This article is reprinted from the WeChat public account of a reader in our WeChat group, 懒人 33 的吃喝玩乐. Original link.
After surviving a hectic January, I finally started writing up our Christmas trip! This Christmas trip will be a four-part series, and this post covers the first stop: Legoland Florida.
In the summer of 2021, after returning to the U.S. from Tahiti, we headed straight to Florida. It was our kid’s first time doing all four Disney parks plus Legoland, and our little boy thought Legoland was way more fun. So a little over a year later, we planned another visit.
Booking
Legoland Florida often runs a “book 3 months in advance, stay 2 nights and get 1 free” deal. This time, we booked 3 nights at the Legoland Pirate Hotel plus 3 days in the park. For 2 adults and 1 child, the total came to $1,000, which was a great deal for Christmas week. Later, I heard that a friend paid $700/night for Legoland California around the same time, almost double what we paid, so for those of you in Seattle, Florida is definitely worth considering.
Day 1
Legoland Florida is about equally far from both Orlando Airport and Tampa Airport. This time we flew into Tampa, and from Seattle it was only about a 4.5-hour flight.
At Tampa Airport, you take a little train to the rental car center, which is much smoother than hauling your luggage on and off a shuttle.
We had an early morning flight, and by the time we landed, picked up our bags, took the train, and got the rental car, it was already a whole process. Then our kid spent forever picking a car at National—he wanted a small one, but we had too much luggage to fit, so after a lot of persuasion he finally agreed to an SUV. We used a corporate discount plus a National Executive membership we had scored through various deals, and SUVs/minivans were only around $30–$40 per day, which is pretty much our standard rental setup.
After all that, plus the time difference, it was basically dinner time. We went to Sarione Korean Restaurant near TPA airport. Great value, generous portions, and pretty tasty too. The three of us ordered short ribs and tofu soup and were completely full. It was a great start to this 17-day trip.
After eating our fill, we drove to Legoland. With normal traffic, it takes about an hour. You could already feel the Christmas atmosphere on the way there.
Hotel Comparison
A quick detour here to compare the Legoland Florida hotel options.
When we came in summer 2021, we stayed at Legoland Beach Retreat. The main advantage is that it feels more like a resort, similar to a townhouse setup, where two rooms share one building. In theory, that should mean better soundproofing than a regular hotel—though in reality, it felt about the same, and quiet hours started after 10 pm anyway. The photo below shows the room we stayed in, which had outdoor table and chairs. The interior layout was pretty similar to the Pirate room we stayed in this time. There was also a playground right outside the room, so adults could stay inside in the A/C while the kid played outside, which was very convenient.
The first downside is that this hotel is not right at the park entrance. You need to take a short shuttle ride to the park, or you can walk about 0.5 mile. Lazy as we are, we always took the shuttle. The shuttle also has operating hours, so it doesn’t run all day. The second downside is that there was no bell service to help move luggage, and we also couldn’t find any carts to use. Since the rooms are fairly spread out, we had to drag our luggage a decent distance to get to the room, which was tiring. The third downside is that, as I remember it, the food at the restaurant there was pretty bad.
A few more words about the all inclusive option. When we came in 2021, I bought the all inclusive package, and personally I didn’t think it was worth it or very flexible. Breakfast was already included with the hotel stay, and for us, breakfast plus a late afternoon meal, with a few snacks for the kid in between, was plenty. Three full American-style fast-food meals a day was honestly a bit much. Also, this “all inclusive” package was basically just a stack of coupons, which was kind of annoying to carry around.
We didn’t want to deal with the shuttle again, so this time we booked Pirate instead. Pirate and Legoland Hotel are basically the same property and connected to each other; they just have different themes, so I picked Pirate more or less at random.
You also don’t need to go to the front desk to check in. If you enter from the Legoland Hotel side, there are machines right inside where you can self-check-in and print your room keys. Very convenient, especially if you’re not big on social interaction.
Legoland Hotel is incredibly kid-friendly. My kid liked the hotel even more than Legoland itself.
It’s very useful to grab a guide at the front desk. A few days before check-in, you’ll also receive an email about the Creative Workshop. If your child likes LEGO, I’d recommend booking it multiple times if possible; I only booked it once and it felt like too little. Every day, staff lead kids in building different small LEGO sets, and each person gets a kit to take home after finishing. It’s pretty popular, so I recommend reserving in advance.
The guide also includes a QR code for dining reservations. I booked after arriving and was still able to get reservations, but you can also book ahead. It’s on the official website too—just Google “legoland florida restaurant reservations” and you’ll find it. Reservations are handled through OpenTable, but you can’t access them directly through OpenTable; you need to use the link from the official site.
