LEGOLAND California

This one is a post I've been waiting to write for years, in a place we've been wanting to visit for years. LEGOLAND California is a dream come true for us. Our whole family are huge LEGO fans. An amusement park designed around our favorite toy? Yes please!

LEGOLAND did NOT disappoint!

Costco has this great deal for an annual pass for less than the price of a one day ticket. It covers LEGOLAND, the LEGOLAND water parks, and the Sea Life Aquarium. It does NOT cover parking, but still, even if you only go twice, it ends up being cheaper than buying tickets twice. 

For us, this is a great deal because we are not a family who can do a whole amusement park in one day. We need time to walk around and acclimate, time to stop and rest without feeling pressured to do more, and time to think about whether we're ready to go on that roller coaster. And our limit is about four hours, which is definitely not enough time to do a whole amusement park. So being able to return as much as the weather and open times allow is a good way for us to eventually get to everything we want to see at the park.

 LEGOLAND was SO much better laid out than Universal Studios was. It's much more spacious firstly, which makes it seem much less crowded for the most part. But also it has trees and lots of benches for sitting, and also lots of places that are full of LEGO to build and benches for the parents to sit while the kids build for awhile. And NOTHING is artifically scented!

Not only that, but there are LEGO sculptures everywhere to give everyone something to look at while you're walking or resting. It's loud in places but they're spread out so it isn't a nervous system overload - also most of the loud is happy children rather than noisy rides or music.

We loved every bit of it so much, and we didn't even go on a single ride. We DID go to the BIG shop because my son really wanted the LEGO Moana set. It wasn't in stock in the BIG Shop, but they called around the park to the other gift shops and found it at King's Marketplace in the Castle area, so across the park we went to get it. They'll send your purchases to the front for you to pick them up when you're ready to go so you don't have to carry them around all day.

Of course because the Castle was next to the Star Wars area, after going through the Enchanted Walk, we had to go see the Star Wars area. How could we not? So many fantastic miniature sets from the original movies. And the Death Star! And Darth Vader!

And then there's Miniland. A whole ares of scenes from famous places around the United States. My favorite scene was the UFO crash in Las Vegas with the Men in Black. I love that there was so much fun and humor in the details of the scenes. There was SO much to look at in each scene. I'm not sure if Santa IS an alien, or speaking to them, but it's a great touch.

We also went to the Sea Life Aquarium, but that's its own post because it was pretty darn cool for a small aquarium. We only ended up lasting about four hours, and I of course needed my wheelchair to do it, but I did NOT need my mask! And that was pretty amazing.

 Oddly, even after my family was worn out, I wanted to keep going, but I had been riding in the wheelchair after all. But the difference in my stamina without all the scented everything was just phenomenal. Thank you, LEGOLAND, for actually having breathable air!