Choice - Sea World or Legoland?

[kristie73]

We have a week trip planned this summer to San Diego. 3 days of that we are doing Disneyland. My kids are ds (3) and ds (7). Originally I'd like to do Sea World. But my friend suggested Legoland. Should we plan to do both Sea World and Legoland or one over the other? What is Legoland and Sealife? I hope it's not too much in the amusement park stuff. I still want to do the beach and maybe a baseball game. We have family and friends in the area to visit too. So I'm debating one or the other or both? Do you think it's too much amusment park time to fit into a week when I want to the beach too?

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Are you staying the entire week in San Diego? When you go to Disneyland, are you staying at a hotel near the park? So you have 4 days in San Diego. Sea World and Legoland have extended hours during the summer, so one day should do it for either one. That leaves 2 or 3 days for beach time.

Legoland is very much an amusement park, however, if your sons are into Legos, they will love it. Sea World and Legoland are 2 different experiences, so it is up to you on which one you want to enjoy.

 

[LavenderPeach]

Not sure if it's too much amusement park time but if you want to do one or the other, try to figure out if your boys would enjoy ocean animals and shows or legos and rides. There's not as many rides at SW (although there are a few, including some kid's ones). Our DS was 3 when we took him to legoland and we noticed there were a lot of rides with height restrictions. He's not that tall so it seemed like there was a lot he couldn't go on. Legoland is definitely a park that is build for kids (where SW is designed for all ages) but we thought it seemed like ages 5-11 would be the best ages to go. So keep that in mind since your younger DS might not be tall enough to go on some things. You can look at their website to see all the height restrictions. Also, think about if your kids can sit through the shows at SW since that's one of the biggest things to do there. Hope that helps and wasn't too confusing. I'm tired and couldn't orgainize my thoughts very well.

 

[kristie73]

Thanks for the responses. I'm still on the fence. My dh is leaning towards only Sea World. We have no experiences with Legoland though. But being that we'll be doing 3 days in Disneyland - that's a lot of amusement rides. I didn't think about the height restrictions for my 3 year old though. I think they'd enjoy both, but I think the adults would enjoy Sea World more. I guess it's a wait and see how we feel about it.

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

I think Legoland is a great park for young kids, but if you are already doing 3 days at Disneyland and a day at Sea World, that gives you one full day extra - this is thinking that day 1 and day 7 are travel days. I would recommend Day 1-travel and settle in/ check out the area, Days 2-4 at Disneyland, Day 5 at the beach & site-seeing (if you are in San Diego, maybe the evening at Seaport village or Old Town for dinner), Day 6 at Sea World, and Day 7 travel day.

 

[bumbershoot]

I would, and have made the choice twice before, do Seaworld. But ONLY if you make sure you take the time to see the Pets Rule show. It's adorable. Trained whales and dolphins, sure sure, yeah, that's obvious. But trained CATS? And pigs? Ducks? You don't see that very often. My brother and his wife had two years of APs at Seaworld simply because of that show. They live there, and his wife works at the "philips head screwdriver" building in SD, visible in Soarin', LOL, so they'd go there for a quick lunch (sis in law is addicted to their hot dogs) and the Pets Rule show.

There's not much at SW for a 3 year old to do, apart from the big playground. DS is tall but couldn't ride Atlantis or the water ride...but he didn't care.

 

[tanyaewa]

imo - you only have a small window of years due to ages to do Legland. If you won't be back to San Diego for a few years - do LL this time. After age 9 it would be too *young* whereas Seaworld transends the ages. My boys age 5 & 7 LOVED it this year - but I won't bring them back in a few years - we'll do other park instead.

 

[shanni]

We did San Diego a few years ago with my kids. We LOVED SeaWorld. We actually ended up going back for a second, unplanned day. I thought Legoland was overpriced and overrated. They have VERY strict height restrictions. There was a lot that my 3 year old couldn't do. We ended up spending a lot of time in the playground area. I remember sitting there thinking that we could have found a park with a playground for free!!

The other thing that I didn't like is that the lines are long for very short rides. I went in off season so it wasn't too bad, but I think that it wouldn't be worth it in the summer.

The lego sculptures were very cool though. And it's a pretty park. I would say if you can get your hands on deeply discounted tickets, it's worth a trip. Otherwise, skip it and spend the day at Seaworld, or even just the beach.

HTH!

 

[2luvmickey]

imo - you only have a small window of years due to ages to do Legland. If you won't be back to San Diego for a few years - do LL this time. After age 9 it would be too *young* whereas Seaworld transends the ages. My boys age 5 & 7 LOVED it this year - but I won't bring them back in a few years - we'll do other park instead.

We have family in the San Diego area, so we have made many visits there over the past 14 years.

I agree, your boys will outgrow Legoland by the time they are 12. My 3 DS LOVED Legoland (our first trip was when the park just opened), Miniland is amazing, and the rides and play areas are perfect for the little kiddies.

Besides, there are multiple SeaWorlds, but only one Legoland USA.

 

[stevejanelle]

Besides, there are multiple SeaWorlds, but only one Legoland USA.

There will be another Legoland near Orlando next year.

 

[2luvmickey]

There will be another Legoland near Orlando next year.

I remember reading about a new Legoland, just couldn't remember where. Thanks for the update!

 

[ValpoCory]

I remember reading about a new Legoland, just couldn't remember where.

Was there any other option? Southern California and Orlando is pretty obvious. Disney, Universal, Sea World, etc.

 

[8timesblessed]

We just did all of that and I would recommend Sea World. We sat through 4 shows and my kids loved it. Just wear sunscreen, all shows are in the open and if there is alot of sun you will get burned. The Sea lion show was so funny, the Shamu show was great, the Pets Rule was amazing and the best was the new Blue Horizons dolphin show!