I knew that taking The Boy with me to the grand opening of LEGOLAND Florida last month would be worth my while, in terms of getting extra chores done around the house and all. But another condition he needed to agree to was to write his own post about his experience.
So, the following is the unedited, heartfelt review of the world’s largest LEGOLAND, from an 11-year old boy. He even took some of these photos, and decided where to place them within this post.
I especially like his use of the word “delectable” in the “Tips” section!
The pilgrimage is over, and we’re back in New York just in time to see the last of the falling leaves. But re-entry has been hard for The Boy, and me too, for that matter.
Where we went, and who was coerced into going:
We were invited to visit central Florida for the grand opening of LEGOLAND Florida, the world’s largest LEGOLAND theme park. The Boy has fervently played with these colorful plastic bricks since he started walking. I’m not alone in believing that LEGO is a wonderfully engaging and educational plaything. I believe that LEGO has encouraged his imagination, developed his analytical skills, and provided hands-on lessons in physics, engineering, and architecture.
But in his eyes, LEGO is just his favorite hobby. I wanted this trip for him.
WHY did you go there, exactly?
Three years ago, we went to the only other LEGOLAND park in the U.S., and trekked cross-country to Carlsbad, CA. We’ve been looking forward to the opportunity to compare the parks. Remembering how much fun we had there made the anticipation almost unbearable!
Okay, what was so cool about it?
As pilgrimages go, this one was quite rewarding. I am now The Boy’s favorite parent, at least until I make him write a guest post for this blog about his experience! (This was my condition for him to be able to miss a day of school for the trip.)
Who do you love more, me or Dad?
I’m glad we had two full days to explore the park, because at 150 acres, LEGOLAND offers too much to do and see in just one day. Depending on the time of year, the hours of operation here may limit you to just seven hours in which to cover ten distinct sections.
MY favorite part of the park was Miniland. I loved it so much that I’ll be dedicating a separate post to it in a week or so!
Beginning at the main entrance and throughout the park, there are several hands-on areas where LEGO pieces are out and available for recharging moments of creative play. The best of these is the indoor Racers Build and Test area, where kids build vehicles of their own design, then run them down a variety of ramps to test their fortitude and speed.
We found several rides and attractions unique to LEGOLAND, and to this park in particular. I enjoyed the 360° view when we ascended 150 feet in the air on the Island in the Sky. (The Boy… not so much.) It’s the perfect vantage point to take in the entire park, as well as Lake Eloise and the green citrus orchards beyond.
Island in the Sky, overlooking Lake Eloise
The Boy’s favorite was the Aqua Zone Wave Racers, which he remembered fondly from CA. We stood in yellow jet skis and raced around a circular central dock, while steering to avoid (or in his case, hit head on), fountains shooting water 15 feet into the air.
I got soaked on this one. Considering the heat, that was a good thing.
Since he’s now a “tween,” The Boy isn’t free-flowing with praise and enthusiasm. So it took me by surprise when I heard him exclaim “Awesome!” during the water ski show in Pirate’s Cove. During “The Battle for Brickbeard’s Bounty,” the brave Imperial Soldiers fight Brickbeard the Pirate, who has captured Miranda Valentina.
Brickbeard's ship in Pirate's Cove
The ski stunts are impressive, and the cast engages the audience in water cannon play and pirate talk. Here’s a short clip:
I can’t wait to bring my niece and nephew here. LEGOLAND excels in catering to the pre-school set, more so than any other theme park we have visited. DUPLO Village is an entire section dedicated to children five and under, with indoor and outdoor play spaces. There are also multi-level playgrounds and play spaces in the Land of Adventure and LEGO Kingdom sections for them to burn off energy. This park is not just about riding rides and watching shows.
Other points we enjoyed and appreciated:
▪ Finding LEGO sculpture in the least expected places, like the sailors caught in nets hanging from the rafters on the Boating School dock. Discovering them was like finding “hidden Mickeys” at Disney World.
Loved finding LEGO creations in unexpected places, like this butterfly hanging in the Garden Shop!
