We took a Southern California vacation that didn't include Disneyland for the first time.  Our goal was to take our son who was 9, almost 10 at the time to Legoland for what would probably be his first and last trip.  Since Legoland is geared to the younger set, they actually have kids ticket prices up to age 12.  That leads me to believe that a kid up to age 12 would enjoy Legoland.

One big concern I had was that Alex was a Disneyland boy.  He loves the roller coasters too so I was worried that the rides at Legoland would be a little tame for him.

Remember as you are reading this information that we are a Disney family.  Our vacations since Alex was born have been to Disneyland or WDW in Florida.  We are used to the rides, the Cast Members, the cleanliness, and how things work at a Disney park.

As we drove up to Legoland for our first day, I immediately noticed one glaring omission.  There was no security.  No security?  Wow, this was pretty cool.  Only one line to get into the park.  You can take in a picnic, drinks and food with no problems.  No backpack searching, no problem. 

When we walked into the park we first saw a sign for lockers.  Andy put our swim items in the locker and we were off to ride some rides.

The rides in Dino Land and that general area were definitely geared to younger kids.  There is a Duplo area that is a play park for the younger set.  A roller coaster that simply goes in a circle.  Great for the first timer, lame for a roller coaster fan.  But we did notice a big change for us right away.  That backpack we carry on with us a Disneyland?  It has to be left behind at Legoland.  There were very few rides that our backpack was able to join us for on this trip.  We ended up putting it in a locker for safe keeping.

Alex, being the Lego lover that he is, enjoyed everything the park had to offer, including some of the little kid rides.  His favorites though were definitely the big kid rides.  The Lego Techniques roller coaster, and the Joust were two of his overwhelming favorites.  He also loved the Volvo Driving School.  We did not do Lego Mindstorms due to time constraints.  Alex has a Mindstorm kit at home also, so it wasn't something he felt the need to do.  As an adult, my favorite part of Legoland was the Miniland area.  This was amazingly detailed and a lot of fun to look at.  The Star Wars area was amazing.

With our tickets we were able to do two days, and decided to do the water park the 2nd day.  The water park is nothing special.  There are 3 slides, one goes down on a raft, one on your back and the third has two side by side so you can race down on your back.  The slides were rather underwhelming.  In fact, the whole water park was.  Alex enjoyed the water play area in Lego park more than the water park itself.  The big ride, Pirates Reef is one that you will get soaked on, and you can ride it from either the water park side, or the main park side.  You leave everything you don't want to get wet in a bucket.  You are also not allowed to wear glasses on this ride.  I was surprised when they made me take mine off.

We ended up leaving the water park and spending the rest of our time at the regular park until 7pm.  At that time we went into the aquarium, which Alex really loved.  This was set up nicely to feature their main shark tank from several different areas.  We ended up spending about an hour here.

By the time it was all said and done, we had spent about 15 hours at Legoland.  Alex will be too old the next time we go to San Diego so we will do Sea World instead.

Do I recommend taking a child aged 10 or 11?  Oh yes, if they love Lego's this will be a hit. There are enough big kid rides to justify a trip, and with the eye candy it should be a hit for your child too.  Alex loved this trip and calls it one of his favorites.