Anyone been to Legoland's Sea Life Aquarium yet? About This Page:

[dizzparkmom]

We're off to our last trip to Legoland, CA before our memberships expire - we won't be renewing (at least not for a while - DS will have to live with having had 5 trips in the last year).

Anyway - We got an e-mail about a special deal for members to get into the new Aquarium for $10 each when you show your membership card. It's a little savings, so we thought we would give it look. I haven't been able to find any reviews or info about it yet. How much time to schedule, etc. Anyone have an idea?

Also - for Legoland's Halloween party (the one that's scheduled from 5-9pm) do they clear the park? We have a coupon for free admission as pass members - do we have to leave at 5pm and re-enter with the coupon?

TIA for the information if anyone knows.

[familyadventuremom]

How old is your child? We did the Sea Life Aquarium to review it for my book. It definately wouldn't be worth more than ten dollars. It is pretty small, can be covered in about two hours. It is more geared towards little ones and as such has some cool features that kids eight and under would enjoy, special windows that pop up in the middle of the tank and low peepholes so they don't miss out on the action. Unfortunately the touch tanks are hard for little guys to access so be prepared to some some lifting.

I would say if you regularly go to another aquarium, it might not be worth it. I'm from Santa Cruz which is close to the awesome Monterey Bay Aquarium so my perspective is a bit prejudiced. If your little one hasn't spent much time at aquariums this might be a fun place to start.

Hope this helps,

Bridget Smith
Author, Unauthorized Guide to Legoland Ca.

I have heard the question about Brick or Treat posted before, but don't know the answer to it. Since they give us a special coupon even though we have free admission always, I assume that we may need to exit and re-enter. I'm going next weekend. I'll post an update.

[dizzparkmom]

Thanks Bridget!

You've provided exactly the information I needed to know. I was trying to plan out our days and wasn't sure how much time we'd need to spare for the Aquarium or if it was worth it. My DS turned 4 in June. He's visited Sea World a few times and loves the aquarium buildings there. He's also been to WDW once and enjoyed the acquariums offered at Epcot. Unfortunately, there aren't realy any aquarium opportunities here in Phoenix (outside of our trips to the Pet Store - LOL - which DS seems to enjoy almost as much).

Sounds like we'll set aside a few hours for Sea Life.

Thanks Again!
Heather

[dizzparkmom]

Well - we went and experienced Legoland's Sea Life Aquarium for ourselves and I completely have to agree with familyadventuremom. It was definately not worth more than the $10 each we paid to enter as Legoland members and I'm not even sure if it was worth that much. There were several exhibits that were interesting that we enjoyed, but for the most part it was just poorly executed. It was only moderately busy when we went and the crowded set up makes it very difficult for kids to take their time to enjoy the displays. They bunch up the crowd until there are about 12-15 people and then send the group in all at once. If you arrive just after they've let in a group, you may be waiting for your turn to enter. I talked with another mom at our hotel and they visited Saturday night when Sea Life was open later due to the Brick or Treat Party at Legoland and they practically had the place to themselves. Her opinion of Sea Life was a little bit better than mine - so definately visit in an off time to improve satisfaction. There were two hands on opportunities; one was a tide pool (like Sea World's) with Star Fish the kids can touch, and the other was a 'touch pool' with crabs and several other creature. The Sea Life staff members overseeing these areas provided very little information and basically just told the kids the proper was to put their hands in the tanks. Information about what was in the tank was not readily available (we later found it posted off to the side away from the tanks) and the staff didn't go out of their way to educate the kids about what they were interacting with. The rest of the exhibit rooms were unstaffed.

One really annoying feature we noticed was that there were no signs telling you which room you were in or how to get around in the aquarium. It's designed to be experienced as a walk through with a start and a finish.....and the bathrooms are located in the restaurant at the end of the 'experience' (after you exit the turnstiles). Thankfully it didn't happen to us, but I saw one mom running around looking for a restroom for a small child or at the very least a staff member who could help them find one for their 'emergency'. Initially we decided to leave Legoland, have lunch at the Aquarium, and then tour the Exhibits. With the layout and way the tour is structured, this wasn't possible - we had to tour the Aquarium first in order to get to the Cafe.

As for the Cafe, it was comparable with the rest of the food at Legoland. Some self-service items and some items prepared to order. DH had a Musroom Spinach Ravioli. He liked it and would order it again. However, it was $10.45 and not a very large portion. I got a self-service Turkey Baguette and a bowl of Tomato Soup for $10.45. A lot more food for the same price. DS requested Mac & Cheese. It was a homestyle version and very bland and mushy (not at all like the Kraft Mac & Cheese DS is used to). Although it was a good size serving, it came with no beverage or side and cost $6. They allowed use to use our 20% Legoland Membership discount and the 3 of us ate for $21.50. Very few people were eating at the Cafe, but it still took a long time to order and get our food prepared. The dining area was also very small - not sure if that means they plan on not ever being busy.

Anyway - I hope that information is helpful to anyone wondering about making a trip.