LEGOLAND Theme Park Florida Review

• It’s located in Winter Haven, Florida. It took us about an hour to drive from the Tampa International Airport.
• We didn’t have to pay for parking or worry about day-of transportation since we stayed at the LEGOLAND Hotel, which is right next to the entrance.
• We bought the 2-day tickets for the LEGOLAND theme park only.
• The park was only open from 10 a.m. – 7 p.m.
• Plan to see large LEGO structures, decoration, shops and more… everywhere!
• On the second day, we paid for the Fastrack Pass.
• They do have a LEGOLAND Florida Apple app and Google app, but I used a paper park map they gave out at the entrance (one less app!)

You can learn more basics or buy tickets at the legoland.com website »

My kiddos are huge LEGOs fans, so we showed up ready to GO! As to be expected, there were SO MANY amazing creations built out of LEGOs. Here are a few:

It turned out that we were there the last weekend they did this special pirate quest thing (I forget the real name), where we had to do a number of experiences in a booklet to get stamps toward a “special prize.”

As we were still getting familiar with the park, we ended up basically walking the same path back and forth a lot until we figured things out.

A few other thoughts about LEGOLAND Florida that I felt were worth noting:

• As to be expected, as the day progressed, the lines got longer.
• Although there are a few rollercoasters, more of the rides felt geared toward the younger audience (10 and under). As a result, a good amount of rides moved VERY slowly.
• The apple fries were quite yummy and unique. Although they were fried, I felt good about the kids eating apples for a snack. We didn’t get the toppings though.
• My kids were jazzed about the double deck carousel.
• I was surprised how many shows there were. Inside of the Schoolhouse, at a stage or in the Pirates’ Cove Stadium. It was easy to just come across a show, stop and watch.
• The shade was awesome. I don’t remember waiting in any lines in the sun.
• My 3 year old loved rides like the DUPLO Tractor, Safari Track and The Royal Joust.
• Unfortunately there were quite a few closed rides, like Mia’s Riding Adventure, which basically is the entire Heartlake City.
• Miniland USA was amazing — a world of lego creations. We spent hours just looking at the creations.
• Although there were food options, it was quite limited and spread out. The food also took a long time. If you liked fried foods, soda, burgers or pizza, you’re set. If you’re looking for healthy options, good luck.
• In some of the lines with longer wait times, they had an area where kids could play with legos while the parents waited in line. I thought this was really awesome, and it helped reduce line whining!
• My girls got face paint one day, and were able to get free face paint touch-ups a few times later as it got messed up. I was so grateful for free touch-ups!
• There were ample bathrooms and stalls in the bathrooms. But somehow, there were still legos even on the floor in the bathrooms so watch your step!

Throughout the trip, I kept having this realization that LEGOLAND is NOT Disney. Not that it claims to be, but in my head, it’d be a similar experience. However, besides being a themed amusement park in Florida, they are quite different.

• LEGOLAND Park is very spread out. The rides are somewhat clustered by their lands, but some lands each only had a few rides in them.
• The park is not as easy to navigate. Some paths are obvious, but others are a seemingly a small path to the back of a bathroom building that turns out to go to another part of the park.
• Some weren’t rides as much as experiences. Shows, playgrounds, people on stilts, shooting water at people, virtual reality rides, lego creations, rock climbing wall, etc.
• The rides felt somewhat unique. Yes, they had rollercoasters or the rides where you were in a car shooting lazers and such for points. But there were also boats and cars you actually drove not on a track (Boating School, Driving School), races against opponents that you had to pump your arms to power (NFPA Rescue Academy), or a bike you actually had to pedal to power (Technicycle). Really cool!
• On some rides, the staff was frustratingly inefficient. For example, the Battle of Bricksburg had a 45-60 minute wait and the floats could fit like 9 or 10 people, but they would fill it with only 1 family (even if it was just 2 people), and it took 10 minutes after the ride was done to get off.
  
  Or for LEGO NINJAGO ride, we waited for about 40 minutes in the Fastrack Pass lane, watching the one staff member fill 2 of 4 cars each time with only 2 or 3 people each. She pulled someone from the Fastrack lane only every now and then because the regular line wait time was so long.
• The new Pirate River Quest boat ride had a 2 hour wait… no joke. The boat ride was 20 minutes, and Fastrack Pass users couldn’t skip the line because I think they only had 1 boat. Why didn’t they have more boats? We didn’t waste or time.
• Similar to Universal Studios, LEGOLAND Park has a few rides that offer child swap if a younger child isn’t able to ride.
• Because the park is more spread out and the hours are shorter, LEGOLAND Park doesn’t have the fast-paced feeling of Disney/Universal. I didn’t get back to the hotel or home from vacation feeling as exhausted as I usually do.

After spending 2 days at LEGOLAND Park in Florida, below are a few additional tips:

• If you get the Fastrack Pass, get there early to get your wristband. We didn’t get there at park opening and had to wait in the line about 15-20 minutes. Not a huge deal, but it did take precious park time.
• Bring your healthy foods and water. They let us in with it! We brought granola bars, apple sauce pouches, clementines, etc. in our cooler bag and clear stadium bags so we could find snack options quickly when needed.
• If you have the option to bring extra adults with you, do it! It was SO helpful to have my parents take a kid to the bathroom, stand in line, go grab a table at lunch, etc.
• So many people eat at the same times. Lunch places are empty at 1145 then PACKED with people standing waiting for tables by noon. Plan accordingly!
• The LEGOLAND employees wear name tags with LEGO figures on them. Your kids can bring some LEGO figures of their own (ones they don’t want) and swap them with the employees figures. Each of our kids had their own baggie of figures to swap.
• When your kid asks you for an item from the park store, look up the cost at Target or Amazon. We found a few that were much cheaper and the kid was happy enough getting it shipped to the house so we didn’t have to carry it around all day or fly home with it.
• A few rides took your photo on the ride, but I don’t think I saw anyone actually buy a photo. Take a photo of the photo and keep going.

Lastly, I packed for LEGOLAND Park like I did for Disney World and Universal Studios. While it wasn’t super hot, I still used my go-to amusement park items, which came in handy:

And although your child will likely convince you to buy something LEGO they don’t need from one of their many shops, you can try to buy some LEGO apparel ahead of time.

Shop the Amazon LEGO store »

That’s all I can think of! Whew!

Have you been to LEGOLAND Park? If so, do you have any tips or thoughts to add? What were your experiences? If you haven’t been yet but are thinking of going, I hope you find this post helpful!