▪ The Minifigure Market, a gift shop solely dedicated to the tiny LEGO figurines which have become affordable collectibles. The Boy was fixated on finding a boxer, and eventually got one. Park employees, or “Model Citizens,” attach them to their name badges and will trade with you.
▪ The cool comfort of the Fun Town Theater, which shows three different 4-D movies, complete with water, snow, and wind effects.
▪ The food options throughout the park are affordable (as theme parks go) and generally healthy (e.g. trans-fat free). You can easily find fruit cups, yogurt, and other kid-friendly options. But I also must give a well-deserved “shout out” for Granny’s Apple Fries, a LEGOLAND specialty.
It was a fight to the finish...
This isn’t the healthiest way to eat an apple, but it IS one hundred ways to delicious! Dusted with cinnamon sugar and serve with a side of whipped cream, one $4.99 order was enough for the both of us (although we did both get grabby toward the bottom of the cup.)
How it rated on a scale of 1 to 10 (1 = snoozefest, 10 = add to your bucket list): [rating=10]
If you (it’s okay to be a grown-up brickhead) or your kids love LEGO, then this park is an absolute 10. If you’ve never seen a LEGO before in your life, some of the thrilling bits will be lost on you. But you’ll still love it!
Skip it if your kids are in their teens, because there’s not enough for them to merit the relatively hefty price of admission.
Hey you! Go BIG!:
LEGOLAND Florida
One LEGOLAND Way
Winter Haven, FL 33884
(877) 350-LEGO(5346)
We have arrived. The Boy is finding it difficult to fill his lungs with air. Maybe I’ve mentioned, he’s a bit of a LEGO freak. Those plastic bricks have covered our floors since he was three years old. I have permanent dot indentations on the bottom of my feet. (If I connect them, I can make out Orion’s Belt.)
LEGOLAND Florida
We’re here in Winter Haven, FL, halfway between Orlando and Tampa, for the Grand Opening Celebration of LEGOLAND Florida. And we don’t know where to go first. Today, we’ll definitely hit the Ford Driving School so he can drive a LEGO car through the city streets (no tracks!). The LEGO® TECHNIC™ area looks promising, too.
Tomorrow we’ll be back for more. Next week, I’ll tell you all about the world’s largest LEGOLAND. If I can convince The Boy that his home is actually NOT here.
It’s just me and The Boy on this trip. It took some subterfuge to keep it from The Girl, because she would not take kindly to being left out. (It just wasn’t in the budget.) We told her that we were going to Czechoslovakia on a middle school field trip. Mainly because she can’t quite say “Czechoslovakia.”
Have you ever traveled with just one of your children? Did you have to lie to the others? Am I doomed to be immortalized in her future therapy sessions?
Disclaimer: Our visit is being sponsored by LEGOLAND.
We’re excited to announce the winner of first anniversary giveaway prize!
There were three ways to enter this contest. Our winner, Elizabeth F., entered by posting a photo of a BIG attraction she’s seen. (the world’s largest wind chimes in Eureka Springs, Arkansas) on our Facebook page. Read more about her adventure here.
Congratulations, Elizabeth! You’ve won two pre-paid Go City Cards for the city of your choice, courtesy of Smart Destinations!
I just had to look up more info on the wind chimes! Technically holding the record as the World’s Largest Tuned Musical Wind Chimes, they’re located outside of Celestial Windz Harmonic Bizaar, an art gallery and store. The chimes weigh 782 pounds, and the longest one is nearly 36 feet long!
Elizabeth's photo of the BIG chimes! Love it!
Thanks again to Smart Destinations for donating the prize for this travel giveaway!
Speaking of travel, if you’re headed to Florida or Vermont anytime soon, please check out my recent guest posts on some of my favorite family travel blogs, which provide information on Clearwater Beach, FL (TheVacationGals.com) and Burlington, VT (FamilyVacationCritic.com).
