You'll be pleased to know that the alarm clock worked this
morning, ok, maybe not, but I was. I woke up to a very wet morning
so on with the raincoat, remember the one that doesn't seem to be waterproof
and gets puddles in the pockets. I figure I'll be ok as the rain is
nowhere near as heavy as it was in Victoria. I'm waiting at the front
of the hotel for the tour bus when at 8.10 I go into reception and
ask them if the bus actually comes right into the driveway or does it wait
on the slip road to the boat ramps, but I was in the right place. Maybe it's
just peak hour traffic and wet roads making it late. 8.15 and the
bus pulls up. We don't go directly to Legoland though. It seems
different buses do different area pick ups and then all meet at the harbour
and we change bus to the one that's going to our destination. I start
off in a small bus and end up on a coach. Oh, by the way, I took some
photo's of the patio and around the hotel too.
We are dropped at Legoland at 9.30am which seems a bit daft really considering
the park doesn't open until 10. It's not raining at the moment so
I figure we're over the worst of it and it's now fizzling out. There
are quite a few of us now waiting to get in so at 9.45 they opened the gate
and off I went, map in hand to see everything I could and go on as many tour
rides as were operating and didn't need 2 people.
I have split the photo's up into groups rather than put them in as a full album, so they won't be in the order I took them. At least this way I can give you a little info on what you are going to see. When I get the chance I will add comments to each photo, but at the moment, I just want to get the pic's up so you can follow me still. Each time there is a group of photo's to see, you will see it underlined as a link i.e. San Diego City.
The first one was a Coast Cruise around Miniworld, where there are many structures you will recognize. There were interactive areas around Miniworld with remote control boats, a car race at Daytona along with automated moving scenes. The boats on the rivers, trains, trams, buses, skaters etc.
The next ride was a Safari Trek where the characters need no introduction.
Next came a self driven ride, well, pedal power anyway, I had to keep pedalling or I'd stop. The Sky Cruiser gave a great view across a fair bit of the park. The one next to it, the Tower, I gave a big miss. Not into being dropped suddenly unless I'm in a lift and can't see what's happening outside.
Another one I didn't do was the Skipper School. This boat ride required 2 people if I was to take photo's on my way around. I didn't think I'd be able to steer and look around to take photo's at the same time. Ok, I'll admit it, sometimes women can't do 2 things at once, but not very often.
I also did a boat tour around Fairy Tale world which the kids would have loved. Sorry a couple of the Aladdin pic's are blurred but the boat turned suddenly as I was taking them, but I left them in so you can see what was in Aladdin's Cave.
Another boat ride I did was Splash Battle. I couldn't take photo's as the camera had to be protected from the wetting I was assured I would get, and get wet I did. On the perimeter fence are water cannons that people on the outside can aim at you and 2 kids decided I must have looked like a good target as they chased me around as far as they could and gave me a good soaking, but I got them too so it was a fair battle. I did take photo's afterwards though so you can see most of what I saw on the way around.
There was the Lego Block of Fame where you will see some familiar faces and some familiar artwork along with some unfamiliar art work that I took just because it was interesting. Even the frames are made of Lego.
There was a great Water Playground which of course was closed for winter, but I can imagine how busy it would be in the middle of summer. There was a musical fountain at the entry which kept kids, big and small, including me, entertained for a while. In front of each instrument was a cork circle that when you stood on it got the instrument to play and water to spout, I think there was a sensor there somewhere but I couldn't see it. Standing or jumping on the cork didn't always work so I don't think it was a pressure thing. There was also a pond with hippo's in it that you could fire water cannons at aiming at a target at the back of their mouths. Sounds easy doesn't it? Wrong. The adults took over from the kids and still couldn't get the water to hit.
Fun Town Fire Department put on a show that was supposed to be a training session for new fire fighters. This show had a wet zone too, they do love soaking you in San Diego. Although it was a comedy show it was a good way to get kids to understand what to do in a fire and the number to call, which of course wasn't the number I use.
The last section of photo's is a General file of all the other figures and scenes that I saw on the way around this huge playground. I don't think I missed a thing here, including going to another 4D movie that I wish they had on DVD.
Now for the rest of the story, if you're not all worn out from tracking around with me for about 6 1/2 hours, pick up was at 5pm. After wandering around for about half an hour the heavens opened and the drowned rat look resurfaced. It was a bit too late now to do much about it until I got back to the entrance where I could purchase a poncho. Should have copied the locals and bought one as soon as I got in there. The t-shirt is wringing wet not to mention the hair. I had to stop and keep cleaning my glasses, PLEASE someone invent window wipers for spec's. I head back to the shop, buy the poncho and a cap hoping to protect the glasses and off I go again. I get a bit of relief when I stop at the cafe for lunch and by time I come out again the sun is making itself known in short bursts, but that's a good start. By time I'm watching the fire demonstration it's presence is really being felt, I'm actually feeling quite hot now. I really should have done the Soak Battle ride before I dried out though, oh well, at least it didn't take me too long to dry off.
