Day 5 was the big day—LEGOLAND! And wow, did we pick the right date. I think the universe was on our side, because the park felt nearly empty! I’m going to keep this secret for future trips—turns out, going during the off-season is the ultimate hack. And yet another reason why we homeschool, right? The park was a dream. The longest line we waited in was 10 minutes. For most rides, we literally just walked straight on. It was pure magic. I was smiling the entire day, and I couldn’t stop. It felt like we had the place to ourselves, which made it that much more enjoyable.
The kids had an absolute blast. They were on cloud nine the whole time. Of course, there was one little meltdown over the fact that one of my kiddos wasn’t tall enough for a ride. (I should’ve checked those height requirements better!) But, other than that, the day was perfect. I swear, the magic of LEGOLAND is real. The excitement in their faces was priceless. Also, big hack bringing the neighbors and both sets of grandparents 😉 we had 8 adults for 3 kids! My kids felt like celebrities all day! AND I didn’t have to take my phone out to take any pictures 🙂
Here’s my LEGOLAND breakdown and how the day went. According to some research, it was estimated that the park would be at 56% capacity. It felt more like 25-30% to be honest.
LEGOland Schedule — Opened at 10am.
🦕 Dino Valley
- DUPLO® Little Dino Trail
Description: A toddler-friendly ride where little ones can spot and ‘photograph’ cute DUPLO dinosaurs. So fun, make sure to use the camera to snap a pic of the ‘hidden Dino!’. Very cute ride, our son loved this one the most. At the end of the day they let him stay on and go around a few times.
Height Requirement: No minimum height; ideal for toddlers.
Estimated Wait Time: ~10 minutes (we walked straight on) - Coastersaurus
Description: A family-friendly roller coaster weaving through a prehistoric jungle with life-sized LEGO dinosaurs. “One More Time! One More Time!” They make the wait a bit more worth it by getting to go around twice, which is nice because it’s a short coaster. A great first coaster for littles to show them what a roller coaster is all about. By the second time we road this one my 4 year old was throwing her hands up.
Height Requirement: Minimum 36″; riders between 36″ – 48″ must be accompanied by an adult at least 18 years of age.
Estimated Wait Time: ~20 minutes (we waited maybe 10 minutes) - Explorer River Quest
Description: A gentle boat ride through a LEGO dinosaur-filled landscape. Watch out for the big Dino at the end!!
Height Requirement: No minimum height; suitable for all ages.
Estimated Wait Time: ~15 minutes (we walked straight on)
🏙️ The LEGO® Movie™ World
- Queen Watevra’s Carousel
Description: A whimsical carousel featuring characters from the LEGO Movie. Warning…the ‘saddles’ are very uncomfortable ha and blue bars are the ones that go up and down! Nice to have the mix for those that are not ready for a full ride experience. Adults have to be buckled in too though….
Height Requirement: No minimum height if riding with an adult.
Estimated Wait Time: ~10 minutes (theme here…we walked straight on) - Emmet’s Flying Adventure Ride
Description: A flying theater ride through the LEGO Movie universe. This was cute but a bit too overstimulating for our 4 year old. She got scared a bit at the end. The 6 year old loved everything though.
Height Requirement: Minimum 40″; riders under 48″ must be accompanied by a responsible rider at least 14 years old and 48″ or taller.
Estimated Wait Time: ~30 minutes (had to wait just for the show in front of us to finish – maybe 10 minutes) - Unikitty’s Disco Drop
Description: A drop tower ride with spinning action. One of my daughters favorite ride.
Height Requirement: Minimum 40″; riders under 48″ must be accompanied by a responsible rider at least 14 years old and 48″ or taller.
Estimated Wait Time: ~24 minutes (Kiddos walked straight on)
Fun Town and Snack Break
We headed over to Duplo Play Town and the kids ran around for a bit while we opened up the snacks.
- Duplo Play Town – since the park was so empty the kids really got to run around freely here.
- Kid Power Tower – I almost didn’t think this area was open because no one was here! But they had one tower open. It was fun to race each other.
- LEGOland express train sky patrol – so cute! Our son did this one twice. Once with one of the neighbors and then once with all of us 🙂
- Skipper School. I honestly thought we’d skip this one because the park would be busy and I wouldn’t want to wait for a long ride but the kiddos had time to do this! They had fun running into the walls ha. They are not very good boat drivers but they had a blast.
Skipper School. I honestly thought we’d skip this one because the park would be busy and I wouldn’t want to wait for a long ride but the kiddos had time to do this! They had fun running into the walls ha. They are not very good boat drivers but they had a blast.
We then headed to some building lego areas and then did the Adventures Club walk through. This was really cool but we didn’t spend a lot of time finding any keys. The kids were starting to get hungry for lunch.
🏴☠️ Pirate Shores was closed aside from Captains Cranky and Deep Sea Adventure.
We actually did Captain Crank’s while the girls did Skipper School. And then we did
- Captain Cranky’s Challenge
Description: A swinging pirate ship ride.
Height Requirement: Minimum 36″.
