Greetings Readers!
I've just returned from a summer vacation trip to Legoland California and San Diego. Yes we had an amazing time. As we returned home and started to tally up the costs, I realized we'd managed to spend under $1100 for 5 days for our entire family. This included admission to Legoland, travel, lodging, catching a first run flick at the cinema, and meals out. My vacation glow may last another week knowing we little we paid for this trip! With that in mind, I decided I should share some of my fave tips for saving money on a trip to Legoland.
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| Happy Days for this Lego Lovin' Kid |
Yes, it is possible to enjoy a fabulous vacation to Legoland without going broke. However, it does require advance planning. When we were planning our trip, I started searching the Legoland Website as well as other resources online trying to find tips and tricks. I love information from other parents. I also started looking on Groupon for nearby deals.My three biggest tips for saving big $$$$ at Legoland are:
- If you don't already, be sure to subscribe to the Lego magazine. Its free, fun, and most issues include a BOGO type coupon where you can get a free kids pass with purchase of an adult ticket.
- Bring old mini figures from home to swap with Legoland staffers. That's right. New to you keepsakes! Kids are encouraged to trade mini figures with Legoland staffers. There are a few rules to swapping, including the mini figs must be complete (head + body). More details on the Legoland Website, but to me this is a total score. We have lots of old " mini figs" just collecting dust. I asked my kid to find 10 he wanted to trade. He started swapping as soon as we got to the gate. To him, it was like getting "new" keepsakes. Best part for me is it was free since we were trading our previously loved mini figures.
- Bring your Lego VIP card and save more on purchases at the Legoland gift shop (called "the big shop"). I left my card in the hotel room one day, but they still gave me the discount. Yeah!!!
- Set a budget and stick to it. For us, part of setting a budget is clearly communicating with the kid how much he can spend on X during vacations. In this instance, the "X" was Legos. He knew up front what he had to spend. I believe that being honest about your budget prevents future meltdowns. Our kid looked and certainly admired the $179.99 Lego set, but he really focused his energy around what he could buy with his birthday money. Between the 'rents (us) and the money from Grandma he was able to buy five Lego sets + Ninjago Kai sword. He was thrilled.
BTW, definitely go to the gift shops early. The shop isn't crowded in the morning, which gives you a chance to quickly survey the entire store, scan the clearance racks, and price items. Legoland has gift shops sprinkled throughout the park. We made sure to stop in to "the big gift shop," which is close to the park entrance. Then we popped into a few others that offered specific merchandise like Lego Ninjago or Star Wars as we made our way around the park. We also allowed enough time at the circle back to said shops toward the end of the day and buy what he'd been eyeing earlier in the day.
Looking for even more ways to save money at Legoland? Read on...
Tickets
Shop and compare ticket prices. Take advantage of any rewards programs, club memberships, or employee discount programs you have access to. Price compare them against each other before buying. For us, we found the best deal for Legoland tickets was through Costco. We were able to buy 3 day park hopper passes that included access to Legoland, the aquarium, and the waterpark, which is AMAZING! It includes a lazy river, wave pools, water slides, and private cabanas available for rent. We spent an entire day at the water park and frankly the adults had as much fun as the kid.
We made a point of picking up a few discounted movie passes from Costco too and made plans to see a movie one night.
Transportation
Flying can be expensive. Compare the cost of flying your family roundtrip to driving your own car, driving a rental, taking the train, or heck, even letting Greyhound or Trailways do the driving.
Now the solution for your family will be unique to you and your needs. Each of us must factor in the distance + time available + cost. For us, we figured out it was most cost effective to drive our own car. It only took five tanks of gas to get there, get around, and get home. Way cheaper than round trip airfare for our entire family.
If you do decide to drive to Legoland like we did, you can make your gas money go further by finding ways to keep your fuel costs down. A few suggestions: empty the trunk. Only bring what you need for this trip. Also, be sure to map out your trip using Google Maps or Waze to find the most efficient path. We deliberately started our trip during off peak hours so we wouldn't waste hours and loads of fuel idling in rush hour traffic. We also made a point to map out all of the Costco gas locations en route to Legoland and used the Gasbuddy app to keep our fuel costs down.
Lodging
VRBO is great for families. We love it because you can cook for yourself and anyone with kids can tell you having multiple bedrooms and a yard is a life saver for families. In hotels, when the baby goes to sleep. You go to sleep. When we stay in a home, we can put the kiddo down and still enjoy a glass of wine. Also, you can do your own laundry. Love it!
