Travel – Legoland, CA with a Baby

Legoland is my kids’ happy place. They’d rather go there than any other place in the world.

When we moved away from San Diego in 2011 they were not happy with us. They didn’t really care that they were leaving the beach (which is my happy place) or the year round sun — they wanted to stay near Legoland.

We’re lucky enough that we still get to go back to California for frequent visits and every time we do, Legoland is at the top of my kids’ wish list.

We’ve been to Legoland plenty of times. We’re former pass holders and we used to live only minutes away so we know every inch of the park by heart. Our last visit was a bit different though because now we have an extra member of the family and we all know that visiting anywhere with a baby changes the entire game.

We already know how hugely preschool-friendly Legoland is with their shorter lines and Lego play stations set up mid-line to make every wait easier. This time we set out to discover how baby-friendly Legoland is and we were pleasantly surprised.

Here are our tips for visiting Legoland with a baby:

Come Prepared – This is a no-brainer when going anywhere with a baby. Legoland has several things you need to prepare for though since there is an aquarium, amusement park, and water park together in one place.

I had my older kids wear their bathing suits to the park so we wouldn’t have to load the stroller down too heavily and we didn’t have to wait in the changing room lines when we were ready to hit the water park. They didn’t match but it made things much easier. Since we were visiting on a hot summer day, we only brought 2 towels with us for our entire family. This left plenty of room in the stroller for all the baby stuff we needed to bring with us and it was so warm that my kids just let the sun dry them off anyway.

Stay Hydrated – Legoland isn’t outrageously huge to walk but you will get tired and you need to stay hydrated. I’m nursing so staying hydrated is essential. We carried in empty water bottles and Legoland employees at all the food venues were great about letting us fill up with ice and water.

Nursing babies will need to nurse frequently to stay hydrated in the heat. Legoland has plenty of shady benches that you can sit and nurse. If you want a little more privacy, they have a fantastic air-conditioned mother’s room near the back of the park (just behind the Volvo Driving School).

The Model Mom Baby Care Center has comfortable rocking chairs for nursing or bottle feeding, clean changing tables, a restroom, and a small play area for older kids. There’s even a microwave and a fridge if you need to store any food during your visit to the park. It’s the perfect place to recharge in the middle of the day.

Bring a Stroller – Strollers may seem like common sense when you have a baby. My baby happens to prefer being in a wrap most of the time but we took a stroller to Legoland to carry all the stuff we needed with us. There was no way I wanted to carry around a big heavy diaper bag and everything my older kids needed all day. So while my baby only spent a small portion of the day actually in the stroller, we got plenty of use out of it.

Legoland is extremely stroller friendly. I’ve had issues with other parks forcing you to take paths that are well out of the way if you need a ramp for a stroller. There’s none of that at Legoland. There’s stroller parking very conveniently placed at the entrance to every ride (and many have fenced in stroller areas so your stroller won’t roll away if it gets knocked while other people are claiming theirs). A few places going through Mini Land do require you to take a ramp but the ramps are right next to the stairs so you can take essentially the same path you’d take without one.

Ride Swap – There are a few rides you need to sit out when you have a baby at Legoland but there are such great photo spots near most of the rides that I didn’t care. Bring your camera and take advantage of your waiting time to get some great shots.

If there’s a ride you don’t want to miss, take advantage of the Ride Swap program. To do that, everyone stand in line together and you just let the person at the front of the line know that you’d like to do a ride swap. The first parent will go on the ride and when they get back you can pass off the baby and the other parent can ride.

Ask for Help – Legoland is fantastic about helping you out when you need it. Some rides require kids to ride with an adult, which can be a problem if you have too many kids needing adults and need one parent to sit the ride out with the baby. Legoland employees are more than willing to go on the ride with one of your kids if you need an extra adult. Just ask at the front of the line or call the phone number that is posted around the park.

The day went very smoothly and it’s definitely a trip I’d recommend for kids between about 4-12 . . . even if you are taking a baby with you.

For details on visiting the park with kids under 4, check out the video I did a few years back for the Carlsbad Patch. 

Disclosure: I did receive press tickets to visit the park with my family, however we have visited the park countless times on our own and all opinions are my own.