LEGOLAND Florida is a Bad Value

legol lands Florida which is located around an hour Southwest of Orlando in Winter Haven is a place that I've been wanting to visit for quite a while what made this park interesting to me wasn't just its Lego theme but also its history as one of Florida's oldest attractions it originally opened in 1936 as the 12 acre Cypress Gardens which contained over 8,000 species of flowers and was once considered a major part a tourist destination I have memories of visiting this park in the late '90s before it ever had rides but in February 2004 the park was bought by adventure parks group spending $50 million to install various attractions and reopening as a regional amusement park in November of the same year as Cypress Gardens Adventure Park I can't say that I remember it being very good and with its close proximity to Orlando why visit such a basic amusements Park when you could get Disney Universal or even SE world even the West Coast of Florida had Bush Gardens Tampa so understandably nobody was really traveling out of their way to get here in 2006 the park filed for bankruptcy and after a few tultul years and an acquisition by land South Adventures who built a water park on site Cypress Gardens was forced to close in September of 2009 the following year Maryland entertainment spot the park using the existing infrastructure to convert enth it into Legoland Florida opening as the fourth Lego end Park in October of 2011 this was apparently successful keeping the park in business up through today as I suppose that the LEGO brand identity is strong enough to encourage people to drive this far out of their way Lego is certainly one of my favorite companies out there and is a really good example of one that consistently produces highquality products so I definitely see the appeal of the company for both kids and adults however the Target demographic of Legoland is really young kids as in toddlers of through maybe 8-year-olds with many of the rides having height or age restrictions as an adult there's not really much to do with this park and so it's important to acknowledge that I can't really compare it to other theme parks even the Magic Kingdom because it's definitely targeted almost exclusively towards that really young demographic with that in mind though I do have to say that unfortunately the park experience here is very mixed and while there were certain things that I enjoyed and appreciated there's still a lot of negatives that really end up weighing them down so come join me today as we explore Legoland Florida a park that draws in a lot of tourists despite its remote location yet has some significant operational issues that we really need to get into [Music] [Music] just a quick favor but videos like these take a lot of time and money to produce so if you're a fan of the channel you can help me out by leaving a like and hitting the Subscribe button if you haven't already done so yet either the first thing that you should know is that Legoland is not just a single theme park but is actually a small Resort just right outside of the gate is the Legoland hotel and Pirate Island hotel which I didn't go into but they're certainly conveniently close and are advertised as containing many themed rooms there is also the Legoland Beach Retreat which allows you to stay in a bungalow on Lake Dexter essentially right across the street from the park and with shuttle transportation included however it's also worth noting that the resort contains Peppa Pig theme park which I won't really cover here because unless you're a 3-year-old or a parent of one there's just absolutely no reason to go here it's actually kind of wild that this hastily built Park erected in the parking lot has the audacity to charge $67 for adult admission where there's almost nothing for them to do kids are cheaper and I think appropriately priced at $30 but a family of four can easily spend over $200 for essentially five kids rides and a splash pad what I believe the resort intended was that people will add this park onto ad Mission into Legoland for around a $25 upcharge but even then I wonder why you would take time out of your day to come here when Legoland already caters to extremely young kids the splash pad was by far the most popular area but at that point why not just bundle in the water park which is only accessible with admission to Legoland because you have to walk through the park to get there anyways Peppa Pig theme park is an awful value unless you package it in with a resort vacation which most people who go there will probably do but single day pricing is still wildly ridiculous which I suppose is the point pricing for the Legoland part can vary but I think it's also quite audacious for the value as it Embraces a dynamic pricing system that ranges from $74 all the way up through $119 I did end up paying both prices because I went once during spring break which I'll get into later and went more recently when it was still pretty quiet hence the lower price still as a non-california resident why is my annual pass to notb Farm cheaper than a peak single day ticket to Legoland a park located out of everyone's way in rural Florida that kind of pricing is bold and on top of that it's $32 for parking which is more expensive than the $30 you would spend at SeaWorld is the same price as parking at Universal and is $4 cheaper than Disney in addition to these upcharges the resort is currently building a Sea Life Aquarium which I thought was going to be part of the park but have now confirmed will be another additional upcharge if you recall I stated that the Legoland parks are owned and operated by Maryland entertainments and if you've ever been to Orlando's icon Park they opened the Orlando Eye in 2015 which they actually sold off 3 years later but have now just reacquired it as of 2024 they also run Madam talad Max Museum in the same building along with sea life which is actually a pretty fantastic aquarium for an area otherwise known as a tacky tourist trap So speaking from my experience with the Orlando location while I think that adding a Sea Life Aquarium to Legoland is a solid idea it's failing to add value to the actual park it will probably have an outrageous price unless you bundle it in with other tickets I guess that's just Maryland's pricing strategy because any of the individual experiences at Icon Park are certainly overpriced but do become a lot more bearable when all bundled together still the experience of Legoland Florida could really benefit from a significant attraction like sea life included with admission because the value of the park for the price is really pushing things so with that said let's get into the actual Park and see what it has to [Music] [Music] offer As you move through the entrance and into the Park's first area Fun Town the park does admittedly have some charm to it the majority of buildings here were built as part of Cypress Gardens Adventure Park they have now all been mostly converted into gift shops or Quick Service eateries as a fan of Lego as in the product it is definitely fun to browse the sets in the store known as just the big shop although because I live so close to the Lego store in Disney Springs there wasn't any reason for me to purchase any of the sets here one of the things that Legoland offers younger children is many places to actually build with bricks which surprisingly includes some ride cues but you can actually find a few of these locations in Funtown other wise though this area of the park only contains some sort of 4D theater as well as the grand Carousel which amusingly has writers sit on top of Lego horse figures adjacent to Funtown is the Lego Friends themed Heart Lake City which could essentially be considered the same area it really offers almost nothing other than a few builds and Mia's riding Adventure is impar Disco themed to horses fun town is overall Pleasant if not a bit generic and I do enjoy the many figures built out of Lego scattered around most of which have funny dialogue that they cycle through there's a few different ways to proceed further into the park but I might as well mention Duplo Valley a farm themed area that is obviously catering to toddlers it's small but well themed for what it's attempting to do however reaching the end of the land the pathway splits and the park becomes more interesting if you turn right you'll find yourself in Lego Movie World which if it wasn't obvious is based off of The Lego Movie with a few references from The Lego Movie 2 SC head around as well the first film is quite clever but while the land recycles a lot of its iconography the attractions are rather simple and I would think are not very satisfying for fans of the film there's a small uni Kitty themed drop tower a playground inside Benny spaceship and the Battle of Bricksburg a mock Splash battle attraction themed to the invading Duplo from the second film however the E ticket of this area is located inside the dog which is a simulator known as The Lego Movie master of flight inside Riders are packed into one of the pre-show rooms where after a bit Emon appears on the televisions above explaining that everyone here is gathered for a yearly competition between the Master Builders in this case the premise of this year's competition is to build the best flying machine and EMT unveils his flying Triple Decker Couch which is what Riders will be boarding once led into the theater Riders sit on a bench that is extremely similar to saurin but when the ride starts it only tilts Riders slightly up and R Ates 180° to face the screen never actually getting you that far off the ground despite being a form of a flying theater I didn't really process what was going on during the ride and reving my footage it's still not exactly clear to me what's really happening essentially the Master Builders are all competing to see who has the best build although there's no actual criteria to judge them by throughout the ride you crash through different Lego dimensions and experience chaotic events as the vehicles tilt you up and down to simulate motion but the plot is so inconsequential that it's essentially just assaulting you with stimulation for the sake of doing So eventually you return back to the dog and emit Triple Decker Couch is declared the winner but you have to wonder why for being the main draw to this area it's just a lot of nothing that would keep you mildly entertained unless you waited more than the 5 minutes that I did in which case I would have found myself really annoyed that this is what I had waited for exiting the land and heading north on the path past Duplo Valley the next area you'll encounter is the medieval themed Lego kingdoms there's not much to see and do here as there's only three rides but I will say that I enjoy the level of theming as it's certainly better than what you'll find at most other amusements parks however the castle contains the dragon which is a small voma Junior coaster that is one of the better highlights of the park what makes it interesting is that about half the experience is essentially an indoor Dark Ride taking you through comedic scenes in the castle which are built naturally out of Lego as far as I know there isn't a story connecting anything together and the scenes are just meant to portray Castle life but it does build excitement eventually after encountering a dragon that Bellows smoke at the vehicle you encounter the wizard Merlin and follow the track outside ascending up a lift Hill as the coaster Crest the top the train follows a pretty standard Junior coaster layout but voma does these really well so it's definitely a great coaster for younger kids or even me as a fan of of dark rides we do appreciate the scenes that it has overall it's a pretty strong experience for its intended demographic and one of the highlights of the park moving on from Lego kingdoms you now enter into land of Adventure which is heavily based on the Lego Adventures theme and features characters associated with Johnny Thunder who was Lego's version of Indiana Jones from the 9s and early auns approaching from the Lego Kingdom side you enter into an area themed to Egypt the feat a playgrounds and some small flat rides however the main draw here is Lost Kingdom Adventure featuring Johnny Thunder and friends as they encounter creepy creatures skeletons and of course the dastardly Sam Sinister the attraction is also interactive equipping riders with Lego pistols that use lasers to allow you to hit targets and Trigger environmental effects throughout the ride essentially turning it into one big Shooting Gallery even Magic Kingdom's Buzz Lightyear doesn't have this level of interactivity so I can say that this is also another highlights of the park if you're a fan of dark rides then you'll probably want to seek this out because it's surprisingly well done moving on and further into land of Adventure you'll encounter a few other attractions including the Safari Trek which is a delightfully campy car ride around Lego animals and the coastersaurus personally despite knowing that this coaster was aimed at really young children and did want to experience this MV rides wooden coaster because I had experienced it at a much younger age age it was originally a part of Cypress Gardens and named triple hurricane after the Hurricanes that delayed the park 2004 opening after its transformation so it's nice to see a bit of History preserved here at Legoland but now embracing some sort of like dinosaur safari theme it's not for me but as great for younger kids as their first wooden coaster experience it is notable not just for its history but for how rare it is to find wooden coasters in Florida land of Adventure despite not having a very inspired name is definitely one of the stronger areas of the [Music] park continuing on down the path it might be easy to miss but there's a small themed area known as Lego Ninjago world it's themed of course after the Ninjago line but is also rather sparse in what it has to offer the land essentially acts as an introduction into a single attraction Ninjago the ride which admittedly has a pretty decent queue with a few interactive elements the attraction has Riders grab 3D glasses before they board the vehicle and once the ride starts it's designed to be a virtual Shooting Gallery in this case the gimmick is that you can wave your hands to throw ninja stars at the targets on screen which is at least Innovative even if the ride isn't particularly fun I know almost nothing about Lego Ninjago as a franchise and the ride experience was essentially just a lot of chaos so I didn't have a good sense of what the story is intended to be if there even is one the building had nice air conditioning throughout the queue and on the ride though so that's a plus exiting this land and reaching the back of the main Park loop you'll now walk into Lego City based off of the popular set theme of the same name it's a pretty easy area to theme because Lego city is inherently a bit generic anyways and so what you'll find around here is about what you would expect there's slow driveable boats known as Coast Guard Academy and a car equivalent aptly named driving school there are limits on who can get in these vehicles as they're intended for kids so if you're an adult don't expect to be driving one of these cars around this area also contains the Rescue Academy where teams of people will board fire trucks and crank a lever to race others to firefighting training once they reach the end Riders will get out of the vehicle and pump another lever to simulate putting out a fire then requiring them to reboard the fir truck and race their way back I didn't experience this but it looks fun for a family attraction otherwise though Lego City doesn't offer much else except for a few fun builds if you search them out looping back to Funtown there's an area on the way known as Lego Technic which attempts to go for an upbeat Industrial Field to match the mechanical theme of the Lego Technic line here you'll find a few flat rides with vehicles designed to look as if they're made from Technic pieces and the major attraction here is the great Lego race coaster I very much enjoy good mock wild mouse every once in a while but this particular layout is pretty underwhelming when compared to the smaller tighter models that you can find in other Parks they have a lot more speed and more powerful lateral G's than what you'll find here so we didn't find this coaster particularly interesting although a lot of kids in line seemed excited to ride it it's also worth noting that the area just recently opened Ferrari building race which allows you to build your