Estimated Wait Time: ~12 minutes (I swear this was probably our longest line because some people had the ’fast passes’ and they were a big group…..iono who would pay for that on this day but atlas there they were…) - Deep Sea Adventure. (Walked pretty much straight on. The sub was super stuffy inside but I liked how interactive it was with real fish and sharks!)
- The Hideaways + Lunch
Everyone else went back to the car for their lunches. We ate our packed lunches (yay allergies) here. The kids ran around and went down the slides. A lot going on around here though, and kiddos moving around fast. Lots of bumps and tumbles.
🏰 Castle Hill
- Royal Joust
Description: Children ride LEGO horses on a gentle track simulating a jousting tournament. The girls had smiles the entire time! Very cute and spectator friendly
Height & Age Requirement: Minimum 36″; ages 4–12.
Estimated Wait Time: ~14 minutes (they waited maybe 5 minutes which was just enough time to pass off the toddler for a walk around nap) - The Dragon
Description: A family-friendly indoor/outdoor roller coaster through a medieval castle. Fun ride and the girls would have loved to do it again but we never came back this way.
Height Requirement: Minimum 40″; riders between 40″ – 48″ must be accompanied by a responsible rider at least 14 years old and 48″ or taller.
Estimated Wait Time: ~18 minutes (waited maybe 5 minutes here)
Land of Adventure
- Lost Kingdom Adventure
Description: An interactive dark ride with laser blasters, set in an ancient Egyptian temple. I love these types of rides! I crushed it…but the theory is because I was sitting in the front.
Height Requirement: Minimum 30″.
Estimated Wait Time: ~17 minutes (we walked straight on) - Beetle Bounce
Description: A mini drop tower that bounces riders up and down. We actually skipped this one.
Height Requirement: Minimum 36″.
Estimated Wait Time: ~12 minutes (There was a very short line, probably less than five minutes or so) - Cargo Ace
Description: Children pilot small planes in a circular flight path. This was cute, very basic up and down and some circle movement.
Age Requirement: Ages 4–12.
Estimated Wait Time: ~10 minutes (we walked straight on) - Dune Raiders
Description: Multiple side-by-side slides for racing down. We also skipped this one. My four year old was starting to get tired
Height Requirement: Minimum 36″.
Estimated Wait Time: ~10 minutes (I didn’t see a line when we went past) - Pharaoh’s Revenge
Description: A play area where kids can shoot soft foam balls. We skipped.
Height Requirement: No minimum height; guests younger than 5 years of age must be accompanied by a responsible adult.
Estimated Wait Time: ~10 minutes (there was no wait while we were there)
- LEGO® Technic Coaster
Description: A thrilling coaster with sharp turns and drops. I made the mistake here of not paying attention tot he minimum height requirement. Our 4 year old was not tall enough and mixed with being overly tired at this point it caused a very long and intense meltdown. Lots of mommy snuggles. Our eldest loved it and rode it multiple times.
Height & Age Requirement: Minimum 42″ and 4 years old to ride with an adult; minimum age 6 to ride alone.
Estimated Wait Time: ~23 minutes (very short wait by this time of the day. It was about 3pm at this point)
Mini land explore
To help with the melt down we wandered around here while my husband and neighbor went on repeat rides with our eldest. The youngest was sleeping. We also went on the boat cruise with everyone else.
🥷 LEGO® NINJAGO® World
- LEGO® NINJAGO® The Ride
Description: An interactive 4D ride where you use hand gestures to defeat enemies. This was not our cup of tea to be honest. It was loud with a lot going on and we could never figure out the hand motion. My 4 year old got very scared during this ride, since it is all fighting based and battles, at least from what I could tell. I was snuggling a kiddo pretty tight at this point.
Height Requirement: No minimum height; riders under 48″ must be accompanied by a responsible rider at least 14 years old and 48″ or taller.
Estimated Wait Time: ~26 minutes (we walked right on) - Jay’s Lightning Drill & Kai’s Spinners
Description: Interactive play areas testing reflexes and balance. We skipped because of meltdowns. She also really wanted a stuffed animal, which we held our ground and said no to. They did get to pick out a new lego set under $20 each which was agreed upon prior to going to Legoland.
Height Requirement: No minimum height.
Estimated Wait Time: ~10 minutes (there was absolutely no one here) - LEGO® NINJAGO® Training Camp
Description: A play zone with climbing structures and obstacles. We skipped due to meltdowns but this part of the park was completely empty.
Height Requirement: No minimum height.
Estimated Wait Time: ~10 minutes (No one was in this entire world while we were there)
At this point it was now 4pm. We still had an hour left and the meltdown was finally calming. We headed back to Dino Valley and spent the next hour going back and forth between the three rides and the sand digging area. No lines, it was a perfect way to finish the day. Literally no lines!
The schedule was super manageable for our kids. We took breaks when we needed them and just let them enjoy everything. I didn’t try to rush through the park, so it felt more like a relaxed adventure than a mad dash to hit every ride. That’s key to keeping the little ones happy.
Run Teach Bike 