LEGOLAND Florida Travel Guide
Did you know that it’s possible to find a family-friendly theme park, a historical botanical garden, an elaborate miniature world, and a relaxing water park all in one place?!
Yes, this place indeed exists and it’s all in LEGOLAND Florida!
Everybody knows that Florida has an abundance of theme park options for all ages… But what exactly sets LEGOLAND apart from every other park in the area?
We tried to find out for ourselves when we recently visited LEGOLAND Florida located in Winter Haven.
Here’s our ultimate travel guide and honest thoughts on the LEGOLAND Florida Resort:
Disclaimer: We were invited by LEGOLAND Florida as media guests. However, all opinions are our own and based on our honest personal experience.
– LEGOLAND: THE BASICS
LEGOLAND Florida Resort, located in Winter Haven, is a 150-acre interactive theme park dedicated to families, especially those with younger children.
The park features more than 70 fun rides, interactive shows, and brick-tastic attractions inspired by their various LEGO brands. They even feature a super-awesome section dedicated just for the LEGO Movie!
Aside from the theme park, it’s even got a seasonably-heated Water Park, which is open year-round, with more than 14 family water slides, and three uniquely themed on-site hotel accommodations.
The original LEGOLAND Hotel, Beach Retreat and the Pirate Island Hotel
– How can you get to LEGOLAND Florida?
What are the directions to LEGOLAND?
Winter Haven is about a 45-minute drive from Orlando as well as downtown Tampa.
Our best suggestion is to either rent a car or hire a car service to get you there. We drove from Orlando and in our experience, we didn’t encounter any tolls along the way.
You can take I-4 West from Orlando or I-4 East from Tampa.
Get directions from Orlando or Tampa.
– Where can you stay?
The LEGOLAND® Florida Resort Hotel, Beach Retreat and the new Pirate Island Hotel, both located 130 kid-steps from the Theme Park’s front gate, bring the theme park fun into the hotel with nightly entertainment, resort pools, and guest rooms with separate adult and child sleeping areas, as well as in-room treasure hunts.
Just across the street, LEGOLAND® Beach Retreat features beach-themed bungalows in village-style layout, centered around outdoor play areas and unforgettable Florida lake views.
Aside from the in-house LEGOLAND Hotels, there are also lots of other accommodations in the Winter Haven area. Click here to check out the best deals in Winter Haven.
Here we are posing with Lucy from the LEGO Movie.
– Who should visit? Who WILL enjoy the park?
We feel the best way to enjoy LEGOLAND Florida Resort is to prepare your expectations of the park.
KIDS AND FAMILIES — Overall, the park is primarily geared to the younger set, mainly kids between the ages of two and 12. We personally love the unique interactive features that allow the kids to feel in control, while still letting the parents ride with them.
Ultimately, we find it is better value if you have younger kids as they would be able to go on a greater number of rides versus traditional theme parks.
Many rides are specifically sized for toddlers and younger kids. Yet there are also rollercoasters and interactive rides that can also be fun for the whole family.
ADULTS — While it’s mainly targeted towards these younger kids and their families, we guarantee adult fans of LEGO can have fun here, too.
Aside from trying out some of the park rides, we also spent a couple of hours just wandering the beautifully manicured park.
We spent a lot of time at different sections such as: the LEGOLAND Water Park, Cypress Gardens, the historical botanical garden which preceded LEGOLAND and Miniland USA, which is an intricately-detailed recreation of iconic attractions all over Florida and the USA. In addition, they’ve got plenty of live shows, 4D shows and special seasonal events on offer, which will all easily fill up your day.
– Who WON’T enjoy the park?
If your main purpose to visit is to go on extreme thrill rides that’ll give you an adrenaline rush, to the point of almost being dizzy, LEGOLAND might not be for you.
All of their rides are kid-friendly and even those rides geared towards older kids and adults provide awesome entertainment, but without the crazy wild thrills or terrors like some extreme rides.
– What are the must-do rides and shows?
Rides for toddlers to younger kids —
- Grand Carousel
- Duplo Tractor Ride
- Duplo Train Ride
- Beetle Bounce
- Royal Joust
- Ford Driving School
Driving School seems to be one of their most popular rides for kids, as it lets them learn some basic driving skills and they can even get a personalized LEGOLAND Driver’s License!
Rides not only for young ones, but also for older kids, adults and the whole family —
- Merlin’s Challenge
- Ninjago the Ride
- Coastersaurus
- Flying School Coaster
- The Great LEGO Race
- The Dragon
- The LEGO Movie Masters of Flight Ride
In addition, we think adults will really enjoy Miniland USA, Cypress Gardens, 4D Films at the Theater and Brickbeard’s Watersport Stunt Show.
Find the complete list of rides here.
– How many days should you spend in LEGOLAND?
At the theme park — We recommend one to two full days at the park, at the very least.
At the water park — At least 2 hours. If you have more time, a half day to one whole day would be even better.
We were at both the theme park and water park for one whole day — which allowed us to walk around the whole vicinity and do a handful of rides. However, we felt like we needed an additional day to really appreciate everything, including the shows.
Please do remember that the park is fairly spread out, so you will be doing a lot of walking. Luckily, the park is amazingly landscaped and has enough trees and shaded areas. They also have water misters scattered around the park–this is a huge plus and a welcome relief in the hot summer sun… You can’t find this in some of the bigger Florida parks!
– Where can I buy tickets?
You can buy tickets here:
Private transportation to LEGOLAND
– What’s new and coming soon to LEGOLAND?
The park has 14 different zones, with the newest dedicated to LEGO Movie World. It has three new attractions to choose from, all based on characters and moments from the movies.
2021 also marks the Theme Park’s 10th birthday and a year of celebrations for LEGOLAND. This includes a full lineup of events, new openings and the Brickbeard’s Watersports Stunt Show, which features gravity-defying stunts including wakeboarding, barefoot skiing, and an all-new flyboard act above the legendary Lake Eloise.
In addition, the team behind LEGOLAND recently announced the opening of the world’s first Peppa Pig theme park in Florida. It will be a standalone theme park that is set to open in 2022 and will be located right next to LEGOLAND. The attractions are based on characters from the “Peppa Pig” British television series for preschoolers.
More information is available at www.LEGOLAND.com/Florida.
– How has LEGOLAND boosted its safety measures, amidst the pandemic?
We witnessed this first-hand, there were many cleaning staff disinfecting the most frequently used areas such as the bathrooms and door areas.
There were also plenty of hand sanitizer dispensers around the resort.
At the time of our summer visit, social distancing was still being encouraged, however, masks were not required for fully-vaccinated guests. All guests were free to continue to wear masks in any location if they wish, and we did see a good amount of people that still had masks on.
Another cool thing we found in LEGOLAND that we didn’t notice as much in other resorts — is their clear commitment to being eco-friendly around the park. Water fountains and water misters were available in many areas, reducing the need to buy plastic water misters or single-use water bottles. In addition, they also have awesome benches all over the park made of recycled plastic.
More safety information available here.
Have you been to the LEGOLAND Florida Resort?
Or are you planning to go?
Comment below if you have any questions about the park!
Disclaimer: We were invited by LEGOLAND Florida as media guests. However, all opinions are our own and based on our honest personal experience.
Comments
Florida is on my bucket list and thank you for sharing about Legoland and the best things to do in Florida.