Just back from 2 days at Legoland Florida

[MMA524]

Would love to hear about more experiences !

Me, too.

I am especially interested in hearing from people who have successfully used the McDonald's online Promo ( Buy one adult, get one child free ) described at LegolandPhotos, Mousesavers, and other sites.

There is some controversy over the expiration date of the offer, and it would be reassuring to know the promo is still being honored.

 

[caribear]

I was just there with my 2 kids, DS4 and DD9, last Friday. This was our 2nd time there.....but only because we went with my SIL's homeschool group and got in for $5 pp (FL deal for homeschoolers and schools). Can't complain for the price we paid, but the same problems that plagued the park from Day 1 are still present. My DS4 rode the Jr Driving School...and it was still 1 harried man trying to help all the little ones with could not drive the cars. His manager came over to help out for about 5 minutes...and then left. Same with the regular Driving School....not enough staff to man some of the rides. Food choices are slim...and not that great. Go to Publix across the street before the park opens and grab some fresh subs!! Keep them in a cooler in your car or bring them into the park and enjoy a cheaper and better lunch. Paninni's are pretty good inside the park....cannot comment on anything else though...but my kids ate the hamburgers and didn't say much about them.

My best advice....get there early!! If you are going during the school year be aware that homeschool and school groups go during the week and the park is full of unattended kids. I stood in line with my DS4 and had about 10 kids around the age of 6 pushing and shoving....trying to get ahead in line. 1 chaperone...who did nothing....so I had to repremand someone else's kids. Not fun.

Go before the park opens....around 9:15am (parking lot opens at 9am, park opens at 10am....summer hours will be different, but still get there about 40 minutes or so before the park opens). Get in line...buy your tickets and be ready to enter the park when they open the gates early...about 15 minutes prior to opening time. Go on the rides 1st....especially the ones at the top of your "must-do" list. We went on the Dragon Coaster, Coastersaurus (2X), Beetle Bounce and Lost Kingdom Adventure without any wait at all. We were the only people on the Beetle Bounce and Lost Kingdom! Safari Trek had no wait...yet 30 minutes later it had a 40 minute wait. DD9 then headed off to the Technic Coaster while DS4 and I went to the Boating School. After that lines were long. Both Driving Schools had about an hour wait....

Rides load very slowly!!! Coastersaurus is a 75 second ride....with one train of cars...so go early!!! Boating school is even slower moving. Don't bother making a race car in the Imagination Zone as you can do the same thing at the Lego Store at Downtown Disney...or save it for later if you have enough time. 4D movie was cute, but most 4D features did not work properly....wind worked....water worked sporadically....bubbles only came down in 1 section of the theater.

It's a cute park, but it is lacking in several areas. I would be upset if I paid full price for 2 adults and 2 kids. Many people say buy a season pass, but I still do not want to pay $400 to go for a full year!

Oh...get a Birthday Button from the ticket booth outside the park if it is your birthday. I got one and was wished many Happy Birthdays throughout the day.

Don't bother with dinner in the park. Too rushed and not enough options. There is a Ruby Tuesdays right outside the park...and you can often get 25% off total bill coupons online (sing up on their website to get them emailed to you). Good salad bar. We went there afterwards and spent less on dinner than on our mediocre lunch in the park.

By the way...for those of you that are Mystery Shoppers...this park is shopped! Hopefully the results from those shops will help with improvements!

 

[bluvw]

Just wanted to add...don't wait until the end of the day to go to the gift shops. Everyone goes to the gift shop on their way out and the service is super-slow and there will be lines everywhere.

 

[2Pirates2Princesses]

I was just there with my 2 kids, DS4 and DD9, last Friday. This was our 2nd time there.....but only because we went with my SIL's homeschool group and got in for $5 pp (FL deal for homeschoolers and schools). Can't complain for the price we paid, but the same problems that plagued the park from Day 1 are still present. My DS4 rode the Jr Driving School...and it was still 1 harried man trying to help all the little ones with could not drive the cars. His manager came over to help out for about 5 minutes...and then left. Same with the regular Driving School....not enough staff to man some of the rides. Food choices are slim...and not that great. Go to Publix across the street before the park opens and grab some fresh subs!! Keep them in a cooler in your car or bring them into the park and enjoy a cheaper and better lunch. Paninni's are pretty good inside the park....cannot comment on anything else though...but my kids ate the hamburgers and didn't say much about them.