own car and test it in various areas so it was a fun little experience for what it was continuing on your way out of Lego Technic and back to Funtown you walk through minland USA which was definitely my favorite area of the park it's a staple of each Legoland to have an area dedicated to massive Lego builds and as an adult this is what I found to be the most interesting because the hours of work and number of bricks that went into the builds is just so impressive here you'll find skylines dedicated to New York City Washington DC Los Angeles and San Francisco they're all interesting but I actually found Las Vegas to be my favorite because it's massive and highlights so many of the architecturally interesting resorts on the Strip however as someone who grew up in Florida I also appreciate that many of the displays are focused on Florida specific locations or themes ranging from the pirate display to the Daytona International Speedway nearby is a depiction of Kennedy Space Center which takes up a massive amount of space and also has a rocket that Launches on a timer there's also a display that covers various cities and landmarks of Florida and I was able to spot both Tampa and Miami there's also St Augustine Orlando and even the singing Tower from Bok Tower Gardens which I actually visited on the same day as one of my trips to Legoland because it was really close which is another plus of you're in the area miniland USA is also a nicer section of the park because it's right off of Lake Eloise and so there's often a breeze and recently the whole area was covered with shade while this unfortunately might make for badly lit pictures it is nice to explore this area without the sun directly beinga down on you so miniland USA was definitely my favorite area because I could appreciate the sheer scale and skill of what went into what is built here but there's also one last area of Lego that I also found to be fantastic as [Music] well continuing down the path alongside the lake in minland USA you'll quickly find yourself in Pirates Cove which is not much more than a ski show and a boat ride however this area is also the entrance to the original Cypress Gardens which grew to 30 acres by the time it was declared protected in 2004 by the state of Florida legol is obligated to keep the gardens open and maintained and while this is a place that I disliked as a kid I now very much appreciate it as an adult especially since it's a significant piece of Florida history the botanical gardens may not be as Grand or Majestic as they've been historically but it's still one of the better aspects of this park as part of the protection agreement Legoland is also obligated to maintain the lake Shoreline and its stadiums as Cypress Gardens has a long history of putting on ski shows in the Lake Legoland continues this tradition with brickbeard's water sports stunt show which has either been cut down to not include costumed Lego characters or just didn't have them the day I watched the show but either way it's not particularly interesting at the very least there's Merit in keeping this tradition of Cypress Gardens alive finally Pirates Cove contains the pirate River quest which is actually a more recent Edition boating through the canals has been a R guard's tradition for a long time and Legoland decided to put a pirate spin on it through this fun attraction as you embark on your quest narration in the boat tells the story of how Redbeard was attacked by hostile monkeys and as you go along through the canals you'll encounter scenes of peril as you try to recover his treasure some of the scenes have neat effects such as water cannons to simulate cannonballs or have some small degree of movement that makes the ride just a bit more interesting through many of the scenes Redbeard will ask the Pirates on board to count the missing crystals coins or bricks which is definitely intended to keep younger kids engaged in a scavenger hunt it's a decently fun ride one that caters to young kids but also adults if you're interested in viewing the Gardens from the canals the boat also returns to the station by briefly traveling on the lake so that's another Merit of it too it's a pretty cute ride but let me ask you this would you wait 80 minutes to ride it well I certainly wouldn't but this is a great transition into the operational issues of Legoland and one of its most glaring is the severe lack of capacity I first went to legol land in the third week of March this year specifically because I thought that it would be immune to spring break crowns especially since Florida schools had just finished up however I was very wrong and attractions had unreasonably long weights just because of how poorly they're equipped to handle any kind of crowds the dragon was a 40-minute wait masters of flight advertised a 60 coaster sorus was the same and I saw the pirate River Quest at an 80 even the rides exclusively for kids like driving school were advertising 60 minutes which just sounds miserable for everyone in the park especially since young kids are obviously impatient my first experience with Lego end was so rough that I only experienced a small handful of rides which is why I came back more recently in the offseason on a weekday to see if I could be more fair to the park however while I generally liked many of the attractions and found most at least mildly entertaining the park only offers a positive experience if most rides are Walk-Ons and nothing is more than a 20-minute wait issues with capacity don't just result from the small and limited number of