We
just got back from spending 3 nights in Carlsbad, California to visit Legoland. We wanted to take one last trip as a family
of 3 before our daughter joins us next month.
Since our son loves to run and explore, we figured Legoland would be a
great place for him to visit.
We
stayed 3 nights for free at the Grand Pacific Palisades hotel, paid for with Chase Ultimate Rewards
points. The Grand Pacific Palisades
hotel is a 5 minute walk from Legoland (it’s right across the street). We booked our stay here because their rate
was cheaper than staying at the Legoland Hotel (which is located just outside
the entrance of Legoland). The best part
was that we could use our Ultimate Rewards points to cover the cost of our
hotel stay! We booked our 3 night stay at the Grand Pacific
Palisades hotel through the Chase travel portal with 30,687 Ultimate Rewards points.
The
Grand Pacific Palisades has some really nice amenities for adults and
children. For adults, there is a heated
pool and jacuzzi that opens until midnight.
There is also a small gym with some machines, free weights and
treadmills where I worked out at night.
For children, there is a separate children’s pool that is only 3 to 4
feet deep. The children’s pool is also
heated.
Just next to the children’s pool
is a small water park where kids can splash around. There is also a small children’s play area
with a castle and slides.
We
enjoyed dinner at Karl Strauss brewery restaurant on our
first night. This restaurant is located
right on the Grand Pacific Palisades property.
They also provide in room dining service if you don’t feel like leaving
the hotel to go eat.
I
enjoyed the Big Beer Burger,
described as “based with Columbia Street Amber, topped with Red Trolley Ale
onions. Tower 10 IPA mushrooms,
beer-brined bacon, Wreck Alley Imperial Stout cheddar, tomato, lettuce, and
fries. Served with Tower 10 IPA steak
sauce.” It was delicious! My
wife enjoyed the Fish n Chips, with “battered
Alaskan Cod, caper remoulade, and house-made broccoli slaw.” The fish was crispy on the outside, and flaky
on the inside. Our
son had the kid’s chicken strips meal.
Legoland
We
went to visit Legoland on both Friday and Saturday, for two packed days of
fun. Legoland opened at 10am, and we
were one of the first in line to enter the park on both days.
It was great to visit Legoland a week before
Thanksgiving, since the park was extremely empty on Friday, and not very
crowded on Saturday. There was no wait
for every ride that we wanted to go on.
And our son could run around the park freely without bumping into
anyone.
Legoland
offers rides and activities for individuals of all ages. They specifically offer a What
to do when you’re 2 guide. There are
rides with no height restrictions, while other rides have height restrictions
starting at 34”. A few of the rides even
had a maximum height restriction. We
were able to go on several fun rides including:
Safari Trek (Explorer Island) – a jeep ride through a jungle
filled with Lego animals.
Fairy Tail Brook (Explorer Island) – a boat ride through various
Lego created fairy tale characters.
Legoland Express (Fun Town) – a mini train ride surrounded by Lego
animals.
Coast Cruise (Miniland) – boat cruise around a lake surrounded
by Lego miniature buildings of famous places including the Taj Mahal, Eiffel
Tower, Mt. Rushmore, and New York.
Our
son loved playing with Legos of various sizes at building stations throughout
the park.
He admired all of the Lego
created mini cities and I gawked over the Lego Star Wars sets.
He loved playing with the Coast Guard Build A
Boat and watching the boats go down the waterslides.
He
enjoyed running around the Duplo interactive playground and slides at Fun Town. We also got to enjoy a fun little concert
with the Lego Friends.
Legoland Sea Life Aquarium
Sea
Life Aquarium is an attraction packed aquarium located near the entrance of
Legoland. Our son already knows the
names to many of his favorite sea creatures.
He was so excited to call out all of the creatures he recognized at the
aquarium, including sharks, octopi, stingrays, fish, sea stars, crabs, and
more.
We
spent almost 8 hours at Legoland 2 days in a row!
Dining at Legoland
We
enjoyed lunch at Legoland both days. There
are many restaurants here that all looked very tasty. First we had lunch at Urban Kitchen, a market
style restaurant where your meal is made in front of you. I had the tasty Philly cheese steak sandwich
while my wife and son shared the shrimp spaghetti.
The
next day we had lunch at Wok n Bowl Ramen, a Japanese style Ramen house. Our son’s current favorite food is noodles so
we were glad Legoland offered this food option.
We each had the ramen, while our son had the teriyaki chicken stir-fry.
Each day our son laid down in his stroller to nap for two hours, giving us the chance to relax over some coffee. We stopped for some delicious Granny’s Apple Fries, which were some type of fried apple coated with cinnamon and topped with vanilla cream.
For
amusement park restaurants, we found the food to very reasonably priced and
pretty good.
Legoland ticket prices
Legoland
admission varies quite a bit, depending on whether you purchase your tickets in
advance online or whether you purchase your tickets the day of your visit. The standard price seems to be $95 for adults
(13+) and $85 for children over 2 years old for a one day visit to the theme
park. Legoland has 2 separate add on
park attractions that cost extra on top of your normal ticket price: Sea Life
Aquarium (additional $22) and Legoland Water Park (additional $30). There are frequent deals to Legoland
throughout the year, which you can find with a quick Google search. Through my work, I was able to get 2 day park
hopper tickets to Legoland including Sea Life Aquarium for $140.98 for 2 adults (our 2 year old was free). This gave us 2 full days of Legoland and Sea Life Aquarium for $35.25 each person, each day.
While
our son wasn’t tall enough to go on many of the Legoland rides, he still had a
blast. Since there were no lines, we
were able to go on the same rides over and over again. Legoland offers an excellent value for the
price, amount of activities to do, and light crowds compared to a place like
Disneyland. We had a great time and will
definitely come back to Legoland again as a family.
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