We are going over thanksgiving. My kids have been asking to go to Legoland for a few trips now so I’m going this year. We’re thinking about going on Thanksgiving day. Anyone know if there are crowd calendars for them? What touring is like? Where do I even start!? Thank you.
Not a whole lot of help ,but we’ll be there the week before you for two days. From what I’ve read make your way towards the back first and work your way to the front. Crowds get distracted by everything in front and lines grow quickly.
We went the Sunday after Thanksgiving, and we never waited for anything.
we went this May. We did not think it was worth it at all. I would seriously consider if this is worth your time/money. The rides are old from cypress gardens except the new virtual reality coaster which was great but my headset did not work(others didn’t either) and then the line became incredibly long because they would let the entire party ride again. We are a family of 4 with DS age 9 and DD age 10. Hot, poor ventilation and minimal rides they liked. We love Disney and Universal and my son loves Legos so we wanted to like it so much but we would never do again. Sorry to only list bad stuff but I wish someone would have warned me.
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Errr, no. The rides are not the old ones from when it was Cypress Gardens. They are virtually all clones of Legoland rides around the world, including California, Bilund and Windsor. There are about three, maybe four, that are “original” to Florida. You can tell they aren’t the old Cypress Gardens rides because they’re all built to look like Lego. And they’re all based on Lego themes that have been released over the years. And all the little touches thru the park are Lego.
My advice is to look at the site online. The park is divided into lands, just like a WDW park. Some will appeal more than others. The flying nd driving school rides are incredibly popular and right at the back. The “Johnny Thunder” “ laser ride also (think Buzz), the Dragon and the really, really wet ride at the front of the park too (you will get drenched).
Most rides are firmly for the or-teen age group, so only a handful of coasters…The waterskiing show is a good distraction too. Don’t make the mistake of leaving Miniland to the end. It really is the highlight for any Lego fan, and obviously you don’t get anything similar elsewhere. There’s a Star Wars section behind the US land. For little ones, Duploland is ideal.
If you were to try and do everything it would take a couple of days. They do cater for that, a two day ticket is about $10/$20 more than a one day ticket. Food options not great, we usually just do the pizza and pasta buffet. The old Cypress Gardens are a nice option when it gets really hot.
There is also a water park, although that may not be open at Thanksgiving.
Edited to add this: one thing to consider is that most rides are outside. Right off the top of my head, only the laser one is inside. Sounds like the new Ninja laser ride is there now, not sure if that’s new or a remodel of JT (Windsor has both). That too will be inside I assume.
It gets hot, very hot with little air conditioning. Ther are indoor distractions, like a gaming centre. But that takes away park time. So definitely plan your day a bit,
You can buy a front of line “bot”. Pricey but may be worthwhile.
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There is no need to argue online but i am going to respond with this, We spoke to many cast members and most of the rides are refurbished cypress gardens rides. And honestly we could tell they were old. Sorry I’m not arguing just telling our experience. Search legoland on Wikipedia it has all the rides and information about them.
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It is true that some of the rides are refurbished from the Cypress Gardens days. There are also several new rides that aren’t refurbishments.
I’ve been to Windsor Legoland countless times over the years. Our main comment on Legoland Florida was “most of the rides are the same”.
The ones that they created were the Heartlake ones, based on the new theme for girls. And the newish water ride (flat) which they did because they didn’t have the hill to do either Pirate Falls or Viking River Splash. Plus the Flying School which is good fun. That one is totally unique. I suspect too the Ninja ride is a Florida or California original, and recently added to Windsor,
Cypress Gardens is one part of Legoland, I can think of one or two rides that may have been taken from the original park. The “Technic” coaster is one. And yes, that one plus maybe one of the “kingdom” rides, another coaster, too. I don’t dispute that. But those are a tiny proportion of the park, and frankly out of place.
But here’s the link to the interactive map of the park. The driving school, laser ride, wave surfer, all these and the Duplo rides are clones from Windsor, which in turn many will be clones from Bilund.
https://www.legoland.com/florida/map-explore/park-map/
You may not care for the park, but this is not full of old rides. Maybe if you’re only interested in coasters it would seem like it because Legoland doesn’t do coasters.
I would say the Florida park even to us seems aimed more at the very young kids. Probably because Orlando is full of theme parks and they needed to aim it at a different market. So if someone is there with a 9 and 12 year old, most of the rides will seem tame. And the ones you may have sought out could well have been two of the old CG rides.
For children who aren’t used to theme parks, Legoland is great. And Miniland of course is unique.
