Legoland and Inland (Empire)
Executive summary: After getting to have our adults-only trip to Madrid in May, our summer vacation this year was totally kid-centric: Legoland and then playing with the cousins an hour away inland.
Wait, did I just call this trip a … vacation? I’ve been avoiding that word since the kids were born 6+ years ago, because I always thought of vacations as a relaxing time away, which traveling with young kids definitely isn’t. I wrote a whole post (here) about how we take “micro trips” with the kids that are limited in time, distance, and relaxation. But now that my little one is nearing 3yo, it has gotten a bit easier to take the family farther away, for longer periods of time, and with less headache. I still have to think carefully about exactly which flights we’ll book, because it has to fit into the daily schedule of eating, napping, and conforming to bedtimes (both on the morning end and the evening end). I still research and reserve restaurants ahead of time to make sure they have food the kids will eat. I still spend a long time packing because I have to figure out how to consolidate a whole family’s worth of items into the least number of bags possible, as we don’t have enough hands to carry much more besides the requisite car seats and stroller. So travel still requires a lot of advance planning, but the experience itself has improved somewhat now that the kids are becoming easier to reason with. For instance, my toddler understands that we’re going for a plane ride and that she’s supposed to take her nap on me when I explain it to her, instead of just melting down. Every little improvement is much awaited and welcomed.
I did not stress (much) about bringing the kids to Legoland. Travel with them is getting easier, although there’s of course still a long way to go.
This summer, we decided to focus the trip on the kids, since had our adult getaway earlier in the year. I’d never been to Legoland, and I think my son is at a good age to appreciate it. Maybe he’d get even more out of it if he were 8 or 9 (instead of 6), but close enough. He certainly was excited about it all summer, and even little sis learned to say “we’re going to Legoland!” in enthusiastic tones, even though she had no idea what we were talking about; she just copies big bro relentlessly. Then after three nights at Legoland, we drove to my cousin’s home near Pomona (the Inland Empire part of the trip) so the kids could hang out with their second cousins, who are 7 and 10. Here’s how our trip unfolded:
Day 1: I had booked us a 1pm flight so we wouldn’t need to get up early and be tired all day. Hubby took the kids to a playground after breakfast to get them out of the house so I could pack and prep without the kids undoing all my work in real time. The travel itself was uneventful, just Uber, short flight, Uber, hotel. My toddler even napped on me like we’d talked about! It took 50 minutes to drive to the hotel from San Diego airport, but the kids were sustained by the promise of infinite Legos at the end. Indeed, we arrived at the hotel and they dove straight into the Lego pit in the lobby while we waited for our room (we arrived half an hour before check-in). After getting settled, we played a bit at the Castle Hotel playground before going to dinner, which also featured a Lego pit. I appreciate that the on-site hotels are so child-friendly: they have bunk (and trundle) beds in separate curtained-off alcoves, stepping stools in the bathrooms, Legos inside the rooms and common areas, kid-approved foods and milk at every meal. It probably costs 30% more to eat and stay at the on-site hotels, but it makes our lives so much easier amidst the chaos of two little kids. The hotel isn’t luxury by any means (for us adults), but it is 1000% whimsical and designed for (delighted) children. One thing I did not realize was that they hold nightly shows on the outdoor stage at 7pm, 8pm, 9pm … right under our window during bedtime. The noise wasn’t too loud in the kids’ bunk bed alcove, which is set back from the windows, but like my husband wondered: “who are all these little kids who don’t need to go to bed??”
A child’s dream come true. Not my usual decor style, believe it or not.
Day 2: The kids were having trouble falling asleep the previous night (probably a combo of overstimulation and too much ice cream for dessert), so they slept in. We had to wake them up at 8am so we could get a move on. We got down to the breakfast buffet at 8:15, which we’ve been warned is one of the worst times to show up, as everyone is trying to eat before hotel early access to the park begins at 9:15. But the line only took 10 minutes, and the kids got to play with more Legos during the wait, so no harm done. After breakfast, we headed into the park and tried to figure out which rides were open early. My son is now tall enough (~48”) to do all the rides, although he’s still hesitant about some of them (e.g., fast coasters, big drops). My daughter is maybe 34-36” tall (hard to tell exactly on those measuring poles they use on squirmy children), which precludes her from a number of rides, but she’s too scared to go on most of them anyway. Postponing our Legoland trip for 3 years would’ve been more ideal (our kids would be 5 and 9 then), but it’s also ok now … more low key for the parents, since we spend a decent portion of the day sitting at meals, chilling during naps, and turning in early for bedtime, instead of running around the park like crazy from 9-5 nonstop. As a bonus for me, one of my best friends came by for dinner — she now lives in San Diego 10 minutes away from where my husband grew up. That was a nice conclusion to our first full day at Legoland!
