Our First Trip to LEGOLAND Florida – Investing in Family Time
This post may contain affiliate links, view our disclosure policy for details.
You would not believe how incredibly busy we have been the past few weeks! It all started with our trip to Chicago a few weeks ago, then about 1 1/2 weeks ago my in-laws came in. We all went to LEGOLAND Florida for the very first time! In fact, thanks to one of my readers April, we were able to buy an annual pass for my son and I at a much cheaper rate. And my husband gets in free since he’s a teacher! My youngest is also free since he’s only 2 years old.
There are a LOT of bright colors everywhere! It’s a happy kid place where everything is simple and bold. To be honest we were there from open to close and didn’t even get half of the park done. So we are eager to go back and check everything out. BUT what I did like about it is that my 2 year old can ride almost everything in the entire park. That was a huge plus for me. The little guys definitely like to be included and I loved that he could go on almost all of the same rides as everyone else, and there were plenty for him to go on!
From riding little cars to putting out fires on fire engines and small roller coasters my little guy fell asleep before we even left the park!
And of course, as you would expect, there were tons of Lego scenes everywhere! Even by the waterfall in the part were Lego foxes and deer!
The last place we stopped that day was in their Imaginarium area where you can build your own Lego cars and race them down a big ramp! It was absolutely packed in there so we only stayed for a few races but I loved the hands-on benefit for the kids. There was also a really neat section in there where the kids were allowed to build towers onto a Lego platform, then push a button which simulated an earthquake. The kids could then see if their building was strong enough to withstand the earthquake!
I am a FIRM believer in family time together. And other than just going to the park to play, one way that our family has enjoyed outings like this over and over again is to invest once a year in an annual pass somewhere. That doesn’t have to mean it’s horribly pricey or even that you drop hundreds of dollars eating there during the year! We paid a total of $170 for our entire family to get premium annual passes to LEGOLAND Florida since my husband and son get in free. Several years we did Sea World which at the time our kids were little cost us about $100 per year for the family (teachers get in free there too!). One year we did a science museum which was $75 for the entire family AND they honored recipricol memberships to other science museums around the country which we were able to get in free there too! And then this past year we’ve had our annual pass to the zoo for about $125 for the whole family. It is a VERY worthwhile investment for our family has built years of memories already. Here’s how we save money on our trips with our passes:
Bring Your Own Snacks.
Only go for the afternoon and eat a picnic outside.
Buy a Souvenir cup – it may cost $8 up front but refills are usually about $1.
Check gift shops for clearance. I know Sea World has an entire store of clearanced items!
Make sure at least 1 person in the family has a premium pass to get free parking!
Eat snacks/meals in the car on the way over so you’re not hungry when you get there.
Check membership prices at different locations. Some places charge per family, some charge per person!