Other than the Lego Technic coaster, and the one behind the Johnny Thunder laser ride, can you list any others?
Genuinely interested. For us, because Legoland Windsor was our family’s only theme park experience, countless times before WDW, I guess we wouldn’t have looked for the coasters. I remember DH and eldest DS doing the Technic one, which did look awful and old!
But we just noticed all the clones from Windsor. I only have those two that I can think of.
- Dragon
- Flying School
- Coastersaurus
Not sure if there are any others.
Thanks all. We are definitely going. My kids have been begging for years. And since my oldest is 9 now, this might be the last time it will really be of interest. I’m just worried about it being the actual holiday. Thankfully I have coupons, so only the adults will be purchasing tickets. Thanks for all the input.
Now the Dragon is interesting. The main logo of Legoland Windsor is the dragon, and they have a Dragon coaster there. Pretty much like Barnstormer I guess, in that it’s on what I call “open rails”.
Confession - I only rode it for the first time this summer. 
It’s part of my build up to Slinky next trip … (honestly)!
And I assumed they just copied that track for track. Sounds like they actually just took a pre-existing one and built the Lego Dragon castle around it then?
I thought the Flying School was newish too? Don’t think it was there when they first opened. Again though, they could have re-imagined it.
So yes, it’s the coasters that are the old rides then. Which makes sense, because the only coaster at Windsor is the Dragon.
Was originally “Swamp Thing” at Cypress.
Was Okeechobee Rampage. The entire coaster was moved, however, and Legoland added onto it, so it was not JUST refurbishment. Perhaps call it “refurbishment plus”. 
This discussion got derailed into the usual “don’t mess with my Disney”. Your family will have a great time at Legoland and you will enjoy the change of pace.
RD goes a very long way at Legoland. Be there early before it opens and you are guaranteed to have the park for yourself.
Even though there are “lands”, there is no central hub. Legoland is basically two long (very curvy) corridors (plus the gardens). My suggestion is to start with the Ninjago ride near the back of the park. From there, if your kids are tall/old enough go to The Great Lego Race which is a physical coaster with a VR headset. These are the two “big” ones. Then take the “school” rides and start working your way to the front.
You will be done in no time and ahead of the crowds. Possibly even ride several times with minimal wait. Try the shows and the movies too. In my opinion the production quality could be better but entertaining still.
And you must try the apple fries. Possibly even better that most snacks at WDW.
We are booked and going as well. My little guy will be celebrating his 5th bday and my daughter is 8. They are aware it isn’t Disney and are good with that. This is a quick trip before we hit the east coast for family/thanksgiving. We just got back from Disney in April and have a Feb trip planned. We’re ready to sleep in lego rooms and have fun and no matter what.
Everything will be awesome 
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I remember as a kid LOVING Cypress Gardens. In particular, the gardens part. Went back years later, and the Baobab tree was just awe-inspiring. (I highly recommend reading the book “The Little Prince” before going so that kids get a visual idea as to why the Baobab trees in the book are problematic!)
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Exactly. I remember Cypress Gardens. Plus, my kids love the local Storyland and beach amusement parks gasp just as much as Disney b/c they are having fun and eating junk food
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We took our DS 9 and 5 in July. We had fun. It is a cute park! It isn’t Disney but it is fun and something new. We were not there at rope drop but did manage to do everything but the VR coaster. We weren’t interested in the Duplo rides or the girl section.
It did clear out at the last hour of operation. We went on the Dragon coaster 3-4 times because there was no line. My kid’s favorite was the sky school coaster. I agree that I would start at the back and work forward. I would do the VR coaster first - note you need to be six to ride with a headset. There is no fabulous food so just eat wherever is close to where you are hungry. Just take your time and enjoy!
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One more thing about Cypress (aka Legoland) is that, unlike Disney, it is REAL. The trees, flowers, etc. They are all part of the real world. But just about NOTHING at Disney is real. I mean, that’s fine for Disney. But while Disney is creating “otherworldly” places like Pandora, at Cypress you can see the “otherworldliness” of our home planet, Earth!
Save your money and time and skip legoland. We went last fall in early october as a surprise for my 8yr old who loves legos and ninjago and it was a huge disappointment. We went on a weekday when it opened and there was no crowd at all and no waits on anything so that wasnt an issue. The big letdown was the rides themselves and they just werent all that fun and my 8 yr old agreed. The ninjago ride was the highlight but hardly worth the price of admission and I got a buy one get one free deal, we literally did the whole park and were done by lunch it was that bad not to mention the hour ride both ways from our resort at Disney. Disney and Universal are light years ahead on rides and atmosphere.
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