Funday: Legoland Discovery Center Atlanta

It had been a few weeks since we had a Family Fun Day. As Eric and I were trying to think of something a little out of the ordinary I remember that Evie had seen Legoland at Phipps Plaza when we went to see Santa.  She had fun just playing in the gift shop so I knew she'd enjoy spending some family time at the Discovery Center.

But in typical Evie fashion she was a bit nervous trying something new.  Once the gates opened and we went in she warmed right up.

Our first stop was the Lego Factory. A (kind of stupid) mock factory of how Legos are made. The tour guide was goofy and engaging. The kids had fun.

We raced out the door and went straight for the Ninjago ride. Evie was tall enough to ride it, but we couldn't bring Maggie.  It was a half ride - half video game ordeal. We road in a cart through a maze while pausing occasionally to kill off some bats and skeletons with our guns.  Evie was a little scared by the noises and spooky characters, but after we left she said this was her favorite part of the day! Kids are weird.

Next was my favorite part of Legoland.  It was a replica of the city of Atlanta. It was so fantastically well done that I couldn't take enough photographs of it.  Each mini scene had some buttons to control some of the characters - like move the football players at the Falcon's Stadium, or move the cable car up Stone Mountain.  Evie enjoyed interacting with the mini city.  Eric and I loved pointing out all the impressively accurate details of the city scape.

 (This picture is just for Eric's Dad!)

 The MARTA train worked and looked exactly like it - the 1970s color scheme and all!

 (This is for Rosemary and Colin -- my Braves game buddies! Rest in Peace Turner Field)

 One of the neat details of this room was that the lights went up and down every few minutes so you could see the city during the day and the night.  So cool!

Next Evie and Eric decided to ride Merlin's Apprentice. We were excited that Evie could ride this ride too! The more you pedaled your car the higher you went.

Maggie had fun playing in the Duplo pits.  After she started eating one I realize exactly how/why the Flu spreads so quickly through children. Haha. Gross.

 Evie spent a good bit of time playing in the Duplo kitchen and making "letters" to mail.  She was enthralled with the mailbox.

 Meanwhile, Eric took Maggie over to the Duplo tower shakers. He just put her on the platform and turned it on. Haha. She belly laughed at the vibrations.

 My only regret of the day is not doing a little family karaoke. Okay, maybe regret is not the right word.

We were quite a bit disappointed with the "Fire Academy" - it took up a big portion of Legoland and parents couldn't go in.  Evie could only get so much out of this without some parent supervision. Also, we have a pass to a play gym like this. Seemed like a waste of money to us.

We had to skip some of the attractions like the 4D movie (we were on a time crunch), the Laser Maze (too young), and the Lego Racers station (too crowded with a birthday party)

 So we headed over to the Duplo play area.  We could play a little more with her...until....

she took another step up this staircase and had a potty accident.  And all her spare clothes were in the car.  Whomp Whomp.

I ran for the cafe to buy a few snacks and we headed for the car.  Our trip ended up being only an hour or so when we would have loved to stay for the movie and do the car racing.

We had a great time, but we would definitely bring a friend or cousin next time.  Eric and I agreed another kid to play with would have been more fun for Evie.  And to be honest, I'm not sure this place is really worth the cost of a full price ticket at her age.  Four or five seems to be a better age. A year long family pass or birthday party seems to be the way to go for the most bang for your buck.


Much thanks to Legoland Discovery Center of Atlanta for sponsoring this post.