There are also all kinds of kids’ activities in the hotel every evening, and the guide has information on all of them.
Dell
The theming at the Legoland hotels is excellent. Kids get their own separate nook with bunk beds. The room also has a treasure chest and a LEGO wall, so kids who love LEGO can easily entertain themselves in the room for quite a while. Housekeeping also brought little LEGO items and juice every day.
check-incheck-in
With the time difference, the day went by quickly, and after building LEGO, the kid washed up and went right to bed.
Day 2
In the morning, we could see the park entrance just by opening the curtains. For a lazy person like me, having to walk a few fewer steps is a wonderful feeling.
This was a Sunday, and the pirate ship restaurant downstairs was very crowded at breakfast time. We checked in and were told the wait would be about half an hour, so we turned around and went to the restaurant on the Legoland Hotel side instead. At Bricks, you line up at the entrance, and it felt like the wait was a bit shorter. Luckily, the hotel has plenty of things for kids to do, so waiting for a table wasn’t boring.
You can order breakfast off the menu, but the server said that would take a long time. The faster option was this family-style breakfast: a big cast-iron pan filled with a bunch of items for the whole family to share. Even with that, we still waited quite a while that day. Nothing especially memorable about it, but it was decent enough.
Peppa Pig Theme Park only opened in March 2022; when we came in 2021, it was still under construction. My kid only started watching Peppa in 2022 and was very into it, so he insisted we go to Peppa Pig Theme Park first. It was about a 100- to 200-meter walk from the hotel, and along the way there was a pirate ship, so my transportation-obsessed kid stopped to play there for a while too.
Peppa Pig Theme Park is small and overall geared toward younger kids. My child is afraid of the dark, speed, and loud noises, so he won’t ride roller coasters; this park was just right for him. Even though it’s small, the theming is really well done. Just sitting there listening to the Peppa music really makes you feel like you’re in Peppa’s world, and most of the staff were cheerful too. It was a little boring for the adults, but we were in a great mood.
Even the same tricycles they have at our local farm somehow became extra fun inside Peppa Pig Theme Park.
The park is small and the crowds were light, so there was basically no wait for any of the rides. After the tricycles, we went to drive the boats~
Then George’s dinosaur~
And then he spent forever, forever in the sandbox...
At the entrance, you can pick up a badge and write your name on it.
At one point he was having such a good time he just lay down on the ground to enjoy himself...
There’s also a splash play area. It wasn’t a warm day, so not many kids were playing there. My kid also hates getting water on his face, so he usually skips this kind of splash area.
After a lot of coaxing, we finally got him onto the roller coaster. The queue area has Peppa’s family kitchen.
Daddy Pig’s Roller Coaster broke down, so we had to wait in line for a while before riding. The coaster is not scary at all, but my kid still thought it was too fast and said no more after one ride...
Duck fishing—I haven’t watched much of the cartoon, so I have no idea what this has to do with Peppa.
No idea who this is either...
We rode the hot air balloons. This ride plays Pedro’s song, which I especially liked, lol—I sang it every day after we got home.
Mr. Potato’s Showtime Arena has two performances a day. Since there weren’t many people, the kids could all sit pretty close to the front.
It was just Peppa awkwardly dancing with this staff member, and my kid kept asking where George and Daddy Pig and Mummy Pig had gone.
There’s also a playground, a maze, and a super short trail.
There’s a movie theater too, where they play Peppa episodes on a loop.
We grabbed some food at Miss Rabbit’s Diner. The food itself wasn’t anything special. Since Peppa Pig Theme Park is newer, the restrooms were better than the ones in legoland, and the toilets had seat covers.
After lunch, we switched over to legoland. My kid said, “Oh, so George and Daddy Pig and Mummy Pig are here!”
Our second visit! It was really hot when we came during summer break last time; the weather was much nicer this time, and there were way fewer people than on our previous summer visit. Maybe Florida kids weren’t out of school yet.
Last time we came, my kid wasn’t even 3 yet, and his favorite area was the duplo section. This time he had clearly grown up—a couple rides on the little train and he was done with it, because he thought he was a big boy now.
There was a Christmas event going on in the park during these days; this one was decorating your own Christmas tree ornament.
There were quite a few Christmas-themed photo spots.
There was also a station to mail letters to Santa.
Our whole family has pretty low stamina, so by around 6 p.m. we were done for the day and went back to the hotel to shower and then eat. That night we had a reservation at the pirate ship restaurant downstairs. Recommended! We got a headscarf from housekeeping, and the restaurant gave us another one, which looked pretty funny on my kid.
