As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
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We want to personally thank Sara Varney, who coordinated our community for many years (among so many other things she did for us), and Cheryl Pendry, our Message Board Manager who helped train our Guides, and Ginger Jabour, who helped us with the PassPorter-specific forums and Live! Guides. Thank you for your time, energy, and enthusiasm. You made it all happen.
There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
And we are no longer charging for the Live Guides. If you have a subscription, it's yours to keep for the lifetime of the Live Guides at no additional cost. The Live Guides will stay online, barring server issues and technical problems, for all of 2019.
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Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
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Any advice on where to start? I have an 11 year old and 15 year old. I'm guessing it won't be 15 year old's favorite park, ha, but 11 year old really wanted to go. I realize the park is geared for ages 2 - 12.
Can anyone give me an idea of the size of the park as compared to the parks in WDW? Is each section (castle hill, miniland, etc.) about the same size as the sections in WDW parks? I'm wondering if we'd be better off hitting main or bigger attractions with longer waits in each section and then returning later to do less popular ones or should we just stay in each section until we complete everything we want to do?
Any advice on dining? Kids think restorante brickolini would be fun if it looks like it did on a lego computer game they had when they were small!
My game plan is:
- to start with Imagination Zone and sign up for lego mindstorms (I would guess we have to go back later when it actually occurs) then hit wave racers and technic test track. I'll save other things for later. We could hit them at end of day being that's more at front of park.
- continue on to Land of Adventure being that's just recently opened. I'm guessing we'll only do 2 of 4 rides being 2 sound like they're geared for younger kids
- then go onto Castle Hill. PP book says the dragon, knights tournament, and royal joust can have long waits, so we'll hit those first. Do we check out other ones or move on?
- we'll continue on to the left and hit each section like this. Sound like a good plan or anyone have better advice?
We visited Legoland in May 2002 and August 2005, both times with a young child (or 2) so we spent most of our time on the lefthand side of the park. My impression was that most parts of the park were much smaller than lands at the Disney parks. Whether it's worth doing some attractions then backtracking and returning later will depend on the crowd levels. We found that, as with the Disney parks, crowds were very low in the morning and build steadily as the day went on. We didn't stay all day, but my guess would be that crowds thin in late afternoon as people finish seeing what they wanted to see.
I can't recall which restaurants we ate at, but my impression was the food was better than most amusement parks and about on par with Disney counter service. I do remember that the apple fries were delicious.
If you're going at an off season time, you'll be able to wander at will. The last two times we went were on weekends in October and November (over Veteran's day) we didn't wait for anything, including the cool roller coasters. The park is smaller than a Disney park, and lots of the attractions won't be of interest to your family (there's lots for toddlers/preschoolers). Most people went left when they entered the park, so your plan of going right to sign in for mindstorms and then continuing on around the park would be perfect. We've eaten at several places, and the food was good and fresh, but more expensive than a Disney park (kids' meals were like 8.99 or so). Have fun! And I bet you'll be pleasantly surprised. It's a beautiful park with lots of theming.
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Thanks for the help. I appreciate it! We are going during the summer, so it'll probably be more crowded but I thought it looked like we'd be skipping a lot, too, being the kids are older. I'm glad the size of the lands is smaller than at WDW. That should help our touring plan.
Just something to keep in mind if the forecast is for rain, you may want to consider choosing another day. If the rain becomes heavy, they will close the park and you will not get a refund. When we went in February, the parking attendant didn't tell us this until after we parked (it was a steady rain). We went to the ticket booth, where it was suggested we try the 1 hour shopping pass before we decided to make the investment of purchasing tickets.
Just something to keep in mind if the forecast is for rain, you may want to consider choosing another day. If the rain becomes heavy, they will close the park and you will not get a refund. When we went in February, the parking attendant didn't tell us this until after we parked (it was a steady rain). We went to the ticket booth, where it was suggested we try the 1 hour shopping pass before we decided to make the investment of purchasing tickets.
Hope this helps!!
You got me thinking, maybe I'll do some research on Universal. We only have one day, so if forecast the night before is for rain, we don't have another day to do it so this might be a good alternate plan. I'll have to prepare the kids ahead of time that if it rains we can't go. Thanks for the information.
You got me thinking, maybe I'll do some research on Universal. We only have one day, so if forecast the night before is for rain, we don't have another day to do it so this might be a good alternate plan. I'll have to prepare the kids ahead of time that if it rains we can't go. Thanks for the information.
I wouldn't worry too much about rain. We live about 15 miles from Legoland. February (when the other poster went) is our rainy season (and even that doesn't amount to much). If you are coming in the summer there is very little chance of any amount of rain. In fact, anyone from somewhere that actually has storms would laugh at what we call rain around here!
There's an entire section intended for older kids/young teens - Explore Zone, with Lego-inspired video games, science/technology-related activities, relatively "extreme" rides, etc. I'd start there - you may just be able to leave the older one there. Depending on the kid, the Lego models in Miniland USA may also be totally fascinating - it brings out the geeky kid in everyone.
The park has a circular layout, not hub-and-spoke. While there are opportunities to take shortcuts, they're relatively few. Most folks start going clockwise around the park, but with older kids I suggest you go counter-clockwise, as you'll get to Imagination Zone in short order.
Have fun - of all the non-Disney theme park operators, I feel Legoland "gets" the Disney experience better than all the rest.
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There's an entire section intended for older kids/young teens - Explore Zone, with Lego-inspired video games, science/technology-related activities, relatively "extreme" rides, etc. I'd start there - you may just be able to leave the older one there. Depending on the kid, the Lego models in Miniland USA may also be totally fascinating - it brings out the geeky kid in everyone.
The park has a circular layout, not hub-and-spoke. While there are opportunities to take shortcuts, they're relatively few. Most folks start going clockwise around the park, but with older kids I suggest you go counter-clockwise, as you'll get to Imagination Zone in short order.
Have fun - of all the non-Disney theme park operators, I feel Legoland "gets" the Disney experience better than all the rest.
I had to double check my handy DL Passporter. The area for little kids is Explore Village and more teen area must be the Imagination Zone (PP lists it to play video games). This is the area we will hit first.
Thanks for help on the circular layout. I was looking at the park map in PP and it didn't look very convient to criss cross park, so we'll start right and go from there. I appreciate the help. I'm sure both my boys will turn back into geeky lego kids looking at the models. (We still have a whole spare room downstairs filled with legos that they just can't part with yet.) I remember the first time we went to downtown disney in WDW and they saw the lego creations, so this park will be fun to look at even if there's big thrill rides. My kids are thrill ride types anyway, so it'll be a fun experience as a one time experience!
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We went to Legoland in 2005. While we had 2 kids with us (ages 8 and 5) we adults really enjoyed this park as well. The "Miniland USA" area was especially intriguing for adults!
LegoLand is much smaller than WDW but there are really big crowds (at midday). There are also a fair amount of cast members I can't remember any restaurants. Also
you can get a free ticket by joining Lego brickmaster club.
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LegoLand is much smaller than WDW but there are really big crowds (at midday). There are also a fair amount of cast members I can't remember any restaurants. Also
you can get a free ticket by joining Lego brickmaster club.
We did the brickmaster and got the free ticket, plus the magazine had a buy one adult get one child and then I bid on the last adult ticket I needed on ebay and got it for 30.00!
I'm glad to hear LegoLand is smaller that one of the parks at WDW. I can't wait to experience it!
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And I bet you'll be pleasantly surprised. It's a beautiful park with lots of theming.
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