A Review of Legoland Florida In Orlando

I was so pleased when my dear friend Emma told me she was heading to Florida for a few days with her three boys! I managed to arrange two tickets to Legoland Florida in Orlando for her family, so she could report back for Have Baby Will Travel. Thanks, Emma!

Emma’s boys at Legoland Florida…

This was our second visit to Legoland in two years, and my older kids (5 and 7) were thrilled to be back. For our family, this is the perfect theme – it’s a lot more affordable than the big D, it’s full of Lego bricks, and there’s an abundance of Star Wars paraphernalia- the new Star Wars Miniland induced loud gasps from the 7 year old. Tatooine and Endor in great detail! Awesome. If you’ve got a couple of kids under 12 who are into Lego, this is definitely a fun day (or two) out.

We set out early from our hotel in Celebration on a Saturday morning in May, and got there faster than we’d remembered. Parking near the front as soon as the park opened was an auspicious start to the day. We ended up leaving after closing time and still felt we could have done more.

Emma’s Top Tips for Legoland Florida:

You can’t do the theme park rides and the water park in the same day. Either plan on spending two days there, or just pick one or the other. We ended up with only about a half hour to play in the water park. Legoland isn’t actually open that long during the day, and it doesn’t cost much extra to play a second day, if you are happy to drive down there again from Orlando or wherever you’re staying.

The 18-month-old had a blast at the Duplo village, and would have spent more time at the water park if he hadn’t napped so long in the afternoon heat. There’s not a lot else for really little ones to do there, but luckily he was happy enough to just hang out and watch what was going on.

Bring your own stainless steel water bottle and keep filling it up at the water fountains. Gosh, it’s nice not to be gouged for drinks at a theme park, particularly in Florida‘s warm climate.

If your kids aren’t into rollercoasters, there are lots of lower key fun things to do like the Ford driving school (my kids insisted on attending lessons twice), watching the pirate water skiing show (giant Lego minifigs on water skis are quite entertaining), and roaming around Miniland USA (particularly the interactive parts).

You can really save money by bringing in your own food, but the Pizza and Pasta Buffet lunch has a decently fast moving line up, tastes pretty good for a treat, and is fairly good value. Also, the Granny’s Apple Fries, that I bought on the way out of the park after it was technically already closed? So tasty!

I hear that visiting on the weekend is actually a good idea because large school groups visit on weekdays. I think the opposite might be true for Disney, so if you are planning your itinerary in advance, keep that in mind.

There are a variety of ways to save money on tickets. Check the interwebs for the best deals – including the buy-one-adult-ticket, get-one-child-free deal that I scored.

My kids are already asking when we can go back. Maybe they’ll even get on a rollercoaster before they grow out of their love of Lego.

Have you been to Legoland Florida? What did your family think of the park?

Disclosure: Emma was provided with 2 theme park and water park tickets to Legoland Florida, but purchased the 3 other tickets she required. Her views are her own.