Thinking a hotel is better option for you? Well look to see if you can take advantage of any discount programs or other resources you have access to. For us, we were able to redeem points earned from business travel and credit card to cover our stay. My husband travels frequently for business. A few years ago he started intentionally staying in certain hotels with great rewards programs and lots of properties around the country. My husband signed up for a few rewards program and started banking points from each business trip stay. In one year he was able to earn enough points to cover 5 days of hotel stays in two cities!
A word about high end hotels from one experienced mom. A few years ago I realized how much I preferred a moderately priced business traveler hotel over fancy-shmancy or boutique hotels. Why? It was during one fateful stay at a well known 4 star hotel that I realized how I was being "nickle- and- dimed" for all of these little things I was using like the the fitness center, or parking, or accessing WiFi. Heck, they even charged us for the privilege of delivering us a bucket of ice. I was just totally annoyed.
After that stay,I started insisting that we always stay at business traveler hotels when we were paying for a hotel ourselves. Some may call it cheap. I call it practical. I have zero ego about it today. Yes, I could afford to stay in an upscale hotel, but I prefer the amenities and pricing structure of business traveler hotels. They offer all the amenities to fit my family's needs and my budget. Two of my favorite national hotel chains are Drury Inns and Holiday Inn Express . At most Holiday Inn Express hotels you can count on free WIFI, free daily breakfast, free or low cost parking, a swimming pool, fitness centers, and sometimes laundry facilities. And for those of you who haven't had the pleasure of staying at a Holiday Inn in the past decade. Let me tell you they are fantastic. Modern amenities, luxurious rooms with flat screen TVs and all the modern appointments you could want. Some even have complimentary beer and wine in the evenings. I love Holiday Inn Express hotels!
Food
Outside of Legoland
Find "kids eat free or cheap" promotions at your destination. Search for rewards or coupons for major chain restaurants. Search Groupon too.
Bring or buy your own snacks/water for the hotel room. Bring them from home or swing by a grocery store.
Bring lunch + snacks from home for the actual travel days - I started planning our vacation snacks/meals before we ever left. We don't keep a lot of junk food in the house, but I made a point to freeze a few drinks and buy chips and some other snack foods for the road trip when I stopped by Grocery Outlet recently. Before heading home I stopped by the grocery story and restocked for the trip home.
Map out your vacation meals. - Its easy to gain 5 lbs on vacation. An ice cream cone here and pancake breakfast there add up. On top of that, its vacation. You want a break from real life. This means a few restaurant meals are going to happen. My hubby and I plan ahead to avoid the weight gain and wallet drain. We usually pack a few protein bars for us and granola bars for the kiddo. If staying in a hotel w/ complimentary breakfast, we maximize the complimentary breakfast by grabbing a yogurt or apple for an afternoon snack. If we eat in a restaurant, I often split my meal immediately. Eating half now and saving the rest for leftovers. On this trip, we were able to make an entire dinner out of leftover Mexican food we'd tucked into the mini fridge. Everyone was exhausted after a day spent at the Legoland water park. It was delicious and all we had to do was heat it up.
Inside Legoland
Bring your own water bottles and a few snacks.
If you're heading to a property like Legoland, check ahead of time to see if you can bring in outside food. I saw some families with coolers of food. We wanted to travel lighter, but we still brought apples a sandwich for the kid and protein bars for ourselves. We had planned to eat in the park. The entire family was excited to try the BBQ joint. Food was great and the kids meal is a great value.
Be sure to download the Legoland app ahead of time. It has a great guide of all the restaurant choices. We spent our second day entirely in the water park and we brought more snack foods so we could munch on them throughout the day.
Shopping
Plan ahead for vacation mementos and keepsake purchases. Every kid wants a new t-hirt or toy to remember their trip. Don't fight it. Plan ahead and budget for it instead. A few years ago we were planning a trip to Disney. I started buying little Disney trinkets I knew my 5 year old would love in advance. Once we arrived in Florida, I discovered every local drugstore or grocery store within a 20 mile radius of Disney sells official Disney merchandise. I bought a few things and hid them in my suitcase. Then I presented them to our son when he woke up on Day 1. It made it so easy to walk past the gift shop because he already had new toys.
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