Where we went: Legoland Florida | What we wore: Lego face family t-shirts
A few months ago, we travelled to Legoland Florida for a few days of fun during the kids’ spring break. Now that it’s summer break, if a theme park or adventurous rides are on the horizon, LEGOLAND® Florida could be your ultimate multi-day fun destination. This Florida theme park is about LEGO®, lively colors, fun, and education in an interactive environment. Designed for families with young kids, I’ve outlined everything we loved about the Legoland Florida Pirate Island resort and our stay there, and our two full days at the theme park so you will have everything you need to know before booking a trip.
WHO IS LEGOLAND FLORIDA RESORT FOR?
Legoland is ideally designed for children ages 2-12 and any lego-lover at heart. Children under the age of 2 do not require a ticket. Ages 3 and over will require a ticket for entry. Most all the rides and other activities are designed for younger kids. LEGOLAND is a theme park specifically for the pre-teen crowd.
WHY STAY AT LEGOLAND FLORIDA RESORT?
If you have kids, or you are a Lego-lover, Legoland Florida is the place for you to stay during a vacation to central Florida.
1. EVERYTHING IS AWESOME! (AND LEGO-THEMED!)
2. PROXIMITY TO LEGOLAND FLORIDA THEME PARKS
Its close proximity to the Legoland Florida Theme Park & Water Park is also a great reason to stay right inside the Legoland Florida Resort.
For a fun-filled day spent at the Legoland Florida parks, all one has to do is exit the main entrance of the Legoland hotels, walk about 100 steps along the dedicated sidewalk for resort guests and then enter the Legoland Florida theme park entrance. It’s so convenient!
- I liked the ability to leave things in our hotel room and be able to run back if needed.
- My youngest is six years old and way past the nap stage, but it was still helpful to be able to have the hotel a stones throw away in case either kid just wanted a break from the park. If you do have young ones, staying right on property is a benefit.
3. LEGOLAND HOTELS ARE BEAUTIFUL & FUN!
When deciding to stay on property, you will have two hotel options to choose from: The Legoland Hotel, which is the original hotel for the property built in 2011, and the new Legoland Pirate Island Hotel, opened to the public in the summer of 2020.
- Both enjoy the same main entrance right at the original Legoland Hotel.
- Both hotels are a nice size but not overwhelming to navigate.
- Hotel amenities and activities at both hotels are available to guests, regardless of which hotel you decide to stay in.
- Each room is Lego-themed and set up for families, with a separate bunk area for children.
- Legoland Pirate Island Hotel is nearly brand new! (at the time of this post) I felt it was super clean and the rooms are very quiet.
LEGOLAND FLORIDA RESORT – ALL THE EXTRA PERKS!
- Heated resort-style pools, a super fun mini-golf course, s’mores and bonfires and a beautiful boardwalk area to enjoy a gorgeous central-Florida sunset over Lake Eloise.
- Master builder workshops are included with your hotel stay! You even get to keep your amazing Lego creations!
- Complimentary breakfast with the hotel stay is PLENTIFUL and delicious each morning. The hearty breakfast definitely set us up for a day of fun at the parks. Even the waffles are shaped like Lego bricks! The restaurants will also accommodate food allergies to the best of their abilities, which many families will greatly appreciate.
- Free parking on-site if you drive your own car to the resort.
LEGOLAND PIRATE ISLAND HOTEL
- Free breakfast daily
- Complimentary self-parking for ye pirate crew
- Located 130 pirate steps away from LEGOLAND Park
- In-room treasure hunt with daily LEGO® treasures
- Separate sleeping space (with bunk beds!) for young bucks
- Nightly kid’s pirate entertainment
- Free LEGO Master Model Builder Workshops
- Heated resort-style pool
- All ye-can-feast family-style dining
- We could still use all of the amenities at the original Legoland Hotel while staying at the newer hotel. The original Legoland Hotel boasts Bricks Family Restaurant, the Lego building stations in the hotel lobby entrance, the Skyline Lounge, the Lego Castle play area and the amazing pool and slide area located directly outside the original hotel.
LEGOLAND PIRATE ISLAND GUEST ROOMS
The property is well-themed with thoughtful Lego creations placed throughout the guest rooms.
KIDS BUNK AREAS
A separate bunk area to host two kids is always a bonus in any hotel guest room.
Each bunk area also includes a television where my kids watched a few Lego movies at the end of our very busy days at the park.
LEGO BUILDING AREA INSIDE THE ROOM
Inside the kids bunk area, right along the wall under the television, each room has a Lego building area all set up for the kiddos to produce their exciting creations!
THE FOOD
- Upon booking your stay at the Legoland Florida Resort Hotel, make sure to book your on-site dining reservation asap for breakfast and dinner. Due to social distancing, time slots do fill up quickly.
- The dinner at Pirate Island Hotel Restaurant features an all you can eat family style meal. The menu includes three types of family style meals to select from and also includes dessert.
- The dinner at the Skyline Lounge is a-la-carte but guests are able to reserve a table directly next the main play space. I highly recommend this for parents looking to unwind after a fun day at the parks. The kids will have a blast. It is a win-win!
- Take advantage of the site play spaces while staying at the Legoland Hotel.
- The first play space includes a fun interactive area as well as lego tables for creating awesome works of art. This is is located inside the Pirate Island Hotel, just past the restaurant on the left.
