Must Sees and Must Misses (if any) at LEGOLAND Fla?

[melsig]

We're heading to Fla this month and intend to take our ravening LEGO monster - er, six-year-old boy to LEGOLAND. Does anyone have any recommendations on what we definitely should see (and anything we should probably give a miss), strategies for managing lines, where to find exclusive (or hard to find) sets, etc., etc.? Anything would be helpful. He absolutely loves Ninjago, Hero Factory, DC and Marvel, has definite leanings toward Star Wars, with passing interest in AQ and Dino. (He tolerates my interest in HP and Kingdoms.)

We're devoting a whole day to the park, and I already have the free child ticket coupon.

Thanks!

[zaskar]

My family spent two days at the park last Fall. Here are some of my observations:

Head straight to the back of the park first. The driving school is very popular and gets quite busy. We headed there first both mornings and barely had to wait.

The food selection at the back of the park isn't very good so plan to be in the front for lunch. The pizza buffet was pretty good but it took awhile to get in.

The kids really enjoyed walking around Miniland but there's very little shade. Bring your sunscreen!

Your son should be old enough to go on any of the rides. For the most part they were well-suited for young kids. My son really liked the Clutch Powers 4D adventure.

My biggest gripe was the shopping experience. I seem to recall the prices were higher than normal and there wasn't much for exclusive items. Although my daughter did get a cool Lego brick backpack. Absolutely avoid the Pick-A-Brick at the factory store. Although they have a great selection, you pay by the pound. We did most of our Lego shopping at the Lego store in Downtown Disney. Purchases at Legoland do not give you VIP points either.

Hope that helps!

[melsig]

zaskar - thank you so much! That is really helpful. I'm disappointed to hear about PaB and the higher prices. I think my son wants a tee-shirt, though, so I'm sure we can at least do that at the park. I wasn't actually planning on stopping by the Downtown Disney LEGO store, but it seems it would be a good idea to work that in, which is great to know, as we are heading to LEGOLAND toward the end of our trip. Thanks again!

[melsig]

Oh, I just Googled the brick backpack - that is super cute. We'll have to look out for that, too!

[solo606]

The Lego parks are owned and operated by Merlin Entertainments Group which is a separate company.
That is why the prices, exclusives, and PAB do not necessarily follow the same structure as Lego brand stores.

[themarshall]

My experience is only with the California Legoland and I hope to get my kids out to the florida one soon. My reason for posting is that I wouldn't avoid the PAB all together. They had many unique pieces that i've never seen anywhere else. It's definitely more expensive (I think I walked out with about a $65 bill for PAB) but many of the unique pieces have very good building value and I haven't seen most of the ones I bought anywhere else. So I'd definitely walk through and see if there's anything that catches your eye, but it is expensive.

[legogod]

themarshall- what was your 65 dollars turned into? 3 large cups? Or did you just fill a bag?

Thanks,
Jared

[countryboy]

I just got back from Legoland in FLA yesterday.. I was able to squeeze in a visit after a Disney Cruise debark of 7:30AM and a flight out of Orland airport of 945PM!!! Here are some of my observations after one very rushed day:
- It's a bit out of the way so keep that in mind (Not with the rest of the parks)
- Stop at a visitor centre on your way. We saved over $50USD for the one day by buying our tickets there as opposed to at the entrance.
- If you have kids, and are not there at the opening, pay the extra $8 and get the VIP parking!!!!
- Echoing sentiments above, i was really disappointed with the set availability in the shops. I was really hoping to pick up some Modulars but there were none in any of the shops on the grounds. What was there was all MSRP. There were some discounts at the "BIG" store at the entrance but it was as a result of damaged boxes. 20% off was the most i saw however most were 10% off. I did see a SW destroyer but the box was so messed up, i wouldn't touch it (And it was NOT discounted and still listed at $399.99). We were though still able to pick up a few sets (Bank and money transfer~Next to impossible to find in Canada as well as a few smaller SW sets, some cool lego ice trays, mini-figs, and a bunch of other LEGO goodies!!)
- One of the shops had a spot where you can build your own mini-figs. I thought this was pretty cool and my son just LOVED it!!. You get to build 3 with a custom package to store them in for $9.99. There were about 4 bins for each - Heads, Torsos and Legs.. He had a blast here....
- The miniland is very very impressive. The only problem we had was right at that moment, we were hit with such a downpour of rain that we had to run for shelter. It never let up and had to leave without truly experiencing all that was setup.... We had left this for our last stop and wished now that we hadn't..
- I felt the food was amazing. We ate in the kingdom area and with a son with many allergies (Eggs, nuts and Milk proteins), it can be very big challenge to get him fed. However we were able to do so there. Prices were expected for a park.
- The rides cater to all ages and although the larger ones did have long lineups, the smaller rides were very quick. Note, we loved the "Lost Kingdom Adventure" in the Land of Adventure section.. So much so, we did it twice!!
- I echo the LEGO city section. There are some fun rides there as well (Rescue academy and Ford Racing).
- I wish the hours were longer. 10-5 is a bit short IMO to take it all in.