My best advice....get there early!! If you are going during the school year be aware that homeschool and school groups go during the week and the park is full of unattended kids. I stood in line with my DS4 and had about 10 kids around the age of 6 pushing and shoving....trying to get ahead in line. 1 chaperone...who did nothing....so I had to repremand someone else's kids. Not fun.Go before the park opens....around 9:15am (parking lot opens at 9am, park opens at 10am....summer hours will be different, but still get there about 40 minutes or so before the park opens). Get in line...buy your tickets and be ready to enter the park when they open the gates early...about 15 minutes prior to opening time. Go on the rides 1st....especially the ones at the top of your "must-do" list. We went on the Dragon Coaster, Coastersaurus (2X), Beetle Bounce and Lost Kingdom Adventure without any wait at all. We were the only people on the Beetle Bounce and Lost Kingdom! Safari Trek had no wait...yet 30 minutes later it had a 40 minute wait. DD9 then headed off to the Technic Coaster while DS4 and I went to the Boating School. After that lines were long. Both Driving Schools had about an hour wait....Rides load very slowly!!! Coastersaurus is a 75 second ride....with one train of cars...so go early!!! Boating school is even slower moving. Don't bother making a race car in the Imagination Zone as you can do the same thing at the Lego Store at Downtown Disney...or save it for later if you have enough time. 4D movie was cute, but most 4D features did not work properly....wind worked....water worked sporadically....bubbles only came down in 1 section of the theater.

It's a cute park, but it is lacking in several areas. I would be upset if I paid full price for 2 adults and 2 kids. Many people say buy a season pass, but I still do not want to pay $400 to go for a full year!
Oh...get a Birthday Button from the ticket booth outside the park if it is your birthday. I got one and was wished many Happy Birthdays throughout the day.

Don't bother with dinner in the park. Too rushed and not enough options. There is a Ruby Tuesdays right outside the park...and you can often get 25% off total bill coupons online (sing up on their website to get them emailed to you). Good salad bar. We went there afterwards and spent less on dinner than on our mediocre lunch in the park.

By the way...for those of you that are Mystery Shoppers...this park is shopped! Hopefully the results from those shops will help with improvements!

Can you imagine how fun it will be to go to this park during spring break or heaven forbid, the insanely hot and busy summer months . I've kind of lost interest in Legoland FL and my kids will have to just be content with the Lego store in DTD during our next WDW trip. At this point, the only chance my kids have of going to Legoland FL is if we move to FL and they go while on a school field trip

 

[chudson98]

Just wanted to share our experience. My DH, DS8 and I went last Friday. We had a great day. The park is beautiful. We had a fun family day.

We used a coupon we got with one of DS Christmas Lego's that was for buy and adult ticket and get a kid ticket free. This worked out great. All we had to do is show it at the ticket window and saved $65! We also bought our other adult ticket the night before at the Publix's across the street from the park for $64.20 (a savings of $10.80).

We packed our backpack with water and snacks to save a few more $'s.

I agree with getting to the park early. We were in the parking lot parked by 9:15am got our tickets by 9:30am and were inside the park by 9:40am (when they opened the gates).

Until 10:45am we rode most of the rides on the right hand side and back of the park. Most people enter the park and work clockwise towards the left. We headed the other way and rode many rides 3-4 times without a wait. We even commented that we had the whole park to ourselves. We started to encounter the crowds when we got to the boating and driving school. We waited for each about 30 minutes. Not too bad for a Friday with a lot of school groups in the park.

Like I said before we had a great time. The employees were great. Very friendly and the park was really beautiful and clean.

We brought a handful of mini-figuares with us to trade with employees and got some great ones. The employees wear these on the uniforms and trade them like the pins in Disney. It was a lot of fun.

Let me know if you have any other questions. We had so much fun and are hoping to get back soon.

 

[lovesdumbo]

Me, too.

I am especially interested in hearing from people who have successfully used the McDonald's online Promo ( Buy one adult, get one child free ) described at LegolandPhotos, Mousesavers, and other sites.

There is some controversy over the expiration date of the offer, and it would be reassuring to know the promo is still being honored.

Have not gone to LL yet but did buy tickets using the McD code and the tickets have a 2/14/13 expire date (1 year from purchase).

 

[TinkerSouthernBelle]

I just read through this entire post. We are suppose to go on a Sunday, March 18th. I know this is Spring Break season.

We've never done WDW during HIGH SEASON and I hate standing in line!

How bad do you think this will be? I'm now wondering if we should do something else?

Can someone tell me a "touring plan". For example which attractions should we go to first? I have 3 coaster/thrill riding kids, DD11, DS10 & DS6. 2 are 48" so I guess I would ride with the 6 yo? DH and DD4 don't do coasters.

