Legoland! - San Diego Day Four

Legoland!

Today was the big day, we went to Legoland! The boys have been looking forward to this since we first made our trip plans. Christian was devastated that we weren't going to Legoland as soon as we got off the plane and all the boys had a really hard time waiting until Monday to go. With all the hype I was worried that Legoland couldn't possibly live up to their expectations, especially since we've been to other wonderful amusement parks. But it was fantastic! Will said that Legoland was even better than he had expected.

Christian and Grandma waiting in line

James and Will are excited for the ride

Jay

One of the cool things about the park is their minifigure trading. Anyone can bring a Lego minifigure to the park and trade it for another one with any staff member, at almost any store, and at designated areas around the park. The boys started trading when we bought our tickets and continued until it was time to leave. They loved it! And they ended up with some cool little Legos.

She has a minifig on her nose! The boys put their minifigures everywhere.

Christian's "girlfriend"

The boys found a giant spider for Uncle Jacob

Will wrestles with an ogre who is eating his minifig

The park was practically empty so we never had to wait in any long lines. It did start to rain a little before lunch although it didn't last too long. Right after the rain started Jon ran across a plaza and slipped badly scraping his knee. We took shelter from the rain in the set of the Lego movie (from the live portion of the movie). It was really cool and Will and Christian were thrilled to see all the sets and the characters. But poor Jon was in a lot of pain and sat crying and bleeding.

The Cask of Amontillado

All the boys took turns being locked inside.
The prison was Will's design.

Breakout! Will knocks over the prison with Jon still inside.

But eventually the rain slowed and Jon felt better enough to head out again. We were all hungry so lunch was next followed by one of the coolest things at the park, the driving school. There were two, a small one for kids under 5 and a pretty big area for older kids set up to look like a city block. The cars weren't very fast but the roads were open so the kids could actually drive. The boys loved it and all went a couple of times. Christian wanted to crash into people on his first time around but was better by the second time. Will and Jon did a great job and were actually pretty good drivers. It was so much fun to watch each of them!

Will driving his Lego car

Jon loved driving his car. He was so proud of the driver's license they handed out at the end of this ride.

Christian had so much fun driving.

Right after the cars we went on a boat right where the boys were also able to drive themselves around. Will and Jon each drove their own and Christian drove one with Daddy. Christian was still determined to crash and he and James would wrestle over the steering wheel as they tried to drive. It was so funny to watch! Will was a fantastic driver and was passing people left and right as he carefully drove his boat around the river. He looked so serious as he focused on not hitting anything. Poor Jon though had trouble right out of the dock. He could not get his boat to go! The gas pedal was really hard to push down and he just couldn't get any power. Eventually though he used both feet and was able to drive his boat back in.

Christian and Daddy in their boat

Jon was happy when he finally figured out how to drive his boat!

Will was a very careful driver and passed at least 5 other boats.

Daddy and Christian wrestle for control of the boat.
Christian wants to crash!

Miniland was our next destination, it was a surprisingly large area of elaborate Lego displays of U.S. cities. The cities were amazing and Will was particularly impressed, he could have spent another hour there at least. But our favorite part was the Star Wars section where they had a scenes built from every movie and a huge Death Star! They even had a life size Darth Vader.

Jon points out Jar Jar Binks in the battle of Naboo

Chewbacca!

Will was so excited to see Darth Maul

Millennium Falcon

A sand crawler!

Will in a Miniland city

By the time we were done with Miniland we only had two hours before closing and we had only seen half the park. We had to skip by some really cool building areas so we could make it to the rides we wanted to do. Will and I went on a large roller coaster and then joined everyone else for a Egyptian tomb ride. It was one of those rides where you score points by shooting things in different rooms and not at all scary. But Jon was still traumatized by the Lost Mine ride at Canobie Lake Park this summer and refused to go on any indoor rides. But on the way in their was a building station, for children to use when the line was long, and he was perfectly happy to play with Legos while the rest of us went on the ride. We took turns of course so that he wasn't left alone.

James, Will, Christian, and Grandma sail down Fairy Tale Brook

The cave of wonders

Me and Jonny in our boat

Will wants to steal a bite of pizza 

Jon was eaten by a lion!

As we progressed through the park the boys stopped frequently to trade minifigures, look into the many kiosks, play with Legos, and admire the park decorations. Will loved getting his picture taken with the large Lego statues. There were so many building stations throughout the park that we could have taken another day just for those alone! It doesn't matter how many Legos they have at home, the boys jump at any chance to build new creations.

Christian, Will, and I build Lego boats to race

Jon working on his boat. He built a really cool mast and sail complete
with a Crow's Nest on top.

Christian sends his boat down the stream

James and I watch the race

Camille was awesome and went on many of the rides with us, including a couple roller coasters! The last one we went on was a Dragon coaster that took us through a slow castle tour full of amazing scenes before ending with a soaring coaster ride. It was really fun and might have been my favorite ride there.

Jon flying in an airplane

Christian had so much fun!

The boys dig for fossils

Christian poses with a bionicle

Christian and Jon eaten by a shark

We finally left at closing time, very happy and only a little tired. We almost left James' backpack in the lockers but remembered it just before driving away. It was a wonderful day and the fact that there were no lines made it even better. 

Me and my boys with a giant minifig!

Christian fell asleep on the ride home and it took a good fifteen minutes to wake him up when we got back. I wasn't sure we would be able to but he didn't eat a lot for lunch and we couldn't let him sleep through supper again. He did finally wake up and eat but then of course we couldn't get him back to sleep again for bedtime. :-)

Today was another wonderful day. I feel like we've done so much on this trip already and we still have another week!

Goodnight!