glassslippergirl
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 15, 2010
I've seen several people on this forum asking about lodgings close to Legoland and if the Legoland Resorts are worth the money. We just returned from a stay at the new Legoland Beach Retreat. I thought I'd offer my thoughts in case it can be of benefit to anyone.
First, we had planned to go on this trip the second week in June, but DS got sick, so I called to see if we could reschedule. They were very accommodating and were able to book us for DS's birthday! We did have to pay a considerable difference in rate, but at less than $200 per night, I was still impressed by the value for what we got. We are Legoland passholders and have been to the park many times but had never before stayed in Winter Haven (always commuted from a hotel in Orlando) because the value in Orlando was always better. Legoland Beach Retreat was a splurge for us but was totally worth it.
We weren't even sure where the Beach Retreat is located. Across the street from Legoland parking lot is a Publix shopping center. If when leaving Legoland, you go straight (rather than turning right or left), you will follow a small road past the shopping center and right to the Legoland Beach Retreat. Every room is part of a duplex, and about 8 duplexes are arranged in pods centered on a small play area. There's a porch in front of each room which contains chairs and a table (the only chairs in the room). It was July and intolerable on the porch during the heat of the day, but we ate a comfortable dinner there both nights after 6:00.
Untitled by Laura Arguello, on Flickr
Untitled by Laura Arguello, on Flickr
Our pod was Ocean King's Cove, and our duplex backed up to the pool. The resort is sprawling, and there are no luggage carts or bell services, so be prepared to hoof it with your stuff from the parking lot to your room. It can be pretty far.
The room was absolutely adorable if you are in to Lego chic! The main room had a king bed with a detailed Lego mural behind it. There was also a console with the TV, several drawers, and cabinets containing the refrigerator and safe. On both sides of the cabinet were small closets, one containing a luggage rack and one containing ironing supplies.
Untitled by Laura Arguello, on Flickr
Untitled by Laura Arguello, on Flickr
This little guy was on our wall along with a few other Lego sculptures:
Untitled by Laura Arguello, on Flickr
The bright tiles in the bathroom were so happy, and I liked the built-in shelf in the shower for putting all of our shower supplies (they all have places at home, but I find there are usually never enough places for them in a hotel shower). Also, the toilet had a child's seat built in to the lid. Just pull it down, and kids can sit on the toilet without feeling like they will fall in.
Untitled by Laura Arguello, on Flickr
By far the most exciting part of the room, at least for DS5, was the bunk bed nook (two bunks and a trundle-- so it can sleep 3 children), which he immediately claimed as his play area/kingdom. It's separated from the main room by a curtain with a detailed Lego beach scene, and it contains its own window, also with a detailed Lego curtain.
Untitled by Laura Arguello, on Flickr
Untitled by Laura Arguello, on Flickr
Each bunk came with a note from the Ocean King to the occupant of the bunk. Super cute!
Untitled by Laura Arguello, on Flickr
There's even a box of Duplos in the bunk bed room. On the wall of the main room, there is a list of the cost of items taken from the room. They even include a $1000 charge for taking the television and $250 charge should you want to pry a Lego sculpture off the wall and take it home as a souvenir (I can only imagine what experiences led to putting these items on the list). It is worth noting that the cost for taking the box of Duplos is $25. The same box of Duplos costs $30 at any store in the resort, but our box was missing some key pieces. They probably assume all the boxes in the rooms are, leading to the lower price.
There is no television in the bunk bed room, but there are four USB outlets in this area alone, so any devices you bring for kids to use in the room will remain charged. In the main room, there are also two USB outlet at each night stand for adults to charge their devices. DH never travels without his own hub, but he didn't even have to take it out of the bag on this trip.
Never having stayed in Winter Haven before, we were concerned about what to do after the park closes. Winter Haven is not known for its night life. But the pool area really was rocking all the way to the break of 9:00, when it closes for the night and becomes the de facto bath time for every kid at the resort. It's a simple kidney-esque shaped pool with no slide but with zero entry for the little ones. There are at least four life guards on duty all the time. And in true Legoland fashion, there's hundreds of giant bricks floating around. There's also a sandy "beach" area off the the side and a big playground. Note that the pool area doesn't reopen until 9 in the morning, so there's no early swim before early entry to the park.
Untitled by Laura Arguello, on Flickr
Untitled by Laura Arguello, on Flickr
Untitled by Laura Arguello, on Flickr
Untitled by Laura Arguello, on Flickr
Untitled by Laura Arguello, on Flickr
Untitled by Laura Arguello, on Flickr
From 7-9 in the evening, they light a fire in the fire pit, and guests can make s'mores. Please note that you have to buy their s'mores ingredients at a cost of over $10 for a sleeve of graham crackers, three Hershey bars, and about 15 marshmallows. It's their fire pit and their rules, and I am sure they could provide some reason why you must buy the supplies from them, but it seemed money grubbing when we already had our own, exact same ingredients. They provide a skewer and plate with napkins.
