Plunged into a world of fighting fire dragons, ninjas, and larger-than-life creatures, I realized I had begun a challenging voyage with my two young grandsons. It’s amazing what one will do for the love of grandchildren!
I wanted 7-year-old Hayden and 10-year-old Ryder—both of whom are addicted to Lego building—to see their grandma as an active and adventurous senior ready to take on fun and new experiences. So I ventured into an over-sized world of building bricks, slides, and rides at the 128-acre Legoland theme park in Carlsbad, California. My daughter and son-in-law were part of the family excursion, which turned out to be helpful given the specific preferences and personalities of the boys.
Located 30 miles north of downtown San Diego, Carlsbad is a seaside community, which makes it an ideal location for Legoland. Offering more than 60 interactive rides, shows, and events, the park is considered a creative destination for families with children aged 2 to 12. There are some 30,000 Lego models created from 62-plus million bricks, some of which are life-size or bigger.
Following the path of least resistance, with map in hand I proceeded with the family to Explorer Island, the first of nine areas that we would visit during our two days at the park.
Our first ride was on the Safari Trek, which gave us an introduction to the Lego animals of the wild. However, it was the Coastersaurus rollercoaster that had Ryder and me screaming on every curve. This brought me back to my youth and how I had always enjoyed such thrill-rides.
Unfortunately, Hayden had some fear of fast rides and dark tunnels, which limited his experience somewhat. There were enough activities, though, to keep his interest along the way, such as Lego-building stations adjacent to some of the waiting lines for the rides.
At Fun Town’s Adventure Club, Ryder had to search for hidden keys as we rode through mysterious passageways filled with objects and figures built from Lego bricks. Then he and Hayden enjoyed DUPLO Playtown and Kid Power Towers, a soaring vertical ride that gives a birds-eye view of the park below.
