Legoland Florida

On Monday, my husband and I decided to surprise our kids with a trip to Legoland.  Our son's birthday is this weekend and I knew of a group that was going at an extremely discounted rate.  It took us a little over 2 hours to get there, so keeping it a secret the whole time was interesting to say the least, but we did it.

I'll be honest, it took me a little while to get to the point where I was enjoying myself (my daughter HATES to ride coasters, but I love them).  Needless to say, watching Jon and our son walk off to ride the coasters was a bit hard for me.  Once I adjusted MY attitude, things improved greatly and we all ended up having a wonderful time.

Yes, we got wet and yes, it's made of Legos.

There are Lego tables for the kids to play with while waiting in line... very cool!

This shows less than half of the model of Kennedy Space Center (made of Lego's of course).

Being from DC, I loved seeing the Iwo Jima Memorial made of Legos.

On a side note, while my daughter and I were wandering through the Lego model cities, we were approached to walk in front of "New York City."  Apparently Discovery channel was there taping a segment and wanted to see more people in the background.  Maybe you'll see us on TV  :-)  Below is a pic I took of them interviewing another kid.

While the boys focused on the coasters, the girls focused on the "driving rides."   My daughter loved driving the little cars and the boats (over and over and over).

We did eventually meet up and go to the Imagination Zone where the kids built and destroyed various creations on earthquake simulators. If we'd have let them, they would have stayed here for most of the day I'm sure (especially my son).

Another reason I was interested in attending this trip was because I am coordinating a trip for the Lego classes my kids attend, and I figured this would allow me to scope things out.  Following is a list of all the things I learned (those of you who don't plan on going to Legoland can ignore the rest of this post):

1.  It may be winter in FL, but a hat and sunscreen are a good great idea.
2.  In the Imagination Zone they offer Mindstorm programming classes (45 min long for 8 years and older) throughout the day (space is limited so make a bee line if you're interested and pick your time slot).
3.   They have what they call "Trade and Collect Minifugures."  You can either bring a minifigure from home (must be complete) or buy one at Legoland for as little as $2.99 plus tax (ask the sales people for details on how much each one costs).   The ones that are $2.99 are packaged in such a way that you can't see what you are getting.  If you get a minifigure you don't want, you can trade with any Legoland employee (they are all supposed to carry at least one) or even friends or complete strangers.  I'd recommend buying these early in the morning so you have all day to trade.
4.  Food in the park isn't nearly as expensive as I thought.  If you want a relatively inexpensive souvenir, one option is their refillable drinks.  You can get a cup for soda or Slurpee and of course refills are at a steep discount (so again, do this early in the day if you think you will want to refill).  We saw burgers for about $8, hot dogs for $2.50, soda and water bottles for $2.50, and what I think may be the best deal: all you can eat pizza, pasta, salad, and drinks (inside the restaurant of course) for $11 for adults and $7 for kids.