son said "this place reminds me of a carnival with expensive legos for sale." Well after we sat for awhile we got our second wind and explored some of the park. The lego miniature city was pretty neat. It was replicas of cities like Las Vegas, New York, Washington D.C. all made out of legos. Also a miniature Star Wars lego section was pretty cool. There are a couple rides, but they are on the scale of Primeval Whirl (Primeval is better though). We explored and rode rides until about an hour before park closed and then hit some shops and left.
The kids slept the entire way back to CSR. When we got to our room at CSR my son said, "It was fun at LegoLand, but I don't need to go back". I agreed that it was OK, but I think we are spoiled by WDW and Universal. We called for our luggage and after it was delivered we took a bus to MK. MK had EMH until 1AM and we closed it down. I never thought the kids would make it, but once they hit MK they hit another gear. We had some fastpasses for HM, BTMRR and SpaceMT between 8 and 10PM and once those were done the park emptied out and we rode Space and BTMRR over and over and over. I asked if kids wanted to go back to the hotel because we had to get up early to go to Discovery Cove and the said "no way!" Once MK closed we caught the bus back home and were getting in the door about 2AM.
Final thoughts on Legoland. It may be unfair for me to judge the park based on this visit. DD wasn't feeling well, the Florida sun was punishing and the kids may have been a little too tired to have really enjoyed our day. The lego sculptures are really neat. The rides are enjoyable, but they really are rides and not attractions. The stores were pretty expensive. We actually bought more Legos in DTD than at Legoland. The Legoland ice cream parlor was pretty good. :thumbsup: