Teacups & Couture A Fashion Blog by Roxanna Bina
As a parent on a tight schedule and a tight budget it’s always a challenge to find a new escapade for our three boys-ages 9 years, 2 years and 6 month old. With the holiday season upon us we started to panic not knowing for sure where to land our happy family of five. But after a few google searches, we realized what great opportunity Legoland, California could be. Not only it’s a safe haven for kids, but lately they also opened (pretty much glued to the park) an enchanting lego themed hotel. After a quick “no hesitation” discussion among us 5, we packed our belonging and drove straight to this promised land for kids: Legoland.
After a fast 2 hours drive from Los Angeles, we landed in Carlsbad where Legoland has found a vast land to build it’s attraction. It’s with many “wows!” and “Ahhs!” that we checked into the hotel, welcomed by a very amicable staff and a few Lego figurines alive and ready for a selfie! And on our way to the room, we met a Santa Lego! Immediately our 2 year old got into an heavy conversation about his wish list for Christmas. Finally, we unpacked in our “Kingdom” themed room (each of the 3 floors of the hotel has a specific theme: Kingdom, Pirate and Adventure) and then we rushed to the yummy buffet of the hotel: full salad bar, well cooked meats and veggies of all sorts and even a mini buffet for the kids with pizza, chicken fingers, pastas and fruits! God knows they will need some fuel for the race through the park. What a park ,indeed, is Legoland, especially during this time of the year when the Lego machine is transforming part of the area into a winter magical experience. You can even build a real snowman with Lego accessories or ride snow tubes down a man made hill. If you still have some energy left, you can skate gracefully, or almost gracefully, on the ice rink near the entrance of the park. Our 9 year old spent 2 hours non-stop learning by himself how to become a hockey champion! Quite an impressive athlete! And of course a trip to the North Pole of Legoland wouldn’t be perfect without a picture with Santa Lego who will be waiting for you near a majestic Christmas tree made entirely of little bricks. Our next adventure was a stroll along the miniland of Legos where from the USA to France to the Star Wars universe, you can admire lego constructions that took hours and hours to be completed by devoted Lego staffs members. The adventure continues with Castle Hill and its Dragon roller coaster ride and the Land of Adventure, where you can explore- in your own jeep- the lost city of Egypt! Meanwhile, our 2 year old was able to bounce up and down in the Duplo village from one slide to another lego car or truck. The other non-negligible element is the “human touch”: from every employee at Legoland and the Legoland Hotel. Not only were they always smiling, in spite of the sometime frantic cries and yells of the kids, but on top of i,t they will gladly trade their mini figurines with your kids that they wear proudly on their uniform. “Now, that’s cool” as our oldest son says!
After 48 hours in this magical land, we had transformed ourselves into happy elves ready to celebrate Christmas. Of course, the Santa list from our kids was only made of Legos and Duplos! Ha! Ha! Thanks to a quick on-line trip to www.Lego.com we were able to get Santa to deliver on time and put a giant smile on our little ones’ faces.
Next time you’re in a Legoland near you, do not hesitate to get on the rides, build with the bricks and keep the smiles radiant, one happy Lego construction at a time!
By Emmanuel Itier
