So I have a two year old daughter and we are going to be in San Diego soon. Thinking of taking her to Legoland. I've checked their site and there seesm to be about five or six things she can do there. Is 2 a good age to go, or whould we be better served waiting? Is it worth it to go now. We went to DL when she was 18 months and she liked some of it especially the characters and Casey Jr.

My children and I had a very unpleasant day at Legoland in November so I'm not entirely unbiased, just to warn you.

Mine are 3, 6 and 9. The 3-y/o and I sat out a lot of rides. Legoland isn't inexpensive and it closes early all the time. Between the lack of rides and the falling quality of staff since someone new bought Legoland, I would save my money if I were you.

Adrienne

Thanks Adrienne. We are going to be down there and were planning on going to the zoo, Maybe we'll do Sea World instead of Legoland.

Truth be told, my DD(3) would rather go to DL and my boys (6 and 8) would rather go to Legoland.

However, my daughter keeps going on and on about being able to drive. She's only 3, but she drove so much better than some of the other older kids. But we still did have to sit out on most of the rides.

And that's why we always do both on our southern california trips.

gloria

Although I love Legoland, if it's a choice between that and SeaWorld, I think with a 2-year-old I'd go for SeaWorld. Most kids that age are pretty fascinated with animals, and it's a very different experience from going to the Zoo.

I think I'd even pick SeaWorld over the San Diego Zoo, for a 2-year-old. A lot of the zoo animals can seem rather "boring", just sleeping or not moving much. The ocean creatures at SeaWorld tend to be in motion all the time, which is much more intriguing for a toddler. And if your kid is familiar with the "Baby Beluga" book or song, you'll be happy to know SeaWorld has Belugas!

I have a 2-year-old as well, and we're waiting on Legoland until he turns 3. Then he'll be old enough to drive the little cars, which he would consider a dream come true. Plus every time he grows a few inches, the ride possibilities expand.

We did take him to Legoland when he was about 3 months old (had some free tickets from a friend.) And we had a great time on that trip. Compared to all the other theme parks in the area, Legoland is so nice and relaxing. The landscaping is spectacular, the park isn't overcrowded, and there are lots of neat things to look at. Kind of like Disneyland, it's a place where you can have a great time even without going on many rides, just by wandering around and exploring. Even the food seemed better than average, and their baby care center was actually nicer than Disney's!

My children and I had a very unpleasant day at Legoland in November so I'm not entirely unbiased, just to warn you.

Mine are 3, 6 and 9. The 3-y/o and I sat out a lot of rides. Legoland isn't inexpensive and it closes early all the time. Between the lack of rides and the falling quality of staff since someone new bought Legoland, I would save my money if I were you.

Adrienne

Was part of the problem the height restrictions and the design of many rides to handle two people? We've run up against that at Legoland when our kids were little. Going as a solo adult with multiple kids, especially with a little one, it would be trickier--by far--than DL.

But ADK, what do you think? Would my twins and the FPD have a good time there? We've loved it in the past...even if it isn't DL!

Was part of the problem the height restrictions and the design of many rides to handle two people? We've run up against that at Legoland when our kids were little. Going as a solo adult with multiple kids, especially with a little one, it would be trickier--by far--than DL.

It started with that. (I can't believe I haven't told you this story but you were busy getting ready to travel at the time.) This is the really short and limited version. There was a really bad miscommunication incident - well, two of them - with "MC's" at two rides who wouldn't let my kids ride. I went to the Guest Relations for clarification. They were giving me a very conflicted and illogical answer. (They'd changed policies from what their website said and they hadn't updated their maps and it was looking like we wouldn't be able to ride ANY rides all day long because of our family configuration... They couldn't figure it out either...)

FINALLY they figured it out. FINALLY. I turned to walk away. I was fine. Not thrilled, but I was fine. They offered me a perk to compensate me for my trouble. I accepted it. (Please note: they offered. I did NOT ask for ANYTHING other than clarification. I was upset. But I never asked for anything.) They gave us a FOTL pass. We were feeling pretty good at this point. We were more limited in what we could ride than we'd expected to be based on my pre-trip research, but we were ok.

Three hours later, the MCs at a ride detained us and a lead came over and demanded that we return our FOTL pass. In fairness, she offered me three one-time-use passes in exchange. I said "No thanks". She said "Well you have to give me that pass back anyway."

Uhm, what? No, thank you. My kids and I stood around awhile longer while they got a manager who came over and told me that I wasn't supposed to have the FOTL pass, what happened earlier, Why did they give it to you? and "Don't worry, we talked to the people involved in Guest Relations, no one else will get one in error" (Because I was worried about this?) They also told me they were doing me a favor because the FOTL would confuse their employees who wouldn't know what to do with it. (Uhm, we hadn't had any problems until this particular ride asked us to step aside and wait for the lead.) After I answered all his questions and pointed out that I didn't understand how punishing my family at this point made any sense to correct THEIR error, the manager let me keep the pass. We went on another ride, with our pass, and the MC looked at us and said "Oh. I've heard about YOU."

