Connecting moms in Polk County, Fla.
Legoland Updates and Reviews
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by JandC'sMommy on -
Amy,
I am sorry I was not specific enough with my terms. I consider the "passes" to be annual passes and "tickets" to be one day tickets.
We bought our annual passes (not one day tickets) through AAA back in April when they were having a promotion where you could buy one regular adult pass for $126.99 + tax and get a child's pass free (a $99 value.) We paid $275.76 total for 2 regular adult passes and 2 regular child passes. (AAA did not offer Premium passes, but advised us we could upgrade at the park.)
I just checked AAA's website and did not see anything relating to Legoland anymore, however, you could try the local office in WH at 601 West Central Ave,Winter Haven, FL. 33880 (863) 293-3151 or Lakeland 1457 East Memorial Boulevard, Lakeland, FL. 33801 (863) 688-7921.
I heard Publix is selling tickets as well, but not sure if they offer passes, or discounts.
We upgraded just the one pass to Premium to receive the free parking and discounts. It's an extra $30 for the Premium pass whichever you choose to upgrade. I think (but am not sure, so don't quote me,) that if you buy a one day ticket, you can put that toward the purchase price of an annual pass, if you do this the same day. Only the Premium Pass ($159 for adults or $129 + tax for kids) gives the free parking and discounts. These are the posted prices as of today on the Legoland website.
With the adult day ticket prices at $65 and the kids at $55 with $12 for parking, I'd say if you think you might come back at least one more time to Legoland, the annual passes are definitely worth it. If you go on the 22nd and buy 2 one day adult tickets, even with the free admission for your son, it will be $142 + tax with parking and all. To come back, you may not have a free day pass, so you'll pay $197 +tax for the family to park and get in. That brings your total for 2 days to $339 + tax. For $328 + tax you can get 2 adult annual passes and one Premium kid's pass and come as often as you'd like (even if for 30 minutes) the rest of the year (and get discounts on food and shopping.)
I hope this helps!
Blessings to you and yours!
Amy Gallaher said:Hi JandC'sMomm-
So, how much were your passes? We would like to go on the 22nd and there are two adults and we have one free child pass (from Pepsi can). Are you saying that you were able to upgrade the free pass to an annual pass? How much are the annual passes through AAA? I think my husband gets a discount through his employer, so trying to compare. If it's not too much more to get an annual pass, might be worth the upgrade. Do they let you decide at the end of the day? Do the passes include free parking?
Thank you for your review! Sounds fun! We have been to the one in San Diego, but our son was too young to remember the trip, so it will be all new to him again.
Amy
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Permalink Reply by Amy Gallaher on -
Thank you so much! You even did the math for me- which I greatly appreciate! You are right, if we plan on going more than once, it is best to get the annual passes. We are AAA members, too bad we missed that deal. We are also thinking about getting Sea World passes right now, so it's a tough call. I think we should probably rotate each year to a different park if doing annual passes.
Decisions, decisions.
Thank you again! Amy
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Permalink Reply by JandC'sMommy on
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No problem - however, my sweet husband just pointed out that my numbers were wrong!! I was using the wrong prices! Adult one-day tickets are $75 (not $65) and child one day tickets are $65 (not $55.) Also, Adult standard passes are $129 and the child's premium pass is also $129. So - now that I have my numbers right....your one day w/ the free Pepsi pass would be $162 with parking. A second day with no free pass would be $227 with parking. These two will cost you $389. 3 annual passes at $129 (2 regular adult plus one premium child) is $387 and would include free parking and 10% off shopping and food.
Sorry about that - I'm a stay-at-home mom to a 14 month old tornado and I also homeschool, so I don't have a lot of extra brain power!
If you live near Legoland, I would highly recommend the pass. We are about 20 minutes away and will be using it for an incentive for our 7 year old. We have several things that have us in that area several times a month and have told our 7 year old that when we go, if his room is straightened and his school work is complete, we will drop by Legoland for 30 minutes or so. Of course, this is from a homeschooling perspective - so we can drop in on school days. Not sure if you have the luxury.
Sea World would be another great park. I guess it all depends on how much free time you have to visit both during the year to make it worth it (AAA offers discounts for Sea World. Go to AAA.com/seaworld.)
Have fun!
Amy Gallaher said:Thank you so much! You even did the math for me- which I greatly appreciate! You are right, if we plan on going more than once, it is best to get the annual passes. We are AAA members, too bad we missed that deal. We are also thinking about getting Sea World passes right now, so it's a tough call. I think we should probably rotate each year to a different park if doing annual passes.
Decisions, decisions.
