It is not impossible to take two boys to Legoland California on your own and be a STEM learning champion too!

With avid Lego fans in the house it is a no-brainer that Legoland would be one of my guys’ favorite places in the world. On a recent trip to Carlsbad I was excited when Legoland gave me tickets for the boys and I to go while the hubby was at a conference. I was a little nervous about getting there and being on my own with two boys at Legoland, but it turned out to be such a great day.  The last time we visited we stayed as a family at the Legoland hotel (the brand new Legoland Castle is available now too!) and the boys couldn’t stop talking about how much fun they had.  This time they were 9 years old and we were staying at the nearby  Omni La Costa Resort (which had two water slides!).  Since my husband took them alone to Legoland when I was at a conference a few years ago too, I wanted to show them I could be just as fun as dad, even though I was just proud of myself for adventuring using Google Maps to navigate our way to Legoland together all on our own.

GET TO LEGOLAND CALIFORNIA EARLY FOR EASY PARKING

Since becoming a parent I’ve realized over and over again that putting effort into being early always pays off.  We didn’t have to splurge on preferred parking because we got to Legoland right at opening and there was still ample nearby parking and we could pay $20 instead of $30.  This might be something you calculate into your plan if you are debating staying on site versus driving like we did.  Both the Legoland hotel and the Legoland Castle Hotel have private entrances into Legoland, so this might be worth a splurge for a night if you don’t want to get up early for parking.

SO MANY FUN RIDES FOR ALL AGES AT LEGOLAND CALIFORNIA

At 9 years old, my guys can pretty much go on any ride at Legoland.  They also don’t totally need a parent to go with them for all the rides so it was fun to alternate rides we could hang out together on and rides where I could sit back, take some pictures and have a little time for myself.  It wasn’t super hot the day we went or we totally would have gone to the water park areas too.  For my guys at nine years old, Legoland is a perfect introduction to the independence that they will need for when we head to amusement parks that have more challenging and scarier rides.  It was spring break when we went so some rides also had long lines with maybe a 30-60 minute wait. This was a fun opportunity to hang out and chat together which we don’t do as much as we used to when they were still little and it is was so much easier to wait in line now that they are older.  If you are someone who really dislikes waiting, Legoland has a fastpass for some rides but we didn’t splurge and I always wondered if anyone ever got the VIP package so when we saw a man and his kid with a VIP pass on the Technic Coaster it was like spotting a unicorn and I was so curious about what their day was like too.

STEM ACTIVITIES FOR 9-YEAR-OLDS

Because they are both 9 years old, my kids finally qualified to try the Lego Mindstorms area in the Imagination Zone at Legoland California.  This was the activity that ended up being their favorite activity of the day and it was educational despite being fun.  You need to be 9 years old to sign up and we signed up early at the entrance to this activity and came back for a time in the afternoon.  Kids were given tasks and robots and needed to use coding skills to help the robots complete the tasks.  They had about 45 minutes to try the activity and it was amazing to look around the room and see so many kids totally engaged at trying to accomplish a complex skill.  This kind of activity makes me wish we lived closer to Legoland because I love programs like this that promote science, math and creative thinking.  Incorporating the STEM learning aspect of Lego is such a great way to engage older kids at Legoland and I’m so glad my kids participated in this activity.

YUMMY FOODS AT LEGOLAND

Can anyone go to Legoland without ordering the apple fries?  These are so addictive the guys devoured them in seconds. We also tried Bahn Mi and Bao buns from the Ninja Kitchen.  We really should have brought our own water bottle too but in the rush of leaving our hotel I totally forgot them.

LEGOLAND CASTLE HOTEL

And as I mentioned before, Legoland is just opening its first castle hotel in North America.  When we visited we saw the final bits of construction buzzing on the property.  I’ve been following along on social media and the teasers of the room are pretty cool.

Would you stay with your kids at the Legoland Castle Hotel?  And are your kids Lego fans too?  Even though my guys are nine we still have a lot of Lego play happening in our house and I’m wondering how many years of stepping on teeny Lego pieces we have left.

(PS. As stated above, we were given tickets to visit Legoland California and as always the writing and viewpoints in this piece are my own.)

Terumi

Terumi Pong is a Seattle-based family travel writer and mom of twin teenage boys.  She loves coffee and pastries, shopping local and looking for greener ways to live.  She is also known as Scout’s mom (Scout is a 5ish pound little black yorkie-poo)