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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 

 

Top Reasons To Stay at 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:

  1. The Great Lego Race Roller Coaster: An action-packed road rally thrilling roller coaster where the laws of physics and aerodynamics only loosely apply.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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!
  5. 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.
  6. 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.
  7. 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.

 

jillivictorio@gmail.com /

Photo by Disney Aulani, by @lottiedoesdisney

It’s already been one month since we’ve returned from another amazing week in Hawaii, staying exclusively at the Disney Aulani for our family vacation, and the kids are already asking to go back.  As we save up and plan for our next trip, I love that we have all these fun memories from this vacation that the kids can remember and talk about from photos taken and stories told.

From our first visit to Aulani last spring of 2017, we fell in love with the resort and immediately knew we would return the following year to celebrate our 10thwedding anniversary.  The week was nothing short of amazing. From the service to the food, drinks, hospitality, and activities, we could have easily spent an entire week here and still not get to do/experience everything.  The weather was a perfect 85 degrees all week – a nice break from the 105+ degree summer weather in Texas!  My only complaint is that there’s never enough time in the day to enjoy all that this resort has to offer.

At the time of this trip, Jonah at 8-years-old and Baron at 2-years-old, both kids could experience a variety of attractions at the resort.  I feel that their age is ideal for the attractions that the resort offers such as separate age-appropriate pools and water features in the water park and activities at Auntie’s Beach House, while the resort also offers family attractions such as the luau, character dining, character events, and other family activities that the entire family could participate in and enjoy together.

Some of our favorite memories during our week in paradise:

Check-In

From the moment you arrive to the front doors of the Aulani, you immediately experience a unique check-in process unlike any other Disney resort offers.  After a long flight from Dallas-Fort Worth, we especially appreciated Aulani’s warm welcome with their traditional lei-greeting, fresh cold citrus infused water, and being ushered by the friendly staff.  The 10-year anniversary pins the staff gave us were a nice surprise and delight!

Cute souvenirs at check-in and love these 10 year anniversary pins the staff made us!

 

The Olelo Room & Lounge

After checking in to our room, unpacking and freshening up, our first night was spent unwinding at the Olelo Room enjoying pupus, drinks and live music on the patio.

Outfit details: Floral Top: Who What Wear for Target | Pants: Mossimo | Sandals:  similar here

John’s Shirt: sold out,  similar here

Jonah and Baron’s Outfits: Shirts Toddler here

 

 

The food at The Olelo Room features island favorite pupus (appetizers) such as poke, sliders, wings, etc. There’s also a simple kids menu to accommodate smaller appetites.

Chicken & Waffles for the kids, poke and Korean fried chicken wings for John and me!

 

Nothing more refreshing than Sangria on the patio and the soothing sounds of live Hawaiian music playing

Beach Day

One of the days was devoted to an entire beach day.  According to Jonah and Baron, the beach was their favorite thing to do while at Aulani. John and I enjoyed watching the boys play from our Beachside Casabella lounger and enjoyed drink service.  Our Hawaii family also joined us at the beach for a beach picnic and brought all the local grinds – fresh poke, manapua, noodles, short ribs, garlic chicken, mango from auntie’s tree, and malasadas from Leonards!  Jonah and Baron really enjoyed playing and bonding with their cousins too.

Outfit details: Swimsuit:  Becca Swim  | Hat:  Brixton

 

The Beachside Casabellas were a great amenity to have for the day. It was our base camp for our beach day where I could lounge while keeping an on the boys playing on the beach right from my casabella.

 

Boys at the newly remodeled Menehue Bridge

Makahiki Character Breakfast

The character breakfast at Aulani is one of our favorite dining events at the resort. It features a delicious breakfast, photos with Mickey, and interactive entrainment for kids.

Outfit details: Dress: Who What Wear Ruffle Hem Maxi | Mules:  Universal Thread

John’s Shirt: his own

Jonah and Baron’s Outfits: Shirts | Junk Food Boys’

 

 

The breakfast fare at Makahiki features an extensive selection of traditional breakfast favorites such as bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs, pancakes, eggs Benedict, a custom omelet station, pastries, fresh fruit, and of course, Disney’s signature Mickey Waffles, along with Asian and Hawaiian dishes such as congee, fried rice, Loco Moco and Portuguese Sausage. You’ll definitely need to come here hungry as there is more food than you can handle!

When in Hawaii: Loco Moco and Portuguese Sausage!

 

 

A Crowd Favorite: Mickey Waffles

 

We love how the characters make their way around to each and every table to visit with families, interact with the kids and pose for photo opps. It’s a great incentive to get your kids to finish their meal before Goofy arrives!