Thank you again! Amy
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Permalink Reply by Amy Foltz on
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My name is Amy Foltz. I have two children: 5 1/2 year old son and a 2 year old daughter. My husband, children and I reside in Winter Haven, Florida. We purchased annual passes last year to Legoland . We attended the park yesterday and was gravely disappointed! I demand my money back for the passes so we can obtain Disney passes. We feel frauded by false-advertising. Legoland has boasted that their park is for children ages 2-12, which it is clearly not! The only ride my 2 year old daughter could ride on was the Carousel and my 5 1/2 year old could not ride on anything by himself, which is ridiculous! My husband and I both purchased the annual passes including parking so we could each take the kids separately if the other party was not able to attend, but we clearly wasted our money! Since our son cannot ride anything by himself and my daughter can only ride the Carousel due to their outrageous ride height restrictions, our children can only ride the Carousel when our family attends the park without both parents. I am sure there are a lot of families like us! I was planning on taking my 2 year old to the park during the week while my 5 year old is in school, but what is the point when she can only ride the Carousel! The play areas are no different than a free park I can visit anywhere in our town! Legoland is not catering to children 2-12, it is catering to children 7-12; therefore, false advertising!
We live in an area where families are used to theme parks catering to all members of the family such as Disney. At Disney parks, a newborn and/or infant can accompany the rest of the family on most rides and that is what people are accustomed to. My 2 year old daughter was able to ride Pirates of the Caribbean at Magic Kingdom when she was only a couple months old so the rest of the family could participate yet at Legoland, our 2 year old daughter is clearly excluded, which make the experience unfortunate! My 5 1/2 year old son can not go on any ride unless his father attends, which is not acceptable!
Three (3) of the kiddie rides look to be former Cypress Gardens rides such as the old cars on the track, trucks and Mini fire brigade. When we attended Cypress Gardens in the past, our son could ride on these rides and he was only 2 years old! Our 5 1/2 year old son can not even ride these "kiddie" rides by himself now!
After reading your article in today's paper, I felt the public needed to hear another side of the story. Legoland Florida is clearly not all it is cracked up too be!
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Permalink Reply by Shawn Spivey on -
Experts Say Legoland Florida Lives Up to Promise
As always, Reporter Gary White, does a great job compiling interviews to get the news to us. Check out his latest piece above.
And this can be exciting for us that want some water fun during our hot summer days.
Legoland Announces Plans for Water Park, Themed Hotel
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Permalink Reply by courtney on -
i know amy said she is dissapointed but i also have a 2 yr old and we have taken him 3 times already. your child has to be at least 34 inches tall to ride some of the rides 36 to ride most and 48 to ride everything by themselves. my family did get park passes with mine upgraded to the parking pass. sooooo glad we did this we love legoland!!!!! we also live about 20 minutes away and we love going for about 3 hours. when the kids start to get whinney we leave and it's great not feeling like we have to be there open till close cause we spent sooo much money to get it. my husband and i actually think this is better than disney. a lot less money closer to us and 2 out of 3 of our kids can ride rides. just my opinion
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Permalink Reply by Lady Lu Lu on
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I have been an annual pass holder for Seaworld, busch gardens, universal studios and Disney World. I've decided that Disney actually evens out when comparing prices. This is how Disney prices are similar: They allow coolers. It is sooo much more convenient and I'm not stuck spending money on overpriced food. When we were going to sea world, I would spend minimally $20-30 for food per visit. If you add all the food you spend, you are spending about the same. With Disney, you can pay monthly payments and ours was about $56 a mo for 3 people. My daughter is under 3. (We got seasonal passes) I felt like sharing this bc I always though Disney was way overpriced but in reality I ended up spending about the same bc we bring our lunches, drinks and snacks. I'm talking a cooler full of cans of soda and on a hot day we can go through about 6 or 7. Just thought I'd share.
As far as Legoland is concerned, my biggest turn off was the 5pm closing. I also have to agree that 36 inches is tall for what is considered a two year old. However, I haven't been yet so I can't really argue against Legoland.
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Permalink Reply by Shawn Spivey on
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One Legoland Gripe: ‘It Costs Too Much'
Did you see we made the paper? Our online discussions of Legoland was mentioned in the above article linked. Thank you to all chatting theme parks with us here. :)
If you don't read the article, at least click into the chart included. I was very intrigued by the dollar breakdown with the hours a theme park is open to cost of admission. I was surprised, too! Legoland definitely comes in last with Disney coming in first place for best value to hours open. Were you surprised, too?
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Permalink Reply by JandC'sMommy on
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I read the article and thought it was neat to see the mention of our discussion! I was very surprised to see that Disney comes in best value per hour. I never really thought of it like that. (And this is without discounts! We usually take advantage of the Florida Resident rate so our 7 year old can go on his birthday.)
We also take in bottled water and snacks to Disney, so this really helps with the food bill!
Can someone tell me (and direct me) if there is a rule with Legoland stating "No outside food or drinks"? I looked on the website, we looked for signs while we were there and we did not see any. (Lowery Park Zoo, MOSI and the Florida Aquarium have very distinct signs that you cannot miss.)