This month, our guest post comes from Florida’s panhandle. I lived in Tallahassee in my early 20’s, and have fond memories of the beautiful beaches and…oppressive humidity. Jen from Two Kids and a Map hails from Pensacola, and apparently doesn’t suffer from humidity-induced bad hair days like I do. Lucky. She shares her family’s experiences at one of her favorite local attractions, the National Naval Aviation Museum.
Where we went, and who was coerced into going:
My husband and I took our two children, ages 4 and 6, and explored the National Naval Aviation Museum, the world’s largest Naval Aviation Museum, and one of Florida’s most visited museums. It is located in Pensacola, Florida.
WHY did you go there, exactly?
I have a confession to make. We go to the National Naval Aviation Museum at least once a month during the school year and once a week during the summer. I knew the Naval Aviation Museum was big, but I had no idea it was the world’s largest until Traci told me it was! The Naval Aviation Museum is a great way to get the kids out of the Florida heat while avoiding the “I’m bored” chorus!
Today’s image is brought to you by Kodak. This was taken back in the day before we had a digital camera. The Boy was just four years old. He’s heading to middle school in seven short months…sniff…don’t get me STARTED!!
Anyway, can you guess where this was taken? It’s a giant strawberry…which is the hint. This is a timely post relating to this fruity theme!
ANSWER: We had a few people submit answers, but only Helen from 2 Weeks Paid had the right answer! She gave us a friendly tweet on Twitter.
It’s the world’s largest strawberry festival! The annual Florida Strawberry Festival takes place in Plant City (near Tampa) every March. It’s going on now, which is why I’m posting this today. And because I always like a good excuse to pore over old photos and make myself verklempt…sniff…
I’m feeling a bit guilty about the low rating awarded to the attraction featured in our last post. It was warranted, but like all “Go BIG” reviews, entirely subjective. It’s just that, with my background in PR, “positive spin” is my comfort zone. I’m also addicted to exclamation points, and have been accused of abusing the “Like” button on Facebook.
So, to infuse my spirit with some rainbowsandunicorns, I’m posting this today!
Where we went, and who was coerced into going:
On our adventure-filled holiday road trip, we detoured through Columbia, SC in order to see the world’s largest kid, EDDIE®, who lives at the EdVenture children’s museum. I was really looking forward to this stop, because I knew the kids would enjoy it, and it would be a welcome break from car travel.
Unexpectedly, the northern winter weather we were racing from caught up with us. The city experienced its very first Christmas snowfall! There were only a couple of inches, but it was a big deal there, and the museum opened later than normal. We were fortunate that it was a holiday week and therefore open on a Monday, because it’s normally closed on Mondays from Labor Day to Memorial Day.
WHY did you go there, exactly?
We’re glad we waited for it to open, because EdVenture is a fantastic facility — modern, bright, and clean. It’s the largest children’s museum in the south, featuring nine exhibit galleries with over 350 hands-on activities designed to let children explore and discover the world around them.
As soon as you enter the museum, you’re greeted by EDDIE, the world’s largest child!
Okay, what was so cool about it?
Weighing 17 tons, EDDIE towers 40-feet high, and he’s in the seated position! You can scale his vertebrae, investigate his brain, play in his stomach, and slide out his intestines.
You have to access his innards from entrance points in his backside, on a few different levels connected by stairs. The higher we climbed, the less inclined The Girl was to enter, but The Boy was game for a look at EDDIE ‘S brain.
If your kids are adventurous, and love to climb through the tunnel play structures at Chuck E. Cheese, then they will like exploring this exhibit. If they get frightened at climbing up platforms and across rope bridges, then they won’t be hip to EDDIE.
What almost any kid will like, however, is sliding down EDDIE ‘S bottom half (along the gastrointestinal tract, if you get my drift). When they slide out, a noise is emitted which will get a giggle out of any goofball kid; mine included!
The” yin and yang” of family travel means that, in return for enduring godawful meals at “Chuck E.”-type establishments which please my kids, I expect their best behavior at places which may not hold a lot of kid-friendly appeal. This deal doesn’t always work, but it’s a goal. I thought I might have to cash in a few credits when we took them to the Mirror Lake Shuffleboard Club, but they actually enjoyed it – almost as much as I did!
