Friday, April 4, 2014

Legoland Florida

This morning we made the long and arduous trek to LEGOLAND, Florida.  And it was a long and arduous trek.  We're used to it being a short trip to Orlando from this point here in Summerfield.  That covers all the amusements in Orlando, which we were incorrectly assuming LEGOLAND was nearby.  NO.  Our drive was TWO AND A HALF HOURS there, and TWO AND A HALF HOURS back.  Part of the blame goes to all the traffic after you get off the interstate.  But by the time we got there, we were pretty tired out from the long drive!


But we made it with enough time to do everything we planned on, and had plenty of favor today.  I think the biggest demonstration of this is Madison being first in line to meet Wildstyle (or Lisa), a character from "The Lego Movie."  We didn't know if this would happen, but things timed out just right - it was certainly God's grace all day.

The weather was perfect - we rode the 360 tower, the one that's been in place since this park was called Cypress Gardens.  We rode the two-story carousel too - it has Lego horses!


Madison enjoyed that - actually we all did.  And we also enjoyed the apple fries at Granny's too.  This is evidently something you're supposed to do at LEGOLAND, and we sure did.  Next, we went to the waterskiing show, which had a pirate theme.


Brickbeard the pirate was there, as was Sawtooth the shark.  It was a fun show that had Madison frequently laughing out loud, along with the other kids there too, of course.  We met Wildstyle after this, and then soon after, it was time for Madison's first driving test!


She went through a couple "classes," and then got into her own Lego car, driving through an area with other drivers, obeying the local laws as best as possible.  She did a good job, actually, although she was pretty nervous.

Just to show you how we had favor, we were stopped shortly after this by one of the women doing facepainting.  She wanted to try something new, and wanted to try it on Madison.  Of all things, it was a ladybug she painted on her face - at no cost to us.  Madison was thrilled, and quite proud of her facepainting.  At one point, she was complimented by a nice couple.  Madison responded by posing her most glamorous way, and prancing about - it was hysterical!


We did the boat riding next, which honestly was a mess.  Madison and Mommy did well, but many of the drivers had trouble driving the course, turning themselves backwards or getting wedged with other drivers in tight places - it was a weird set-up, honestly.  And then, people were getting off the boats without anyone helping them... it just didn't seem right.

But we went on from there to some greater things, namely a ride where you shoot targets in a hidden pyramid, as if you were some Lego Indiana Jones.  We went to a 4D movie after this, a medieval tale with a wicked wizard and an inventive Lego master builder.  It was fun, and more importantly inside and with air conditioning!  The weather was getting warmer outside!


But we still had a few other things to do, namely the joust!  This was Madison's favorite ride of the day, a course where she rode around a Lego horse, complete with a jousting pole.  She enjoyed it so much that she rode it twice!

And then... she rode her first roller coaster!  It was one with a dragon, one that had a bit of a dark ride at the beginning - leading up to the roller coaster part itself.  Madison did really well, acting very brave.  But afterwards, she admitted she wasn't much of a fan of roller coasters.  It was the jerking about - otherwise it was fun!

She ran around and played in a few of the playgrounds there were - the one nearby the castle was about three stories tall!  She enjoyed that quite a bit, as did Mommy and Daddy, who got a moment to sit in the shade together.  We were keeping an eye on the clock too - soon it was time to leave, as the park was closing up.  That's when we decided to visit Miniland, where they've reproduced a lot of landmarks using LEGO bricks.  


Of course, we just had to visit the Star Wars section - they recreated a lot of planets and spaceships and figures, and Madison had to check it all out!

But soon things were wrapping up.  We visited a store there before leaving - one where Madison created her own figure.  She didn't take it home though, mainly due to time constraints.  But after Madison and Mommy left, we made a little deal with the Tooth Fairy.  You see, all vacation long, there's been this really, really, really wiggly tooth.  We think the Tooth Fairy is going to give Madison a Lego surprise one night - we'll see if that pans out!

We also got a pressed penny or two.  Madison chose the "Las Vegas" design, which was kind of funny because she has no idea what Las Vegas even is.  There was a mini Las Vegas there, hence the penny.  But it was a funny design to ask for.  Daddy got another one, with a Lego girl on it too. 

And so, we finished up a day playing with LEGO bricks.  Yes, Madison did a lot of building with LEGO bricks.  Madison was playing LEGO bricks at the restaurants there, and in the lines, and in all sorts of random places.  You could understand that, because hey, it's LEGOLAND.

We had a great time, but we had a TWO AND A HALF HOUR drive home to make.  We ate some fast food at Wendy's on the way home (where Madison scarfed her food), and made the long and arduous journey home.

It was a long day, but a fun one!

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