Legoland

On Wednesday we went to Legoland. I will admit that it was cooler than I thought it was going to be. It was definitely geared for 7 year olds, but it was still neat. Andrew, Emily, and Jacob, the family lego-gurus had a wonderful time. The rest of us had a good time as well, whether we will admit it or not.

Miniland USA is the first attraction. We went on a little boat ride around the world and saw replicas of the Taj Mahal, New York City, and the Sydney Opera house, just to name a few famous places. We also saw some elephants, dinosaurs, and other animals made entirely of lego. It was pretty amazing. Rachel loved the boat ride. I'm not sure what she's pointing to in this picture, but she's pretty excited about it.


She was a little aprehensive about the giant replicas of things. She downright refused befriend R2D2. His head whirled around and he whistled. Even with Grandpa right there, she was terrified. Thomas the Tank Engine was a little less scary, but she was still afraid to go up to him.



Perhaps we just started too big because she loved walking through the rest of Miniland USA.


And she had warmed up to the idea of animatronics by midafternoon, though, and befriended a triceritops. It would growl and move its head when anyone approached it. Rachel would growl right back at it. It was pretty funny.



A lot of the rides were pretty tame. Rachel had a great time, though! She was allowed on more rides than at Sea World, and even got to go on a ride by herself.


She sat in her own seat and Daddy sat across from her. She was a very good girl and loved looking at all the lego farm food. By the time the train had gone around the track twice, however, she figured out how to undo the seatbelt and was up and out of her seat.

They also had some great play areas for little children, brimming over with duplos, watertoys, and lego replicas. Rachel really learned to love lego!

Rachel, the lego princess

What? I'm playing.

Andrew also had a fun time playing at all the lego stations. Now he wants to get Rachel some duplos so that he can build things with her. He sure does miss his lego.

What? I'm playing.


Rachel throws some lego pieces

Daddy shows off his creations

Auntie Josie gives Darth Vader some love

Our favorite rides were the knight's jousting tournament, the dinosaur roller coaster, the dragon roller coaster and the car testing roller coaster. Rachel's favorite rides were the boat ride and the train ride in Duplo Land.

There was a lot of neat stuff to see. Miniland USA was really quite fascinating. But it just lacks the magic of Disney. Legoland tried to thematisize their rides, but they failed. Afterall, no one really cares about the lego dragon and its dorky 2-meausre theme song that repeats over and over and over again. They do, however, care about the Peter Pan (or other such ride) and its theme song because it evokes fond childhood memories.

I wonder why Legoland didn't have a StarWars ride since they had all the characters sitting around the park. That would have been a popular ride.

Oh, well. It was fun anyway. Charming, even. But not worth the $59 or however much it cost to get in.

When you gotta go...

Our little Lego Family

Our extended Lego family