Travel Guide: Legoland Florida

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Everything you need to know before you travel to Legoland Florida – what’s the best age, what hotels are around Legoland and what are the best rides. All you need is here!

My oldest girl and I got to take a girls weekend to Legoland Florida recently!

When I saw that Spirit had tickets to Florida for $40, I couldn’t resist. (Of course they nickel and dime you to death so it was more than that, but neither of us had any luggage so we saved money there)

We are going to Disney in October so I knew I couldn’t take her to Disney without the rest of the family for the first time, so I had to pivot.

Universal seemed OUTRAGEOUS and even though they had some Nickelodeon characters there, I didn’t think it would be the best use of money.

Enter Legoland!

Because I am who I am as a person, I researched high and low about this and figured she would love it even though Legos sometimes stress her out and make her scream.

I figured I would share some of this info with you, including my honest opinion because I love you and you guys are pretty cool.

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When Was Legoland Built?

I was actually surprised to learn that Legoland wasn’t built until 2011!

It feels like it’s been around much longer than that, but when we were there, we got little blocks that said “Happy 10th Birthday” as our little gift instead of the “first timers” pin since they were out of those.

Hotels Close to Legoland Florida

Legoland has its own hotel attached to it, which honestly looks SUPER cool.

Because I booked this trip thinking we might try to hit up Universal, the hotel we stayed at was an hour away from Legoland called CoCo Key Water Resort and Hotel and to be honest, it was way more of a motel than a hotel.

You can see that it’s much more “motel” feeling than a hotel in the background of this picture. I don’t think I would likely choose to stay there again.

There are other hotels that are off property of Legoland or you could book a cute little Airbnb as well!

How Much Does it Cost to Go to Legoland?

I actually learned a hack recently and I am SO UPSET I did not know it sooner.

On the back of the Lego sets that come in plastic –

The ones that look like these – there is a thing on the back for one free child admission ticket with the purchase of an adult ticket!

You can save yourself tons of money that way!

A single day, single park ticket for Legoland starts at $84.99 but can go over $100 a ticket.

Kids under 2 are free.

Parking Rates

If you’re not staying at the Legoland Hotel where your parking is included, I snapped the picture of this sign as we entered the park so you can get an idea of what parking rates are.

Preferred parking is under some shade that they have and closer to the gate, but of course y’all know I wasn’t about to pay that. We got $25 parking and did just fine.

When Does Legoland Open?

Legoland Florida opens at 10 AM on the weekends, but you can actually go through the gates earlier than that!

The cutest part is that similar to Disney and the rope drop, Legoland employees stand at the entrance to the rides that are all closed holding Lego brick walls with Lego people on them. It’s super cute.

While you wait for the parks to open, there are a couple of shops inside that you can walk through that have all Lego merch you can think of, including walls of color coordinated Legos you can purchase.

What to Do at Legoland Florida

There’s so many interactive things to do at Legoland Florida that aren’t just rides. That’s the beauty of this place.

I also love that in so many of the lines, there are places where the parents can hold the kiddos place while they go and play with Legos. Super smart.

There was also an indoor section where you can take a white square and make a Lego Dots creation and then add it to a wall that’s lined with other’s creations too.

Since Charlotte is super artsy, she loved doing that and I loved the air condition it provided since we did this as one of our last attractions.

I figured I could go through the sections and at least give you an idea of some of the best rides (and some of our least favorite) rides to go on when you’re at Legoland!

Non-ride Attractions

Shopping

Like I said, there are several shops at the front of the park that have all the merch you want.

Subsequently, there are several rides that once you exit, you exit into a store with more things you can purchase.

Standalone shops at Legoland

• The Big Shop (This is the largest one in the park and it’s got SO much! Think of this as the equivalent of a Disney store)
• Heartlake Mall (This smaller store is focused mainly on Lego Friends characters and merchandise)
• Lego Factory Experience (This store is where all the color sorted Legos are. You can also build 3 of your own Lego people here and take them home for $12.99!)

Miniworld

Y’all Miniland is SO COOL!!

They’ve taken super popular cities and locations and built them entirely out of Legos.

In this picture, it’s the back of the Daytona 500 Stadium.

They also make it interactive where kids can push buttons on certain displays and it will do something. In the Daytona 500 display, the cars will race around the track.

I was absolutely captivated by the Vegas strip scenes. They had all the huge hotels, all the little shops, water features, everything. It was SO cool to see.

They had cities like Paris, San Francisco, and New York, including this super cute Grand Central Station scene.

I also loved the NASA displays and Washington DC.

This area is also covered and so you don’t feel like you’re melting and can take your time walking around. I LOVED this.

Legoland rides in Florida

I figured the best way to do this is to talk about the rides in each section because Legoland is divided into areas that house all the rides. I will also share our experience and what we thought were some of the best rides at Legoland.

Duplo Valley

Much like the Lego Duplo blocks for little ones, Duplo Valley is all for little kiddos.

I gotta admit, it’s really cute and there’s a lot of low thrill rides like train rides and little splash pads, but we simply walked through this because this didn’t house any rides that Charlotte was interested in.

Lego City

Charlotte’s favorite ride was Flight School. It’s a roller coaster where your feet dangle and I thought she was going to be terrified, but she squealed with joy the entire time.

It was our first ride of the day and because there were no lines, we rode it twice.

There’s also a Ford Driving School ride where they get in these little cars and basically drive around in a city.

They have road signs, stop lights, and other drivers they have to pay attention to. It was really cute watching them drive around.

You have the option to purchase a license at the end of the ride and they made it sound like it was going to be free, but it wasn’t. It was $25 and I thought Charlotte would protest if I told her no, but when I said the price she’s like “I’m fine not getting it.”

My girl. Loves a bargain.

