Legoland Florida A Day of Adventure

I love living In Orlando, the theme park capital of the world! On a recent weekend we decided to go to LEGOLAND, Florida the newest theme park in the Orlando area. LEGOLAND is located about 45 minutes away from Orlando in Winter Haven, Florida. This is an interactive theme park that focuses on the creativity and imagination of children ages 2-12. LEGOLAND has over 50 rides, shows, restaurants, shopping and a beautiful botanical garden and that means there is a lot for your family to do here. For an additional charge you can also go to the all-new LEGOLAND Waterpark with water rides for the whole family. This park was perfect for our family as I was bringing my 3 year old son and my 5 & 8 year old niece and nephew with us.

LEGOLAND recommends you purchase a 2 day ticket. I have been there twice and I can see the benefit of both a one and a two day ticket. The first time I went I didn't go to the waterpark and I was able to see the shows and ride every ride I wanted to without feeling rushed. The second time I went was May 2013 and we went to the water park as well as the LEGOLAND park. I found a great discount ticket where I save money and the waterpark was free. We stayed in a hotel near the park and had a really wonderful weekend. My three year old son had a blast at the waterpark and he still asks to go back! If you would like to do both parks on the same day I recommend getting there right when the park opens in the morning. LEGOLAND is about a 45 minute drive from the Orlando area.

LEGOLAND Florida

Parking $14 a car $20 for preferred parking

Upon entering the theme park I felt like I was entering a real Lego village. We headed straight for the Dragon roller coaster because this was the one my son was most excited about riding. This is a steel roller coaster that goes in and out of a giant castle. It was so much fun the kids begged to go on it again. LEGOLAND has 4 roller coasters and everyone was thrilling enough for the kids but not too scary. LEGOLAND really has got it right with the roller coasters for little kids. My sons other favorite area of the park was the Duplo Village. It is ideal for preschoolers it had planes they he could fly and cars that he could drive. Everything in the Duplo village fit a preschooler's height and maturity level and my son had so much fun. Imagination Zone allowed the kids to build and program computerized robots, test Lego cars and play the newest video games.

The heart of every LEGOLAND Park

Visiting Miniland USA was the highlight of my day. It was very interesting to see all the miniature people and displays. The attention to detail in the 7 special themed areas is incredible.

Lego Star Wars Miniland model display has 1.5 million bricks and recreate scenes from the 6 movies and the 7th is from the animated series Star Wars the Clone Wars

Las Vegas which features the famous Vegas strip

Washington, D.C. had a replica of the White House and an animated parade in front of the Capital building

New York City has all the famous landmarks on display including The Statue of Liberty, The Empire State Building and Rockefeller Plaza

California had landmarks from Southern California to San Francisco

The Florida display had famous Florida locations and a section with Daytona International Speedway, where my husband raced a Lego brick car!

The Kennedy Space Center had a space shuttle launch pad

Money Saving Tip - If you want to get the photos that you have taken throughout the day I highly recommend you purchase the memory stick, it is $40 plus tax but you are able to get all photos from rides uploaded onto it compared with $17 plus tax for just one picture.

Food Favorite The food was okay. The prices are slightly less than other area theme parks but they also have less of a selection of food. Our absolute favorite food item was the Granny Apple Fries. They were heavily dusted with cinnamon sugar and served with a delicious vanilla dipping sauce.

Money Saving Tip It is $17 for a kid's driver's license with a souvenir lanyard at the Ford Driving School but it is free if you want a non-photo driver's license.

Upcoming Events July 3rd is LEGOLANDs expansion grand opening, The World of China, which features an interactive water ride and play areas.

The historic Cypress Gardens was established 75 years ago and it is considered the soul of this park. The beautiful botanical gardens have recently been replanted with native plants to Florida including favorites from every southern garden, azaleas and camellias. There is also some stunning exotic plants and flowers that I had never seen before. I couldn’t believe the size of the huge Banyan tree that was planted from a seedling in 1939, it was amazing.

The Battle For Brickbeards Bounty takes place on Lake Eloise in Pirates Cove. This water ski and stunt show was really good and the kids enjoyed this pirate adventure.

The Big Test is a show that teaches kids fire safety.

The Wells Fargo Fun Town 4D Theatre movies combine a 3d film with physical effects of snow, smoke, water, and wind. I watched all of the movies and the special effects made the movie very realistic.

My nephew had a great time at the Ford Driving School for ages 6-12. He loved the no parents allowed rule and for $17 he got an official LEGOLAND driver's license with his picture! I was happy my son got to experience this attraction too at the Ford Junior Driving School for younger kids ages

3-5

I also enjoyed a store named the Minifigure Market where there where all sorts of miniatures from people to pets to entire villages for sale.

You can easily spend half a day splashing in the fun water rides. The wave pool was a fun place to swim at. There were a couple of water slides that my son was scared of but my nephew was thrilled to ride them over and over again with my husband. While they were on the slides we went to Joker soaker which is a small children's interactive play area. The highlight of the water park is the lazy river where you build your own float out of foam Lego blocks.