2018-01-05: Legoland or Bust

After a later start than we planned on we made a quick stop at Contempo Café for breakfast again. We then made a b-line for the car and off we went to Legoland. We have been using Goggle Maps to get around and so far it has been good. Today we decided to take option #2 instead of staying on the interstate, we took a right on Crump and realized we had chosen the scenic route. We drove through some beautiful estate areas with large lakes and big yards. Eventually we ended up back on the road we’d turned off earlier and Legoland was only a couple more minutes away. It took us about an hour to drive from the Contemporary Resort to Legoland.

We arrived at Legoland, parked ($20 please), turned in our voucher and made our way to the park entrance. The kids were very excited see everything. We started at The Beginning. We started the day off with a Nexo Knights movie at the Fun Town 4D Theater. It was a fun little film. Next, we were off to see what we could find. We decided to take a spin on Heartlake City’s Mia’s Riding Adventure up and down, round and round we went. We toured through Miniland USA. Lots of neat builds in this area including the Daytona race track, Kennedy Space Centre and Launch Building, Las Vegas, Washington DC, New York, San Francisco, a pirate scene. We wandered into Land of Adventure and shot our way through the Lost Kingdom Adventure. We went in search of dinosaurs on the Coastersaurus, note to parents… if you are bigger in frame make sure to split up and sit with one of the kids. It was a tight fit for Darrell and me.

Into the world of Ninjago, we journeyed through Ninjago the Ride. There was no line when we got there and when we came back around, same thing…. Patrick’s game sensor hadn’t worked properly so we asked to ride again, and the staff were awesome in obliging us. The boys hopped, skipped and spun their way out of this area and into Lego City, where we attended Boat School. Both boys have some learning to do in the driving department.

Time for lunch! Fried chicken at the Fried Chicken Co. The food was decent, but the service was a bit lax. As we stood waiting to order, we watched an employee conduct a personal phone call with no regard for customer service, until the manager came out from the back and made her hang up. We have noticed the level of customer service at this park does not compare to that of the Disney Parks and most of the wait time indicators were either incorrect or not working. Not such a big deal today as the park wasn’t really that busy. After lunch we check in at the Ford Driving School, but the line was long and didn’t seem to be moving that fast, so the boys decided we should carry on and try something else. We ended up checking out the Imagination Zone which has a whole bunch of bins filled with bricks and large boards attached to the walls for creative expression. After a quick build here, we exited the building and jumped on Kid Power Tower, a ride where the passengers determine how high they go by pulling their chairs up by rope and pully. Amanda challenged Patrick to pull them up on his own and he did awesome, getting them ¾ of the way up before Mom jumped in to help. We missed the pirate show in Pirate Cove, we did see some of the waterski stunts on our way past into the Technic area we went and got in line for Project X. They only had 4 of the 10 cars running today so it made the wait longer than necessary. The ride was a fun coaster with up’s downs and lots of corners. With only one more coaster to go we made our way over to Lego Kingdoms where the boys stopped for a soft serve snack with flavor boosts of Blue Goo (aka cotton candy) and Blue Raspberry. The blue raspberry was pretty good, Michael couldn’t finish his, so he shared with both of his parents. Patrick has a cold that we have been doing our best to clear up so no sharing with him. With the chilly weather we managed to walk right on to The Dragon. Another coaster notch on the ride belt for that one.

With only half an hour before we needed to head home we wound our way into the World of Chima and took the Quest for CHI. A boat ride with water guns and on a nice day you can even soak some bystanders but beware, the tables can be turned on this one. After a great day we wandered through DUPLO Valley and made our way back the The Beginning to the BIG Shop where the kids made their Lego purchases and we organized our park pictures before we made our way back to the car. Another place I would pay for the picture pass. Lots of the rides have pictures taken on them and it also includes any character meet and greets, a good value for $45 US.

Time to return the rental car and get on our way to dinner at the Ohana restaurant in the Polynesian Resort. We took a much less scenic route back to the Disney Car Care Centre, refueled the car and turned over the keys. We donated our booster seats as we didn’t want to bring them home. We had purchased cheap booster before we left with the intent to leave them behind at this point. I would recommend this. It allowed us the freedom to have them when we needed them but gave us and freed up bag on the way home. We hopped onto a shuttle for a quick 10-minute ride back to the resort where we dropped our bags and headed out for our dinner. The monorail seemed to be backed up tonight and we ended up being late for our reservation. We finally made it and after a bit of a wait we were seated. This restaurant is a family style restaurant. There are no menus, everything is served family style and shared by the table. We started with a lovely salad with a lilikoi dressing, some pineapple coconut bread and butter… mmmm. Next, they brought out the appetizers and sides in a wok. There were noodles, stir-fry veggies, chicken wings and dumplings. The MC of the restaurant did a hula lesson for anyone who wanted to do it, Michael was all in and doing his best to keep up with the actions. It was pretty fun to watch him dance. We think he might need to find some dance classes. He really does love to dance.

Before we knew it our plates were filled with grilled steak, shrimp and chicken. So much food and so good but no way any of us could eat it all! Darrell made a good showing after Michael took some of his extra shrimp. All that and we still had dessert to tackle. Dessert was a bread pudding with vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce. Wow… so good! The kids each had a rice crispy square and a bite or two of the bread pudding. It was delicious. Time to stop at the shop and pick up a Stitch costume for Patrick’s pet Doug, then on to the monorail back to the hotel in time to catch the last set of fireworks before we go home. The kids weren’t that interested, but Amanda really wanted to see them one more time.

Time for bed. Tomorrow is gonna be a long day and we still have to get packed!