LEGOLAND® Discovery Center Boston

Reviews 3

MI

Mike Chen

Our first visit was on Sunday Nov. 23rd 2014 around 11:00. Spent about 3.5 hrs there (the time flew by). Overall, we had a great time but there were some quirks that came with the experience which is why Im only giving this place 3 stars. We were there with 3 kids ages 6 and 4. Had a couple of coupons for walk-up buy one get one free admission which gave us a better value for our first visit. Positives: Sunday before Thanksgiving week and there were no crowds and we didnt have to wait for any activity or ride. Nice! Parking was free. Very extravagant and cool Lego displays... most were functional and provided good manual interaction for kids (push a button and see what happens!). The Play Zone was well laid out however, we didnt see a lot of strollers but I can easily see the place becoming a pain to navigate if more folks brought in strollers. Rides were fun. Especially the Kingdom Quest Laser Ride! The 4D movies were nice. Cons: Our first interaction with the staff was a bit cold. They werent rude. Just not very open/welcoming. Found all of them to be passive and just going through the motions. This is a new Legoland location and it has only been opened for 6 months, you would think that the staff would be more engaged with their guests. Our kids brought a couple of Lego figures to trade but found most of the staff werent wearing them (hence, not trading). Those that were trading had only vanilla characters, nothing fancy. Would be nice if they wore more than one at a time for trade. Another quirk was their policy of no outside food allowed. While they didnt check bags when we walked in, I did observe a couple of folks at the cafe being told that they had to put away the food they brought for their kids. Water bottles are ok, however. I found this odd because after all, this is a place primarily geared towards young kids! While our kids were older and we werent impacted by this no food from outside policy, I am empathetic to those that have smaller children where a simple PB&J or some crackers or macn cheese is all you need for a good, quick lunch. Cant do it here! You have to purchase from their cafe which is REALLY expensive! $15 for a small Lego lunch box with only 3 items. Food selection is very limited. I didnt see any hot food options (pizza, chicken nuggets, hotdogs, etc.). Lastly, while leaving I inquired about their annual pass. Again, the staff wasnt very helpful or forthcoming with information (I had to ask a lot of questions as they didnt have any brochures for reference). The staff was always friendly though. In the end, I didnt buy the annual pass because they restrict it to only the family members you designate at the time of purchase. Meaning, if you bought the Family 4-person pass, you have to give them the 4 names allowed for admittance; you cant bring a friend or another family member (as a substitute) not on the list with you and still use the pass. Now, I dont know how thoroughly they check this but given my observations of the staff, they seem to be one who strictly follows revenue rules. I could be wrong but that was the feeling I got. I still recommend the place and a visit if you havent gone. It is a lot of fun. Would be much, much better if they were to improve some of those items I mentioned above. Recommend avoiding holidays and times when big crowds are anticipated.

ST

Stephen Lawrence

Overpriced, small, crowded and noisy. Not a good place for a sensory kid. At $18/child and $22.50/adult you would be better off visiting the childrens museum and supporting something positive in Boston. 90% of the experience is one 60x120ft room with no noise dampening and on a peak day easily 400+ people at a time vying for the 4 earthquake stations, 4 lego racers ramps or the various crowded play areas. Upon entry, you stand in a room full of screens with interactive joysticks and create your own lego character on the screen. However after creating your character, it disappears and is forgotten about as quickly as any other exhibit you will experience here. The failure to carry through the experience in any meaningful way is the least of my concerns about the place. The flagship ride, Kingdom Quest lets you shoot lasers at targets like a miniature version of the Toy Story Mania ride at Disney. Its fun, they take your picture and 4 minutes later, you are done. This is as good as it gets. From there you tour a miniature Boston made from Legos. Your kids likey will not find this interesting, though a lot of effort (and bricks) went into making this. The Merlins Apprentice ride is a merry-go-round where you pedal to raise your carriage. The lines are long (even when it isnt peak) and the ride is short. A 4D (3D with bubbles and wind for special effects) movie theater plays animated movies every 15 minutes written for the original legoland parks. They are 3D, but lack all of the humor of Lego video games or the lego movie. My kids, 5 and 7 spent most of their time on the jungle gym. Its a hive of amped up kids trying to work off the extra energy from overpriced cupcakes and the overstimulation they get in the cavernous room. The Lego Friends area and Lego Masterbuilders classroom are two places you can go for some quiet. In the former you get to sing karaoke, while the latter gives you a chance to build a toy with live instruction (you get to keep the badly photocopied instructions, not the toy). The cafe (same room as the rest of the activities sells $15 kids meals with a lunch box, chips, juice box and kids sandwich. For adults you can pay $6 for a prepackaged sandwich or $4 for a fruit cup. Not the worst priced cafe but I challenge you to find anything appetizing there. As you leave, you are greeted with a large lego store with prices higher than the Lego store at the mall! Even when the elevators are broken and you are force to exit via the fire exits, they still send you through the gift shop :) I am surprised that with a new construction, they felt it necessary to keep the place so small and crowded. It isnt really a Legoland... more of a "LegoRoom" I gave the review two stars because the kids enjoyed playing with Legos. But for an experience that costs a family of four over $80 and keeps the kids entertained for 2-3 hours tops, it is not worth it. Stay at home and play with your own Legos or visit the MoS or BCM instead.

SA

Sara S

We purchased our tickets at half price with the deal from purchasing the lego movie (buy 1 adult get 1 kid free) online the day we heard about the lego city event weekend. It was for the 16th and our sons birthday was the 15th so we figured wed wait the extra day and attend the event. Although we expected a little more from the actual event (we went all out for the costume contest expecting a voting like thing which it wasnt but that was okay too. Although we were sad we never saw the Chase McCain wandering around although we asked a lot since our son was dressed as him) the experience over all was AWESOME! We arrived at 9:45 on Saturday afternoon and we inside and upstairs within 10 minutes with our advance purchase tickets. Employees were so EXCITED to see our kids dressed up and most went out of their way to either come talk to them or tell them how great they looked. We basically had the place to ourselves! We never waited in a single ride all morning. We walked up to something and were the next ones on or inside. I can only imagine the poor wait time reviews most have been during the first few days the park was open because we witnessed none of that. All though the crowds picked up by 1 pm when we left the line outside was still inside the building and we had more then enough room to easily maneuver a stroller through the place without ever bumping into something or someone. Although we did not hit the cafe there was always at least one or two empty tables we saw. LOVED the open bins of legos everywhere! No matter where in the building you were there was a bucket of legos for the kids to sit and play with. The Wizards apprentice ride can be catered to your child. Our son has Autism and lots of sensory issues. So my husband and he just sat in the ride and enjoyed it. Our younger daughter being the risk taker loved that if you pedaled the bike your glider flew into the air. Both kids were thrilled on the same ride! That never happens, score! The Clutch Powers movie was great. We really want there to be a Clutch Powers 2 so getting to see the gang on screen again was great. We sat on the far side of the room and did not get hit by the snow at all, and very little water, but having sensory kids that was actually perfect for us as well. I was a little worried that bringing our Autistic son to a park with some pretty bad reviews for wait lines and big crowds would be a disaster but i have to say i am very impressed and it was well worth the drive down from NH and having been once I think we will definitely have to get season passes to come back again. We personally encounter zero lines, almost no wait time at all except for when we showed up before they opened, and it was not crowded or loud and over bearing inside at all. Oh and parking was FREE in an open air lot that was super easy to get in and out of! We never even hit traffic getting out of there. Thats a near miracle with a theme park!

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