- kymberlyboswell7
Is LEGOLAND Florida Worth It? The Answer Is YES!
My family and I recently made the trip 45 minutes South of Orlando to Winter Haven, FL to visit one of Central Florida’s newest theme parks, LEGOLAND Florida for their Christmas Bricktacular event. And Bricktacular it was!
LEGOLAND Florida is second largest Legoland theme park and is housed on the grounds of the old Cyrpress Gardens, right on the shores of Lake Eloise. We arrived at park opening and our 3 kids (ages 10, 8 and 6) were extremely excited. I must say, we have some Lego enthusiast in our family and they could not wait to see what this them park had to offer. As soon as we entered the park, we immediately had a meet and greet with Chima’ very own Laval. I think I was as excited to see him as the kids were. As we made our way further into the park, the LEGOLAND theming was apparent everywhere. Every direction I looked I saw bright colored bigger than life Lego bricks. Even the entrance to the bathrooms were quite humorous with a talking Lego plumber. His Knock Knock joke was quite funny!
After our meet and greet with Chima, we made our way to Island In the Sky. Island In the Sky is a 150 feet high rotating platform. It gives you an amazing 360° view of the park and surrounding area. My kids were amazed at how Island In the Sky maneuvered from the ground to the sky. We enjoyed the ride and the view.
Island In the Sky
View of Lake Eloise from Island In the Sky
LEGOLAND Florida has 2 parks, a theme park and a water park. The water park was closed during our visit, however we hope to visit it in the near future. The theme park, however, is broken into 11 areas and offers plenty for everyone in the family. Let’s take a walk through the areas.
The Beginning This is just what it sounds like. It’s the beginning of the park which includes the Themed Entrance, Guest Services, Shops, Dining and Island In the Sky.
Fun Town This area is home to the beautiful Double Decker Grand Carousel, Factory Tour, Shopping, Dining and The Wells Fargo 4D Theatre. Legoland Florida presents 3 different 4D movies in this theatre throughout the day.
Duplo Village Big Rig Rally, Junior Fire Academy and Granny’s Jalopies can be found in Duplo Village. During our visit, this area is currently under refurbishments and will reopen in Spring 2014. In talking with Legoland employees this area is catered to it’s smallest of guest.
Lego Kingdoms Lego Kingdoms offers several fun rides and activities for the family. If you are looking for a good family coaster, The Dragon which is an indoor/outdoor roller coaster makes his home here. For those kids 12 and under they can ride The Joust. Another great family ride offered in Lego Kingdoms is Merlin’s Challenge. If Mom and Dad need to take a rest, you can let the kids enjoy playtime at The Forestmen’s Hideout.
Lego Technic In Lego Technic you can zoom, splay or fly, or do all three like we did! The first adventure we rode was Project X. This 4 person coaster allows you to race in a life size Lego vehicle through drops and turns. We then made our way over the Aquazone Wave Racers. This 2 person ride allows you to zip and zoom in and out as you try to avoid the water blasters. On this day, it was hot, so we actually tried to get wet by the water blasters. It was now time to fly. We boarded Technicycle and we were able to use the power of our pedaling to lift our ride vehicle into the air.
After visiting all of the lands, we made our way back to Fun Town so that we could visit the many Brick shops. My daughter was grateful that LEGOLAND Florida had provided her a girls store, LEGOS Friends Shop and the boys, well they were in heaven in all of the shops.
After shopping we decided to make our way towards the front of the park for the evenings Christmas Bricktacular Event, the lighting of the Christmas Tree. As we stepped out of the store we could hear Christmas carolers and then, out of nowhere, it started to snow! The kids loved the “Florida Snow”. LEGOLAND Florida transformed as the sun went down. The snow continued to fall and the tree wrapped lights began to illuminate. It was beginning to feel like Christmas. We made our way to the tree lighting and found a great spot right up front. We enjoyed the music of carolers and were surprised with the entrance of Lego Santa and Lego Toy Soldier. As we counted down 3,2,1…the magnificent Lego Christmas Tree lit up. It was truly a site to see.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Magical Mouse Plans Travel for this trip. If you are ready to visit LEGOLAND Florida, contact MMP Travel at info@magicalmouseplans.com or call them at 800-272-7739. MMP Travel will take care of all your travel needs and at no additional cost to you.