Dad Trip Adventure 3: LEGOLAND, Minifigs, and One Last Memory Before School Starts

Dad Trip Adventure 3: Our LEGOLAND Castle Quest

So, here we go—day three kicked off with us checking into the LEGOLAND Castle Hotel. The kids had finally pieced together that we were heading to LEGOLAND, mostly because they started spotting those giant LEGO characters along the road doing their thing. So much for keeping secrets, right?

Once we rolled up, we got all our luggage into the Castle Hotel and dove straight into the park. First stop: making our own LEGO characters. Now, if you haven’t been to LEGOLAND, here’s the scoop: it’s not just about rides. Trading LEGO minifigures is a whole thing. You bring your little minifigs, and you can swap them with staff or other collectors. The kids loved it. They each built their own little LEGO people and then got down to some serious trading.

After that, it was ride time. Bash was all in for the bigger rides this year, which was a big shift from last time. Maggie went straight for the Flying Couch again, though Thea was a little hesitant. Still, she got brave and decided to tackle a roller coaster. Proud dad moment.

My personal highlight? Bash turned to me in the LEGO Ferrari zone and just said, “Dad, this is my favorite place. Thanks for bringing me,” and threw in an “I love you” for good measure. Yeah, he definitely earned himself some extra LEGO goodies for that one.

By the end of the day, my wife was joking that maybe this would be our last LEGOLAND trip since the kids are getting older. But honestly, seeing how much they still loved it—building, trading, and riding—I think we’ve got at least a few more years of LEGOLAND magic in us. Plus, I’m not ready to give up my excuse to play with LEGOs either!

Oh, and staying at the hotel is a blast. The breakfast is fantastic—think chilaquiles one morning and something delicious the next. There’s even a bar if you need a morning Bloody Mary. And the kids loved the treasure hunt back at the hotel room safe—little puzzles that lead to surprises, even if they’ve scaled that back a bit these days.

We wrapped up two awesome days, loaded up on memories (and LEGO sets), and are already looking forward to next year’s trip. Because let’s face it, you’re never too old for LEGOLAND.

In the end, after all the LEGO-building, roller coaster runs, and that disco-ball elevator party at the hotel, we eventually made the long (and yeah, slightly treacherous) drive back to Sierra Vista. We rolled into town late Tuesday night, just in time for Bro Bro to start his first day of school the next morning and for the girls to kick off their school year that same week. Honestly, it was just the perfect little last-minute family getaway we all needed. We got to recharge our batteries before diving into the school year and tackling whatever this next quarter has in store for us.

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