 

A special thanks to the staff at the Makahiki Restaurant for the special anniversary surprise. What a delight for the staff to remember our special day and another reason we let the kids indulge in as many sweet treats on this trip.

Sweet treat from the staff at Makahiki! Mahalo!

Ka Wa’A Luau

Outfit details: Dress:  Mimi Chica

John’s Shirt: Junk Food Mens  similar here

Jonah and Baron’s Outfits: Shirts: On Jonah  Junk Food Boys and on Baron  Junk Food Toddler

A new experience for the boys on this trip was attending their first luau, Aulani’s Ka Wa’A Luau. It’s a fantastic family friendly event and should be experienced at least once whether or not you are a guest staying at the Aulani. The kids loved the pre-show activities with Kakao tattoos, poi pounding, ukulele lessons, lei bracelet making, and paper stamping.  We enjoyed the VIP experience.  VIP ticket holders get a better luau experience overall: separate entrance, no lines, better seating closer to the stage, early entrance to enjoy the pre-show cultural and interactive activities, and an open bar for the adults – need I say more?

Lei bracelet making

 

Baron’s temporary tattoo

The setting of the Ka Wa’A Luau takes place on the beautifully landscaped Halawai Lawn at Aulani. The setting is just gorgeous and the vibe is luxuriously relaxing.  Guests staying in rooms that face the lawn actually get a view of the show.

We had the best seats directly in front if the main stage.

 

Yummy Lechon!

 

The Kids’ Dessert Station

 

Toward the end of the show, the performers invite all the kids to come toward the front of the stage for a special kids dance performance.

The actual show was a deep storyline that was equally entertaining as it was educational.  They told a great story that celebrated Hawaiian culture with lots of hula, fire, songs, and music. The story they told was so beautiful and the narration was very touching.

 

Vow Renewal Breakfast @ Ama Ama

As shared in my previous vow renewal post, we enjoyed a lovely breakfast at the Ama Ama Restaurant after our vow renewal ceremony. Ama Ama is another dining option at Aulani, and is the more formal of the three sit-down restaurants at the resort. The Ama Ama has stunning views with tables facing the ocean.  We had a beautiful table set up on the patio overlooking the ocean and next to the fountain. Our view from our table was truly like a postcard.  The cuisine at Ama Ama is also topnotch. Each main entree dish is carefully crafted and prepared with the highest quality and attention.

 

Special thanks to the Ama Ama staff for hosting our party and surprising us with some special tropical treats for our celebration. They make a mean tropical acai bowl that is always a favorite. The kids loved sharing the Mickey celebration dessert. 

 

We also had cake! This was mostly enjoyed by Baron because he absolutely loves chocolate. 

Looking back at our week at Aulani, we had such a memorable time, and it reminded me that no matter how busy we get with work, school and life, we all need to take the time to travel, rest our bodies and minds, and to celebrate every day.  I will treasure this trip forever!

jillivictorio@gmail.com /

Aloha!

Our family recently returned from our first trip to the Disney Aulani Resort in Ko’olina and wow~ what a memorable vacation! It was the perfect 3 days spent at a Disney resort in a tropical setting with the beach at our fingertips and just a touch of Disney magic sprinkled throughout. The resort was the perfect blend of family friendly and luxury accommodations. Our family often talks about our memories from this trip that we are eager to experience again.

Arrival

Upon arriving to the resort, we were greeted with fresh flower leis and given refreshing cold water, which after traveling for 5+ hours is much appreciated.  The lobby is grand and adorned with Hawaiian artistry displayed throughout the resort. Every piece of art is part of a larger Hawaiian story, as told by Hawaiian artists.

Check-in is not until 4pm, but if you arrive early, you can explore the resort grounds and even enjoy the water features or the beach. You’ll also be given access to a lounge to store your bags and change in beach/water gear while you wait for your room to become available. This was a major plus especially traveling with two children, one that needed a diaper change.

Our room was available within the hour and just as welcoming and comfortable as we expected. The mickey folded towels and welcome gifts for the kids were a nice touch.

 

With two occasions we were celebrating – 1st Visit and hubby’s and my 9th wedding anniversary, the staff at the Aulani gave us these cute keepsake souvenir buttons.