vehicles that are used for the rides but also stems from staff that can't really be bothered I mean I get it I wouldn't want to be working about screaming children and rude parents either but even when busy I saw many empty rows on vehicles because the team members switch between assigning rows and dispat ing Vehicles all while at a leisurely Pace even when I went to an empty Park and there was no line for masters of flight it still took 20 minutes just because of how slow the loading process is I definitely don't expect Disney or Universal levels of operation but even SeaWorld is moving faster than a lot of the attractions here the issue too is that despite younger kids being the Target demographic I just don't think the attraction design is strong enough for even them to tolerate any kind of long wait I enjoyed Lost Kingdom Adventure but it's not good enough to be worth more than a 10-minute wait at most which judging from its limited capacity would be an awful Q experience on a weekend or a busy season there are of course ways to negate long lines as there are the interactive building experiences many playgrounds and at least for adults you have manyi land and Cypress Gardens that's a big part of why I think sea life should be incorporated into park ad Mission because it would add a lot of value to the ticket price still most attractions at the park are not built with capacity in mind at all and for a place with three hotels and from my observation a level of international tourism that was unexpected I was surprised to see how poorly prepared it was to handle anything other than local passholders In fairness I think that Legoland is more often a ghost town than not as I would assume that it does have true off seasons and you're definitely safer going during the week but even moderate crowds are an absolute nightmare for this park [Music] before I wrap things up I do want to mention that while I think the price for the value of admission is quite a bit off I did try some food in the park while you go into theme parks with the expectation that the food is very overpriced for what you're receiving at least Legoland prices were about the same as the Orlando parks in fact well I'm never really interested in the burgers and chicken nuggets of usual theme par fair I did actually enjoy sharing a bacon barbecue cheeseburger and chicken tenders from the Lego City Burger Kitchen because they were higher quality than I expected but around your typical Orlando theme park food price they were certainly a good degree of quality better than anything you'll find at Magic Kingdom Quick Service Legoland also has a signature snack with granny's apple fries which are exactly what you would expect them to be they're fried Granny Smith apple wedges coated with cinnamon sugar sugar and are definitely unique enough to go out of your way for so if you made it all the way here in the video you can see why I'm very mixed on the park experience there are definitely things that I find a lot of value in as with Cypress Gardens or mini Land USA and I did enjoy the majority of rides that I experienced however many of them have minimal entertainment value even by the standards of kids and some like masters of flight or Ninjago the ride are really just media stimulation with not much thought put into them Legoland Florida is fun but only if there aren't any lines it's very dependent on that being the case I know that people complain about theme parks being crowded but even if I wait 60 minutes for the Haunted Mansion I'm still going to think it's worth my time if I waited 60 Minutes for one of the better rides in this park like the dragon though I definitely don't feel that the same value is there at all What Child is going to be happy waiting 60 Minutes for caurus or even Driving School Legoland Florida definitely surprised me as despite its Lego theme it seemed to draw in a lot more people than I anticipated for being so out of the way if you're visiting Orlando and want to experience other Florida attractions I would have driven to Bush Gardens or Kennedy Space Center before coming here still while I'm surprised that the Lego theme is strong enough to draw people in I suppose it's clearly working because at least it really delivers on that aspect otherwise though while there's a lot that I did like about the park and I can see why many of its attractions are fun for kids it only really works if you know that crowds are going to be low the value of the park for the ticket price is really bold because while it may be cheaper than something like Magic Kingdom you might as well just pay the higher ticket price not go out of your way and experience the many Classics of the park that everyone in the family can do together it's not that I dislike Lego and Florida but you're getting a better value from even Disney and I would definitely take that into consideration before attempting to travel here again there are many positive qualities to the park but it has severe capacity issues that can't be overlooked especially for the price so if you made it here to the end and have not done me the favor of leaving a like that's one way to help the video out as always if you like videos like these but have not yet subscribed and hit the Bell notification yet either you can do so now to be alerted to new videos as they release [Music] a [Music]

Channel: Poseidon Entertainment

Views: 171,975

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Id: F8zO01d7AGo

Length: 28min 13sec (1693 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 28 2024