Do these retro colors remind anyone else of "The Golden Girls" set?
Where we went, and who was coerced into going:
The world’s largest shuffleboard club is in St. Petersburg, FL, so we planned to visit during our holiday road trip to the Sunshine State. Since it’s not open every day, I made special arrangements with the St. Petersburg Shuffleboard Club president, a gracious and enthusiastic volunteer named Christine.
We played shuffleboard last spring as a family at the Woodloch Pines Resort, and we all enjoyed it. (Momma had game…thoroughly surprising everyone.) So we were all up for trying it again. Even Grandma and Grandpa came along.
WHY did you go there, exactly?
For me, shuffleboard has a “retro” appeal, representing a time in our history when family entertainment was more social, and wholesomely unplugged. I learned that this club has been experiencing a surge in popularity, offering weekly play on Friday nights, and attracting hundreds of locals. In particular, families.
Okay, what was so cool about it?
This was one of those times I wish I had a time machine. The Mirror Lake complex, built in 1923, is the oldest shuffleboard club in the U.S. In its heyday — the 1930’s through the 60’s — the club gained international fame as the world’s largest, by virtue of having 110 playing courts and an annual membership of over 5,000.
I would have loved being there on a spring evening at the height of its popularity, gussied up in white – as was the custom — for a night on the court.
There are now 65 shuffleboard courts at Mirror Lake, and covered grandstand seating for over 100. We had the place to ourselves, so Christine directed us to a regulation court.
When you’re looking for a “world’s largest” to visit, it’s not always rainbows and unicorns. Sometimes you come across an experience which is overpriced, over-hyped, and an overall disappointment. Then again, that’s just your opinion. Your kids could love it, and you just have to suck it up and keep the cash flowing. (Selfless parenthood, blah blah blah.)
Probably more "enchanting" at night, I'm guessing.
My friend Sandra was not feeling the warm-and-fuzzies for Santa’s Enchanted Forest, the world’s largest Christmas theme park in Miami, FL. Alas, her daughter found it delightful, so she may just find herself there again this December!
Her review is our first installment of our oh-so-cleverly-titled series,What-To-Avoid Wednesday!
Santa’s Enchanted Forest may be the world’s largest Christmas theme park, but is it worth the trip? That depends on what you’re expecting. If you’re looking for a magical place to stir your childhood dreams of Christmas with beautiful light displays, fancy rides, and food that will thrill your senses, go to Disney. If you love carnivals, rides which creak and give you whiplash, and enjoy being conned by carnies trying to fast talk you out of your money, then you’ve found the right place!
For a mere $24 per adult and $16 per child, you get to ride a handful of rides for free and continue to drain your wallet for the rest. The food is standard carnival fare — elephant ears, pizza, corn on the cob, fries, cotton candy, deep fried just about anything, and mystery meat on a stick. Oh, and you can even get your picture taken on top of a huge, nearly five-foot high toilet! I must say, I was tempted…
With that said, my five-year old loved it. She saw the beautiful Christmas lights and creative electric train displays, and did not notice the rickety wood holding them up or the rusty scaffolding in the background. From her perspective, the guy balancing on chairs and the man climbing up a really high pole were amazing feats of strength. She didn’t mind the dirt, the grime, the other clientele, or the quality of the prizes.
You expect certain things when traveling to Florida. Heat, for instance. (We certainly got our fair share on the day we walked here.)
On our recent road trip from New York to Florida, we barely escaped a blizzard, and sought refuge in the “Sunshine” State. We arrived at the end of the coldest December in Tampa Bay’s history. Then, because we weren’t cold enough, we set out on the water. For a ride on a speedboat.
Where we went, and who was coerced into going:
We headed to the municipal marina in Clearwater, which sits on the calm, blue-green waters of the Gulf of Mexico. While there are several dolphin tour boats and fishing expedition guide boats, many of whom hawk their services on the dock, we had a distinct experience in sight: the Sea Screamer, the world’s largest speed boat.
Photo Credit: SeaScreamer.com
Even though the temperature was in the 60’s range, the four of us were up for the challenge, since the sun was up in a clear sky. We figured, as New Yorkers, we could handle any chill with stalwart fortitude (we were wrong; more on that later). My mom and dad, our hosts for the week, were much smarter, of course. They waved us off at the pier with knowing smiles, and went for a stroll during our 75-minute cruise.
The Girl prepares to catch air as the engine revs up.
WHY did you go there, exactly?
I was naturally drawn to the “world’s largest” part, and at 72-feet long, the Sea Screamer is a big boat. In order to get the kids on board (literally and figuratively), I stressed the “speed” part. She reached speeds of 35 miles an hour, which is fast for a boat. In a humorous juxtaposition, docked next to the big Sea Screamer is the “Little Toot” boat ride. And on the other side, the Captain Memo’s pirate ship. My kids gave that one a longing glance, and I promised to take them next time.
Okay, what was so cool about it?
The ride at full speed is exhilarating, even though it is intermittent between frequent “no wake” zones. Captain Barry’s narration and well-rehearsed jokes (“the more you drink, the more dolphins you’ll see”) were amusing, and the sea-themed music was fun (“just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip…”). We passed the homes of the rich and famous, including Hulk Hogan’s estate and the former Fort Harrison hotel where Keith Richards wrote “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” in 1965.
This is how fast we were going:
Another feature of the Sea Screamer excursion is the guarantee of dolphin sightings. And by “guarantee,” they don’ t actually promise you’ll see an Atlantic Bottlenose dolphin while you’re out. If you don’t, they guarantee that you can come back within thirty days for another free trip. Alas, we only once caught a quick glance of a fin, after which I sent poor Matt on a fool’s errand to stand there for 20 minutes shooting video of the water’s unbroken surface.
It was nice to know that we could have returned for another trip, but not only did we not have the opportunity on this visit, we were also frightened to be once again subjected to the cold.
This is how cold we were:
I wrapped The Girl within an inch of her life in the beach towel we brought as an afterthought. I smugly thought I would do the smart thing and bring it to dry off sea spray. It soon became the only barrier between her and (imagined) frostbite. See, the thing about going fast on a boat is...it makes the air rushing at your body feel much colder than when you’re still. This hardy New Yorker, wearing her trench coat and mittens, was nearly crying from the discomfort. I spent most of the trip in a warmth huddle with any willing family member.
The Boy is regrettably entering his “I’m cool, and I need to distance myself from my parents” phase.
A little background info:
The Sea Screamer was custom-built almost 19 years ago. She’s an 82-ton vessel, measuring 72-feet in length, and 19-feet wide. She has twin-turbocharged, 900 horsepower diesel engines. The Sea Screamer is Coast Guard licensed. There are two bathrooms aboard, and they sell drinks and snacks.
How it rated on a scale of 1 to 10 (1 = snoozefest, 10 = add to your bucket list): [rating=6]
6. I can’t fault the fine people operating the Sea Screamer for the weather, but I willingly admit it had a negative impact on the experience. The sight of some cute, frolicking dolphins might have warmed my heart enough to stop my teeth from chattering, but no such luck.
So, if the weather is warm, please go. If the temps are below 70°F, wisely follow my parents’ lead, and stay on dry land!
Hey YOU! Go BIG:
SeaScreamer
Clearwater Municipal Marina Slip #15, 25 Causeway Boulevard, Clearwater Beach, FL 33767
727-447-7200
Almost looks like a hot day under the Florida sun, doesn't it? HA!
This month, our guest post comes from Florida’s panhandle. I lived in Tallahassee in my early 20’s, and have fond memories of the beautiful beaches and…oppressive humidity. Jen from 
I’m feeling a bit guilty about the low rating awarded to the attraction featured in 
WHY did you go there, exactly?