Day 3: We were slightly more practiced this morning at getting down to breakfast and to the front gates for early entry. We had a very productive morning, bouncing from ride to ride, waiting no more than 5-10 minutes for each (this is why it’s totally worth it to come on a random weekday). Big bro squeezed in 9 rides; little sis likes the boat and car rides, but is scared of everything else (e.g., anything fast, or indoors because it’s dark). We called it after 2 hours to head to lunch, then naptime/ quiet time. Our afternoon was spent revisiting some favorite playgrounds, and building another race car. I’d say two days is the right amount of time to spend at Legoland: we got to do all the rides we were interested in, plus time to explore the playgrounds and Lego building stations. One day would’ve meant rushing around, but three would’ve started to get repetitive. And while my toddler couldn’t appreciate that much of the park, my 6yo loved it. He was also very taken with the little details like the constellations projected onto the ceiling in the kids’ bunk bed alcove, which we discovered on the second night. I think everything was fascinating for him.
We tended to do the rides in the morning, when the lines were short, and hang out at playgrounds and Lego building stations in the afternoons.
Day 4: Every morning at the Legoland hotel, we’re woken up by the sound of someone dragging chairs/tables outside at 6:45am, ugh. Like I said, not a luxury venue … the things we do for the kids. Today was the day to pack up and pick up the rental car to drive to my cousin’s home 1.5 hours away. The kids rested/napped on our drive after lunch and woke up to a new (to them) stash of toys at my cousin’s house. Then we had an extended family dinner at a favorite Shanghainese restaurant nearby and my son got to stay for a sleepover while we took my daughter to a hotel, because we didn’t want to inflict our entire family on my cousin overnight. This Hampton Inn hotel was even less luxurious than the Legoland one — we suspected there was a pee smell coming out of the AC unit, because we actually switched from one room to another, but found that both had the same odor. I wouldn’t have stayed here except the hotel is 5 minutes from my cousin’s house, so the proximity trumped all other factors.
Days 5-7: Play, eat, sleep, repeat. We spent three days chilling at my cousin’s home … or rather, sweating might be more accurate, since it’s hot where they live, and we exacerbated the heat by eating spicy noodle soups every day (including malatang, which is like an individual hot pot where you select the ingredients for your personal bowl. I’ve been seeing these restaurants pop up recently, but never tried one before). The kids went wild at an indoor playground, swam, built magnet tile creations, played Mario Party, and had a sleepover every night (minus my toddler, who still wants her parents). Just the way summer should be. The one blemish on our trip was that my daughter apparently caught some sort of stomach bug (I’m guessing at Legoland — too many kids grubbing in the Lego pits) that caused her to spew out both ends, and in the middle of the night no less. She was pretty chipper the whole time (and would rather jump on the bed than go to sleep at bedtime), but it’s obviously no fun for anyone to be sick. I had to borrow my cousin’s washing machine every day, it was quite a mess, yikes.
Day 8: Travel day home. My daughter’s illness resolved just in time, thank goodness! It might’ve been a mid-air disaster otherwise (we’ve been there, done that with my son as an infant, and I’m not eager for a repeat). I’m always hoping that we have less to carry coming back than we do going out, as we’ve consumed most of the snacks, diapers, etc. during the trip, but my daughter messed that up with her new stuffie. I don’t know what she sees in a Lego guy dressed in a shark suit, but it was her favorite thing at Legoland. As a minimalist, I really struggle with bringing more stuff into our home, but I know I have to give the kids some leeway. I can’t say no to everything in their childhoods, so I find ways to compensate … like shipping some overflow items off to the grandparents periodically so it’s not truly saying goodbye …
What does my daughter see in him?? At least he seems happy and nice, although maybe that’s because his head is full of fluff.
I am so grateful that I’m able to give my kids the experiences that I didn’t have as a child. My parents could’ve never afforded a trip like this, between the plane tickets, the on-site hotel, and the meals out. But now, this is something I have the means to give my own children, and I can create the memories here with them, instead of with my own parents. For their part, the kids had a great time and were good travelers — there was minimum whining and crying (yup, that’s my bar). I hope travel with them keeps getting easier (and sans disease), because then we’ll be able to have many more adventures together. I’m still not ready to take on Disneyland; it feels like a much bigger and more intimidating beast to tackle than Legoland, so maybe that’s what we’ll do in 3 years when the kids are older. But first, I have to figure out what our plans should be for next year!