:rolleyes:

Oh, really?

So, really bad policy structure. One nice guy tried to say "sorry about that" to me. HE got his hand slapped. We got "pulled over" like WE had done something wrong. And then the MCs treated US like dirt for the rest of the day. Which didn't last long because soon after, I left to avoid being talked down to by Legoland Employees as if I had some scarlet letter on my head.

Also, I have to say, the park seems to be showing its age. I have a friend who lives very close to LL and she said that since the new owners took over, there's been a lot of displeasure with the level of service and quality of the park. When I told her what happened, she was disappointed but not surprised. (When I called AVP on the phone to tell her the details she was saying "They DIDN'T. You're KIDDING me. No, they didn't do that..." Oh yes, they did.)

But ADK, what do you think? Would my twins and the FPD have a good time there? We've loved it in the past...even if it isn't DL!

It's hard for me to say. Your kids, probably. They'll be able to go on a lot of rides by themselves. Some of the rides are a bit of a joke. The log ride? Oh. My. Yeah, don't bother. The geography it occupies is smaller than the space Dumbo takes up at Disneyland. They can do the robot thing, too, and they could do more of the faster rides than we could do that day. (Although a few rides were down and the park is so small that if you have a few big rides down, that's a BIG impact on the park.)

My older boys had a pretty good time while we were there. M was really annoyed by the MCs and the way they talked to us; he got self-righteously indignant and I really have no idea where he gets that from... :) I have no desire to go back ANY time soon because they left a horrible taste in my mouth and it was too hard to juggle kids my kids' ages to get over the incident and the price of admission.

Adrienne

If you are going with just a 2 year old, skip it. We took the 2 year old and 4 year old on our trip in December and the 2 year old spent a lot of time sitting out with Mom or Dad and crying because she wanted to go on a ride.

I was not all that impressed with LL, to be honest.

I second the Sea World vote. We all LOVED Sea World and wished we had gone to that for a full day instead of LL.

Thanks everyone. We have decided on Sea World this trip. I'll post another thread for advice on the fish park.:)

I hope this is okay - just going to add a question about Legoland tickets onto this thread . .

Were they giving out free tickets with a ticket purchase this last holiday season? There are some selling on ebay (the free ones) and we are wondering if there is any catch to it. They expire Feb29th - we know that "catch". Thanks for any info.

I hope this is okay - just going to add a question about Legoland tickets onto this thread . .

Were they giving out free tickets with a ticket purchase this last holiday season? There are some selling on ebay (the free ones) and we are wondering if there is any catch to it. They expire Feb29th - we know that "catch". Thanks for any info.

We've gotten them for the last 3 years. No catch. We've always given them to my SIL's family who goes to LA for Chinese New Year's and they've never had problems using them.

gloria

We've gotten them for the last 3 years. No catch. We've always given them to my SIL's family who goes to LA for Chinese New Year's and they've never had problems using them.

gloria

Thanks for your response. I got these tickets but was a little leary of using them. Now I know it will be fine. Thanks a bunch!

We've gotten them for the last 3 years. No catch. We've always given them to my SIL's family who goes to LA for Chinese New Year's and they've never had problems using them.

gloria


Thank you! :)

Thing to be wary of on eBay is that the free ticket might have been used already but is being sold by an unscrupulous seller. Make sure the seller's feedback is impeccable before buying any tickets and going to LL.
That said, Legoland is a great park for families with small children, it's like one huge playground. On the other hand, their liability lawyers are even more cautious than Disneyland's with ridiculous height/age requirements for many rides that unnecessarily shut out little ones.

Legoland just isn't that great if your kids are really young or spread out in age. The last time we went my DS was 2.5 and daughter 5 she is tall so she rode everything he spent a good chunk of the day either in the stroller or waiting in line for the worlds slowest loading and unloading and shortest rides ever!!!! I will take them back when he is a couple of inches taller and can ride everything, but likely it will be a one time shot. The food has gone way up in price and the quality down, the park was in dire need of some TLC and that was two years ago!!!

When we went in 2005, we couldn't believe how high their food prices had gotten. We had my five year old niece with us and they wanted almost 7 dollars for a kids meal that didn't include much! We also much prefer seaworld and find that legoland wasn't a lot of fun even for my niece at age 5.

Is Sea World really better for kids than Legoland? I've never been to Sea World but was under the impression that a great deal of it would go over the heads of little kids who would be bored and unable to go on the limited number of rides there. I figured they'd have to be 4th grade or higher to start enjoying it.

My kids 6 and almost 9 much prefer Legoland and have since the first time they went. I believe they were 3 and 6 at that time and the 3 year old was able to ride almost everything. They went on many rides together without us adults, which they loved. We've gone back once a year to each of them. We must not go on very busy days, I don't recall waiting more than about 20 minutes for anything.

Sea World didn't really thrill any of us. I thought the exhibits were small, some were dirty or worn and I felt sorry for the animals.

My children and I had a very unpleasant day at Legoland in November so I'm not entirely unbiased, just to warn you.