SHIPWRECK RESTAURANT
When we travel, one of our favorite things to do is enjoy great food. Just because we’re staying at a family-themed resort and theme park doesn’t mean that we should have to sacrifice good food either.
COMPLIMENTARY BREAKFAST
Large platters of food served family-style for breakfast at Shipwrecks Restaurant
Menu and table all set for breakfast at Shipwrecks Restaurant
There are three family-style platter options available (at the time of this post).
- Pirate Platter: Slow-cooked beef brisket, BBQ ribs, spare ribs, smoked sausage, slow-roasted chicken served with all sorts of side dishes! We chose this platter and I assure you, you will find it amazing!
- Seadog Skillet: Flank steak, pork tenderloin, blackened fish, citrus shrimp, rotisserie chicken and all the sides. When we go back to Legoland Florida, we will certainly have to try out this family-style platter as it looked amazing as well!
Each family-style dinner is capped off with a perfect ending: a delicious, warm and gooey chocolate chip cookie in a small cast-iron skillet served al a mode! DELICIOUS!
LEGOLAND FLORIDA RESORT AMENITIES
We spent three full days at the Legoland Florida Theme Park and Water Park with one additional day built in just to enjoy the hotel amenities.
I am so glad we did this! While we had a fun time enjoying the parks and all that they have to offer, we needed a “flex day” just to relax, swim at the resort pools, play mini golf, enjoy an evening bonfire with s’mores and partake in a beautiful central-Florida sunset.
PONTOON BOAT RIDE
Highly recommended! The Legoland Hotel offers pontoon boat rides for a relaxing family adventure around beautiful Lake Eloise and Lake Summit. We enjoyed a guided historical wildlife tour of the “Famous Chain of Lakes.” Our captain cruised by the pirate ship, the Esther Williams Florida Pool, the LEGOLAND Water Park while pointing out the abundant wildlife such as; alligators, turtles, anhinga, ospreys, egrets, bald eagles, great blue herons and more. The boat ride lasts approximately 25 minutes. We chose a timeslot before sunset and it was the perfect way to end the day.
MINI GOLF
We ended our evening with a game of mini golf at sunset.
Mini Golf at the Legoland Florida Resort complex
The mini golf course is very fun and complete with several Lego creatures beautifully-staged throughout the course.
HEATED POOLS + SLIDES
The Legoland Resort Properties has two pools; a smaller pool adjacent to the Pirate hotel and larger main pool with water slide at the Legoland Hotel side.
This is where we spent the bulk of our resort day.
My kids loved the heated pool at the Legoland Florida Resort!
The pools opened at 11 a.m. and close at 9 p.m. This made for a full day of water fun.
BONFIRE + S’MORES
The Legoland Florida Resort complex hosts a huge outdoor bonfire area with chairs for seating, near the boardwalk area down by Lake Eloise.
Grab a s’mores kit at the front desk and make your way down by the lake. Enjoy delicious sweet s’mores along with a fantastic sunset with your loved ones!
Legoland Park – Attractions & Fun Rides
LEGOLAND rides are built for kids. Along with fifty fun rides, the park offers interactive shows, brick-tastic attractions inspired by the LEGO® brand, and a LEGOLAND water park. The activities are divided into three sections based on age:
- Duplo Valley for the kids under 5
- Thrill rides that younger kids can’t tackle
- Rides for everyone
Some of our favorite rides and attractions:
- The Great Lego Race Roller Coaster: An action-packed road rally thrilling roller coaster where the laws of physics and aerodynamics only loosely apply.
- Coastersaurus: Let your kid experience the wild ride through the jungles and dip into an animated pre-historic wilderness while witnessing life-sized LEGO®-brick dinosaurs.
- Build Your Art Gallery: LEGOLAND offers interactive and educational fun. Build Your Art Gallery allows your kid to experience creativity through LEGO® tiles to create masterpieces.
- Flying School: The suspended coaster will take you for a ride up in the sky, soar through the clouds then bring you back to land!
- LEGO® Ninjago World: The Ninjago World gives your kids a golden opportunity to blast the villains with fireballs and lightning to defeat a powerful foe.
- Miniland Reopens: Miniland reopened with its new shade structure to provide a more enjoyable and comfortable experience at this super cool iconic attraction of the park.
- Ford Driving School: Get your kid a personalized LEGOLAND driving license. Let them hit the road by pretending to be a policeman, firefighter, and more.
THE LEGO MOVIE WORLD
My personal favorite attraction was The Lego Movie World for its colorful and playful aesthetic. You can capture some great instaworthy photos here. THE LEGO MOVIE WORLD has three rides (Unikitty’s Disco Drop, Masters Of Flights, and Battle of Bricksburg) and features a recreated downtown Bricksburg with its lovable characters, creative eating spaces and authentic city scape. Guests can experience Emmet’s Super Suite and many other surprises!
Closing Thoughts
Although many theme parks are available in Orlando, this child-dedicated theme park is a fantastic adventure for families with young kids.
My favorite sale of the year is here! As much as I hate to think that school starts exactly one month from today, I am excited for a new school year with both kids starting milestone school years (Jonah middle school and Baron Kindergarten!), the anniversary sale is the best time to snag some fall back-to-school pieces on sale and grab some tried and true favorites for a capsule wardrobe (sweaters, boots and denim). We’re also building a home, so the anniversary is also a great opportunity to shop for home decor items at a great value.