The Beach and Pool Areas

The main draw of this resort is the beach and pool areas and which makes Aulani is an obvious choice for families traveling with children. The beach at Ko’Olina Lagoon is perfectly positioned on the shores and offers easy access to the water. Guests can enjoy boogie-boarding (complimentary boards with your stay), or rent snorkels, paddleboards or other equipment to enjoy an ocean adventure. The beach is also furnished with loungers and umbrella shades for protection from the sun. Again, depending on the time of year you go, loungers may be occupied or plenty available. We were fortunate with our timing that the resort was not too crowded and we were able to use several beach loungers throughout our stay.

There are several pools throughout the resort, some of which are adult only pools we didn’t get to check out because we had our kids the entire time. Our little one (19 months at the time) loved the Keki Cove, a water playground designed for kids ages 5 and under. The Keiki Cove is conveniently adjacent to the Ka Maka Landing, the family pool area where our 7-year-old and daddy swam. Some of the Disney characters are scheduled to come out to the different pools for a fun high-energy pool party. Kids love it. My 19-month old would not give up looking for Goofy. When he finally found him, he froze with amazement and I was able to snag this pic.

Dining

There are several dining options at the Aulani – a few casual spots and a couple of nicer sit down restaurants for reservations. We loved character breakfast at Ama Ama. There is a desert stand serving yummy dole whip and of course, Mickey Shave Ice. Our our first day, we ordered food and drinks to be delivered beachside to our loungers. After a long travel day, this seemed to be the best and most enjoyable option.

The Grounds

The resort grounds are beautifully kept inside and out with tropical landscape features all around, making it very family friendly. The lazy river was beautifully integrated onto the landscape winding through the tropical foliage where it looked natural and never felt like a typical loud water park. We especially loved walking to the beach after dinner, watching the sunset, and listing to the live reggae band while the kids played on the sand. It became our nightly ritual after dinner.

A few photos from our Family Portrait Session we reserved with a Disney Photopass Photographer:

Dress: Tiare Hawaii | Sandals: DV | Flower Clip: from the resort

John’s Outfit: Top: Mossimo | Shorts: own Volcom | Flip Flops: Ugg

Jonah and Baron’s Outfit’s: Tops: Zara Kids (similar here) | Shorts: HM Kids (similar here) | Sandals: Keene and Surprize by Stride Rite

 

Travel tips and favorite things at Aulani:

  • Pick up the daily ‘Iwa. It’s a printed newsletter with the week’s events and activities to help you plan your stay. It can be found at the front desk of the lobby.
  • Book a reservation for the character breakfast (Ama Ama). This is your one opportunity to get fun live character time during a delicious, casual and interactive breakfast. Breakfast is served buffet style with something for everyone from fresh tropical fruit and island dishes to classic American style breakfast, not to mention everyone’s favorite, Mickey pancakes!
  • Auntie’s Beach House – Our 7-year-old loved it. Children are safely check-in and grouped in age-appropriate activity rooms with supervised childcare. While the kids play, parents can enjoy some relaxing alone time. Aunty’s Beach House features complimentary programs such as Hawaiian arts and crafts, games, a Disney movie room, enclosed back yard and play structure and peace of mind for parents
  • Enjoy the lazy river. The Waikolohe stream offers a lazy river and two rushing rapid experiences. Float down the river and relax, or hold on tight as you go on a twisting and turning tube adventure.
  • Experience the Rainbow Reef. This is where my 7-year-old gained the confidence and learned to snorkel. Rainbow reef is great for beginners or those simply wanting to experience the beauty and wildlife down below.
  • Consider renting a cabana. Depending on the time of year you visit, you may or may not have the need to book a cabana. We visited in May and the resort was not crowded at all, just how we like it. We didn’t need to book a cabana and had many seating options along the beach. If we visited during a busier time, I definitely see the value in renting a cabana for the day.
  • We reserved time with one of the Aulani PhotoPass Photographers because we wanted special photos to remember our trip. The resort photographers are great with kids and families, and there are a couple of different time slot options depending on your needs and budget. With an active 19-month-old we knew a 20-minute session would suffice, and it did. Our photographer captured some great family shots and shots of just the kids in various areas of the resort. We loved being able to view and keep all our photos from our trip.
  • I would love the try Aulani’s luau next time! The luau takes place on the resort lawn on select days of the week. I think it would be a fun experience for the kids and you have the luxury of going back to your room if little ones get fussy and don’t make it for the entire duration of the luau program.

Overall, the service at Aulani was outstanding throughout our stay. We always felt welcomed at every encounter with a cast member. This was such a memorable trip for our family, especially the boys’ first experience staying at a Disney resort that I will cherish. There is so much to see and do at the Aulani that you may not be able to do it all. We’re already planning our next trip back. What are some of your favorite attractions at Aulani?