Legoland!

This weekend we drove north into Germany to a town called Gunzburg. The big attraction there is "Legoland." For those of you who don't know, Legoland is a Disney-style theme park...all revolving around Lego toys. Being the Lego freak that he is...the park was the one thing Ben wanted to see the most during this whole move to Europe. Recently, Megan has also become very interested in Legos, and she was excited as well. We went there with our friends the McGaughs (whose boys are also big Lego fans) so the whole weekend was one big party for all the kids. The park is much bigger, and more established than I expected. It took us a full day to see and do everything, and then we spent a little time on Sunday finishing up our stay. There are a few roller coasters, a few shows, and a few thrill rides. But most of the park is for lower school age kids, so it turns out our kids were the perfect ages for the park. Another big attraction in the middle of the park is "Mini Land." This is an area where you walk around and look at giant Lego cityscapes and models. The creations are stunning. My favorite was the replica of the Munich soccer stadium, complete with 30,000 mini figures sitting in the stands. Anyway, I tried to take pictures, but the shots don't do the models justice. In fact, throughout the park you find amazing Lego sculptures. Another interesting area was a Lego factory where they show you how the pieces are made, and the warehouse next to it is actually an area where you can create and customize your own mini-figures. (We were there for quite a while.) We stayed at the Legoland Village in a "Lego Racer" cabin (all the cabins are themed.) Our favorite ride might have been the "Ninjago Ride," which is a flying ride where you get to steer gliders. Anyway, the park is very cool, and it definitely grabs the charm of Legos. You walk into the restaurants and there will be a Lego table with kids huddled around it building things. There are Lego creation centers where kids and adults are all sitting around tables building with Legos. Then of course all the shops and stores are filled with Lego toys. I think Ben had more fun here than Disney. I'm a longtime fan of Legos and I was blown away. It's not on the same level as Disney World, nor does it try to be. We all had a blast and we will definitely be back. It was really nice to do something completely different from Disney.