Here’s a short video I made of our trip, hope you enjoy!
Has your family thought about a Legoland vacation? I want to share our experience. When planning a vacation one thing to think about is transportation at your destination. Remember me telling you my son LOVES trains? I had read about how trains travel all along the California coastline and really wanted to incorporate that into our trip. I had even read about a Disneyland Blogger that travels from San Diego to Anaheim regularly and easily. For Caden’s 6th birthday which happens to be inline with the President’s Day we took a special trip to Legoland and Disneyland. Legoland is in Carlsbad, which is North of San Diego and there happens to be a train stop in both locations of our trip. Taking the train rather than renting a car would be a fun, cost effective way to travel and add a special touch to the trip.
Due to all the logistic changes I strategically packed as minimally as possible so we did not have to lug around multiple items or heavy luggage. We stayed at Legoland 1 night, 2 full days at the park and we stayed at Disneyland for 4 nights, 3 full days at the parks. Disneyland was more for me but of course Caden loves it too! For this post I am only going to write about the Legoland part for now.
To start our trip, we flew into the Long Beach Airport which was small and perfect for our solo trip. On our previous trip to Disneyland we flew to LAX which is very reasonably priced but a bit further away. Weigh the cost vs time if there is not too much of a difference go to Long Beach. Many people visiting the Disneyland area also recommend going to John Wayne Airport. Long Beach Airport is so small you get off the plane on the tarmac. We easily found the Uber pick up area and were on our way to Anaheim, a short 15-20 min trip.
We were going to stay one night at a hotel near the Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center. We stayed in a King Suite at Staybridge Suites Anaheim Resort Area. The room was a good size with a separate kitchen and living room. We arrived late Friday night, this was just a place for us to lay our heads for the night so we did not explore the hotel. I picked this hotel because it was close to the Train Terminal.
In the morning we were going to catch the Amtrak/Metrolink to Oceanside. On our way to Legoland we rode in a large double decker Amtrak Train on the Pacific Surfliner, tickets were more expensive ($20 for adults) but it got us there earlier than the Metrolink. On the way back to Anaheim we rode on a single level Metrolink Train. These were commuter trains. You can catch a train every 90 minutes and you do not have to buy tickets ahead of time, if you do buy ahead you can reschedule on the app easily if needed. Tickets prices are very affordable $10 weekends $12.75 weekdays with kids discounts and 5 and under free. The trip to Oceanside is about 1 hour and 20 minutes.
We Ubered to the Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center early in the morning, our goal was to make it to Legoland close to 10am to check in and get to the park. We got on the train and enjoyed traveling along the beach. We grabbed some breakfast on the train at the café. They had muffins and juices. The train conductor even gave Caden a paper train conductor hat to wear.
We arrived to Oceanside and caught an Uber over to Legoland which was about 15 minutes. Walking into the Legoland Lobby was instant fun! Immediately you are immersed in Legos. At the time we went Legoland had a special if you bought 1-night hotel stay it included 2 days of park tickets with the Aquarium and breakfast. I think this is pretty common for Legoland to offer. Click here to see current specials. They have a Lego pit for the kids to play in while you check in. I booked the birthday package which included dinner and a cake, along with two small brick set. Our room was not going to be ready till we returned so we left our luggage with the bellmen and made our way straight to the park.
For our first day I did the Reserve ‘N’ Ride and it did help. I figured Saturday would be busier than Sunday so I didn’t get it for the second day. The Reserve ‘N’ Ride is an electronic reservation system that is sold in 3 tiers depending on how much you want to spend. I did the Deluxe option which is the middle. I would say it did help compared to the second day waits. You select the ride you want to ride and it notifies you when it is time to arrive. It’s pretty easy to use.
