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.
Miniland USA I honestly don’t know what I can say about this area except WOW! I could have spent a couple of hours just in this area alone. The creations that the Master Builders have created are amazing. Also, if you are a Star Wars fan, this is a Must See!
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.
Land of Adventure
Have you ever wanted to ride a Dinosaur themed coaster or go on a Safari Trek. If the answer is yes, Land of Adventure is just for you. The rides you will find here are a wooden coaster called Coastersaurus, a ride through the Kilimanjaro on the Safari Trek and a ride through Pharaoh’s Revenge. If you are ready for a snack while in the Land of Adventure, grab a Waffle Spear. Think waffle on a stick, in the shape of a spear!
Lego City
Imagine a scaled down small city for kids and you have Lego City! We started our adventure here with the show, Big Test Live Show. This show is uses acrobatics, humor and LOTS of water to teach kids about Fire Safety. Note, the first 3 rows will ALWAYS get wet. Our kids loved this show. Lego City also offered The Rescue Academy, Boating School, Flying School and the famous Ford Driving School. We also enjoyed Lunch in Lego City at the Fried Chicken Restaurant.
Imagination Zone
After we all learned to boat, fly and drive, we made our way over to the Imagination Zone. It was here where we went to Build & Test. The kids were given the freedom to build the best car they could imagine and then race them against competitors on a digitally timed track. The kids were also able to build skyscrapers as high as they could and test them on the earthquake table. The kids loved the freedom of this area and there were plenty of LEGOLAND team members to help them with their creation. This was also a great opportunity for us (Mom & Dad) to sit down and give our feet a rest!
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.
Pirates Cove and Cypress Gardens Due to time we were unable to make it to Pirates Cove or Cypress Gardens. We look forward to visiting this area in the near future. Pirates Cove is home to LEGOLAND Florida’s very own water ski and stunt show. Cypress Gardens is where you will fine the historical botanical garden. You will also find the vast Banyan tree that was planted as a seedling in 1939.
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.
This was our first trip to LEGOLAND Florida and I have so say, we are fans. We had a great time and we cannot wait to go back.
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.