The worst ride at Legoland

Lego City also housed my absolute least favorite ride in the entire park.

It looked so cute like you get to ride in little fire trucks. Precious, right?

Hell no. This was awful. You have to pump this hydraulic thing a million times to get it to go, then get to the water pump and pump the thing to shoot the water, then pump the hydraulic again to get it to go back.

I’m talking full body workout. In 157,000 degree heat.

Absolutely not. Don’t do it.

I have mixed emotions about The Great Lego race, but Charlotte LOVED it.

We rode this twice together and then she rode it by herself because I just couldn’t do it again.

It’s super jerky and you feel like you’re about to be thrown out of the cart but Charlotte, again, screamed and giggled with glee.

Other Rides We Loved in Lego City

• Technicycle – This ride is little airplanes that you can pedal to make them go higher. It’s low impact and pedals way easier than I expected.
• Aquazone Wave Racers – Little boats that go around in a circle and you can steer them in and out to feel a little more zippy. Not too bad. But I’m not somebody who loves going round and round in circles.

Ninjago World

Ninjago World at Legoland is small, but it was fun.

There are several interactive areas like a rock climbing wall and then a place where kiddos can play with Lego blocks and build on the scenes already made of Ninjago scenes.

We rode the only ride there which was an indoor ride where you ride along with 3D glasses and do ninja moves to help defeat…something.

It was really fun (and funny) though!

Land of Adventure

We were super bummed that the Coastersaurus was closed for the day for some reason.

So after a few “aw mannnn”s we hopped on over to another indoor ride/game which was The Lost Kingdom adventure.

This was a ride game where it’s essentially like laser tag with a little gun hooked to your car.

Oh and PS. The wait time posted was 5 minutes, but we walked right on.

Lego Kingdoms

Lego Kingdoms was super fun! I would say this was probably Charlotte’s favorite land.

We rode the Dragon which was really fun. It was a roller coaster, but you went through a scene with moving Lego scenes which was fun. Then it was a full blown roller coaster at the end and we both loved it!

She rode Royal Joust which was so cute. It was a little horse and jousting stick that bobbed up and down and honestly I laughed the entire time she rode it.

I was so super thankful that she was old enough to ride Merlin’s Adventure alone because it was just something that spun you around super fast and it did not look fun to me.

Per usual, she loved it.

Lego Movie Land

Lego Movie World had one of my favorite rides in the whole park.

Partly because it was indoors and air conditioned, but it was just SUPER fun!

This ride was called Legoland Movie Masters of Flight and it was seriously SO FUN! Think of one of those rides where it’s a movie screen but your seat moves.

That, but on steroids. I can honestly say my expectations were absolutely exceeded with this. It’s SO well done and SO fun!

Lego Friends Heartlake

Whomp whomp. Lego Friends Heartlake area left much to be desired.

There was one ride that we rode called Mia’s Riding Adventure and neither of us really cared for it.

It seemed to be an afterthought because even though Ninjago world was small, it still felt really well put together.

Heartlake City was a huge let down for Charlotte because she thought it would be so cool, but it had the one ride and then a shop and a nice cream shop that was closed the entire day anyway.

Overall Best Rides at Legoland

If you’re looking for the best rides at Legoland overall, here’s what we both loved (or what she loved and that we would look forward to riding again):

• Flight School
• Ford Driving School (or Driving School Jr if you have a kiddo younger than 6)
• Dragon
• Masters of Flight
• Royal Joust
• The Great Lego Race

What to Wear to Legoland in the Summer

Lawd, I thought being in South Carolina in the summer was hot.

Florida weather in the summer is on a whole notha level.

Whatever you’re thinking about wearing, do not wear these shoes.

I don’t even know what kind of Nikes these are cuz ya girl ain’t a fashion blogger, but these were SO uncomfortable. I thought they would be great. They were very ungreat.

I made these graphics for what to wear to Legoland in the summer for both kids and adults. I also included just necessities that kept us going for a full day that would be super helpful to you as well!

For Kids

CLICK ANY IMAGE BELOW TO SHOP!

For Big Kids

CLICK ANY IMAGE BELOW TO SHOP!

Number 1 Tip for Visiting Legoland

If you want to maximize your time at Legoland, here’s my absolute number 1 tip:

Start from the back of the park and work your way forward.

We did this, stayed the entire day in the summer on a Saturday and we never waited more than 20 minutes for a ride the whole day.

At the end of the day, Charlotte wanted to ride one more thing which was Flight School and it was at the very back of the park and it was the longest line we waited in.

And I’m certain it was because it was at the very back of the park later in the day which is where people ended up.

So trust me – Start at the back and work your way forward.

Best age for Legoland

Here’s my brutally honest thoughts – I can not imagine taking 3 kids here with the ages we have (even with 2 parents).

Because things that little mama could do would be in one place (Duplo Valley) and coupled with the fact that I know Josiah would want to ride so much and that he couldn’t, it would be SO hard to find things where kids weren’t bored or annoyed.

I saw a lot of kids in strollers with older siblings and they looked MISERABLE.

There’s just not a lot of overlap and things they can do in bigger areas and vice versa.

Charlotte is 7 and is pretty tall for her age (49″) and she was able to ride everything she wanted. It was perfect.

I would say the best age for Legoland to fully experience it and get your money’s worth is at least 5-6, depending on their level of fearlessness.

Is Legoland fun?

Abbbbbsolutely. I would for sure go back with either just Charlotte or wait until the other 2 are a bit older and can enjoy it but we really had a great time!

I don’t even have a Lego obsession and I definitely thought Legoland was fun. Quite honestly, more fun than I expected it to be.

I hope this was helpful and I really would love to know if you’ve been and what you think are your “can’t miss” rides!