From DUPLO to Master Builder Academy, LEGO can inspire a work of imagination and creativity. LEGOLAND Florida invites kids to enter a lifesize world of their dreams.
Located in Winter Haven, Florida, an hour south of Orlando, LEGOLAND Florida opens up worlds that your kids have probably built at home, such as LEGO Kingdom. Imagine walking through a life-sized castle, a scene only imagined on my daughter’s bedroom floor. The kids rode LEGO horses around a field, practicing their jousting, and then we flew on the back of a dragon.
In the Land of Adventure, my husband and youngest daughter took a Safari Trek through a jungle of LEGO animals, narrowly avoiding being sprayed by mechanical elephants made entirely of LEGO bricks. Everyone loved trying his or her hand at the Lost Kingdom Adventure ride, an interactive laser game. It felt like being on one of those Indiana Jones Adventures, knocking out skeletons that appeared in the walls. For a little more adventure the older kids tried Project X.
Of course our visit to LEGOLAND Florida was timed perfectly with the opening of the new World of Chima (one of the new attractions on our Florida visit wish list). After testing our racing abilities in the Speedorz Arena we headed over to The Quest for CHI water ride. The large boats had water cannons for all the passengers to aim at targets as we went around the course. We could also aim at pedestrians waiting outside the ride area but of course they had cannons of their own they could use. Needless to say we all ended up getting pretty wet.
Of course if The Quest for CHI wasn’t enough water fun for you, LEGOLAND Florida has a whole water park located at the back of the park. We didn’t have time to visit the park on this visit.
Both the big and little LEGO fans in our family loved walking through Miniland USA, a collection of well-known US locations rebuilt in miniature. We found the hotel we stayed in when vacationing in Las Vegas, the launch pad we visited at NASA, and even the southernmost point in Key West we had just visited. There was even a whole section focusing on the Star Wars saga. The detail was amazing and probably inspired a few creative ideas for home LEGO projects.
Along with the rides you’ll find many opportunities to stock-up on some of your favourite LEGO sets. There are shops scattered throughout the site. There are even shows to watch, such as the Pirates’ Cove Live Water Ski Show. The crowd gets right into this show with LEGO pirates on their large pirate ship and the tricks the water skiers perform on the lake.
For the smallest LEGO fans you can enjoy DUPLO Village (soon to be reopened as DUPLO Valley) with places to crawl and explore.
When walking through LEGOLAND be sure to keep your eyes on the lookout for some of your favourite characters, in LEGO form. Plus on days when the par is busy, kids will love the building stations incorporated into the line-up area.
You won’t find any super coasters or high-speed thrill rides at LEGOLAND Florida. This is a park built around the childhood imagination of the younger set and what child wouldn’t love to play in their own LEGO set? Plus with the expansion to include a LEGOLAND Hotel in 2015, soon kids will be able to sleep within the world of LEGO.
Thanks to the folks at LEGOLAND Florida for the opportunity to visit the park.