The boy's surprise!

After yesterdays sadness, we wanted to do something special for the boys.  Once our travel plans were confirmed, I started looking into Legoland, and the hotel.  We decided to book the hotel for the friday night, and purchase tickets for the friday.  They were doing a special on buy 1 day get the next day free, so this gave us the option of the park over both days.  It wasn't heap, but the hotel and tickets for 2 days to the park came in at under 500 pounds for all of us.

We kept it as a surprise.  The boys kept asking we where we were going.  out response 'its a surprise'. It was only when we drove up to the main gate they knew it was happening, and were very happy about it!

We got there after lunch, and this was the entrance....

Quiet, so very, very quiet.  One of the joys of going over term time.  We walked through the main entrance to the shopping area, and this was the view 

The weather was pretty good, and you could see all the way to London, absolutely breath taking.  I remember this park when it was Windsor Safari Park.  I went there many, many times, my mum used to work in a school nearby.  

First stop, Lego Star Wars.  This was all indoors, and absolutely amazing.  Dare I say it, better than Florida's.  Because it was so quiet we were able to walk round the whole display basically undisturbed.  

We walked on down the park.  We went on a couple of rides, then the rain struck.  We had left our rain coats in the car, so invested in some ponchos.  

It was raining pretty hard, so we took shelter in one of the restaurants.  Luckily it didn't rain long, so we were quickly out walking around the park. We went on a ferris wheel type thing, which gave awesome views over the whole park, then took a train ride to see what else was on offer.  I will say it again, it was quiet, so we hardly had to queue for anything.  You know I like that!

We headed to the back of the park, where the hotel was, then kept going towards Atlantis.  This was by far everyones favorite.  You get in a submarine, which takes you under water looking for the lost city of Atlantis, through reefs, with plenty of sharks.  The boys loved it.

By now, we were getting towards the park closing time, so we headed back up to the entrance to do some shopping.  Not before hitting up mini world.  Again, this was awesome, and we only did about half of it.

We couldn't leave the park before going to the Hero Factory area.  This is Isaacs favorite kind of Lego, he has a lot of Hero's, and is always making his own.  This was perfect for him.  2 big tables, each with about 6 pits full of pieces for him to make his own.  he was in his element.  Look how quiet it is, there is only my 2 in the photo!

We went to the shop, and the boys got a couple of little sets each, before heading out the park towards the hotel.  

Legoland hotel is something else.  Massive pits of Lego in reception, where the boys plated while I checked us in.  We were in an adventure room on the top floor.  The lifts in this place are awful, but we soon discovered the stairs.  

The room was amazing, absolutely perfect for us. The kids even had their own sleeping area!  

There was a little treasure hunt for them to do to open the chest for their Lego prizes.  Needless to say they loved it.  It was the little touches that made a big difference.  

We headed down for some dinner.  We choose to eat at the Skyline Bar, as I was aware we would be eating in the Bricks restaurant for breakfast.  The staff in this restaurant were not great, and there was not enough of them.  We managed to get a table at the side of the restaurant, where we could pretty much see the kids where ever they went. This was a very good idea, as there was a room upstairs containing Xbox's, where our kids spent most of the evening.  We did manage to get them to have some food.  This was not too expensive, though we were careful what we ordered, to be sure the boys would eat 

There was entertainment put on for the kids, which ours eventually decided to watch.

We took them up to the room about 8.30.  They had a great time, and were very excited about going back in the next morning.  Paul and I took turns going back down to the bar to get more beer.  The bar was pretty much empty by 9.30, as you would expect from a family friendly resort.  

We went to bed about 11.30, absolutely shattered, but happy having enjoyed our day, and knowing the kids were happy too.  

Legoland - Part 2

We decided not to rush to Legoland on the tuesday, and arrived about 11pm.  Again, it was not too busy, but probably a bit busier than monday.  There was also quite a few school buses parked in the car park.