We ordered a drink, and it was surprisingly strong—my partner and I shared one and still got a little buzzed.
The bread looked gloriously unhealthy, but that sugar-and-butter combo really was delicious...
The salad was surprisingly good too—my partner and I finished this huge bowl of salad, which was a first for us. The dressing was a little sweet, and since I don’t usually like sweet flavors, it got a bit cloying by the end.
For the main course, we ordered the surf-and-turf platter, also served family style. The shrimp were very tender, the meat was good too, and overall everything was solid—no misses.
My kid got the mac n cheese. Dessert was pretty rich too; after the salad and main course, I was already too full for dessert.
The hotel was full of Christmas cheer too.
That evening we walked around the hotel a bit. The pool was pretty similar to the one at Beach Retreat, and the floats in the pool were all LEGO-shaped. But the weather was still a little chilly, so getting into the outdoor pool took some courage.
Our kid still wanted to go to Peppa Pig Park, but after some gentle persuasion, he agreed to go to Legoland the next day.
Day 3
This day was a Monday, and a lot of the Christmas activities at Legoland were only offered on weekends and holidays, so there was basically only photo-taking left that day. It also seemed like the park was much less crowded than the day before.
The only shows left were the 4D movie and the water show.
The ninja wall over in the Ninja area was also something he loved back in 2021.
The whole family waited in line for Ninjago, and sure enough, when it was finally our turn, our kid said he didn’t want to ride, so I went by myself.
I ended up getting third place all by myself, competing against other groups’ combined scores of 3–4 people, which felt pretty impressive, so I had to take a picture.
Our kid still loved the boat ride. It was one of the longer lines in the park, and we waited about 20 minutes. There really is a lot of room for kids to play around on that boat ride, and I think most boys would love it.
Back in 2021, our kid didn’t dare drive the car ride by himself. He went in and then came running back out crying. This time, though, he had no problem and rode it by himself several times. He did complain that it was slow. Compared with the ride-on at home, it really is slower. He still liked the boat ride better.
I went on Flying School by myself. Rides where you’re suspended in the air are really not glasses-friendly. Every time it turned, my glasses bumped against the side. Not only did it hurt, but it also felt like they could easily fall off.
Our kid said he wanted to check out the water park, and luckily we had brought swimsuits. He spent a long time playing in the water LEGO area, while my teammate and I lounged by the wave pool. It was amazing.
The water park at Legoland Florida is inside Legoland itself—just walk all the way to the back and you’re there. In winter there really weren’t many people. Our kid basically had the toddler area to himself, and the water was heated, so it didn’t feel cold at all. A lifeguard followed him around the whole time, like one-on-one service. We just sat nearby. He kept playing until the water park closed at 4 pm.
After leaving the water park, we went to Imagination Zone, where our kid played for a very, very, very long time—so long that my phone battery was almost dead from me playing on it.
We passed Miniland on the way. Back in 2021 it was still open-air, but now it was all covered by curtains. By the time we left the park, it was already dark.
That night we ate at the Skyline restaurant on the Legoland side. I’m not sure whether I just ordered the wrong thing, but it really wasn’t very good—nowhere near as good as the pirate restaurant next door.
After dinner we went to the Creative Workshop. The LEGO build that day was a little dinosaur, and the three of us each made one. We really should have signed up more times—it was so much fun.
Day 4
This was our last day at Legoland. In the morning we went to the pirate restaurant for breakfast, and it was the same as the one next door. On a non-weekend day there really weren’t many people, and we didn’t even have to wait for breakfast.
That day our kid still insisted on going back to Peppa Pig Park. Honestly, I liked the Peppa Pig park better too.
Still the tricycles, and on a weekday there was basically no one there.
At the bus stop, I even specifically asked a staff member whether the times posted on the sign were for some kind of event, and the staff member said there wasn’t anything.
The themed shop in the park had all kinds of Peppa merchandise, and I casually snapped a couple of photos.
On the right side of the photo below, there was a small game area with things like bean bag toss.
After more or less making another full round, we headed back over to Legoland. I rode Lego Race, which felt like the most thrilling ride in Legoland, and it was actually fairly fast. As someone who’s terrible with roller coasters, this is about the level I can handle.
By the time we finished everything, it was almost 5 PM. We planned to head straight to our next stop, Orlando, and have dinner there as well. I’ll continue with Orlando in the next post~
About the Author
This article is reprinted from the WeChat public account of a reader from the WeChat group, 懒人 33 的吃喝玩乐. All of the articles are original and well worth reading, so if you’re interested, feel free to follow it.