Legoland, A Great Place To Take Grandchildren

I hesitated going to Legoland for a very long time, and it was a mistake, although I did wait long enough for my grandchildren to get excited about those expensive Danish toys.

The first thing that is great about this park is the fact that unlike Disneyland or even Lagoon near Salt Lake City, there are no center guides that restrict a young driver. Lagoon's car ride was once that way in the early 60's, but that changed within a few years of installing that new ride.

Legoland's only disadvantage is the fact that there is a height restriction that makes it impossible for older children to ride it. But for anyone under 9 or 10, it's lots of fun. There are signs, and drivers must stay on their side of the road, something that adults often have difficulty with while eating or playing an I-pod or talking on a phone.

Now this picture is the Autopia ride at Disneyland, and it is one of Jack's favorites, but I watch him run with excitement to get into the cars at Legoland. Not only is the line shorter at Legoland, but the chance to drive alone and unrestricted on a small highway is also a lot of fun.

But the Legoland ride is a bit shorter, unless you consider the traffic jams that often happen--the ones where older siblings always crash into the rear bumpers of younger brothers or sisters and try to act shocked and surprised that their "brakes" just didn't work fast enough.

Now there are also a lot of other smaller rides, so many I don't even remember what they do exactly, but Jack had fun with them.

There wasn't a single ride that was too scary for him, and on one roller coaster, which was a mixture of coaster and Wild Mouse ride, it was fast and took a couple of very steep drops. I rode with Jack, and I thought he wouldn't like it, but that was not the case. It was a lot of fun for him.

And in many cases, he coaxed to go on a number of additional times.

And of course there are always a few extra things like this spot where children scramble about and try to get to the top where there is a small gun that shoots Nerf-type soft projectiles. There were other things to do too, and we had trouble getting Jack to leave this spot after 15 minutes.

Children, who were Jack's age and older and younger were all clamoring about and shouting as they had fun together. It was great exercise, and they all had fun.

They also had a series of small rides like this one: airplanes, helicopters, and other types of things. Jack loved riding on them. It worked well, because I noticed that he rode on them on our first visit in early September, and he also watched again in November to find them.

Jack loved this ride.

The large slide was something that became a ritual of sorts.

Jack made sure he went on it during each visit, but we passed it several times and doing it once was enough, although "playing on it once" means that he went down the slide at least 5 or 10 times.

There was no line that took a great deal of time. And he enjoyed the fun of going down the large slide.

It's not gigantic like the one that Lagoon had in the Funhouse years ago, but it is tall enough for children. Jack enjoyed it.

Like I said, it wasn't too tall, yet it was large enough for everyone to have fun.

We had to coax Jack into leaving to ride something else, because we were there during the time when the park is open only between 10:00 a.m. and 5:00 or 6:00 p.m.

That's the disadvantage of visiting the park during offseason times, yet the lines were agreeable--except during the week in November.

It was just before Thanksgiving, so the crowds were there for the holidays.

In a section of the park that had a castle and a type of theme/coaster ride Jack loved, there was also this one. Again, the rides are shaped like legos, so that's something I think children like--especially if they play with those toys at home.

The horse was great, and I had to have Jack ride this. He went gladly the first time, but in November, he chose not to go. Jack is 7, so he reminds me that he's not a "little boy" any more, and this ride is like a stuffed animal.

Both my grandsons still have the small stuffed black bears I bought them when they were two or three, and they occasionally hold them at night when they sleep, but they would never admit that fact, and more importantly, they would never allow themselves to be seen by other "too-old-for-things-like-this" kids riding something like this.

In November, Jack wouldn't go on it, but he did go on the Castle Coaster ride several times.

The ride is cute for little ones, and I loved having this video clip. Ironically, Jack has no problem going on the Merry-Go-Round at Disneyland or the California Adventure Park, but this ride was something he refused to do a second time.

Even more confusing is the fact that older children than Jack rode it and ride it each time we are there, but there are so many things to do at Legoland, it really isn't a problem.

There are also other "photo" opportunities. The one in the picture at the right is also in the area, where the castle and other "knight" things are too.

The advantage of going one day is that Jack enjoys being there, and he coaxes to return. A second day would not be fun for me, and I figure he wouldn't enjoy it as much either, but for us, it's more economics. We already have Premium Passes for the Disney Parks, so admission there costs us nothing additionally. But I still figure it's worth the time and money to spend a day here.

However, the food thing is a problem. It's not as efficient as Disneyland, and when we go back, I figure we'll take some sandwiches and pack in a cooler. Legoland closes early, and our own preference is to find one of the In-And-Out Burger places within a short distance of the park and with easy access to the Interstate back to LA.

