The Lee Family: California: Day 8

We all slept in until 9am which felt very needed after such a long day. We dressed and headed down to get breakfast which was included in our hotel. It included toast, yogurt, bananas and cereal and was perfect. Unfortunately their coffee was seriously terrible, so once we headed out I told Sian we had to stop at Starbucks! Sian isn't a coffee drinker so she probably thinks I'm crazy. We got to Legoland right as it was opening, parked and headed to the entrance. Sian took a picture of us and Olivia was not interested in having her photo taken. Given that, I decided to rent a stroller so she could walk when she wanted and sit when she was tired.

Once we were ready, we stopped at the first ride we got to which was a jungle car ride and it ended up being the longest ride line of the day. Sofia rode with Sian and Olivia and I were in our own "jeep" as Olivia drove us through the landscape with elephants, lions, peacocks, and all sorts of animals made out of Legos. It was a lot of fun and the animals and setting were great. As soon as we got off the ride, the girls saw a face painting station and asked to get their faces painted. I figured it was better to get it done first thing so they could enjoy it the whole day. Sofia picked out a red dragon and Olivia decided on a blue princess face. They turned out so great and the girls loved it.

From there we walked around and rode as many rides as we could. We visited the Lego Friends area and watched a show with the "real life" Lego friends characters, according to Olivia. They rode on the Lego Friends merry go round and then we headed to Fun Town where we rode bumper boats and tried not to get our boats heading backwards. I couldn't believe the boats weren't actually linked to a track and they were hard to control so we were bumping into everything and everyone around us. Of course the girls loved it with Olivia riding with Sian and Sofia riding with me. From there we went to "driving school" where Sofia drove around on the streets of Fun City. Olivia had an opportunity to drive also, but she would have had to drive on the other side on another street area, so she decided not to drive and instead watched Sofia.

From there we made our way to Miniland USA which was super cool! New York, New Orleans, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Washington D.C. were all made in Legos and in great detail. It was fantastic and Washington D.C. was by far the best. I loved seeing all the monuments made out of Legos and Sofia studied every city very closely as she wandered around. At one end of the Miniland USA was an opportunity to build your own boat and race it with others down a little river. Sofia was really into it and made a boat and then later made some modifications as she raced her boat. I tried to get Olivia interested in getting out of her stroller and join in making her own boat, but she refused. After Sofia was done with her boat making, we headed to have lunch and ended up at this great patio overlooking Miniland USA. The food was actually very good and we had the whole patio to ourselves. Legoland never really felt terribly crowded and we didn't have to wait long in lines, which was great. It remained a cloudy and slightly cool day, which felt better than too hot.

After refueling, we headed over to see the Star Wars exhibit, which was equally as cool as Washington D.C. and Sofia studied every single set up. As we walked toward the Death Star and Darth Vader, every Star Wars character was on a pillar. Of course, Sofia wanted me to take a photo of her with every single one of them! After fully enjoying all of the Star Wars scenes and characters, we moved on to Castle Hill. The girls loved the Royal Joust ride and went on it several times since there was really no line and each of them got to "ride" on their own horse throughout really pretty scenery. They both had huge smiles on their faces while they rode and wanted to go on it all afternoon. Finally, after the third time the girls got off their horses and the princess was there to meet them! They were so excited! She told them they had to ride on her friend "Breddo" the dragon roller coaster. We headed over there and while we were waiting in line, Olivia asked the young man "Is this dragon real?" and he looked at me with a smile that basically said "what do you want me to say?" It was so cute! Again, there was a very short wait time, so we rode on Breddo several times which was a lot of fun.

After we said goodbye to Breddo we happened to catch a castle show which was a lot of fun. After the show was over, the girls wanted to meet the cast, which was fun and they were all very nice. It was getting close to closing time so we raced over to go on the Ninjago 3D ride. It was actually a lot of fun and a good end to our day. We had just a few minutes to return the stroller and exit, which of course took us through a massive gift shop. Both girls bought key chains and necklaces before we headed out.

For dinner, Sian had an awesome idea! She suggested we eat at one of the hotel restaurants and we could explore the hotel while we were there, since the Legoland Hotel is apparently really cool. Actually, Sofia's buddy and our neighbor Brandon kept telling Sofia that there was a "surprise" in the Legoland Hotel elevator. We figured our that the best place to eat would be the City View Restaurant but before sitting down we decided to explore. We used the bathroom, which was really cute then took the elevator up to the top floor and found out that the surprise is that a small disco ball turns on and the song "Dancing Queen" plays! It was fantastic! Sofia told us that Brandon had actually already told her the secret, but she kept the secret and it was a fun surprise to us all. After exploring each floor, we visited the pool that looked like a lot of fun. After, we sat down at the City View Restaurant and had a great dinner. The food was delicious.

After, we headed out of the hotel to our car which was impossible to miss since it was literally the last car in the parking lot!! We made it back to our hotel and we were in bed by 11pm. Another late night after a very fun day!

Legoland! Olivia was not interested in getting her photo taken!