Legoland Summer 2016

I had the pleasure of enjoying a 5-day trip to Legoland this past week.  Our school district got out earlier than a lot of them this year, which means we got to enjoy the sunshine without as many crowds.

We stayed at the Hyatt House in Carlsbad this time in a 2 queen studio suite.  There were 2 beds, a couch, a work space, a bathroom with a tub (perk as a parent of little ones), and a small kitchen with a full refrigerator.  Overall, it was a very pleasant stay.  We were on the top floor, pool side.  There was very minimal if any noise, which meant a peaceful night for the whole family.  The beds were extremely comfortable.  The free breakfast at this hotel is also among the better breakfasts I've seen in hotels recently.  In addition to the waffles, pastries, and usual breakfast meats, they offered 2 choices of eggs each day (with or without vegetables), potatoes, a few different cereals, fruits, and more. 

Legoland was, as usual, lovely if you have little kids. Not much for us adults, but it's still great to see the kids' faces light up.  This time, we experienced the new Ninjago area.  The ride is exceptional for Legoland and very similar to Toy Story Midway Mania at Disneyland, except instead of using a shooter, you simply aim and shoot using hand motions.  Extremely fun and entertaining.

We also happened to be at Legoland for Star Wars Weekend this year.  It's definitely worth going if you are a huge Star Wars fan like we are.  While it was not planned, it was a very happy surprise.  People from I am assuming the 501st Legion and other Star Wars groups came dressed for photo opportunities.  Music from the movies was playing and there were little events set up in various areas.  It added a certain element which Legoland usually lacks for me.  I'm sort of curious if they will be able to continue this weekend event once Star Wars Land opens at Disneyland in a few years.  Only time will tell.

The Sea Life Aquarium was another treat we hadn't explored before.  While it's a small aquarium and nothing compared to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, it is a cute place for kids to explore sea life.  We especially enjoyed seeing the lego theming throughout.  

As a sidenote, I finally tried the Ramen at Legoland.  It probably wasn't the best ramen in the world, but it was some darned good soup.  Something different and relatively healthy (or at least healthy feeling compared to hot dogs and pizza).  Give it a try the next time you go.

It's Been a While...And...My New Legoland Project

So...to my 2 readers out there who were waiting for me to actually write something new, sorry it's been such a long wait.  In the period of time since my last blog post, I have been on 1 other multi-day trip to Disneyland.  We stayed at the new Courtyard Waterpark hotel across the street for Disneyland and it was absolutely worth the cost of the rooms.  Unfortunately, my pictures of the room got deleted and the trip itself was a disaster due to quite a few circumstances that did not involve anything that could have been controlled, so no detailed reviews, sorry.  Sadly, my annual passes expired at the beginning of this month.  We are trying to save money to go to Disney World in 5 years or so, so we're not renewing.  Never fear, we will still go to Disneyland at least once per year...just not monthly.  That being said, we're trying something new this year...Annual Passes to Legoland.

Before you skewer me (the Disney fan in me is kicking myself), keep in mind that it's a great place for kids.  My kids (5 and 2) love it.  So...I'm trying to make the most of it.  Legoland is great, as I've written about in the past.  Not as great as it could be, but it should be an exciting year for Legoland.  And, my plan is to help you with your planning.  Families of 5+ often struggle to find accommodations.  I've done the Legoland Hotel, and it's great, but let's face it, how many larger families can actually afford $300+ per night?  I'm determined to find good deals that work.

