SEA LIFE Aquarium at Legoland acquires 2 spotted eagle rays

New resident

In the murky depths of the giant main tank at Legoland California’s SEA LIFE Aquarium in Carlsbad (north of San Diego), you can make out two new residents – the inky black bodies with bright white spots, long tails and uniquely shaped snouts of eagle rays.  Eagle rays are extremely smart creatures that can actually be trained and these two are juveniles that may grow to have wingspans up to 8 feet long.

The eagle rays, which have very flexible rostrums, or noses, are being trained to recognize a small orange traffic cone in the water. Read More »

No Nemos here.

When most people think of Legoland, they imagine giant Lego sculptures, and an amusement park.  Which is pretty much what it is, actually, an amusement park appropriate for children ages 3 to say 12, as long as the 12 year old doesn’t have to hold your hand, of course.

Less obvious when you think of Legoland, at least the San Diego, CA location, are the water-related features.  The park has an adjoining aquarium that charges its own admission fee or a discount with “park hopper” tickets.  It is opening a new water park on May 28.  And within Legoland itself is a mini water wonderland perfect for children to cool off on a hot day of amusement park fun. Read More »

Legoland front entrace

My husband and I have amusement park-phobia.  (There must be a scientific name for that.  For now, I’ll go with the clunky made-up version.)  When we travel, we prefer to head to destinations in the middle of nature, with as few other people around as possible.  Now that we have two young children, however, entertainment and conveniences are much more necessary.  Stick a ton of both of those things in one place, jack up the price, and poof!  You have an amusement park. Read More »

Legoland in San Diego, CA

A big worry I often have when deciding to take our recently-turned-four-year-old twins places is whether that place will be age appropriate.  Restaurants have to be scrutinized.  Will there be things the kids can eat?  Will the kids be engaged or bored?  And that’s just for a night out on the town.  When it comes to amusement parks, I’m always dubious that young kids will have much to do.  Usually, amusement parks are built for the over 40-inch crowd and those with smaller children are left with whiny kids and even whinier parents.  (Is whinier a word? It is now.)

But Legoland, in Carlsbad, CA (located in San Diego County) and it’s newest attraction SeaLife Aquarium, are made for younger kids.  Recently I had the pleasure of a tour of the SeaLife Aquarium and LegoLand and was informed that the age range they aim to please is 2 to 12 years old.  Perfect for my little ones.

Rays at LegoLand's SeaLife Aquarium

If you go to LegoLand, go early – especially in the summer.  It gets mighty warm and the morning crowds are still manageable (For ways to beat the Summer crowds at LegoLand, see this post).  You can also eat at the new Ocean Journey Cafe which is part of the new SeaLife Aquarium.  The food is freshly made and really yummy.  You can choose between smoothies, muffins, eggs & potatoes made to order, cereal, fresh fruit and a multitude of other breakfast fare.  Breakfast is served from 9:00 a.m. 10:30 a.m. and make sure you get a cranberry or blueberry muffin.  My wife, a true muffin connoisseur, highly recommends them.

The new SeaLife Aquarium was a lot of fun for the kids.  It has interactive tide pools for the kids to touch starfish and horseshoe crabs to a large 200,000 gallon ocean display complete with sharks, rays and tropical creatures that swim amongst some pretty cool Lego displays.  The LegoLand park itself has a lot of rides for kids of all ages.  My kids were able to go on a mini-rollercoaster (accompanied by me and my wife, of course) and had a bunch of fun running around in Explore Village and playing with the water features that make up part of the village.  Good times for a couple of four-year-olds.

Of course, vacationing in San Diego offers many things to do, but you’d be hard pressed to find something that is so uniquely catered to younger kids.  And big kids like me.