It's worth mentioning that, if you are a passholder, you can get a 10% discount on practically anything at Legoland (seriously, I once bought a postcard and got 10% off on the postcard stamp). The discount on the bag of s'mores ingredients took the cost to under $10 (still way too much). All Lego sets and souvenirs are 10% off as is all food (meals and snacks) at the park and the hotels. When you consider that Legoland food generally costs more than WDW food and tastes worse, the discount is appreciated, and 10% off on Lego sets is nothing to scoff at.
The welcome papers say that there is a countdown to lighting the lighthouse every night at 8:30, but both nights I think 8:30 was when they just started thinking about the countdown. The first night, it happened at 8:35, the second at 8:38. If you want your kids to be part of the countdown, keep an ear out. A lifeguard comes out sometime after 8:30 and just calls out that the countdown will begin soon.
Untitled by Laura Arguello, on Flickr
Breakfast is included. It is a buffet, simple but plentiful. The fare is typical-- scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, breakfast fajitas, tater tots, cold cereal, oatmeal, grits, yogurt, breads, and fresh fruit. You cannot get eggs made to order. My husband told a story about the first time he ever had biscuits and gravy. He was a kid and went on and on to his parents about how good it was. His dad told him that it should be good; there's only two or three ingredients in the gravy, and it's hard to mess up. At the Legoland Beach Retreat, 30+ years after he first tried biscuits and gravy, DH said he finally found a place that could mess it up. Quality is also inconsistent. On our first day, the bacon was excellent, but the sausage was burned. On the second day, the sausage was better, but the bacon was raw.
Untitled by Laura Arguello, on Flickr
Untitled by Laura Arguello, on Flickr
I loved the room that breakfast was in. I find that a lot of hotels in Orlando that provide breakfast do so in a room woefully small for the capacity of the resort. Not so at Legoland Beach Retreat. it's spacious, well staffed with servers, and so fun with its outside ceiling inside. There's also a place for kids to biild with Lego and to play giant Connect 4.
Untitled by Laura Arguello, on Flickr
Untitled by Laura Arguello, on Flickr
I believe that a dinner buffet is also available in the same room. There's also a snack bar that had a buy one adult meal, get a free kid's meal coupon in our welcome materials. We didn't try a meal at either place. I've yet to find a meal at Legoland that is decent, and after eating in the parks both days, I couldn't handle it again for dinner.
Untitled by Laura Arguello, on Flickr-- This is the snack bar. You can order at the bar or through a window from the pool area.
Bus service is provided to the park. We chose not to use it because of the schedule. It takes guests to the park from 8:45 to 12:00 approx every 15 minutes. Then, it takes guests from the park starting at 3 hours before park close. This means that, when we were there, from 12 to 3, there was no shuttle service. So on the day when the skies opened at 2:00, we would have been stuck at the park getting poured on until shuttle service resumed an hour later.
Untitled by Laura Arguello, on Flickr
We drove to the park each day. For resort guests, preferred parking (up front and covered) is included by showing the room key. On our first day, we got to the park before check in time. I just showed a print out of our reservation at the booth, and we got the same privilege though we weren't technically resort guests yet. We also got the privilege after check out but before we left for home. Resort guests can also use the Legoland Hotel security check point (shorter lines than the general checkpoint), can enter the park 30 minutes early, and have a dedicated line for park entry (looking at the park entrance, it's to the farthest right).
Overall, we loved our stay and plan to come back again sometime. I could never justify the cost of the Legoland Hotel, but the Legoland Beach Retreat is much more affordable, and was just as fun as can be. Our porch had great views of Lake Dexter, which was also a plus that not all of the rooms have. Something to note if you are a smoker is that you cannot smoke in the room or on the porch. You have to take a walk along the lake, which can be far depending on where your room is. Our room easily accommodated our family if 3; in the future, I would invite my MIL who has somehow managed to miss all of her grandkids' many trips to LL. The room could handle a family of 5, maybe 6, without breaking a sweat.
The resort is definitely centered on kids. If you are looking for valet service, a gym, a spa, or even other hotel amenities like having your towels and sheets changed every day, this is not the hotel for you (we had maid service, but they don't change towels and sheets to save water). If you think Lego decor and design is fun, or at least have a kid who does, Legoland Beach Retreat offers most of the amenities of the Legoland Hotel (except proximity to the park) for a much lower price. So these are my way-too-long thoughts on the Legoland Beach Retreat, and I hope they can help someone planning a Legoland trip. Enjoy!
