When we heard that they were opening a Legoland in Florida, we were excited. We knew about the Legoland in California, as my sister had taken my nephews there several years ago. Getting Pete to fly for anything is an uphill battle, so even though my Dad keeps a place in LA the chances of our visiting that Legoland have been slim. Or less.
Still, even though this new Legoland would only be a few short hours by car away, we had no plans to visit anytime soon. The grand opening is scheduled for October 14th, and I figured it would be a year or so before we'd go. First, we currently have Disney annual passes, and I want to make the most of them. Second, I wanted to avoid the massive crowds that were sure to descend on Winter Haven in the months immediately after they opened. I'm not one to see a film it's first week out - I'd always much rather wait for the crowds to lessen, thankyouverymuch.
So I had no plans to be anywhere near Legoland this year. And then I found out that if you are a AAA member you could go to a special preview weekend, the week before the grand opening, and save $30 a ticket - almost half the ticket price. I found a hotel room for $50, and our plans were made.
We decided not to tell Dan. He is really fun to surprise. We were almost an hour into the trip up north before he even thought to question where we were going.
We got up bright and early, and it's a good thing we did. We ran into an acquaintance who told us they waited over an hour to get in!
We all knew that there would be terrific Lego displays, and the mini cities were awesome.
One of my favorites was this replica of Bok Tower, a beautiful Carillon tower and gardens in nearby Lake Wales, and a favorite spot of ours. Interesting story - my Grandmother had lived in St. Pete as a young woman, and in her photo collection I found a shot of Bok Tower from right about when it was built, in 1929. Click on the link to see more about Bok Tower!
Here's the real Bok Tower...
There were several pirate ships, and the detail on everything was magnificent...
Check out this poor person, walking the plank...
We loved this replica of the Old and New Capital buildings in Tallahassee. The real thing's domes are slightly higher, adding to the building's an unmistakeable phallic appearance. Legoland is a family place, ya know...
We all had a great time on the rides. We went on several of their roller coasters, and Pete still gets apprehensive about the tummy tickle.
After riding this jet-ski ride with Pete...
Dan gathered his courage and did it on his own...
Pete had a great time, too...
Dan drove the boat here...
And Pete had a good time crashing into us. Um, there were not bumper boats!
Dan got to drive his own car, and they gave him a drivers license...
Um, the roads are not yet ready for a driving Daniel...
Legoland is built at the site of the former Cypress Gardens, a Florida treasure that many of us were sad to see go out of business several years ago. Something I applaud Legoland for is their commitment to keep the gardens themselves as they've always been. One of our favorite things today was touring those lovely old gardens...
Okay, maybe it wasn't one of Daniel's favorite parts of the day...
Remember the old Cypress Gardens water skiing shows, featuring bevies of beauties water skiing in perfect synchronicity on the lake? Legoland's version featured water skiing pirates and femme fatales, and generally wowed the crowds...
Right after the show it started to rain in earnest, but we were prepared with ponchos and hats. During a lull Pete and Dan had a great time on this ride, and wound up being seated next to other friends from home...
The rain was a non-issue, as there were several places kids could just play with the Legos...
The big kid played, too...
Because we got there early we didn't have huge lines on the big rides, and we fit in quite a bit before it began to rain. We had a great day, in a really fun place.
I'm so glad we didn't wait a year to experience it. Dan will outgrow places like this all too soon, and I have many more memories to make before he's too cool to hang with his parents.
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