Legoland California Coupons and Review for older kids

We just got back from a 2-week, 4146 mile road trip.  One of the many stops we made was at Legoland California in Carlsbad, near San Diego.  Before leaving I tried to find Legoland California coupons and discounts.  

I also wanted to know if Legoland was good for older kids.  First, I’ll start with how to find Legoland coupons. Then, I’ll give you a review of Legoland California for older kids (ages 8 and 10).

Where to find Legoland California Coupons, Promo Codes, Discounts

When I searched ahead of time for Legoland coupons, many people suggested looking for discounts on Lego packaging or the Lego magazine.  A friend of mine actually found Legoland California coupons, so she gave me one she cut out from the Lego magazine.

San Diego City Pass

If you plan to visit lots of sites in San Diego, then you can save money using the Go San Diego pass.  Groupon has a Go San Diego Pass deal for $99 for a two-day all-inclusive children’s Go San Diego Card, and $112.50 for a two-day all-inclusive adult Go San Diego Card.

If you are looking for another option, then there are also San Diego city passes that include Legoland tickets.

Costco has Discounted Legoland Ticket Deals

Costco has the 4-Day Go San Diego eCard With the 4 Big Theme Parks that includes San Diego Zoo & Safari Park, LEGOLAND® California, Knott’s Berry Farm, SeaWorld® Tours, Museums and more! $189.99 for adults and $162.99 for kids. Instead, you can get the LEGOLAND California, LEGOLAND Water Park & SEA LIFE Aquarium 3-Day Resort Hopper eTicket for $88.99 ($10 manufacturer’s discount is valid 6/3/16 through 6/30/16. While supplies last.)

Other places to find Legoland California coupons

Thanks to my cousin, I found out about the Legoland coupon at Wendy’s (in the San Diego area).  With any purchase, you can pick up Legoland California coupons with Legoland promo code good for a free child ticket with the purchase of an adult ticket.  

But, read the coupon carefully, you have to purchase one of the hopper tickets that start at $116 (Legoland California + Sea Life Aquarium) or $119 (Legoland California + Water Park).  To use this coupon online, go to www.legoland.com/llcWendys2016 and use the Legoland coupon code 16013.  You can use the online coupon until September 26, 2016 or the actual coupon until December 26, 2016.

Legoland Coupons for employees at certain companies

GCISD (Grapevine ISD) employees and possibly others can take advantage of these discount ticket and attraction deals.   Use the Legoland coupon code GCISD to save over 25% at Legoland and a get a second day free.  In addition, there are other discounts in various cities such as Schlitterbahn Waterparks, Walt Disney World Resort, San Diego Zoo, Ft. Worth Zoo, Sea World, and more.  You can also look for Legoland California coupons and coupon codes with group rates for various companies.  See if your company has a group rate coupon already established.

Legoland California Review for Older Kids

Would Legoland be fun for our kids ages 8 and 10?  I was worried before going to Legoland that it might be too babyish for them.  I read “Legoland California for older kids” reviews and talked to friends.  

Most people convinced us our kids would still have a good time.  We decided to bite the bullet and pay the $238 (for all four of us after the coupon to do the Legoland California + Water Park!).  Regular parking was an additional $15.

We found the schedule online, and saw the park opened at 10am on the day we planned to visit.  We got there a little after 10am and found out the park had already been open an hour.  There were other people in line with us who also thought the park opened at 10am.

A map of Legoland California can be found here.

One amusement park strategy: Start with the Big Rides

First, we headed over to the “big rides”.  Let me start by saying my kids met the requirements to ride all of the rides on their own.  They are both over 48 inches tall. There were really only 2 non-kiddy rollercoasters.  The first one had one “scary” drop and some fast curves.  Our 10 year-old thought it was just the right amount of scary.  He enjoyed it, but wasn’t too scared.  Our 8 year-old refused to ride any rollercoasters.  We waited in line for about 10 minutes each at those two rides.

From there, we went to the new Lego Ninjago ride.

Ninja riders control fireballs, lightning, shockwaves and ice to defeat the Great Devourer!

It had a 30 minute wait.  It was fun, but not worth a 30 minute wait.

All of the other rides were a little too young for our 10 year-old, though he went along with it and said he had a good time.

There were multiple places to build Legos, which we found somewhat ridiculous.  First, why spend money to build Legos, something they can do at home.  Also, there were limited places for parents to sit while the kids built.

There was a Miniland USA with replicas of various cities.  Impressive – but not worth the crazy amount of money we spent to get into the park.

Legoland 4D movies

We saw one of the 4D movies, LEGO® NEXO KNIGHTS™: The Book of Creativity. We found it boring and not at all appropriate for little ones. It could be scary for little kids. There was a fire breathing dragon and quite a lot of fighting. The 4D effects were lame. We didn’t feel any of the water or other props.

No Outside Food Allowed at Legoland!

For lunch, we walked back to our car in the parking lot for our food and drinks.  You are not allowed to bring in any food or drinks except water bottles into Legoland.

By around 3pm we felt we had seen anything of interest and headed over to the water park.

Review of Legoland California Water Park

We are spoiled.  Here in Austin, Texas we have a lot of fun water parks nearby, including the huge Schlitterbaun water park in New Braunfels. In comparison, this water park was quite smaller than the water parks we are used to. Although, our 8 year-old love it! He could have spent all day there. There were quite a few medium sized slides, a lazy river, and wave pool.

We left the park around 5pm.

Buy Legoland Tickets in advance and read more Legoland reviews on Trip Advisor.

Recommend Legoland California?
Overall, would I recommend Legoland California? Yes, for kids around 5 years of age. No, for kids ages 10+, not for the price, at least. If you can find an even better Legoland California Coupon or if the ticket was cheaper, then I would maybe recommend Legoland for older kids, but definitely not for kids over about age 12. It’s too bad they don’t have a Legoland half day option.

Have you been to Legoland California? What did you think? Would you recommend Legoland?  What are your thoughts on Legoland California for older kids?

Have you found any other Legoland California coupons?

Next: Find current Six Flags coupons.