We headed into the park.  The boys had a few things they wanted to do that they had spotted the day before. The first stop was the Lego Factory tour.  This is supposed to be a miniature version of a Lego production line.  It starts with a video, then takes you through the production line.  It was not very good.  From here we headed to Duplo play town, a park area.  This was in full sun, and seeing as it was very hot again, we did not stay long.  There were some dubious looking spiders webs in some of the play equipment.

We then went to Lego Kingdoms to The Forestmens Hideout.  This was another play park which was more suited to Oliver and Isaac.  The big slide was closed off, which it had not been the day before.  Luckily this park was in the shade, so we were able to stay a bit longer.  Seb was not interested though, and just wanted to sit in the buggy.

Food was calling, so we headed to The Market Restaurant to see what they had.  This had lots of different counters selling different types of things, none of which I thought the boys would eat.  So we went back to the Pizza and pasta places we went to the day before.  Again, Isaac barely ate anything, while the rest of us pigged out.

It was very hot by now, so we took a slow walk to the back of the park to the waterpark.  It was even quieter this time.  We all got changed, and decided to base ourselves near the wave pool.  We got some loungers, just under the shade.  We all had lots of fun in the waves, the boys were able to have a bit more freedom, as we were able to keep a good eye on them.  We went to the Duplo splash zone again, which the boys enjoyed (damn them slides), and another go round the lazy river.  The staff were not as helpful, and there were loads of empty rings around the river.  I was able to take Isaac like I had the day before, but Paul decided not to take Seb, as he had not enjoyed it.  We went back to the loungers, and got some ice cream and beer.  Seb was getting tired, so he got in the buggy, and sat there relaxing for a good chunk of time.  Isaac was also getting tired, so he had a little relax.  This enabled Paul to take Oliver on the lazy river again.  On the way back they noticed the Duplo pool had been closed.  Within 5 minutes, the wave pool was closed, and the lifeguards were fishing something disgusting out....

We thought this would be a good time to leave.  Unfortunately, so did everyone else, so the changing rooms were packed.  We left the waterpark and headed towards the gate.  We stopped at the Build and Test area on the way through the park.  The boys were all given some wheels as they headed in.  The idea is to make a car and then test it on ramps.  If we had done this earlier in the day it would have been awesome.  By this time though, our children were shattered, and getting all silly when the pieces  would not stay on.  It did not help that a lot of the pieces were too worn or broken to stay on.

So we trundled off back to the car, for the delightful drive home.  The boys loved Legoland.  The concept is amazing, but although the park has only been open a few years, many things felt a bit worn and neglectful.  The staff here were also a bit hit and miss.  Some were amazingly helpful, but most looked like they were there to gossip with their friends.  There is no way enough shade in parts of the park, which could easily be rectified.  Paul and I were a bit underwhelmed by the whole place.  We were glad we got a 2 day ticket though.  To do the whole thing in one day is possible, but you would be shattered for a few days after.  It was nice to spread it over the two days, slightly more relaxing, and we were able to take things in a lot better.  Its just a shame it cost us a small fortune in fuel.

Legoland- part 1

We did Legoland over two days.  It was only $15 each to upgrade to a 2 day pass.  We also took advantage of a special offer, where if you name the date you are going to Legoland, you get $15 off admission.  So the second day was almost free.  We also added the water park to the admission, to be able to cool off in the hot sun.

The first day we arrived about 9.30.  Legoland is a good 45 minute drive from Orlando.  We arrived, paid the parking (only $14 this time, woohoo), and trundled in.  The first thing that struck us was how quiet it was.  After the chaos of Disney and Seaworld, this was most welcome.

We headed straight through mini-land, up to Lego City.  Here Isaac got to go on the mini driving school, followed by Oliver having a go on the Lego Driving school.  The mini driving school was not at all busy, yet despite there being no queue, they still timed Isaac's go, and kicked him off as soon as his time was done.  He was very pleased with his driving license.  Oliver's was a bit better.  He had to sit through a video which told him the rules of the road etc.  He then went out with about 8 other drivers, and got a good time on the road.  It was very cute to see them all abiding by the rules.  I think Oliver would have preferred it if the cars had gone faster, and it was a race track, rather than a street circuit.