Mine are 3, 6 and 9. The 3-y/o and I sat out a lot of rides. Legoland isn't inexpensive and it closes early all the time. Between the lack of rides and the falling quality of staff since someone new bought Legoland, I would save my money if I were you.

Adrienne

since someone new bought Legoland...

How do you mean, 'someone new' ?????? Legoland is part of te Merlin group since yeaaaaars, so, I can't see the 'new' one, here.....

July 2005 was when they took over, so for those of us that only visit once a year or so, that seems pretty recent.

We've always liked LL. I've been going with my daughter since she was 3 1/2--she is now 9. It has always been very pleasent. We rarely have trouble with crowds--maybe twice in all that time. I think the food is better than DL and not any more money (we do have a season pass and get a discount also). The new company has continued to put money and attractions into the park. Another new area is coming this year. The park is usually clean and so are the bathrooms. BTW they are great bathrooms.

That said, my daughter loves the thrill rides of DL, she is really outgrowing LL, but we still have to ride Technotrack (better than Mulholland Madness any day) over and over.

I took DD when she was 19.5 months old and she loved it. There was tons for her to do. We were only able to stay a few hours ( Husband was there on business) but she loved it. She's super active and the playground they have there was perfect for her.

In fact we are planning a trip to San Diego early april just to do Legoland and Seaworld.

I thought the food there was good, fresh and pretty healthy.

DD liked Legoland more than Seaworld. She liked SW... But not as much as daddy did. :)

We just took DD to DLR this weekend and it was a blast, but she wanted to run everywhere and that was hard. At Legoland they have that huge play area and the sandpit and I know my now 23.5 month old would love it.

I think what someone said about the ages is right on - at least as far as I can tell from this thread. If your kids are spread out in ages, with one being too little, it will be a long day.

Our kids were 4 and 2, and the 2 year old was just too small for everything, pretty much. She barely made it on the jeep safari ride - and that was just a jeep driving around a track. I didn't even see the need for a height requirement.

There were so many other things that she was just too small for. Her brother, on the other hand, was just right. He enjoyed the rides but not nearly as much because we constantly had to split up or else we didn't go on some rides that he wanted. The 2 year old cried because she wanted to go on lots of stuff and we constantly had to tell her we couldn't. She is a little daredevil and wants to go on every adventure - so it was hard for her.

They *do* have a cool playground. We did not play in it because well, frankly, I paid for us to go on rides. Playgrounds are free! We did not have much time in the park, so I did not want to waste it at the playground. If we had more time, we probably would have played there. The water play areas looked neat, too, but it was December. ;)

We did do a ventriloquist show. I found it a little hokey, but the kids laughed.

The food was alright. I thought it was incredibly expensive, but, then, we didn't really shop around, either. We shared a kids' pizza and a salad and some drinks - I think it ended up being almost $30. The kids meal was $7.50, I think. It was just pizza and a drink, I believe. The pizza was hard and it barely had any sauce. Still, the kids ate and were happy.

The one major complaint I had about LL seems stupid. I hated their map. They didn't label any of the attractions, so I was constantly lost and trying to figure out where I was on the map. I finally just gave up.

I agree with you about Playgrounds being free.

I went to Legoland because it was close to a meeting my husband had. I went in with VERY LOW expectations. I was pleasantly surprised at how much fun my daughter had. Admittedly we only have one child and I could see how your situation would be frustrating.

The food may have been $. But I will say this, we were at Seaworld the day before LL and the food there was awful. I did not even want my little one to eat it.

Yes, all my little one did was play in the playground and in the sand pit. And I'm sure that is all she will do again in April. But she had a good time, and it's just her... So I'm ok with that.

Although we did just have an amazing time at DLR this weekend... So we might just hit the resort again in April instead.

I agree with you about Playgrounds being free.

I went to Legoland because it was close to a meeting my husband had. I went in with VERY LOW expectations. I was pleasantly surprised at how much fun my daughter had. Admittedly we only have one child and I could see how your situation would be frustrating.

The food may have been $. But I will say this, we were at Seaworld the day before LL and the food there was awful. I did not even want my little one to eat it.

Yes, all my little one did was play in the playground and in the sand pit. And I'm sure that is all she will do again in April. But she had a good time, and it's just her... So I'm ok with that.

Although we did just have an amazing time at DLR this weekend... So we might just hit the resort again in April instead.

Oh, yes, the food at Sea World is disgusting. I will definitely agree with you there!

I wouldn't say I would never do LL again. I think if I had known that my daughter was going to be too short for a lot of things, we would have just skipped it this year. We could have used another day at each LL, the Zoo and Sea World! There were lots of things we wanted to try at LL that we didn't have the time (or one was too short) to do.

Since the OP's kid was 2, as well, I just thought they should be prepared to at least look at the website to see if their kid meets the height requirement. I would hate for them to get all the way there and then find out kid can't do much of anything.

We had a surprisingly good time at Sea World. We weren't expecting to. Maybe that is the key - low expectations. LOL!!!