These were my 11 favorite things at Legoland Florida:

1. The historic carousel.  I love carousels and have been on many, but never a double-decker one before.
2. The Dragon roller coaster.  Even for coaster wimps like me, it’s a fun ride, and the relaxing indoor ride through Lego creations is equal to the thrill portion when the dragon escapes outside.
3. Technicycle.  The interactivity in this ride is terrific–if you want your cycle to soar, you must pedal it throughout the ride.  Stop pedaling, and it sinks close to the ground.
4. Lost Kingdom Adventure.  It doesn’t matter if you’re an adult or a kid, shooting the lit targets will make you want to challenge your friends over and over again.
5. Granny’s Apple Fries.  Like apple pie in a french fry container.  Yum!
6. Southern Belles.  A nod to Cypress Gardens’ old days, these lovely Lego ladies greet visitors to the park and botanical gardens.
7. The Banyan Tree.  It’s a huge tree and the focal point of the historic Cypress Gardens botanical gardens.  Walk through the gardens and teach your kids about the Banyan tree and cypress knees and you can claim an educational element to your trip.
8. Driving School.  I was disappointed that adults couldn’t drive the little Lego cars one the miniature streets complete with roundabouts and stop lights.
9. Battle for Brickbeard’s Bounty Waterski Show.  Seeing a foam Lego character on waterskis is remarkable; kids will love the story and alerting the princess to PIRATES!
10. Miniland.  Thirty million bricks formed into familiar sights make this the core of Legoland Florida.   Can you find all of the minilanders (tiny Lego people)?
11. Legos.  They’re everywhere–in miniland, hanging around the park, and as the perfect souvenirs for your little Lego builder.

Legoland Florida, central Florida‘s newest theme park, is designed for families with children ages 2-12, and is located less than an hour from Orlando and Tampa, Florida.

Photo credits: the author.

Linda (minnemom) writes about family travel at Travels with Children, where her popular 11 Things series includes locations big and small, such as Walt Disney World; Decorah, Iowa; and Golden, Colorado.  Her expenses to visit Legoland Florida were paid by the park.

Entrance to the Legoland Florida Theme Park

This weekend, I was privileged to be among the first to visit the new LEGOLAND Florida theme park in Winter Haven, Florida, about an hour’s drive from Orlando and equally close to Tampa.  This new theme park sits on familiar territory to those who visited Cypress Gardens in the past, and the botanical gardens, including the famed banyan tree, have been preserved.

The Legoland botanical gardens include a Lego-themed nod to the Southern Belles who roamed Cypress Gardens.

While many will enjoy the historical aspect of the park, including the double-decker carousel, the real audience for Legoland California is the two- to twelve-year-old set.  For these younger children, Legoland Florida offers more than 50 rides, shows, and attractions that will keep them busy for a full day or more.

The four roller coasters in the park are described as “pink-knuckle” attractions, and this scaredy-cat of a mom managed to ride all four of them, even going back for a second ride on The Dragon.  Kids will love the Ford Driving School, where they can drive Lego-themed cars on miniature streets that include stop signs, traffic lights, and roundabouts.  (Sorry, adults, as much fun as it looked, they wouldn’t let me try driving there.)

Ford Driving School at Legoland Florida

The park attempts to include interactive aspects to their attractions as well, such as the Technicycle ride that makes you pedal to keep your car up in the air instead of merely pushing a button as on similar rides in other places.  The pirate-themed waterski show allows kids to get in on the action and help water-blast the pirates who attempt to overtake the ship.

Two live shows and three 4-D shows allow visitors to take a break from the rides for a while, and a stroll through the botanical gardens offers a respite from the hustle and bustle of the other park attractions.

The real star of Legoland, however, is Miniland, where 30 million Lego bricks have been used to recreate scaled versions of famed American landmarks such as the U.S. Capitol and nearby memorials, the New York City Skyline, Las Vegas hotels and attractions, and the beauty of San Francisco.  Florida history has been included as well, from the Daytona raceway to the Kennedy Space Center.  Kids and adults alike wandered through Miniland, trying to spot all of the 5258 “minilanders” who are a part of the scenes.

US Capitol with New York City in background at Legoland Florida's Miniland

LEGOLAND Florida adds another element to the theme park destination of central Florida, and it does well in providing family fun for its young audience.

Related: 

Bed & Brick Preferred Partner Hotels for Legoland Florida

Legoland Florida in Winter Haven, Florida

Finding Bargains at Legoland Florida

Beyond Miniland: Lego Creations at Legoland Florida

Eating at Legoland Florida

Photo credits: the author

Linda (minnemom) writes about family travel at Travels with Children. 
Her trip to Legoland Florida was sponsored by the park, but all opinions are her own.

Fort Jefferson, Dry Tortugas National Park

While the Florida Keys invoke visions of sun and fun, an alternative Key West experience can be had by visiting Dry Tortugas National Park and its history and nature.  Fast ferries transport visitors from Key West to the national park, where they can enjoy the natural beauty of the area, learn about the history of the fort, and enjoy swimming, diving, and snorkeling in the beautiful clear waters.

Dry Tortugas National Park

Famous for: Bird and marine life; diving and snorkeling, pirate and treasure legends, Fort Jefferson. Read More »

Sometimes, even when you live in the city that tourists love to flock to, you find yourself wanting to just get the heck outta town. Seeing as we live smack dab in the middle of Florida, we have plenty of places to choose from. My teenaged son has found a new love of riding roller coasters, and we had just been to Universal Islands of Adventure and rode all of those, so…

Off to Busch Gardens we went.

Roller Coasters, Animals and Fun! Oh My!

We purchased tickets that allowed us to pick two parks to visit using the “Pick Two” feature. This is actually a pretty sweet deal, because you get to use the tickets anytime you want at whichever two parks you want. Our choices were Busch Gardens and Aquatica. We plan to visit Aquatica, Sea World’s water park, later in the summer. You know, when it will be really hot and jam packed.

We’re awesome like that. And we’re Floridians, and it’s always hot.

Seriously though, one of the great things about the Anheuser-Busch parks are the intimacy of them. As you approach the parks, there are a lot of local shops and places that make you wonder if you are in the right place. Then, when you enter the parks, you get lost in the moment, and you forget you are in Tampa. You are in Africa.

See? Even Storks vacation in Florida!

And it is beautiful. Wander the park at a leisurely pace. Trust me, the kids won’t mind. Take lots of photos. Your camera will thank you. There is lots to see and do here, and the park is laid out so there are things to see and stop and do. Some of our highlights:

• Gwazi – The largest double wooden roller coaster in the Southeast. The ride is not necessarily very smooth if you have ridden metal coasters, but it is quick and fun. (Side note: if your older child falls in love with roller coasters and your younger one is wanting to be like his older brother, DO NOT make this the first roller coaster your 7 year old rides. It WILL blow up in your face. It will also keep your 7 year old from wanting to ride any roller coaster EVER AGAIN. True story.)
• Land of the Dragons – This is a three-story play area for kids to run, jump and play in. There is an area for smaller children only, but the rope bridges that span the area for the kids to run across are a huge hit. What is great about this place is so often if you have children who are not close in age, usually one child gets left out. Land of the Dragons makes it easy as a parent to sit back, relax, and watch your kids burn off that energy.
• SheiKra – We loved this not because we rode it, because we didn’t. The best part though of this ride is the watching of it. If you stand in the right spot, you can also get quite a soaking. From many places in the park you can see the tallest “hold point” of the ride, where it takes you up and then, at the very top juuuust before you drop 90 degrees down, it stops and you just dangle there, until it lets you go. My husband and son plan to ride it when we return. And we will return.
• Zambia Smokehouse – Usually we dread eating at theme parks, because we know that most of the food is fast food, and it can leave a lot to be desired. So when we smelled the delicious smells while we were passing SheiKra, we thought “Oh no, here we go again. Good smells, but bad food.” We were pleasantly surprised at how good it was! It is buffet style, with many options for sides, and a few choices from the carving table, and sandwiches. They also have a selection of beers from (wait for it..) Anheuser-Busch. The portions were filling, and the kids got a cute plastic lunchbox with their meal that came in handy since they didn’t finish all of their lunch. It made taking the leftovers incredibly easy!
• Kumba – Again, only my eldest son and my husband rode this, but they said it was awesome, and I took some amazing photos of them on the ride.
• Stanley Falls Flume – I have a seven year-old, and scary fast rides he has decided he’s not going to ride them. (that will change, trust me)  This is a really fun family ride. You are seated by twos, and you just sit back and ride the flume tubes to the bottom. You have an option to buy a photo of you as you go down the last drop, so don’t forget to smile!
• Jungala – Another kids play area with a kids-size zip line ride, a kid-friendly launcher, and caves, slides, climbing nets and water areas. Also, seating for mom and dad.
• Bumper Cars – Something so simple, and yet, the perfect way to bond as a family. Nothing says bonding like chasing your family members and bashing into them. That’s love, people. And we partook. And it may have gotten cutthroat. Or I may have put several people between us so as not to get “bumped”.
• Skyride – This is the best kept secret of Busch Gardens. Arial views of all of the park, a teaser view of their waterpark just next door, and if you take the ride from the Kumba area to the Egypt area of the park, you basically get a free ride to the exit of the park. We employed this tactic when we went to the park. It was the perfect way to end the day.

When we went, we arrived just as the park was opening, and it gave us a great head start into the day. The lines we encountered were short, no more than a 10 minute wait. We also went on a Sunday, and on a non-holiday weekend. As the day progressed, we noticed longer lines and one of the longest was for Rhino Rally, which we have ridden before. If your trip will be for the first time, it is a ride not to be missed.

So we bid adieu to Busch Gardens around 3pm and headed home. It took us under 2 hours to go from parking lot to driveway. That makes it perfect to sneak back down there for some roller coaster action…

…like, maybe tomorrow?

Wanna Ride? I know how to bump into things...