First up was the new Fairfield Inn in Carlsbad.  This was our first trip on the passes, a Christmas gift, so we went during the week directly following Christmas.  We paid about $140 for the 2 queen bed room.  The hotel was new and gorgeous.  Hotel staff was friendly.  Unfortunately, our room did not have a tub, which was not good for our kids.  We made it work, but oddly enough, when I complained to Marriott about this, they told me I should have gotten a 2-queen room as all 2-bed rooms have a tub.  Umm...okay?  I had a 2 queen room.  When I told them this, I got no further reply.  Hmmm...I won't go into detail because it's been a while, but I'd say it was a mixed blessing.  Rooms were nice and beds were great.  The tub thing was annoying, but not necessarily a deal-breaker.  And, hey, free breakfast!  But, what really bothered me was the noise.  At 10PM, we could still hear people talking loudly in the hallway.  There was approximately a 1-inch gap under the door, which was extremely frustrating.  And...well, let's just say we felt really bad for our neighbors having to listen to our kids cry all night since we could hear everyone else's problems.  The hotel in general gets great reviews, so maybe it was just a singular bad experience, or maybe it just wasn't the right hotel for our family with young children.  I'm not sure.  Good proximity to Legoland for the price though (about 2 miles, 10 minute drive).

Legoland for the holidays was fun.  It wasn't terribly crowded and they do a snow play area.  The cool weather was nice, too.  We missed the fireworks, but they do run fireworks the week after Christmas along with other special holiday events.  I have to say, while it was great, I missed the water parks...can't wait for them to open in spring.

This past President's Day weekend, we went on a second trip.  This time, we stayed at the Homewood Suites across the street from the small airport in town.  Comparatively, it was a much better experience.  The cost was relatively similar (about $130) for 2 queen beds, a living area with a sofa bed, and a small kitchen with a full size refrigerator.  This is a slightly older hotel, so there were some signs of wear and tear, but it was within reason.  The room was clean.  There was a bathtub.  And, most importantly, it was quiet.  They also have a free breakfast.  It's the exact same food offered at most hotels, but the space was much bigger and there was plenty of seating when we went at 7 (breakfast runs from 6-9).  A perk we didn't know about but might make use of in the future is that pets are welcome for a small cleaning fee.  This is nice for us as if we come for a week, we might want to bring our dog instead of trying to find a sitter.  Overall, this was an exceedingly nice hotel for the price. 

I thought Legoland would not be too crowded in February, but I was wrong.  It was probably the combination of President's Day Weekend, Valentine's Day, and gorgeous 75-85 degree weather.  Anyway, aside from the surprising amount of crowds and the well-known but frustrating nonetheless wait times/lines, we had a great time.  With it being so warm, we really missed the water park, indicating to me yet again that Legoland is more of a spring/summer trip unless you have annual passes, but otherwise, we saw quite a bit and my oldest got to ride on everything he wanted to.

We're looking forward to another visit during Spring Break, a longer on in June after the Ninjago themed area opens, and a couple more in the Fall.  The plan is to stay at a new hotel each time so we can share our impressions with you, but I have to say, we're pretty much sold on the Homewood Suites for now.  I know in June we'll be doing 4 night at the Hyatt House.  If there are any other hotels (especially those with suites) that you're interested in hearing our impressions of, let me know.  We'll try to get as many in as possible on our trips.

3 Days at Disneyland in August

I just finished up another big trip to Disneyland.  We went for 3 days, 2 nights and stayed at the Howard Johnson Anaheim Hotel and Waterpark Playground (HOJO).  In short, it was an amazing trip, but I'm glad to be home where I don't have to fight crowds and where I can hide inside in the air conditioning instead of sweating to death and trying to keep the kids cool.

First off, how did I keep those kids cool?  Well...The first thing we did was plan ahead.  August is always hot at Disneyland.  A lot of people will say, "Oh, average temps in the high 80s...we'll be fine."  Well, Disneyland generally feels about 10 degrees warmer than the surrounding area, probably due to the concrete and crowds.  Also, this year there has been unusually high levels of humidity.  Fine, of course, if you're used to it, but for those of us used to around 30% humidity, 60-80% is pretty darned annoying.  So, knowing all of this, we bought some amazing stroller fans.  A lot of people in the parks commented on them and asked us where we got them, so let me tell you--Amazon.com.  Amazon has everything, and if they don't, it probably doesn't exist.  We purchased this one:  Ted Zee Clip-On Fan, which I think did it's job.  Each one takes 2 AA batteries and it's a good idea to bring extra batteries if you plan on using it a lot.  In addition to the fans, we also bought cooling wraps.  Again, we got these from Amazon.  We chose the Ergodyne Chill-Its.  I will say there are probably better options out there, like Frog Togg Chilly Pads, which we've used in the past, but are bulkier and more costly.  The Ergodyne was okay.  I liked the price point more than anything.  I would say they were better than having nothing, but they dried out quickly, which was unfortunate.  The Chilly Pads last a lot longer, but they are bigger and harder to efficiently store if you're trying to minimize the bulk you travel with.  Other than that, we drank tons and tons of water, kept up on the sunscreen every few hours, and tried to go back to our hotel during the hottest part of the day.