Overall, i am very happy we did the side trek out to see this park. I am still in awe of what can be built with LEGO (NOTE, do you think any of the very large structures have non-lego blocks inside to make up for the shee sizes!!!).

[atmail35]

Not to get off topic, but countryboy, I see that your son has food allergies. My daughter is allergic to peanuts and tree nuts and I'm curious about the Disney cruise. We have found Disney World to be fantastic about FA, how was the cruise line?

[melsig]

We just got back, too. My son enjoyed the driving school - thank you again zaskar for the tip! We actually didn't pick up PaB there - my son filled several cups at Downtown Disney, and I was running out of room. However, they still had the 2011 Christmas ornaments available and I picked up two of the gold brick balls. They also had the ice cube brick trays I have been looking for that disappeared around where I live last year. Like LEGOLAND CA, they also had plenty of Kingdoms Battle Packs for $14.95 and you could get the Batman Jetski poly there for $3.99. Didn't see that cute brick backpack, though.

The one thing I wasn't prepared for was minifig trading. When we arrived, I sent my son off with his Dad to the rides while I trotted off to the Factory to get show times - and the first employee I saw there was wearing a Fangdam - the red two-headed Ninjago snake with the regular legs. I immediately accosted him, asked how the whole trading thing worked, bought a Series 5 minifig and traded it for Fangdam. Best of all, he had the snake lower body piece, too, that he told me came with his figure, so you could turn him into Fangtom.

My son became so excited when I explained my trade, that I ended up having to buy about 10 series 5 (they didn't have series 6) packs, so he could go around trading with all of the park employees. None of the rest of the trades during the day were all that special (mostly series 5 figures and some series 4 that were from the minifig build bins - I think I lucked out finding a NInjago figure), but he LOVED being able to do it and spent a lot of time trying to find employees wearing interesting figures. Needless to say, next time I'm taking a bunch of minifigs with me so I don't have to buy them at full price at the park.

[melsig]

I just got back from Legoland in FLA yesterday..

We were there Friday, too! What a downpour, eh?

[countryboy]

I just got back from Legoland in FLA yesterday..

We were there Friday, too! What a downpour, eh?

It was CRAZY!!!! I had just arrived at Miniland working our way back to the gates and then it started.. Needless to say, i did not get the chance to see half of the buildings :( We were on a tight timeframe and ended up spending what little time we had left in the shops...

[countryboy]

Not to get off topic, but countryboy, I see that your son has food allergies. My daughter is allergic to peanuts and tree nuts and I'm curious about the Disney cruise. We have found Disney World to be fantastic about FA, how was the cruise line?

At first we were quite cautious but after the first day or so, it was fine. You have assigned servers in the dining areas that stay with you throughout your cruise (You rotate throughout the week between 3 seated dining areas). We stayed away from the other buffet style eateries on the boat. My son has Nut, Egg and Milk protein allergies so it is a real challenge (Milk in particular). We were blessed however with the added notion that my son was on the ship as a result of a Make A Wish recipient so perhaps he was treated above the standard fare..... The excursions off the boat at Port(s) though i would stay away as Disney cannot ultimately control the food. The other downside is that in both of our excursions cases, you were not allowed to bring food with you due to the borders.... One was only 1/2 a day so it was not a big issue. The other however was a full day and we were very concerned. Unfortunately my son didn't have in the way of a "REAL" lunch.

[atmail35]

melsig - It sounds like you had a great time, the minifig trading sounds fun. Thanks for mentioning that. One day we hope to visit Legoland, but when we are in FL we tend to just go to WDW.

[melsig]

I just got back from Legoland in FLA yesterday..

We were there Friday, too! What a downpour, eh?

It was CRAZY!!!! I had just arrived at Miniland working our way back to the gates and then it started.. Needless to say, i did not get the chance to see half of the buildings :( We were on a tight timeframe and ended up spending what little time we had left in the shops...

We ended up dashing to the theater when it let up a little and watching the Racers movie - which would have been fine except the air conditioning was set to artic levels, and we were pretty wet by then!

[melsig]

melsig - It sounds like you had a great time, the minifig trading sounds fun. Thanks for mentioning that. One day we hope to visit Legoland, but when we are in FL we tend to just go to WDW.

We were staying at one of the WDW resorts, so it was actually a little expensive to get to LEGOLAND from our hotel, but my son really enjoyed it. Oh, and I was mistaken, he actually traded for figures from Series 2 and 3 (and we saw a Series 1 minifig that he declined to trade for), so there was a decent range at the park - not to mention custom ones made in the minifig building... Of course, it helped that we don't really collect the minifig series, so most of the figs were new to him - but I think the thrill of the hunt would have been enough, anyway. It's definitely a cute idea and more fun than pin trading, IMHO. (The employees have the minifigs attached to their LEGO ID badges, by the way, so they're easy to see.)