Legoland

Earlier in the year, we had planned to go to Southern California for a week and explore all the tourist attractions, but when we found out Scott and Julie's family weren't going to go with us, we shortened our trip and decided to camping beforehand. So, the nice thing is, as soon as we got back from camping, we took showers, packed and headed to the airport for our flight to LEGOLAND! We set up to stay at the LEGOLAND Hotel and I would say, it made the whole experience so much more fun! We stayed on the pirate-themed floor of the hotel and loved all the fun things they had there. We participated in pajama parties, went to the pool (they have floating LEGOS for you to build in the pool!) and of course, went to the theme park.

Even the bathrooms are Lego themed!

If you stand in this circle and jump up and down, fart sounds come from nearby speakers. A real thrill for a little boy!



The elevators all had "elevator music" playing when the doors open, but when they closed and you were on your way to your destination, a disco ball lowers from the roof and disco music starts to play. So fun you can't help but dance!

Trace had a bunk bed all to himself, he switched off each night in order to get the "full experience".

When you arrive at the hotel, they send each kid on a small scavenger hunt to obtain a 4-digit code which can be used to open an in-room treasure chest! Trace found a parrot Lego, a magazine and a map to the park. So cool!

Each night they had a "pajama party" for all the kids in the main lobby. The night we went to the party, it was a pirate parachute party. Each kid got to hold the edge of the parachute and they waved the edges to make an inflated beach ball fly high in the air! Trace loved it! Later, when he was asked what was his favorite part of the trip was, he mentioned that party.

Finally the day to enter the park has come!

Inside the park they had a factory that you could watch Legos being created by machines. Such a cool thing to see how each part is done and how the manufacturing process works.

This is the display area that you could display your creation.

A cool part of the park is that when you see a "mini-figure" that an employee has, you can offer to trade them one of yours for theirs. Trace took some figures from home that were duplicates or he didn't like anymore and was able to trade for some really cool new guys! We told Trace about this function before we entered the park and I kind of thought we'd have to remind him throughout the day, but the girl that took our tickets upon entering the park was the first one that Trace asked to trade a mini-figure with. Really a fun part of exploring the park, Mom and Dad even got in on the fun!

This was Trace's FAVORITE ride. He made Mommy ride with him and after we finished our first ride, he ran off the exit, right back to the entrance! We did that 4 times in a row until Mommy pleaded for a break and still ended up riding it two more times later that day.

The park is preparing to open a new area that is focused around a new TV show that Trace really enjoys called "Ninjago". Trace wanted to make sure he got photos with each of his favorite characters.

One of our favorite exhibits was the boat design area. They gave the ability to build a boat out of Legos and then race it against other boats that other kids built. Trace made his boat, raced it, made some modifications and tried again. It was really cute watching him decide what needed to be "fixed" before the next race. We stayed at that same station for over an hour.

Trace's driving skills have really improved since the last time we let him drive here. He even followed the traffic laws!

We discovered that while we were at the park, they were preparing for their grand opening of the Star Wars exhibit. Trace thought it was really cool to his favorite villains; Darth Vader, Darth Maul, and the occasional hero.

Such a fun trip to LEGOLAND! So grateful we could go and create some awesome memories together. As soon as we left, Trace asked when we could come again.