Our recent trip to LEGOLAND was a somewhat new experience for us. After spending most of our vacation time in Disney related parks and venues for the last ten years this was definitely stepping away from our comfort zone. However, before the kids grew out of the LEGOLAND age range we decided to take the plunge. Besides the feeling of being a fish out of water in a radically different park there were several observations that I made that may help you decide if you want to head to this theme park.
First I want to start with what I liked about this park. While walking through the park, it was very apparent that they do spend time on many aspects of presentation. For the most part the trash was kept to a minimum, and the vegetation was lush, green and well cared for. But what really impressed me were the bathrooms. I frequently saw attendants in the restrooms cleaning efficiently. The bathroom fixtures were modern and in good repair. I will go on record as saying that their bathrooms beat Disney's in nearly every aspect. In fact, I have noticed a definite slide in the bathroom maintenance at Disney. This last trip I even saw not one, but two urinals covered in plastic trash bags. But, I digress this isn't a review of Disney. Overall theme is another strong suit for this park that I think that they do moderately well. There are plenty of very fun Lego creations that cover this park. All of them expertly done and impressive and if kept up they would be a reason alone to come to this park. Another strong point of this park is that they hit their target demographic dead-on. My kids absolutely went crazy over this park and they could see no wrong with it until I pointed something out.
The rides, while not very appealing to more sophisticated tastes, are precisely suited to the likes and tastes of the very young all the way up to the preteen. Which, brings me to the one thing that always accompanies rides: the queues. Again Lego understands its target audience and in most of the queues there were Lego play stations placed.
So, while the parents wait patiently for the front of the line, the kids are happily occupied building the creation of their dreams. With all the inspiration peppered about the park and all the play stations to whet their appetite, I have to give them major kudos for marketing. There are areas all over that you can buy Lego play sets. In addition they have presentations that are designed to interest your child in some of the more advanced Lego products. Of particular note is the Mindstorms activity.
Children can program their own Lego robots to perform surgery on a simulated patient. This activity was fun for parents and children alike and really showcased this premium product. Inexplicably, you could not buy this play set in the park so it seemed to us a very wasted opportunity to strike while the iron was hot. One of the biggest strengths of this park is it has a second park within it. For a slight up charge you have to opportunity to take advantage of the LEGOLAND Waterpark. There are waterslides, a lazy river and wading pools with play structures within. Plus a new addition called Pirates Reef that consisted of a log flume ride and water war zone. So during a hot summer afternoon in a theme park this is a welcome break to chill out. Genius! My last bit of kudos goes to price. Currently LEGOLAND has a promotion that gives you two days with a park hopper to the waterpark and cost about $275 for a family of four (2a2k). At Disneyland that'll barely cover two people for two days. Affordability means a lot in this economy and if you're looking for a deal, this is it.
Now before I get to what I didn't like about the park, I have to point out a few things that I just couldn't explain. I mentioned the waterpark before but there was one thing that I thought they really messed up on. There's a water splash zone located in the LEGOLAND park but inaccessible from the LEGOLAND water park. It was quite odd that we could not easily go from the waterpark to the splash zone even though they were directly adjacent to each other. So, when my kids wanted to play in the other area that they could easily see, we had to check out of the waterpark then walk around to the splash zone. Worse, was that the ink that they employ for re-entry into the waterpark was water-soluble and after just a bit of playing in the water the ink was gone and I feared that we may not be able to go back to the waterpark. Luckily we did not have to test that as the kids were through getting wet for the day. The other thing that I couldn't quite figure out was the character trading stations. This is obviously to compete with pin-trading in Disneyland but it seemed somewhat odd with plastic interchangeable Lego pieces. My last head scratcher was the parking. There was an up sell to the parking scheme. So you could park with all the commoners or pay a premium price and park in the preferred lot. Now, while that's mildly annoying the real rub was some sort of deal they have with Volvo. If you're driving a Volvo into the park you can park in the preferred lot for the commoner price. Inexplicable. And now for what is wrong with the park. I know that I have already commended them on cleanliness but there were a few glaring omissions on this front. First, while trash was cleaned up, it really appeared to me that they needed to spend some TLC on their pavers. Disney keeps theirs clean. I assume with regular steam-cleaning but the LEGOLAND pavers were dingy and stained with some areas showing a lot of gum build-up. Also, while they kept the trash up, they were not so conscientious about emptying the trash cans. I saw a number of them overflowing. The next deficiency I have to mention is also closely tied to one of my compliments. I mentioned about how much I enjoyed the Lego creations, but that said, they need to spend a lot more money maintaining these creations.
The hot southern California sun beats these sculptures up and for a park that hangs its hat on them, it seems unforgivable. The plastic was often broken, sun-bleached, water-stained, and in some cases peeling. The simple addition of overhead sunscreens would go a long way toward alleviating most of their problems. My next gripe is closely related to the previous one. Broken interactive displays. Fancy displays are nice but if you're not going to keep it up then it's worse than a cheaply made sign. My last criticism is posted wait times. They were never right! Here's an example, one ride that we wanted to go on posted a wait time of 60 minutes but the line appeared short, we passed thinking that maybe it was one of those trick lines that appears short until you round the corner and see a mile long line. The next morning we looked at the same ride and it boasted a 30 minute wait time with a much longer line showing. Again we passed because the line we could see appeared to be long enough to not want to mess with much. Later as were getting ready to leave the kids talked us into one more try at the ride. This time it showed 40 minutes and the line appeared the shorter than the 60 minute line. We got in and waited 60 minutes. It seemed completely arbitrary to me.
Now, for the part that I absolutely hated, up sales. Everywhere! It was tiresome. I can understand a small amount but LEGOLAND took it to extremes. Before we even got into the park we had been hit up for a premium parking space, a timeshare and photographs in front of and uninspired entrance. Once inside we were again hit up for photographs, only this time the photos were MUCH pushier. Traveling about the park we were treated to a nearly endless supply of carnival type games for a fee, or sales of cheap trinkets for anything but a cheap price. All that said I want to reiterate that my kids had a great time and would love for me to consent to return. So I can't diss this park too much. I do have to say that LEGOLAND is a park that tries hard and succeeds mostly with its target demographic. If you and your family can overlook its flaws then the bargain basement price guarantees a good time.
Steve
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