We returned last week from our Spring Break trip to Legoland, Florida, and it was incredible! We've been planning this vacation for a long time, and everything came together beautifully. We left at 3:30 a.m. on Saturday morning, and I was nervous since we haven't done a middle of the night departure in several years. However, we bought travel pillows, and the kids were very excited about this novelty. Leah even had an eye mask, and we told L&L that they had to promise to try to go back to sleep until 7:00 a.m. There was some rustling from the back seat, but for the most part, it was quiet and the first few hours of the trip flew by (easy for me to say, since I wasn't driving!). I packed breakfast for the car (along with about 17,000 other snacks), and with the help of a few movies and a stop for lunch, we had an uneventful journey. Traveling is so much easier than it used to be, and we didn't have Winnie with us on this drive, which allowed us to have more room and be more flexible in our stops.
We arrived at the Legoland Florida Resort around 3:00 p.m., and the hotel did not disappoint. It was a huge, colorful oasis after a long drive, and we all squealed with delight when we saw it!
We were able to check into our room right away, and had selected to be on the pirate-themed floor. The decor was amazing, with Lego sculptures throughout the suite, and a treasure chest full of prizes for the children:
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| Mommy and Daddy's section of the room. |
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| Our Pirate Bathroom. |
L&L had their own tv in their section, which showed the Lego Movie continuously (among other channels). They were captivated!
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| Kids' Bunk Beds. |
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| The "Adults Keep Out" sign was one of their favorite parts! |
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| Unlocking the treasure chest. |
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| Treasure Chest Prizes: Lego Set, Activity Pack, and treats! |
There were many activities at the hotel, and the kids were able to attend a Master Builder Workshop shortly after we arrived. This was right up their alley, and they were thrilled that Legoland's rule is: "You Make it, You Take it!", which meant that Luke and Leah got to keep the sea planes that they built:
We found BrickBeard in the lobby and told him how much we loved staying on his floor:
Even the hallway walls, carpet, and the elevator on our floor were pirate themed!
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| Waiting for the elevator. |
We had a few minutes of downtime, and explored the other floors of the hotel, which also had fun themes. There was a Kingdom floor, Land of Adventure, and Lego Friends hallway. Something for everyone!
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| Leah on the Kingdom Floor. |
One of our favorite parts of the Legoland Hotel was the (disco) elevator. As soon as you got into the elevator and the doors closed, a disco ball spun, music played ("Dancing Queen," anyone?), and strobe lights flashed. I have a video of us dancing, but the kids may kill me if I post it on the blog. When the doors to the elevator opened, everything stopped, and you walked out as if nothing had happened. It's hilarious. We also loved how self-conscious all of the children were when you rode in the elevator with another family. The adults still danced, etc., and the kids looked at their parents with mortified expressions and were as still as statues. What a hoot!
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| L&L at the hotel entrance. |
After exploring the inside of the hotel on Saturday afternoon, it was time for the pool! After a long car ride, it was wonderful to burn off some energy with an afternoon of swimming, and we were amazed by the huge poolside Lego sculptures:
Luke was especially looking forward to the dinner buffet at Bricks, the restaurant inside the hotel. He certainly ate his money's worth, and we loved the buffet breakfast each morning, here, too!
After dinner, we walked along the beautiful boardwalk that surrounds the resort and borders Lake Eloise.
Mommy spotted an alligator in the water, so we kept our distance and scooted past him:
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| Close Up of our alligator "friend". When in Florida... |
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| Can you spy the Lego fisherman? |
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| Lake Eloise boardwalk. |
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| My loves. |
We crashed early, and Mark and I commented that this is one of the keys to our family's success on vacations: an early bedtime. We were all in bed each night by 8:00 p.m., but without any downtime/naps during the day and going non-stop with very early wake ups, this just works for us.
One of the advantages to staying at Legoland hotel is that it's adjacent to the amusement park... and is advertised as being only "130 kid steps" from the entrance! Additionally, if you stay at the resort, you are able to get into the park 30 minutes before it officially opens at 10:00 a.m. Somehow, my children took this whole "early bird gets the worm" thing literally and were the very first people in the entire resort to be awake/down in the lobby ready to go to the park the next morning... because, really, who can sleep when there is a giant Lego pit with millions of bricks just 3 floors under your room?
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| Even Daddy was much too excited to sleep! Maybe it was that 8:00 bedtime? |
Our family had the Lego play castle in the lobby to ourselves...
...and there was plenty of time to read the LegoLand Times:
FINALLY, it was 9:30 a.m. and we dashed into the park and straight to the Dragon, which is one of the roller coasters:
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| First ones on the ride! |
We rode ride after ride with absolutely no lines. We couldn't believe our luck. Legoland seemed magical to us. There were sections of the park devoted to each Lego theme that our family has cherished over the past few years: Duplo Valley, Lego City, World of Chima, Lego Ninjago World, Lego Technic, etc. The park was small enough that we could navigate it in one day, but we had a 2-day pass, and created a mental list of "favorites" that we'd revisit the next day. We saw several shows and the kids posed happily beside many sculptures of their favorite Lego characters:
One of the highlights of the park was Ford Driving School, where the children received their own Legoland Driver's Licenses and drove on a real course. This ride was for kids ages 6-13, but Luke looked almost too big to fit in the Lego car! Luckily, he still enjoyed the ride:
This little boy's eyes grew wide when he saw this Mustang, made entirely of Legos!
Miniland USA was another amazing part of the park. There were acres of "cities" (made from 32 million Lego bricks), with moving, interactive pieces in each area. We thought it would be fun to pose by Washington, D.C. (our 2016 spring break destination), and show how big the kids have gotten since last year!
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| More Miniland. |
There was a Star Wars section of Miniland, too, which Luke and Leah loved. They both asked to take a picture with Darth Vader:
We concluded our afternoon with a couple of hours at the water park. There were giant water slides, a lazy river, wave pool, and a fun water play area for the kids:
After the water park, we were pooped, and walked back to the hotel, where we had a poolside pizza party and another early bedtime. It was an fantastic, full day at the park, with more adventures to come!