Also I saw the suggestion for Ruby Tuesdays. Any other restaurant suggestions in the area for dinner?

The park closes at 6:00 and we are staying on Disney property so I figured we'd eat in Winter Park before heading back to WDW.

THANKS!!!

 

[TinkerSouthernBelle]

We went to Legoland today...March 18. It is crazy crowded at WDW but Legoland was a nice/calmer place.

We used the McDonald's tickets just fine. Great deal getting 2 kids in "free"

The park opened a bit earlier today (9:30) and they JUST changed the time in the past week or two. So check the park hours right before you go in case they have changed.

We arrived around 9:00 and parked very close to the front. Cost is $12.

We followed a roller coaster heavy touring plan and if you have older kids I would suggest this.
We did the following with NO wait: Dragon coaster (2x), Merlin's train, Royal Joust, Lost Kingdom, Safari, Coastersaurus (2x), Project x (2x).
Small wait for Wave Racers.
We did all this by 11:00 and noticed the crowds had picked up a little.
We skipped boating school...looked very "babyish" according to my group.
DD4 did jr driving school with no wait. The rest of the kids did driving school and it was probably about 20-30 to go through the entire thing.
Flying school had no wait so we rode it 2x. Short wait for Rescue academy.

We got lunch in Imagination zone at the Panini place. Pretty good. Prices better than WDW. The only have PEPSI which I was disappointed b/c I only drink Coke.

The kids did built & test race cars (you can also do this at downtown Disney Lego store!) No line for Kid Power Towers.

We went to the Pirate Ski Show. Its ok...not even close to Disney quality. The skiing was neat but it was pretty hokey. The inflated shark being pulled behind the boat was when I said "we're not in Disney anymore Dorothy"!!!

Nice walk through Cypress Gardens....classic/old school Florida...loved it!

We stopped by Project X and rode it one more time....it is the unanimous favorite for all of us. There was a wait but not too bad. About 15 mins.

Then we spent a good amount of time in Miniland. It is very, very neat! If it had been a bit cooler we could have spent more time, there is NO shade. There are a few things interactive but not many. It was neat how the first family was on the front porch of the White House, including the pets!

We stopped and got at snack at Granny's apple fries. They are good! We then wanted to ride Island in the Sky as our last attractions. We got in line for it 2 different times & was told it was having mechanical problems both times...so we never rode it.

We did some quick shopping at The Big Shop. I was SHOCKED they don't use the LEGO VIP card! Was told Legoland isn't "owned" by Lego but an entertainment company...therefore I couldn't get points on my VIP card. That is about the dumbest thing I've heard in a while....can't use a Lego card in Legoland!!

We were back to our WDW resort by 4:30. Which is nice that we have dinner & swim time at our resort.

Summary:
Overall this is a nice, slower paced, smaller park. A good break from the size & crowds at Disney.
Some trade offs are the employees are mostly teenagers but not well trained. I ask one employee at the Flying School which "show" was her favorite. She shrugged..."I don't know, I have seen any of them"...well ok?!
The rider under 48" needing adult rule can be an issue for sure.
The "seats" for most rides are VERY small. I am an average size female...about 5ft5in, 140 and I thought they were small. My knees kept hitting the front on Coastersaurus...ouch. And my very small 11 yo DD and I were very squished sitting together. A larger size person (weight or height) is going to have issues. My 6ft 4 in brother won't be able to ride some things...his legs won't fit!
We thought boating school & driving school are overrated.
Wave Racers & Project X....favorites with my group.
Cypress Gardens were LOVELY. The Banyan Tree was amazing. I would love to sit in that area longer. It would be very nice to have a restaurant in there somewhere....just lovely.
It is an easy driving from WDW. Its only 7 exits from Disney on I4. Then you drive south for about 20-30 mins. Very easy & lots of signs.
They need more: Employees, benches, trash cans.
The water park will be a NICE addition. By 2:00 we had done most of what we wanted. It would have been a good time to go to the water park b/c we were HOT. I wonder if the price will increase...it shouldn't in my opinion.
Kids under 3 will not have much to do at all. Kids over 10/11 might get bored.

Will we go back...doubt it. I have DS6 and DS10 who are my lego kids. They were at a great age this time.

 

[MMA524]

We went to Legoland today...March 18. It is crazy crowded at WDW but Legoland was a nice/calmer place.

We used the McDonald's tickets just fine. Great deal getting 2 kids in "free"

Wonderful review, TinkerSouthernBelle! Thanks so much for posting.