Legoland vs Sesame Place

NEW -> Contingent Buyer Assistance Program
momopi

momopi

Well-known member
Currently both Legoland and Sesame Place in SD are running discounts. I took my daughter there this week.

Legoland's water park runs May 25-Aug 25, afterwards it's only open on "select days". It was closed when we were there but that was fine, because Legoland had plenty of rides and attractions. With a 4 year old, I think we only really explored 1/3 of the park and the rides. Except for the closed water park, the rest of Legoland appears fully staffed with most rides and concessions open. There were a few closures (ramen restaurant) but not overly noticeable. This theme park, I think, is designed to make $$$$ from parents who stay at their $$$$ Legoland Hotel. But I'd give this place a thumbs up to visit.

Sesame Place, on the other hand, is smaller and mostly a waterpark with only handful of non-water play rides. It was shut down for 2 days mid week due to low expected attendance. Being off-season it had far fewer visitors and about 1/3 of the attractions & concessions were closed. I feel like this theme park is trying really hard to cater to Hispanic customers. Regardless, I'd suggest coming here during summer season only, unless if you prefer low attendance water park experience where nobody is fighting over the beach chairs.
 
legoland is the best for smaller kids. free parking included for the higher annual passes, discounted food which is decent, and small crowds and short lines most of the time.
 
I ended up buying the Knotts Berry Farm 2025 season pass that was on sale. IMO Legoland has more stuff for younger kids, but my daughter's school is like 10 mins away from Knotts.

Knotts Camp Snoopy is geared for young kinds, but it's a smaller part of the park. Food options inside Knotts is slightly better than Legoland, but the chicken restaurant is not part of the meal pass. Buena Park has more restaurants that open 7 days a week for lunch and dinner, versus Carlsbad has more unique restaurants but many are only open for dinners and closed part of the week.

Side note, the Oyster farm in Carlsbad is closed. :(
carlsbadaquafarm.com

Carlsbad Aquafarm

Discover how our aquafarm protects the natural ecosystem, with a unique farm tour and fresh oyster tasting experience.
carlsbadaquafarm.com carlsbadaquafarm.com
sandiegomagazine.com

Carlsbad Aquafarm Leaving Longtime North County Location | San Diego Magazine

Carlsbad Aquafarm CEO Thomas Grimm explains that it’s not the end for the North County destination, just a pivot.
sandiegomagazine.com sandiegomagazine.com
https://www.reddit.com/r/Carlsbad/comments/1cl1rud/carlsbad_aquafarm_closed
 
Last edited:
Few more notes on Legoland:

* Legoland Hotel is great for kids, but comes at steep price. We stayed at Legoland California Hotel and the price include breakfast buffet, which was OK - better than usual hotel continental breakfast. Both Legoland California and Castle Hotels have daily activities for kids, with hotel entrance close to the main Legoland entrance area. The Castle Hotel has an outdoor play area, and California hotel has indoor pirate ship play area with Legos, story telling, and dance floor for kids in evening. You don't need hotel access card to access these kid's play areas in the lobby, just park your kids in the Lego pit and order a soda from the bar (you're a customer!).

* The hotel room has bunk beds for kids, if you don't want your kid falling off the top bunk, look under the lower bunk - there's a pull out bed. Lego toys are also provided in the room for kids. There's a safe with packaged Lego toys that you can take home.

* There are 3 other hotels located to the north and north-east of Legoland, they have their own private entrance to go into Legoland that opens at 10AM. You will save a lot of money staying there instead of Legoland Hotel, but it's not as fun for the kids. Legoland Hotel guests can go into the park at 9:30AM, but it just means that you can go shopping, the actual amusement park and rides don't open until 10AM.

* Legoland parking lot gate is left open near & after closing time, so if you stayed at one of the other hotels to the north, you could drive your kids in and park at the Legoland Hotel lot after closing time without paying for parking. The restaurants at the hotel are open to non-hotel guests so you can eat there with your kids and have them play there. The buffet at Brick's is edible but below Golden Corral quality.

* If you choose to dine elsewhere, there's a Windmill food hall nearby that looks good on surface, but the actual food quality varies a lot. I think the pad see ew from the Thai place there is the worst I've had in years. But there are many options nearby including In-N-Out, Ruby's, Islands, McDonald, etc. To save more money, shop snacks at nearby supermarkets.

* If you're dining inside the park, the burger kitchen place was surprisingly decent. It's a lot of food so you might to ask them to cut it in half, and hold the salt on the fries (!). The hefty burger is well cooked, not pink, but moist & soft - could be better with lettuce and tomato. BBQ place is so-so, Pizza place by the kid's play area is a good deal to feed your kids for less $. Churros, apple fries all good. Couldn't bring myself to order ramen there. I'd skip ninja kitchen if you're really hungry, or else you'd pay a lot of money for small amount of food.

* Toward closing time, there's a long line of shoppers waiting to enter the main store near the entrance. So if you want to buy a gift there, do it earlier. Alternatively, exit and go to the right toward the Sea Life aquarium and buy gifts from that store instead. As last resort, when you exit Legoland go straight and there will be an entrance into Legoland California Hotel to the left, go inside toward the front entrance and you'll find a gift shop there.
 
Last edited:
Nice hacks! Legoland was our go-to theme park when my daughter was little. Back then, they still had the Star Wars garden. Her first couple times there, she could spend all day on the helicopters if we let her. It was way better than Disneyland, which cost much more, and felt like much less. We could go to Disneyland on a Wednesday during the off season, spend all day there, and only get on 5 rides. Ridiculous. And if it's the happiest place on earth, someone forgot to tell the employees. It's not the Disneyland I remember from my youth, or even ~20 years ago.

The Legoland hotel is way outside our normal budget (especially since 2 out of 3 members of our family don't give a sh!t!). We stayed there once so our daughter could spend a weekend with her bestie. Glad we did, and she had an amazing time, but also glad to not have to cough up that kind of dough ever again!
 
If you're willing to pay ahead, Legoland has periodic sales (Black Friday) on package deals including Hotel and amusement park tickets. We actually paid for ours last year.

Sea life aquarium is small but it's a great place to chill inside on a hot day. The "ocean journey café" on 2F has a great kitchen setup, but the equipment is mostly for display purpose as their menu is... very limited. I see parents bring their own snacks for the kids.

If anyone is a Lord of the Rings fan, they're doing charity auction for signed & framed LoTR poster by Elijah Wood (Frodo) and Sean Astin (Sam). You can submit a bid or buy it outright for I think $600-ish. The items are on display at the cafe.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top