LEGOLAND California
I always knew our visit to sunny San Diego was going to be spectacular, but what made it perfect to my guys (especially my 40+ boy, AKA my husband) was a visit to LEGOLAND California.
Located about an hour away from San Diego, we set off to visit the land of many small plastic bricks on our first full day in California. Although we arrived semi-early, the place was already packed with little ones. After a quick discussion debating the pros and cons, we made the decision NOT to purchase the $99/person Premium Play pass which got us to the front of the lines fast because frankly, most of the rides seemed to be geared toward kids 6 and under – a definite “yawn” for my thrill-seeking boys.
Pretty tame rides at Legoland California
Wait-times for the few rides we were interested in were insanely long – at least an hour – primarily because unlike Disney, most of LEGOLAND’s rides are the type where only one group can ride/fly/swirl at a time. Riders have to wait for the ride to be unloaded before you can get on. In contrast, Disney and other amusement parks of LEGOLAND’s size tend to have rides that are more of a conveyor belt, with multiple riders loading and unloading at the same time (which also explains why roller coasters tend to have such long lines – you’re not going to have two sets of carts on the tracks at the same time!)
So after a single ride, which ate up over an hour of waiting, we decided to focus on what LEGOLAND does best – encourage children of all ages to buy small plastic bricks – and paid a visit to Fun Town and its LEGO Factory tour.
Legoland Factory tour
It was here that we saw a mock-up of how they construct, assemble, and package LEGOs . . . leading straight into a store that was a LEGO builder’s dream . . . bins and bins of LEGO blocks that could be purchased by the pound. This section also encourages free-building of LEGOs, so while I waited outside with my new-found friend, 
my boys created masterpieces made from those small plastic bricks.
Creating a masterpiece at Legoland California
As the boys scrambled up and over rocks, my oldest decided to get a little TOO up-close and personal and fell in. Shaking my head, I threw him the keys to our car and he changed into whatever clothes he could easily find in the suitcases before continuing his adventure.
