I have read a review and agree that you are paying 100% cost for 70% experience… I might even say 60%. We stayed at the hotel and visited the park as an early birthday gift for my son. The hotel is beautiful, but understaffed and for the cost… we really should’ve been offered some sort of partial refund. To stay at a *resort* where the pool is not open, when there are three kids registered for the room and there are only two lego surprises that are included in your package- had to ask for a blanket for my third child that never came, enough towels and a pillow. The Hey Google that replaces the phone did not work, and the second line of communication, the text system, did not result in any help. We never got the blanket for my third child. The initial idea is to serve- there are complimentary juices and waters and hot chocolate, but no ability, apparently, to see that three kids are booked into the room when preparing it. The room was very creative and nice for the kids. Very clean, but of corse has only been open 3 weeks.
The food at the hotel breakfast was not great. The staff was very friendly and hard working. There simply was a shortage. They did get a character out for breakfast, so that was a highlight. One of only two we saw.
The theming- the lego sculptures everywhere, the creativity, at the hotel and the park are exceptional. It is vibrant and clean. Most of the staff was great. I did notice a couple of cranky teenage employees, but I imagine many were not nice to them considering how understaffed it was. My biggest issue was that the ride attendant announced the birthday of a child because they were all wearing the same shirt. But when my daughter told them it was my son’s 6th birthday trip as well, he said “everyone is going to say it’s their birthday,” and would not do it for my son, and of corse he was very upset. We also had an issue at the 4D movie. They told us when we went in there might not be seats left together we could wait or go into the current one. We said no problem we could split in 2, they said ok great. They didn’t mention they were turning off the lights immediately and we had to find scattered seats in the dark after the movie began. There were plenty of seats, but no staff to enforce folks moving all the way in to accommodate others. Just kind of a free for all, there.
There was at least one ride closed in each section, two in some lands. (Mini dragon, Merlin, gravity force, three cups in the spinning cup ride, half of the ships in pirate land, the fire academy in lego city… plus three of the climbing/playground areas) Park Food was mediocre and EXPENSIVE. $17 for a chicken sandwich and fries… the sandwich is bland and smaller than what you get at a fast food drive through for under $7. Also very slow, understaffed, I assume. 45 min on line to get food. They also forgot one sandwich and we had to go back and get it.
We only saw one lego character in the park. We were at opening on Sunday and they had the Statue of Liberty character out. My son kept asking for ninjago, but just no other characters, all day, either day.
The rides themselves that were open, were excellent. Creative, bright, fun, etc. Very disappointed that a few we were looking forward to, specifically, weren’t open. The build & test center was a mess- orange soda spill on the floor that took forever to clean, and they only had one size wheels for the kids cars- the girl handing out wheels was slow and cranky. Could’ve been a neat highlight. With all the rides closed, you really need to make the lego builds in the mini section, as well as all over the park, their own attraction. We spent a great deal of time doing this, and have probably over 100 photos with them.
Health/ Safety…
I’d say about 50% of patrons and staff wore masks indoors. Most of the hand sanitizer stations were filled, though, and it did seem like most people were grabbing sanitizer as they passed. My daughter hit her head hard on one of the spinning parts in “ninja training”. We had to spend $17 on Tylenol and had to go to three shops to find that. The next day, my niece felt an upset stomach after lunch and all of the shops down the bottom end of the park only had Benadryl, even first aid does not offer any tums or other types of medication to buy, also no ginger ale anywhere. Bring your own first aid/meds! 😩
Somehow, despite all of the problematic elements, my kids still enjoyed most of it. I guess since they didn’t know the cost and we made a point to make the best of it, they were happy. As the paying customer, though, I’d think twice before going back, and do feel a lot of what we spent was wasted, but I am glad my children still had fun, and their only lasting regret was not meeting any ninjago characters. I would wait to go here until next spring, and find out if the characters are out and if rides are open to get more value for the cost.