First, we had planned to go on this trip the second week in June, but DS got sick, so I called to see if we could reschedule. They were very accommodating and were able to book us for DS's birthday! We did have to pay a considerable difference in rate, but at less than $200 per night, I was still impressed by the value for what we got. We are Legoland passholders and have been to the park many times but had never before stayed in Winter Haven (always commuted from a hotel in Orlando) because the value in Orlando was always better. Legoland Beach Retreat was a splurge for us but was totally worth it.
We weren't even sure where the Beach Retreat is located. Across the street from Legoland parking lot is a Publix shopping center. If when leaving Legoland, you go straight (rather than turning right or left), you will follow a small road past the shopping center and right to the Legoland Beach Retreat. Every room is part of a duplex, and about 8 duplexes are arranged in pods centered on a small play area. There's a porch in front of each room which contains chairs and a table (the only chairs in the room). It was July and intolerable on the porch during the heat of the day, but we ate a comfortable dinner there both nights after 6:00.
Untitled by Laura Arguello, on FlickrUntitled by Laura Arguello, on FlickrOur pod was Ocean King's Cove, and our duplex backed up to the pool. The resort is sprawling, and there are no luggage carts or bell services, so be prepared to hoof it with your stuff from the parking lot to your room. It can be pretty far.
The room was absolutely adorable if you are in to Lego chic! The main room had a king bed with a detailed Lego mural behind it. There was also a console with the TV, several drawers, and cabinets containing the refrigerator and safe. On both sides of the cabinet were small closets, one containing a luggage rack and one containing ironing supplies.
Untitled by Laura Arguello, on FlickrUntitled by Laura Arguello, on FlickrThis little guy was on our wall along with a few other Lego sculptures:
Untitled by Laura Arguello, on FlickrThe bright tiles in the bathroom were so happy, and I liked the built-in shelf in the shower for putting all of our shower supplies (they all have places at home, but I find there are usually never enough places for them in a hotel shower). Also, the toilet had a child's seat built in to the lid. Just pull it down, and kids can sit on the toilet without feeling like they will fall in.
Untitled by Laura Arguello, on FlickrBy far the most exciting part of the room, at least for DS5, was the bunk bed nook (two bunks and a trundle-- so it can sleep 3 children), which he immediately claimed as his play area/kingdom. It's separated from the main room by a curtain with a detailed Lego beach scene, and it contains its own window, also with a detailed Lego curtain.
Untitled by Laura Arguello, on FlickrUntitled by Laura Arguello, on FlickrEach bunk came with a note from the Ocean King to the occupant of the bunk. Super cute!
Untitled by Laura Arguello, on FlickrThere's even a box of Duplos in the bunk bed room. On the wall of the main room, there is a list of the cost of items taken from the room. They even include a $1000 charge for taking the television and $250 charge should you want to pry a Lego sculpture off the wall and take it home as a souvenir (I can only imagine what experiences led to putting these items on the list). It is worth noting that the cost for taking the box of Duplos is $25. The same box of Duplos costs $30 at any store in the resort, but our box was missing some key pieces. They probably assume all the boxes in the rooms are, leading to the lower price.
There is no television in the bunk bed room, but there are four USB outlets in this area alone, so any devices you bring for kids to use in the room will remain charged. In the main room, there are also two USB outlet at each night stand for adults to charge their devices. DH never travels without his own hub, but he didn't even have to take it out of the bag on this trip.
Never having stayed in Winter Haven before, we were concerned about what to do after the park closes. Winter Haven is not known for its night life. But the pool area really was rocking all the way to the break of 9:00, when it closes for the night and becomes the de facto bath time for every kid at the resort. It's a simple kidney-esque shaped pool with no slide but with zero entry for the little ones. There are at least four life guards on duty all the time. And in true Legoland fashion, there's hundreds of giant bricks floating around. There's also a sandy "beach" area off the the side and a big playground. Note that the pool area doesn't reopen until 9 in the morning, so there's no early swim before early entry to the park.
Untitled by Laura Arguello, on FlickrUntitled by Laura Arguello, on FlickrUntitled by Laura Arguello, on FlickrUntitled by Laura Arguello, on FlickrUntitled by Laura Arguello, on FlickrUntitled by Laura Arguello, on FlickrFrom 7-9 in the evening, they light a fire in the fire pit, and guests can make s'mores. Please note that you have to buy their s'mores ingredients at a cost of over $10 for a sleeve of graham crackers, three Hershey bars, and about 15 marshmallows. It's their fire pit and their rules, and I am sure they could provide some reason why you must buy the supplies from them, but it seemed money grubbing when we already had our own, exact same ingredients. They provide a skewer and plate with napkins.
