Legoland Pt6 (last one)

In addition to the pirate-themed area they also have a medieval area.  Most of the rides here were geared towards bigger kids, or even adults.  One roller coaster was a dragon theme that was supposed to be pretty thrilling, but we'll have to wait for another time.  This was an appropriate ride though.  Geared for little kids it's a jousting pony ride through a medieval village.  This one was on a track that just took you through, nothing to control like the cars and planes, but Griffin got a kick out of it.

This was right in front of another adult ride, a simulation of a battle with a dragon where you are put in a chair and then tilted upside down, sideways, every which way.

Big slide

One of the few trill rides that Matilda could go on.  This was rather late in the day and the lines were short so we rode these last few a bunch of times.  Then took the ever-popular boat tour around the park

Popular picture spot.  We had to wait until people ahead of us were done taking pictures of their own kids here.  Griffin was getting impatient and kept running up to the lightsaber.  I swear he probably altered 4 or 5 pictures for other families.

Short, cute video of Griffin on the jousting horse:

That's it for legoland, thank you for indulging us

Legoland Pt5

A few years ago we went to a children's museum in Manchester, New Hampshire.  They had the most impressive lego structure I had ever seen.  It was a complete model of downtown Manchester done in incredible detail.  My favorite part of Legoland had something similar:  Giant models of famous American cities.  These were immense.  In fact I almost couldn't look at them for very long because of over-stimulation.  There was simply too much to see, the brain has a hard time absorbing it all.  But I'm here to share photos with you readers so here goes: (sometimes if you click on a picture you can zoom in)

Daytona.  They had the entire speedway too, I just thought the motor home models were more interesting.  I'll tell you the city at the bottom of the photos so you can guess as you're looking and validate your perception

San Fransisco, of course

Los Angles, that's the Chinese Theater and The Hollywood Bowl

New Orleans

Vegas baby, Vegas

This one is hard.... see if you can guess

They had the capital done up as a representation on the Obama inaugeration

I was impressed by how updated things were, for instance we saw a model of Chicago and the Sears Tower had already been renamed The John Hancock Building.  They also had a representation of a half-completed Freedom Tower.  Amazing scope all around.  One thing I'm pretty  sure about is the biggest structures aren't made entirely of legos.  It's more likely they are framed and just have legos covering the outside.  That may be the distinction between this and the Manchester attraction, which was advertised as the biggest lego model in the country.  Perhaps that was completely legos.  Still it is quite impressive, and Griffin and Matilda liked it too, as there were buttons to press to turn lights on and off, make cars drive, even activate a New England barnyard to break into a rendition on Old MacDonald.  I, of course, had to restrain myself from taking pictures of everything, or even posting all that I took.  I probably have three times this amount of pictures taken from this same exhibit, but I think you get the idea.

Legoland Pt4

OK, who wants to see some more Legoland pictures?  That's right:  Pirate themed!

Those pirates were all made out of legos.  Below was a cool thrill ride that griffin was just big enough for.  It's a variation on the classic ship ride, but this one rotates left and right as well as swinging back and forth.  Griff loved it and went on it a couple times:

Perhaps he has to go to the bathroom here?

The pirate area had some good opportunity for water play, it was definitely the busiest section in the park and we opted not to wait in the line for the flume ride:

Matilda also found plenty to amuse herself with in the water park.  At least we had the foresight to pack the bathing suits:

This is what happens when face paint meets water play:  Spider-Ghoul!

Legoland Pt3

Here are a bunch of things made out of Legos:

Spidey on my shoulders:

Most of the rides that are geared towards the littler kids have parts they can operate.  Griffin is moving the helicopter up and down and side to side:

Matilda got a mid-day nap in, thank goodness for comfy strollers:

This car is made out of Legos:

Guess what Darth Vader is made out of.  That's right, Legos

Here is Griffin controlling an airplane:

This part was cool.  They have these little cars for 3-5 years olds, and they completely control them.  Gas, breaks, steering, everything rather than just towing them around on a track.  They have another set-up for kids over 6, so it's nice that they have plenty of options for the little ones.  This is a short video: