Legoland Florida, a great way to spend a weekend

Two weeks ago the mrs and I went to Florida to visit friends and while we were there we spent a day at Lego Land.  I'd seen pictures of the parks before and even a short video of the Florida park but they didn't do it justice. 

I've been a fan of Lego since I was about 5 and still have all my original Lego in addition to all the ones I've bought over the years. Seeing this park with the unbelievable things that they built was humbling. I don't know if I'll ever be that good.




The park is on the old grounds of Cypress gardens and actually has part of the original botanical gardens in it. The layout is basically two circles so navigating your way around is easy. The park is split into different sections that match with various Lego sets.  There is a Kingdoms section, a Dublo village, a City section, Pirates cove, and innovation area among others. Each area also has a specialty store.

The Kingdom section was damn cool. Giant castle and rides of the era.  The city area includes driving Lego cars and the adventure are includes dinosaurs of Lego.
 The rides aren't what you get at other parks, but these are here for kids, not teenagers and adults looking for thrills and screams. And they are still fun because thy circle around and incorporate a load of Lego models.

My favorite part was the mini-land which has seven themed areas including New York , Vegas and San Francisco. I can't even count how many models they have here but it is truly amazing. 

The cost to get in was $75 for adults, but we got tickets ahead of time at a local food store chain and saved $15 each.

We found the food and beverages to be very reasonably priced and the food was good.
 
My only real disappointment was the shopping.  Lego doesn't run the park so the VIP cards aren't honored. And while they had all the Lego you could want as far as sets go, there weren't any sets I couldn't get elsewhere. They also didn't have a whole lot to choose from as far a souvenirs. Some t-shirts and sweatshirts, but I really think they could have a lot more and sell it. Don't get me wrong, I still bought shirts and Lego!  I also thought some specialty Lego sets or blocks would have been nice. Also, the pick a brick set up isn't as good as the Lego stores, they charge by the pound and not the container so it is more expensive. Also the selection of bricks was lacking.


I will be going back and I loved the visit, plus now I know I don't need tons of extra money for the Lego.