Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Epic Vacation, Day 4 - Legoland!

The boys had no idea.  We got up, and packed them up, they were sad to see the Lakeland Sleep Inn go.  They'd been perfectly happy to "sleep in at the Sleep Inn".  They had slept until 8, which was the latest that they'd slept so far.  That was fine, we didn't need to be at the new hotel until 3, but we wanted to play at the park all day.  And they had no idea. 

They had NO Idea. 

They knew we were stopping in Lakeland, for the night, and that we had a "while" to go before we got to Walt Disney World, we'd told them we were due to check in on Wednesday.  But they also knew that Florida was big.  So logically, they didn't think that we had been pushing so hard the night before because we wanted/needed to get near our Tuesday destination.   

THEY HAD NO IDEA!   


Here was their Surprise!  
As we were driving down the highway, we pulled right past a sign that said Legoland.  We told them no screens for an hour, not a problem since we were only driving 20 minutes, and as we were going down the street, they noticed the signs.   Well, as you can see in the video... Chris casually notices we're passing Legoland, and mentions, how much he'd like to go there.   So we did.  Little did he know that was the plan all along.   Bwahahaha! 


Olaf fell right over when he saw the Legoland Hotel too! 
We pulled up to the hotel about 9:45, just before the Park Opening of Legoland, which was only a hundred paces from the front door of the hotel.  This place rocks.   It is so aimed at kids.  I suppose if you had teenagers, they might not have as much fun as my kids, but I enjoyed even looking at the place.   It costs a bundle, but it was Awesome.   Worth every obnoxious penny.  


This was the Lobby.  The kids got to play with a mass pile of Legos while I checked us in, they told us they'd call when our room was ready, and we had plans to go next door.  They told me to have a Bricktastic Day!  One of the reasons we were able to swing this bonus was a Gift from my Dad and Stepmom, and the other big one was an organization called Merlin's Magic Wand.  Merlin is the company that owns Legoland as well as a bunch of other entertainment venues, but they had a gift group, kind of like Make-A-Wish, and back in 2012, when we were finally recovering from the Mace surgery, and moving, I entered Christopher and asked for tickets.  Back then, I had visions of going to California and free tickets to Legoland there, would have Rocked.  However, we got Jacob instead, and all our trip $$ went to me begin on bedrest for 5 months and sick.  Well, we got Jacob out of the deal, so that's a whole different kind of trip.  But it took us until now to swing doing another big trip like that again.   So I wrote to Merlin and begged if we could transfer our tickets, and after some brohaha, they did grant us tickets. 
 Hooray! 

So after we checked in at the Hotel, we grabbed our diaper bag and camera bag, and went to Legoland.  We got our free passes, and a Guest Assistance Pass, in case any of the lines were too long for Chris, we only ended up using it once, but the staff was great about it, very kind, and very understanding.  I really loved this place!


Three boys and a giant Lego dragon! 


Daddy and his sweet boys.
Did you know Vader is Father?  ;)  
Perfect for us being down south during Star Wars Weekends at WDW, and we made our Lego Star Wars shirts, the Legoland staff thought they were really cool.  They were.  I was quite proud at how well they turned out.  


There was a Double Decker Carousel, so Sam rode up top with Daddy, and the younger two took on the lower level with me.  I love their horses in Legoland, they remind me of some toys one that I used to have, Duplos probably, when I was younger! 

After the carousel ride, the hotel called us to let us know our room was ready.  As it just so happened, at the same time, Jacob was toast.  With the hotel 100 paces from the entrance, I opted to take Jacob for a nap!  I was amazed just walking into the elevator - it played music for a Disco Dance Party.  And when we got to our room, I was well, floored at our new room.  Amazing! 


We picked the Kingdom theme room - there were a couple choices.  But the Kingdom one, was very Medieval, with wizards and kings, jewels.  Each room has a scavenger hunt, the prize was in the treasure chest by the front door.  Jacob loved the bunkbeds, I couldn't keep him off.  He didn't appreciate sleeping in the trundle bed though.  That was ok, we took turns trying to sleep, like Goldilocks.  The queen bed was really high, I had to borrow the desk chair to get up onto it.  

But Thank Goodness Jacob still nurses because it was the boobs that finally got him to sleep.  


While Jake and I napped, the big boys went with Daddy to Lego Driving School.  They got to drive in cars, they were padded like bumper cars, but the idea was to actually be good drivers.  If they did well, they got a Driver's License.  If we had wanted to pay the Upgrade, they would have it all gussied up and laminated.  The boys participated in Driving School, and Boating School, but we didn't upgrade.  While they were doing the Boating School, and I had woke up, it started to rain.  Not just a little rain, a torrential downpour.  The boys got soaked.  Many rides closed.  So they came back to the hotel room, to chill.  Intially it was rough, the tv went down with the weather.  But that gave Chris the opportunity to do his Flush, and Daddy tried to dry their clothes with the bathroom hair dryer.  


After we dried out a bit, we watched some Disney channel, it's become our favorite hotel evening treat.  The boys were so cute in our giant bed.  


The Legoland Hotel has a restaurant in it, called Bricks.  Tee hee hee.
It was a good buffet, they even had an entire island devoted to stuff kids eat, like macaroni, pizza, and chicken nuggets, but ALSO grownup food, like Eric tried some curries, I used tortillas and grilled meat to make my own fajitas, but there was all kinds of great stuff there.   


They even had a character come around! 
This was Stephanie from Lego Friends.  
Don't feel bad, I didn't know her either.  But she was super nice, and spent some time trying to get to know the boys which I thought took some special since they had No Idea who she was, and really didn't care much.  But she managed to win them (and us all) over. :) 


Afterwards, we played in the lobby for a bit.  
The kids had a great time playing in the castle, and building small lego things. 


Sam even got to put some on this ogre near the castle gate.  The sculpture was glued, but nothing stopped kids from adding to it.  Hysterical. 


Then we went back up for another show and pajamas.  
We came back down to the lobby for the Pirate/Princess Bedtime Show.  
They told some stories.  Chris was bouncing, eager to get onstage, by the mermaid.  
Eric and I sat back, near the bar ;)  while we watched the kids play.  
Whoever designed this lobby was a freaking Genius! 


Why yes, thta is my Bahama Mama drinkie in the foreground, while Sam and Jake played in the giant Lego Duplo pool.   Yeah baby, that's the way to end a day!  I love this hotel! 

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