The bus ride back to the hotel was enjoyable too. The bus driver and 2 girls from Minnesota kept me entertained all the way. We solved many of the worlds problems and had one of the girls paranoid about bugs. The driver was telling us about a show he'd seen on the medical channel where a woman had been complaining of severe headaches for quite a while and when the doctor checked her out, he'd found a fly had burrowed into her head and laid eggs. Yeah, right, since when have flies burrowed into skin? The poor girl was beside herself till I told her that flies just don't do that, the woman would have had to have had an open wound that she didn't know about, although I'm sure you would know that anyway, especially when brushing your hair. I have a feeling though that the girl didn't get much sleep after all the stories we told about spiders, cockroaches, tics etc.
I've probably left a lot of stuff out but I'm sure you don't mind, there are enough photo's to keep you occupied for hours, and if the kids are giving you a hard time, sit them in front of the pc and let them check out Legoland, I'm sure it will keep them occupied for hours too.
I have split the photo's up into groups rather than put them in as a full album, so they won't be in the order I took them. At least this way I can give you a little info on what you are going to see. When I get the chance I will add comments to each photo, but at the moment, I just want to get the pic's up so you can follow me still. Each time there is a group of photo's to see, you will see it underlined as a link i.e. San Diego City.
The first one was a Coast Cruise around Miniworld, where there are many structures you will recognize. There were interactive areas around Miniworld with remote control boats, a car race at Daytona along with automated moving scenes. The boats on the rivers, trains, trams, buses, skaters etc.
The next ride was a Safari Trek where the characters need no introduction.
Next came a self driven ride, well, pedal power anyway, I had to keep pedalling or I'd stop. The Sky Cruiser gave a great view across a fair bit of the park. The one next to it, the Tower, I gave a big miss. Not into being dropped suddenly unless I'm in a lift and can't see what's happening outside.
Another one I didn't do was the Skipper School. This boat ride required 2 people if I was to take photo's on my way around. I didn't think I'd be able to steer and look around to take photo's at the same time. Ok, I'll admit it, sometimes women can't do 2 things at once, but not very often.
I also did a boat tour around Fairy Tale world which the kids would have loved. Sorry a couple of the Aladdin pic's are blurred but the boat turned suddenly as I was taking them, but I left them in so you can see what was in Aladdin's Cave.
Another boat ride I did was Splash Battle. I couldn't take photo's as the camera had to be protected from the wetting I was assured I would get, and get wet I did. On the perimeter fence are water cannons that people on the outside can aim at you and 2 kids decided I must have looked like a good target as they chased me around as far as they could and gave me a good soaking, but I got them too so it was a fair battle. I did take photo's afterwards though so you can see most of what I saw on the way around.
There was the Lego Block of Fame where you will see some familiar faces and some familiar artwork along with some unfamiliar art work that I took just because it was interesting. Even the frames are made of Lego.
There was a great Water Playground which of course was closed for winter, but I can imagine how busy it would be in the middle of summer. There was a musical fountain at the entry which kept kids, big and small, including me, entertained for a while. In front of each instrument was a cork circle that when you stood on it got the instrument to play and water to spout, I think there was a sensor there somewhere but I couldn't see it. Standing or jumping on the cork didn't always work so I don't think it was a pressure thing. There was also a pond with hippo's in it that you could fire water cannons at aiming at a target at the back of their mouths. Sounds easy doesn't it? Wrong. The adults took over from the kids and still couldn't get the water to hit.
Fun Town Fire Department put on a show that was supposed to be a training session for new fire fighters. This show had a wet zone too, they do love soaking you in San Diego. Although it was a comedy show it was a good way to get kids to understand what to do in a fire and the number to call, which of course wasn't the number I use.
The last section of photo's is a General file of all the other figures and scenes that I saw on the way around this huge playground. I don't think I missed a thing here, including going to another 4D movie that I wish they had on DVD.
Now for the rest of the story, if you're not all worn out from tracking around with me for about 6 1/2 hours, pick up was at 5pm. After wandering around for about half an hour the heavens opened and the drowned rat look resurfaced. It was a bit too late now to do much about it until I got back to the entrance where I could purchase a poncho. Should have copied the locals and bought one as soon as I got in there. The t-shirt is wringing wet not to mention the hair. I had to stop and keep cleaning my glasses, PLEASE someone invent window wipers for spec's. I head back to the shop, buy the poncho and a cap hoping to protect the glasses and off I go again. I get a bit of relief when I stop at the cafe for lunch and by time I come out again the sun is making itself known in short bursts, but that's a good start. By time I'm watching the fire demonstration it's presence is really being felt, I'm actually feeling quite hot now. I really should have done the Soak Battle ride before I dried out though, oh well, at least it didn't take me too long to dry off.
The bus ride back to the hotel was enjoyable too. The bus driver and 2 girls from Minnesota kept me entertained all the way. We solved many of the worlds problems and had one of the girls paranoid about bugs. The driver was telling us about a show he'd seen on the medical channel where a woman had been complaining of severe headaches for quite a while and when the doctor checked her out, he'd found a fly had burrowed into her head and laid eggs. Yeah, right, since when have flies burrowed into skin? The poor girl was beside herself till I told her that flies just don't do that, the woman would have had to have had an open wound that she didn't know about, although I'm sure you would know that anyway, especially when brushing your hair. I have a feeling though that the girl didn't get much sleep after all the stories we told about spiders, cockroaches, tics etc.
I've probably left a lot of stuff out but I'm sure you don't mind, there are enough photo's to keep you occupied for hours, and if the kids are giving you a hard time, sit them in front of the pc and let them check out Legoland, I'm sure it will keep them occupied for hours too.