From here we headed to Boating School.  The queue for this was a bit longer.  I rode with Oliver and Seb while Paul went behind us with Isaac. Our boot had rubbish steering.  we ended up getting stuck under a pelican that squirted water, and could not get the boat out.  Needless to say, we got soaked.  Which was actually quite nice.  It managed to keep Seb really cool.  The days we did Legoland it was hot, too hot.

After a quick drink and snack our next stop was Lego Technic.  Oliver and i rode the Aquazone Wave Racers, then Paul and Oliver rode the Lego Technic Coaster, both were pretty good.

From here we headed through Land of Adventure where we all joined the queue for Coastasaurus.  Seb had measured perfectly for it at the bottom, but when we got to the top, he was too small.  Isaac was also kicking off about going on, he really didn't want too, so Paul took the pair of them back again, and Oliver and I rode.  This was one rickety roller coaster.  We then joined the line for the Safari Trek.  This was about  a 15 minute wait, but the boys amused themselves by playing Lego.  Oliver rode on his own, I rode with Seb, and Paul took Isaac.  We drove through a safari of Lego animals, which all the boys enjoyed.

By now we were starting to get hungry,  We had spotted a pizza and pasta buffet place when we came in.  Luckily we were early enough to get seats.  The price was reasonable, think it was under $50 for us all to eat and drink an unlimited amount.  Isaac was being a pickle, and refused to eat anything.  We eventually coaxed him into having 3 pieces of garlic bread.  The rest of us had 2 plates worth, Oliver and Seb having double portions of both pizza and pasta, Paul and I going for pizza then salad.  We were able to refill our drinks as much as we wanted, so did this just before leaving and heading to World of Chima

This was one for Isaac, he loves Chima, but there did not seem to me a lot there.  The boys got a nice soaking in Craggers swamp, before we went and looked at Legend of Chima, the ride.  This is a boat ride, through the story of Chima where you get to shoot water from cannons in front of you.  There are also cannons on the side that people watching can shoot.  You can also shoot the people in the boats in front and behind you.  We all had a great time on this, and got soaked.

Seb in Craggers Swamp

Seeing as we were already wet, we took a slow meander through Miniland to the Lego Water Park, right at the back of the park.

This made Legoland for us.  It was not too busy.  After getting changed we parked ourselves on the sand by the Duplo Splash Surf.  Then it started raining.  Seeing as we were already wet, we kept playing in the water.  The boys loved the little slides, but Seb and Isaac would not ride with out me or Paul.  They quickly became a bit tedious to Paul and I, so we went and gave the Built a Raft River a go.  This is basically a lazy river, with rubber rings with lego bits attached so you can build as you float round.  This was ok, the boys liked it.  I managed to get a double ring which had a seat bit in one of the holes, so Isaac had a good ride.  Paul did not manage to get one for Seb though, which made his journey a little cumbersome.  We then went to the wave pool, which was awesome.  A good size, not too busy, and the boys were pretty safe.  They all enjoyed jumping in and out of the waves, and off the island that was positioned in the middle.  They also enjoyed playing with the bigger bricks.  We had a quick go in the joker soaker area.  This was perfect for Oliver.  On a couple of occasions we did not see him till he got to the bottom of a slide. The water here was freezing, and it came at you from all directions, even when you are just standing in the pool.

After the water park, we headed for the gate.  It was already after 5pm! We had to stop and try the Granny Apple Fries.  These are apples, cut into fries, fried then dusted with sugar and cinnamon, served with vanilla cream dipping sauce.  A bit pricey, but very very yummy.  Of course, we had to stop in the Big Shop on the way out.  We has a good look round, before we decided what we wanted to purchase.  Ouch........

The boys were shattered