The rides definitely seemed geared to smaller kids’ vs what you would experience at Disneyland. Luckily Caden was turning 6 because his favorite thing was Driving School which was for kids age 6-13. There is a Junior driving school for ages 3-5 as well. He also enjoyed driving the boats at Skipper School through the mote. For some reason this ride tended to back up. The best ride in my opinion and the longest line you will encounter is Ninjago. You get to do the moves to defeat the Great Devourer. You have to be 48in. for this ride. Most of the other roller-coasters were 42in height minimum. The first day we focused on the rides since we had the Reserve ‘N’ Ride. There is a lot to do and explore besides rides as well. Our second day we wondered into a few of the Lego game spaces and building areas. Caden could have played here for hours if I let him. They have an area where kids can build a car and race them against other kids, we played there for a while. There is a Legoland USA which was amazing! I can not imagine how much time this took to build. Popular cities were remade with amazing details. It was definitely worth a stop. We also visited the aquarium, it was small but a good way to get inside if you needed. They also had a water park that was closed when we went due to the time of year. It looked like it offered a lot of fun play areas and rides. It may help to spread guest out or it may attract more since you get more bang for your buck. Park hours when we went were about 10am-7pm. It was nice to walk out right to your hotel. Oh one more hint- at Disney you can trade pins with employees at Legoland you can trade minifigures. I bought a pack of 10 on Ebay before we went and we traded a few.
Now let me tell you about the hotel we stayed in a Pirate room. I really wanted a Ninjago room but they sold out quickly. I reserved our room after the Black Friday rates were published. It was still crazy expensive but this was a one-night wish for him. I kept reminding myself tickets were included for 2 days. We got our luggage from the bellmen and went in the elevator ready for the party. If you’ve been there you know what I mean. As soon as the elevator doors close it’s a 70’s disco dance party with a disco ball. Beware the party stops as the doors open! We watched videos before we went so Caden was prepared. I love his little voice and dance moves in this video.
We got to our room that was decorated and themed well. Caden was so excited to have his own bunk beds and TV. The bathroom was so cute with critters made of Legos. The potty has a kids lid available which I thought was a great addition for a kids hotel. The king bed was just what I needed to sink into after a long day. Caden right away went exploring and found a case of Legos for him to play with in the hallway. The ice bucket is a minifigure head, too cute! You will find a safe with a lock leading you to a scavenger hunt for things to find around the hotel for the code to the lock. We completed this after dinner. Inside the treasure box was 2 small brick gift sets and some snacks. Caden now had 4 brick gift sets and for his birthday I let him pick 1 from the park. Every ride has Lego sets at the end and then there is a big store before you exit the park. Not all sets are at all locations. I had Caden look around the first day and decide what he wanted to the second day before we left. I had to also make sure this could fit in our luggage. Good thing inside the box there are bags for the set so you can leave the box behind if you need to. I travel with multisize zip-locks for whatever I may need them for. Put everything in one and we were good to go.
We ate dinner at Bricks Restaurant which we had a reservation with the Birthday Package. There were characters walking around. The buffet had options for adults such as Roast Beef Carving Station and kids Pizza, Mac and Cheese. There were several different counters with options of vegetables, entrees, and desserts. After dinner the cake was delivered and it was bigger than I was expecting. We sang happy birthday and they served it for us. We offered the table next to us to have some as well. After dinner there was a dance party, I assume they have nightly or on the weekends. Caden had a blast- I don’t know how he still had energy!
We ate the buffet at the hotel in the morning also at Bricks before heading to the park. There were a lot of people up early. We ended up sitting outside in the shade. They again had options for adults such as omelets, they had options for kids such as French Toast sticks, waffles. Bacon, eggs, fruits, cereals- lots of options. We left our luggage with the bellmen on our way to breakfast so we could go directly to the park after eating.
Our second day of the park felt busier, not sure if it was the holiday. I remember thinking lets hit the favorites and leave after lunch. Since we stayed at the hotel, we were able to take advantage of Early Morning Hours. This was kind of a joke since only one land was open and it only offered 3-4 rides that were pretty baby-ish but we rode them and it allowed us to line up to walk to the driving school before the regular crowd arrived. I think we felt we had done enough by 3 or so. We caught an Uber back to the Train station where we were able to catch an earlier train than we had originally scheduled. This ended up being the best time as the sun was setting into the ocean- it was beautiful. We took a short Uber ride to Paradise Pier Hotel to start our Disneyland trip and now I was really happy!
Overall getting to Legoland from Anaheim is easy. It made me wish Texas offered public transportation like that. I could see you making a single day trip if needed. Legoland is not too overwhelming. Even though I felt Caden would outgrow it quickly I bet he would still want to go back now if I offered. It looked like it would be fun to go for Halloween or Christmas as well.
Hope you enjoyed and got a lot of useful information. Let me know if you have any questions or tips of your own.