HOJO was a great hotel for kids.  We had a 2 queen premium view in building 1, which we were able to book for 20% off with our annual pass (current discounts offered are only 10%, but it's still worth it).  The cost for 2 nights was just under $500 for the hotel room and the view was worth it.  Our room was on the top floor and had a beautiful view of the fireworks, if a bit obscured by a tree.  Beds were comfortable, it was fairly quiet, and the staff were all very friendly.  The best part, by far, in the summer heat, was the pirate-themed water play area for kids.  My 5-year old enjoyed the water slides and play structure while my 18-month-old twins preferred the 1-foot deep pool.  It was easy to watch the 5-year-old from the area where we were with our little ones and there was a lifeguard on hand for the big water slide to make sure everyone was taking turns and being safe.  Overall, this has been the best offsite hotel I have stayed in within walking distance of Disneyland (and in some ways, better than the onsite ones, since it's not as expensive).  The only issue I found was that the store asked ridiculous prices for food (almost $3 for a small easy mac cup and $1 for a can of soda).  This is common of any hotel, so I can't really fault them in particular, but it was annoying.  But, hey, to make up for it, it's one of the few hotels in the area with free parking and it was easy to find a parking spot.

Disneyland and California Adventure were both excessively crowded.  Crowds weren't too bad from 8AM-11AM, but at that point, it was packed, though not any worse than it was when we went for June, July, Spring Break, or December.  The real difference was in the heat and the type of guest.  I've already described the heat.  The guests this time of year are not what I am used to.  Usually when I go, it's mostly locals or people from California, Arizona, and other places you can drive from.  This time of year, it seems all the tourists from other countries and other parts of the United States come.  We met a ton of people from Australia and also some from China, Pakistan, Canada, and many other places.  Most people were very friendly and struck up conversations with me a lot or asked for directions/help while I was waiting for my older son and husband, who had gone off to ride while my toddlers napped.  In some ways it was cool because we got to see a lot of diversity and different cultures.  However, if you're spoiled as I am by the off-season crowd, there are some obvious challenges to going this time of year, as well because fewer people will know where they are going and standard United States amusement park etiquette.   Overall, it was a great experience.  I don't know that I'll choose to do August again simply because I don't do well in the heat and June tends to be much more pleasant, but if I could have cooled down the amusement parks by 20 degrees, it would have been perfect. 

Disneyland Day Trip with my 5-Year-Old (Brief Report)

I finally took my son on his 5th birthday trip on Friday.  I will be brief because I don't have a lot of time, but I wanted to share some thoughts.  First off, it was our first day-trip where I allowed my son to stay up for Paint the Night and fireworks.  He enjoyed it, but I think he would not have made it had he not taken a nap on the train while I rode around 3 times.  It was also hotter than I expected due to the humidity.  I don't usually go in the summer, but we've got multiple summer trips planned this year.  If you're going this summer, stock up on sunscreen and water bottles.  Freeze the water bottles.  You won't regret it.  And the water spigot at Tomorrowland Terrace is filtered, FYI.

I was able to view Paint the Night and Disneyland Forever fireworks from Main Street very close to the hub this time, which is hugely different from when I went by myself on the 24 hour day and sat at It's a Small World.  Definitely do Main Street near the Hub if you can.  We waited about 2 1/2 hours for it, but it was definitely a much better experience than Small World.  Everything is much closer up and the fireworks are much more detailed.  You get a view of all the low level stuff that you miss at the other viewing locations.  The only part I couldn't see was the Matterhorn, but that was not so bad.  It really is a much more immersive experience anywhere that you can have a view of the castle.