We took bottled water and snacks into Legoland (especially for the 14 moth old) with no problem. I purposed myself to look for signs and did not locate any. (Had we seen any, we wouldn't have used our snacks.) We did visit on preview day - so I'm not sure if that made a difference.
If someone can tell me if there is a written rule (and where to find it) I'd appreciate it so we can be "legal" next visit.
Shawn Arnold said:One Legoland Gripe: ‘It Costs Too Much'
Did you see we made the paper? Our online discussions of Legoland was mentioned in the above article linked. Thank you to all chatting theme parks with us here. :)
If you don't read the article, at least click into the chart included. I was very intrigued by the dollar breakdown with the hours a theme park is open to cost of admission. I was surprised, too! Legoland definitely comes in last with Disney coming in first place for best value to hours open. Were you surprised, too?
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Permalink Reply by Amy Gallaher on
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We visited Legoland yesterday with our four year old son. It was our second time to Legoland (we went to the San Diego location two years ago) and we loved it!
We used discount tickets for my husband & I ($55 each through his employer, USF) and then used the free Pepsi ticket for our son. At the end of the day we wondered if it was possible for us to upgrade our two discount tickets and free ticket to an annual pass. We figured that it would be a long shot, but it worked! Plus, they were running a special on the child premium pass. We ended up paying only $150 to upgrade to annual passes for all of us (two regular and one premium so that we could get the free parking). Essentially this means that for my son we only paid $50 for an entire year of visits including parking! This is an amazing deal and I encourage those of you using the free pepsi can for your child to upgrade your "free" ticket at the end of the day for an annual pass. I am not sure if we just slipped by or what, but somehow they gave us the deal.
The park was not very crowded for being the second weekend open. The longest line we waited in was for the wooden roller coaster at about 25 minutes. There were a few rides that we did not have time for and we missed the pirate show. I definitely think the hours are limiting. I am shocked they only operate for a 7 hour day. If I was paying full price, I would have been upset about this. However, since we have the passes now and can come and go as we please, we don't mind that we can't take it all in at one visit. This just means there will be more to explore next time.
I was also surprised that they have not decorated for Halloween. Most parks do something for this holiday, but Legoland had nothing and I don't think they are planning anything for that. Maybe next year? I did see on the schedule that there will be some sort of Christmas event.
Overall, because of the deal we got on the passes, I would say that Legoland is an excellent value considering too that it was only a 20 minute drive for us. My husband is already talking about returning next week.
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Permalink Reply by Gary White on
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Hello. I'm a reporter at The Ledger. I'm writing an article about the opportunities for tots at Legoland Florida. I've seen comments from some parents talking about height restrictions on the Legoland rides and disappointed about the number of attractions their children aren't tall enough to ride. I'd like to talk to some parents about this. You can reach me at gary.white@theledger.com or 863-802-7518.
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Permalink Reply by kimpsbl2 on -
We went to Legoland today and had a great time. Overall, Legos were the stars of the show, and the magic at Legoland for us happened when the minifigs 'came alive.' Our son was so pumped up about this whole experience and he really let all his excitment show, which of course made it thrilling for us as parents (and lame, of course, for our teenager:).
Disclaimer: My son is a lego fanatic!
The favorites for us so far, and we didn't have time to see everything, are:
*Character interaction - 'Max' the minifig was greeting people at the gate on our way out. They need so many more of these minifig people interacting and taking pix.
*The ski show. Again, the characters come alive - Why are the lego guys always smiling? Look at how they are acting like class clowns with the water guns! - these are the type of comments we heard from our 5.5 year old boy. Again, pumped up and woo hooing at the pirates on skis....
*Miniland - interpretations of Las Vegas, Washington, etc. There are interactive buttons the children can press to control some aspect of the creation, the ones we pressed were water spouts and moving vehicles.
*The lego factory - I think it was the bright colors of cartoon-like factory belt and hoses, reminded me of cat in the hat illustrations with more vibrant primary colors.
*Build and TEst - basically our son made cars and raced them on the very cool ramps. There was no waiting to run your car down the ramp, but there is an employee who holds all the wheels hostage and o so stingily gives them to people upon request, (just like Lego STore).
*Lost Kingdom Adventure - riding in a cart through lego egypt scenes shooting at targets (similar to toy story at Disney). Excellent ride!!!
*DD and I walked through the gardens and I got many great photos of her. THe banyan trees there are incredible. We couldn't find the topiaries or the small bird/animal area that we think we remember used to be at Cypress Gardens, but the gardens that we saw were wonderful.
I do have a couple of suggestions, mostly it's about adding simple (imo) minifigure interaction for the kids:
*Many more minifig characters walking around interacting with the guests
*A place to play the lego wii games on a big screen
*Lego videos playing on small tvs while waiting in lines where possilbe
*A kiosk picture booth where you can get your picture with the minifigs
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