It's worth mentioning that, if you are a passholder, you can get a 10% discount on practically anything at Legoland (seriously, I once bought a postcard and got 10% off on the postcard stamp). The discount on the bag of s'mores ingredients took the cost to under $10 (still way too much). All Lego sets and souvenirs are 10% off as is all food (meals and snacks) at the park and the hotels. When you consider that Legoland food generally costs more than WDW food and tastes worse, the discount is appreciated, and 10% off on Lego sets is nothing to scoff at.
The welcome papers say that there is a countdown to lighting the lighthouse every night at 8:30, but both nights I think 8:30 was when they just started thinking about the countdown. The first night, it happened at 8:35, the second at 8:38. If you want your kids to be part of the countdown, keep an ear out. A lifeguard comes out sometime after 8:30 and just calls out that the countdown will begin soon.
Untitled by Laura Arguello, on FlickrBreakfast is included. It is a buffet, simple but plentiful. The fare is typical-- scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, breakfast fajitas, tater tots, cold cereal, oatmeal, grits, yogurt, breads, and fresh fruit. You cannot get eggs made to order. My husband told a story about the first time he ever had biscuits and gravy. He was a kid and went on and on to his parents about how good it was. His dad told him that it should be good; there's only two or three ingredients in the gravy, and it's hard to mess up. At the Legoland Beach Retreat, 30+ years after he first tried biscuits and gravy, DH said he finally found a place that could mess it up. Quality is also inconsistent. On our first day, the bacon was excellent, but the sausage was burned. On the second day, the sausage was better, but the bacon was raw.
Untitled by Laura Arguello, on FlickrUntitled by Laura Arguello, on FlickrI loved the room that breakfast was in. I find that a lot of hotels in Orlando that provide breakfast do so in a room woefully small for the capacity of the resort. Not so at Legoland Beach Retreat. it's spacious, well staffed with servers, and so fun with its outside ceiling inside. There's also a place for kids to biild with Lego and to play giant Connect 4.
Untitled by Laura Arguello, on FlickrUntitled by Laura Arguello, on FlickrI believe that a dinner buffet is also available in the same room. There's also a snack bar that had a buy one adult meal, get a free kid's meal coupon in our welcome materials. We didn't try a meal at either place. I've yet to find a meal at Legoland that is decent, and after eating in the parks both days, I couldn't handle it again for dinner.
Untitled by Laura Arguello, on Flickr-- This is the snack bar. You can order at the bar or through a window from the pool area.Bus service is provided to the park. We chose not to use it because of the schedule. It takes guests to the park from 8:45 to 12:00 approx every 15 minutes. Then, it takes guests from the park starting at 3 hours before park close. This means that, when we were there, from 12 to 3, there was no shuttle service. So on the day when the skies opened at 2:00, we would have been stuck at the park getting poured on until shuttle service resumed an hour later.
Untitled by Laura Arguello, on FlickrWe drove to the park each day. For resort guests, preferred parking (up front and covered) is included by showing the room key. On our first day, we got to the park before check in time. I just showed a print out of our reservation at the booth, and we got the same privilege though we weren't technically resort guests yet. We also got the privilege after check out but before we left for home. Resort guests can also use the Legoland Hotel security check point (shorter lines than the general checkpoint), can enter the park 30 minutes early, and have a dedicated line for park entry (looking at the park entrance, it's to the farthest right).
Overall, we loved our stay and plan to come back again sometime. I could never justify the cost of the Legoland Hotel, but the Legoland Beach Retreat is much more affordable, and was just as fun as can be. Our porch had great views of Lake Dexter, which was also a plus that not all of the rooms have. Something to note if you are a smoker is that you cannot smoke in the room or on the porch. You have to take a walk along the lake, which can be far depending on where your room is. Our room easily accommodated our family if 3; in the future, I would invite my MIL who has somehow managed to miss all of her grandkids' many trips to LL. The room could handle a family of 5, maybe 6, without breaking a sweat.
The resort is definitely centered on kids. If you are looking for valet service, a gym, a spa, or even other hotel amenities like having your towels and sheets changed every day, this is not the hotel for you (we had maid service, but they don't change towels and sheets to save water). If you think Lego decor and design is fun, or at least have a kid who does, Legoland Beach Retreat offers most of the amenities of the Legoland Hotel (except proximity to the park) for a much lower price. So these are my way-too-long thoughts on the Legoland Beach Retreat, and I hope they can help someone planning a Legoland trip. Enjoy!
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