I will also note that a lot of people on discussion forums have mentioned poor crowd control with all the night entertainment.  I did not feel this was the case.  I was there on a Friday night and it was very busy.  Traffic remained flowing throughout the parade and the only time there was a huge mess was after the fireworks when everyone was trying to get out, but this has always been a problem at Disneyland as it's a mass exodus situation.  Yes, it was crowded and I'm sure some people were annoyed by having to take the long way around to get anywhere, but I feel like it wasn't terribly different from when the Electric Light Parade was running in the 90s.  In fact, I think the Soundsational Parade had much worse issues with traffic control yesterday.  At any rate, it's nice to see improvement from that crazy 24 hour day until now.  I do feel for the people whose toes I ran over with my stroller though, so if I accidentally ran into you, I apologize.  People kept stepping right in front of me and there wasn't much I could do.

Overall, a great trip.  Here are some pictures:
 

Legoland California Trip Report

 This past weekend, we celebrated my oldest's completion of preschool (and his 5th birthday, which happens later this month) with a 3-day trip to Legoland.  Going into the trip, I had mixed emotions.  Being a HUGE Disney fan who has worked and played at many other amusement parks, I was understandably a little nervous.  Plus, I keep reading these reviews about how it's "just not as... (clean, themed, magical, etc.)" as Disneyland.  Oh, and let's not forget that "you can finish the entire park easily in a few hours."  But, my son chose it and it was his special celebration, so off we went.

Well, I'm thinking that people either sent their expectations too high or haven't been in the last few years, because my experience certainly did not match those negative reviews.  I will start by saying I'm sure if you're over the age of 12 and don't have little kids with you, it might be a different story.  That being said, I took my kids, who are all 5 or younger, so not an issue. 

We arrived Saturday afternoon and checked in.  The Legoland Hotel is themed from start to finish with all these amazing figures all over the entire hotel.  The lobby has these areas...tubs of legos for kids to sit in and play with.  Literally the moment we entered the hotel there were squeals of delight from my oldest, and even my 18 month old twins.  Check in itself was super easy.  We got there early (1:30 or so).  Check in wasn't until 4 and I had been warned that rooms are never ready early, but low and behold, one of our two rooms was all set for us when we arrived (the other wasn't ready until 4 despite being right next door, but 1 out of 2 isn't too bad).  We stayed on the second floor, pirate themed, and had a partial pool view (and otherwise were right over the lobby).  I think we ended up with a fully themed room as an upgrade because there were a lot of lego figures in our room, including bugs, a monkey on the safe, and an amazing pirate skull over the adult bed.  Rooms at the Legoland hotel come standard with a king size bed for the adults and bunk beds with a trundle for the kids.  The bunk beds are normal length, but a bit more narrow than a twin bed.  We did not pull out the trundle as we were using cribs for the babies, but it looked to be about the same.  My husband, however, was able to sleep on the bottom bunk and he is over 6 feet tall.  The hotel wasn't immaculate, but it was clean enough, beds were very comfortable, and most of the fixtures were in good repair (though our toilet was a little loose).  Super fun hotel.  You don't pay for the quality of the hotel itself, which is like a moderately priced WDW hotel for reference, but instead for the quality of the children's entertainment factor.

We had planned on going to the aquarium on our first afternoon, but it turned out there was just way too much fun to be had at the hotel.  They offer a variety of entertainment geared toward children including a dance party, Lego movies by the pool, a play structure shaped like a castle and a pirate ship, floor competitions, and many other events.  My son's favorite was the treasure hunt.  Every hotel room has a treasure chest with a combination on it.  You have to find answers to questions in the hotel in order to open the chest and get a prize.  The prizes were pretty nice, little lego sets that usually retail for about $4-$6 and some chocolate coins.  Swimming was another highlight.  The pool has life vests available to borrow for non-swimmers and the pool is zero-entry, so it's like entering the ocean at the beach.  The first half of the pool is very shallow and my son, who still struggles with the paddling part of swimming, was able to confidently hang out in the shallow end with no issues. 