Jack also loves the large lego displays. There are replicas of San Francisco and New York and Vegas.

In the same area, they also have a huge track with dragsters and race cars that children and adults can control. I have pictures of that on my phone, if I can only figure how to download them onto my Mac.

Jack spent time here during both visits. In this picture there is a large fireboat. If I remember correctly, it also shoots water, and there were at least a couple of things people could also move about in the water via radio control.

This one showing a miniature Las Vegas was fun for Jack, because we occasionally stay there, even though we actually really dislike the city itself.

When Jack was little, Ann and I spent a week with him in one of those condos people get pressured into buying. We had a week we were going to lose, so we stayed there before driving on to LA to see our other two grandchildren.

We took Jack for walks to see the show at Treasure Island or the large LGB train at the Bellagio--or however they spell the tacky fancy schmancy place. Jack liked the trains. And we spent hours there and at Caesar's Palace at the shopping area where they had a number of small restaurants and other things he liked, like the huge toy store.

There were also large lego statures, but they also had characters walking about the park occasionally.

Jack, like his grandma, loves the camera. So it's not unusual to find him posing for a possible picture like this one. I only wish I could remember where this appears in relation to the rest of the park.

Sorting through my pictures and video clips, I finally found the ones with Jack driving the Legoland cars. Like I mentioned earlier, Jack drove it alone, which he can't do at Disneyland Autopia, and it is an incredible ride. There was a wait, but nothing even worth mentioning. I think it was like 15-20 minutes even during the week before Thanksgiving. It was busy there that day.

Oh, and unlike the mummy ride at Universal that is nothing but sheer idiocy and nausea and fright for children under the age of 9, the ride at Legoland is fun for children. Now you have a small gun, just like you have on the Buzz Lightyear ride at Disneyland, but even a sure aim doesn't often do much good. But it's not like they're training future gang lords or something. The main thing is about fun, and Jack loved shooting at Egyptian asps and mummies.

There is also a small area in the park near the Lego Factory, where you can walk through and find clues. Jack liked that too, and though far from the Mummy Ride, it was still fun.

And besides the cars, there is also the boat ride, just like the one they once had at Disneyland, except it's better, because there are--like with the cars--no controls. On this ride, however, an adult can ride with a child, or they can go it alone. I went, which basically means that anyone, including Sumo wrestlers could ride this thing.

My son loved that ride at Disneyland. There were actually two of them, and both were across from the Matterhorn Bobsled Ride. I keep hoping they'll bring it back like they did the submarine ride, but I don't think it will ever happen, because Disneyland already did some construction over the former site.

Jack loved the boat ride, but we missed the Tidal Wave ride that was in the area as well. There were too many things to do and too little time to do them.

There is a small water park there. In the evening in early September, it was still warm, and Jack spent a lot of time there, splashing and sliding and running with a whole herd of other children ranging in age from 2 to 12 or 13.

The park's closing was the only thing that brought him out. We couldn't go to get him, because the scene was a quagmire of soaked rug rats, puddles and splashing water.

There were slides and other fun things, but the interesting part was this large drum that filled with water, which eventually tipped and splashed a small wave over the heads of screaming and laughing children beneath it.

It was not until the very end that we realized that Jack had no dry shorts, shirt or towel, but the park is very "savy" about something like that, because they sold each of those things very reasonably near the small water park.

But I don't think the good prices were just because they were nice people, and don't get me wrong, they are very nice there. I figure we were fortunate enough to catch prices at the end of the summer season.

In November, the water park was not running, but I figure that it will be functional in late March or early April, when California daytime weather is warm like that day in early September.

This ride was a sort of canal boat thing with various lego models on the shore. It wasn't one of the more exciting rides, but Jack enjoyed it--once per visit.

It took a good deal of time to go through it. Jack loved looking at the large lego models, and besides, toward the end of the day, it was nice to sit down for a longer ride.

I didn't have any clips or photos of the large ships near the water park. There were water guns, operated with a small hand crank. Each passenger on the boat had access to one, but people on the sidelines could access some too. Jack loved that ride.

And he liked the log ride, which unlike Splash Mountain, didn't have any large drops, but you did get reasonably wet while riding it.

There was a jungle ride in a small Lego Jeep, but once in September was enough. It was for little kids according to Jack, yet I saw older ones riding it. All the animals were made of legos, like things in the rest of the park.

My only regret is not buying Jack the Egyptian sword outside the mummy ride. So for my friends who like me, feel a bit skeptical about going to this park, I hope either this blog or someone will talk you into going. Waiting too long is a mistake, because it doesn't take long to find that children and grandchildren are too old to enjoy some things like this.

I'm glad my son Cles and daughter Lydia talked me into visiting this park.