Introduction

“Everything is awesome!” Once we watched the Lego Movie, it was impossible to get this song out of my head. My five year old sang it. My husband hummed it. I even found myself singing along while sitting on the floor building with Legos with my daughter. If there is a child in your house, I am willing to bet you know this song. I bet you have also played with Legos. Why? Because Legos really are awesome.

Our family may go overboard on the Lego enthusiasm. There are more than a dozen storage boxes of Legos, Duplos and other specialty brick systems in our home. My daughter takes her Lego creations to school to show her friends. My husband asks for Legos for holiday and birthday gifts. It is fair to say I am living with a couple of serious Lego fans.

Legoland seems like an obvious vacation destination for us. We travel to the Orlando area frequently for vacations. The thought of going to Legoland intrigued me for years. Yet I resisted actually booking a trip to check it out. I thought it was going to be a tiny little park we would finish in a few hours. And, well, to be blunt, I thought there was no possible way that Legoland would compare well to Walt Disney World.

After years of putting off a trip to Legoland, we finally decided to give it a try. One lovely morning in December 2015 we made our first visit to Legoland Florida. I was wrong about Legoland. It was far from the boring amusement park I had half expected. It is a vibrant park with plenty to appreciate. We have enjoyed several years of Legoland visits now and the park just keeps getting better. My sense is that this park is just starting to come into its own and will get even better over the next several years as the parent company of Legoland Florida, Merlin Entertainments, continues to invest in the park.

The simplicity of Legoland is part of what we enjoy about visiting this park. Legoland is easy. There is plenty to do, so no worries about getting bored in a small park. However, having a smaller set of choices reduces or eliminates the need to plan meals, rides and other attractions months in advance to get the best experience. Still, to be realistic, this park is always going to be the little brother of Disney, Universal and even SeaWorld. Legoland might best be viewed as a great compliment to other experiences in the Orlando area. It is a great weekend park.

In fact, you could easily walk into Legoland with nothing but this book and have a blast hitting the best of what the park has to offer. There is no need to make reservations for a place to stay a year in advance. No need to book meals at 180 days. No need to stay up till midnight 60 days prior to the trip to try to get the best Fast Pass. That’s right, it is EASY to build an awesome vacation at Legoland Florida. Let’s all take a collective sigh of relief. As a bonus, for those accustomed to Disney prices, not only is Legoland easy to plan and experience, it is relatively easy on the wallet.

So, if it is so easy, why should you keep reading this book? Well, mostly because it is a good way to get a real sense of what it is like to visit Legoland. There are relatively few sources of information on Legoland readily available. Reading will give you a good sense of how your family might enjoy a trip to Legoland. I will give you plenty of suggestions for how to make the most of a trip to the park. And since money always matters, we did several different trips at different budget levels. Reading this book will give you a way to walk through different experiences to get a feel for what might work best for your family. There are plenty of tips along the way on what we have learned about saving money at Legoland. And, for those who might want to indulge more, there are also thoughts on how to splurge a little for some meaningful extras that may make your family visit to Legoland even more awesome.

To be clear, I am not an insider. I do not work for Legoland. I am not associated with Legoland. I do not know any of their secrets. I am a theme park fan and a mom. I understand wanting to put together an awesome family vacation. I get that quality family vacation time is rare and valuable. I know just how much vacation time and money matter. I also know what it is like to plan a vacation and have nothing go as planned. This book will bring together all the things we did right…..any more importantly, all the things we did wrong, on multiple trips to Legoland. My hope is that sharing our experiences will help you make your Legoland vacation even more awesome!