Sunday, we ventured out to Legoland for the first time.  Legoland is a lot bigger than people make it out to be.  We got there at 9AM and left around 4PM.  In that time, we only managed to "do" maybe half of the park, if that.  There's a ton to see and a lot of fun rides for kids.  There are very few rides that appeal to adults without kids expecting fast thrill rides, but for a family with children, it's perfect.  Even my 18-month-olds were able to have fun in the Duplo play area, which has slides and other areas to explore.  We had lunch at Pizza Mania, and I have to just say, this restaurant is a great deal.  You can get a family meal (one pizza with a single topping, 2 side salads, and 4 sodas) for about $35.  We fed 3 adults and 3 children with this and had a slice or two of pizza left over.  Other foods worth trying are the apple fries (because they are unique) and the churros with chocolate dipping sauce.  I'm a huge churro fan and these churros were amazing.  You get 3 churros for about $5 and they come with this amazing chocolate to dip them in.  They're a little greasy, but much thicker than the Disneyland variety (though not as long).  We spent the majority of Sunday in the water park area, which is inside Legoland, but requires a park hopper to enter.  It's important to note that for this area, even toddlers need a ticket, but thankfully toddler tickets are only $5, so it's still reasonable.  I'm glad we decided to do this area because it turns out there are water areas that are perfect for toddlers and preschoolers who can't really swim yet.  All of my kids spent a couple of hours in these pools and my oldest loved the water slides.  He even said he wanted to go back again next year for his 6th birthday because he loved the water area so much.

So, Monday was our last day.  Weirdest thing.  Monday was more crowded than Sunday.  Perhaps this is because we went the first weekend/week off from school and a lot of people thought Monday would be less crowded, so it ended up packed.  Either way, it was still fun.  We hit some of the stuff we didn't see the first day and my oldest went on a lot of the rides he skipped just exploring the first day.  We had to leave by noon to get home at a reasonable hour, but we didn't finish seeing everything.  I honestly think any family with little ones could/would need 5 days to see it all.  And this is coming from the woman who does Disneyland and DCA in one day and feels satisfied.  There's just a ton of little details to see and if you take time to enjoy everything, you will not see it all in 2 days.

Overall, I really enjoyed this trip.  If my oldest son was rating the trip, he'd give it 5 stars.  It was everything he hoped it would be and more.  I was just happy to see him smile and share some more memories with him.  If you're looking to do this as a side-trip when at Disneyland, take at least 2 days (and stay at the Legoland hotel if you can afford it--it's the best themed hotel I have ever stayed in).   My only complaints for the whole trip were that the rides were mostly slow loading, the special hotel guest entrance is somewhat hard to find if you don't know where to look, and not enough was open during early entry.  Otherwise, it was a great experience.

The 24 Hour Event--My First Solo Trip

Where do I start?  I got down to Anaheim on Thursday afternoon after spending the entire morning biting my fingernails waiting to leave and immediately went to California Adventure, knowing that I would not make it in during the actual event.  It was not at all crowded (at least by weekend standards since I rarely go on weekdays) and between single rider and short lines, I was able to go on RSR, Tower of Terror, Goofy's Sky School, and Grizzly River Rapids in just a couple of hours.  The re-imaging of the aviation area was nice and feels more cohesive now.  I can't wait until they do that with the Hollywood area.  For lunch I tried something I hadn't before and ate a chicken rice bowl with coconut curry sauce.  It was actually pretty good except I found the chicken to be a little salty.  I also got my first 60th-specific treat--a delicious rice crispy Minnie Mouse with 60th blue theming.  Here are a couple of pictures from DCA:

After that, I checked into Best Western Stovall's for the weekend festivities.  I only started staying off-site this year, so I don't have a lot of experiences to compare it to, but it was less expensive than hotels on Harbor or onsite, which was a plus since this was a trip just for me.  Check in was easy.  There was a rude guest who cut in line to complain that one of his 3 key cards didn't work and once that was taken care of, he interrupted again while the people at the counter were taking care of me, but they were very polite and apologized for he rude guest.  Parking was $10.  I liked that parking was behind locked gates and my vehicle felt safe.  My room's key card reader had broken lights.  The door and lock still functioned properly, but I couldn't tell that unless I fought with the door first.  The other rooms looked to have readers that were not falling apart, so I think this was just for my room.  The hotel room itself felt dark.  This was fine for me since I planned on sleeping and went to bed at 7PM, but I can see how it might not be ideal if you spend a lot of time there.  The beds were double beds.  They were fine, but too hard for me as I am used to a pillow top on my mattress.  Still, it was a place to sleep.  Walking distance to the parks wasn't bad, either.  Only about a block more than the walk from Paradise Pier.

Friday morning came a bit too quickly for my taste and I got up at 1:30AM hoping to be one of the first people in line so I could get the commemorative item.  Little did I know, about 5,000 people had the same idea and beat me to it.  (Un)Surprisingly, many camped out in the bus area from about 10PM onward.  This was the sight that greeted me on arrival:

Two and a half hours later, they finally let my section of the line into Main Street.  By then, Main Street was almost full already:

Countdown eventually came and at 6AM, the excitement started.  News programs from all over the world were there to broadcast as we all walked down the road toward the castle. 

I chose to do most of my attractions/rides in the morning since I go often enough that I knew I wouldn't miss out by not riding something.  I single-rider'd the new Matterhorn refurb first off, which was a complete success as I only waited about 10 minutes (the regular line was already wrapped around the mountain).  I also got to see Hattie!  Yes, the hatbox ghost is finally functional in Haunted Mansion.  He's a beautiful piece of technology and that ride feels so much more complete now.  Other highlights included Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, and the train.

I meant to go to a meet-up with some of my "friends" from the DIS boards, but our meeting area was a disaster, roped off with film crews, so I couldn't find anyone.  But, hey, I got a beautiful picture of the castle:

After lunch, I walked around, taking in the scenery, before running into one of the managers around 1:30 PM, who told me I should grab a spot for the parade and fireworks soon as they were filling up.  So, armed with my late pizza lunch, a pop tart, and a large drink, I got the best seat I could, in the elevated area across from Small World.  I had planned on viewing from Main Street the first time, but I was comforted when another manager told me that the location I picked was one of the best locations.  A few hours later, I found out I was seated right behind the VIP area.  So yes, good spot.

Not too much to report from the wait.  I listened to It's a Small World on loop for hours upon hours.  Someone at one point jokingly asked if the song ever ends.  My response, "In the 5 hours I've been here, it still hasn't."  I read some of my book, people-watched, and met some truly fantastic people, including a family with 7 well-behaved children, 2 older women who arrived at the same time I did in the morning, a group of young adults who were very kind and got me through the wait talking, a Micechat member who actually liked Dreamlights, and a former imagineer who had a fascinating conversation with me about Tomorrowland's failures, the cost of tickets, and the new entertainment's strengths and shortcomings.  Finally, Paint the Night began, albeit a little later than scheduled:

All in all, it was stunning.  A few of the floats could have done more with the lighting effects, but for the most part, it was gorgeous.  I especially enjoyed the final float, which Mickey drives.  Unfortunately, my picture of that one didn't come out, but it was beautifully done and you really have to hand it to the designers.  I also loved that they used notes from the Baroque Hoedown, but tied in a new main theme song, "When Can I See You Again?" from Wreck it Ralph, and wove themes from other movies into the music.  It was energetic, beautiful, and meaningful for today's audience.  The fireworks, also highly anticipated, were breathtaking.  The projections were incredible and the use of Matterhorn as Mt. Wannahockaloogie was clever.  I found it challenging to focus at times as I was looking from the sky to the projections, unable to focus my attention as I would have preferred, but I think this may have been easier in Main Street where everything is in front of you instead of surrounding you.

I left about an hour after the fireworks ended.  My body said "No More!" and I knew I'd be sick or pass out if I stayed.  So, that was that.  It was a wonderful day.