On Friday of last week, the bigger kids didn’t have school, but Simon did. It is usually the opposite – Simon is usually with me while the bigger kids have school! So we took advantage of this different dynamic and Gabbie, Zachary, and I went to the Legoland Discovery Center in Kansas City. The kids had already been to Legoland with camp and they were excited to show it to me.
When you first enter Legoland, you are in a room that is supposed to demonstrate how Legos are made. There are various activities in the room that I guess simulate the production of legos, but it was pretty crowded in there and Zachary kept running from one station to the next, so I am not sure we got the full effect!
After exiting that room, you can either ride the Kingdom Quest ride or bypass it. Gabbie said she doesn’t like this type of ride – where you shoot a laser gun at screens or figures. This ride is similar to the Buzz Lightyear ride at Disney World, which I did not know that Gabbie did not like! Zachary wanted to go on the ride though, so Gabbie sat but refused to shoot her gun. Zachary was into it and did relatively well score wise!
I know it’s blurry, but Zachary was happily shooting at the screens!
Next, we entered Miniland, which was made up of models of many Kansas City landmarks as well as a model of Oz all made out of Legos. There were some interactive parts too. This part was my favorite.
Kansas Speedway. See the red and yellow blurs? The cars were controlled by buttons on the outside of the display and we were raising them!
Crown Center – Sea Life and Legoland
Dorothy’s House – we pushed a button to start the tornado, which made the house spin.
Next, we entered into an open area where the rest of the exhibit sections were. We skipped over the Duplo Village section meant for toddlers. The kids didn’t want to watch the 3D movie. Zachary headed straight into the play area, and Gabbie wanted to build in the Friends section. Eventually Gabbie joined Zachary in the play area and they stayed in there for awhile.
Next, they tried to build Lego cars to race down sloping tracks. Both Gabbie and Zachary made cars that didn’t move when they were supposed to!
They also played a bit with the Earthquake Tables where you can build structures and then make the tables vibrate to see if your structure will fall over or stay standing. This structure was already built and they took it apart so they could build another.
This section of activities can really last as long or as short as your child is interested in them. If they aren’t much into building things with Legos or running around in a play area, they might be through this part quite quickly. There is one more ride after this, but neither of my kids wanted to ride it, plus the line was quite long, so after a few more pictures we headed out to the store.
The kids discussed what Lego sets they wanted for their birthdays, and then we went outside to eat our lunches that we’d brought from home. It was a beautiful day for eating outside!
Before we headed back to pick up Simon at school, we went across to Crown Center to use the bathroom and drink from the water fountain. Inside were a few Lego figures and I tried to get the kids to pose with them. Zachary doesn’t quite get the concept of looking at the camera when I take his picture and he ended up acting very silly, which resulted in the following pictures:
Honestly, I didn’t think Legoland was worth the money. I’m glad I went but I don’t think I’ll be back. It just costs a lot for a lot of free play areas, I think. I did like the first ride and Miniland though! Zachary loved the play area and Gabbie liked Miniland and the Friends Lego section!