Lena Hoschek: Legoland: Touring, Tips & Tricks + Downtown Disney: T-Rex Cafe

Since we found a great on-line deal for buy an adult, get a kid in free at Legoland, we took a day to check it out!

We were thrilled to learn that the park’s first Brick or Treat would be going on during our visit! Just as soon as we walked in the park we made a picture with the world’s largest Lego jack o' lantern.

You will find loads of jaw-dropping Lego creations everywhere you turn. We stopped for photos with quite a few of our favorite “friends”.

Our first stop was Lego City where we partook in Driving School (two attractions are split by age so we each took one of the littles), Boating School and Flying School. We also did the Rescue Academy but I seriously would not wait for that one if there is a line :-) Talk about manual labor! This was by far the littles’ favorite part of the park. Seeing how the rides go, I imagine the wait times could get lengthy on a busy day.

Next we headed over to the Land of Adventure for Coastersaurus (mild), Safari Trek (short little safari ride full of Lego animals) and the Lost Kingdom Adventure (loved this one).

In Lego Kingdoms, the littles did the Royal Joust. We wanted to do The Dragon, but the wait was 1 hour. We didn’t wait more than 5 minutes for anything else the rest of the day, so it was strange that it was so long.

In the World of Chima, we did the Quest for Chi. It was super fun but expect to get SOAKED. I mean, we were literally sopping wet.

With a good chunk of the park behind us, we headed to Miniland. Every single thing about it is impressive and you could literally get lost in it for hours.

After lunch at i-Zone Panini in Imagination Zone, the littles headed into Hero Factory and we tried out the Project X coaster before catching the Pirates’ Cove Ski Show.

By now the Brick or Treat trail was open!! They provided bags and all sorts of goodies, including magazines, posters, pencils and a Wendy’s Frosty coupon. Oh, and candy, of course. I thought they did a cute job making the trail spooky in a Lego kind of way and not giving out tooo much junk.

We wrapped up our day with the Legends of Chima 4-D Movie, a ride on the Grand Carousel, a serving of Granny’s Apple Fries and a visit to the Big Shop.

And by 3pm we were on our way back to Disney, at the littles’ request!

Tips & Tricks

Look online or in the Lego Club magazine (free) for buy one/get one ticket offers to save a bundle!
The entire park can be conquered in a day if you arrive when it opens before the crowds set in. We skipped all of the climbing structures/soft play areas and a lot of the places where you build and test creations, as we have done those a few times at Legoland Atlanta. These could eat up a lot of time, if you have time to spare and are always fun! We also skipped touring Cypress Gardens.
Legoland is a 45 minute drive from Disney World. Parking is $14.
Unlike Disney, Legoland does not permit outside food or drinks.
The park is very appropriate for little ones aged 4 – 8 or so. There were no thrill rides, and we found everything to be geared at the kids.
See how we made our Lego Skeleton shirts here. They received many compliments!!
Check out our Legoland picture books here.

After a quick swim in the pool and a rest in the room, we dressed and headed to Downtown Disney for dinner at one of our Disney must-eats – T-Rex Cafe! You can almost never get advance reservations, but they will never turn you away at the door. This was our third time and we always go put our name on the list as soon as we get to Downtown Disney. While we wait (usually about an hour), we spend a little time wandering around in the stores and hanging on the sidewalks.

There is also a dinosaur fossil dig right inside the store that is great to entertain the littles while you sip on a yummy beverage from the bar :-) It's the same idea as Dinosaur Dig in Animal Kingdom.

Inside is everything a boy could dream of… or an adult, for that matter. Giant animated dinosaurs from various ages are throughout the cavernous place. And a “meteor shower” occurs a few times each hour. We think the food is good, the atmosphere is great, and it’s the kind of dining experience we just can’t get at home. They talk about this meal for days afterwards!! And, would you believe that we were seated right next to our old neighbors?!?!