LEGO Land

Over Memorial Day weekend we decided to treat the girls to an expensive (for us) outing.  I bought them a set of girl-colored LEGOs a few weeks ago and they love playing with them.  So, we thought they would enjoy LEGO Land, which is in downtown Atlanta.  We paid for the reduced admission, which means you have to enter after 4 p.m.  The girls were very excited and thought the statues of "LEGO people" were great:

 I was a little afraid that LEGO Land would be too boyish, but they definitely appealed to girls too:

They had a mock LEGO factory, which was kind of silly.  Here's Sabrina watching them "make" LEGOs:

The girls did not really appreciate the miniature Atlanta in LEGOs, but we did.  Here is the High Museum of Art:

 The Fox Theater, Georgia Aquarium, and the Capital Building:

 The King and Queen office buildings:

 The MLK, Jr. burial site:

The best part of the museum (if you can call it that) was the play area.  There is an insane number of LEGOs in several work tables.  Parents and children are busy building stuff everywhere:

 After building a vehicle, the kids can race it against other kids:

I am not sure what karaoke has to do with LEGO's, but in the "girl" section they had a microphone and stage for children to sing.  Sabrina gave it a shot:

 Here is Sabrina playing in the "girl" section, making LEGO cupcakes:

 Riding a LEGO motorcycle:

 They had a section of LEGOs devoted to animals and people.  Sabrina spent a lot of time here:

 Catherine was obsessed with building and racing her vehicles:

They had taken off their shoes so they can play in the foam area.  Catherine just carried her shows around and raced her car over and over again:

Some of the race tracks were above my girls' short heads.  This was tough because as soon as they released their vehicles, the vehicle was all the way down the ramp before they could get back down off the stairs and watch it go.  So, they changed their technique and began releasing their vehicles half way down the ramp.

 Check out all the car parts everywhere:

 What a tire selection:

 Sabrina's farm:

 Catherine's favorite vehicle that she made included ten (yes, ten) steering wheels:

 Sabrina's car frequently fell apart on its trek down the ramp:

 So she had to keep rebuilding:

 Sabrina helping her vehicle along:

 You can see the stairs going up to the top of the ramp:

Sabrina deciding to use the ramp as a slide (this is later in the evening when their were very few people there):

 Robby helping with construction:

I love this shot because it shows the serious look on Sabrina's face.  At first the crowds were overwhelming.  There was a lot of pushing and shoving by other kids, as well as people refusing to share.  After awhile, the crowds died down and my girls were able to really get into the construction.

 We took a Master Builder class:

The class taught SNOT Technique, known in LEGO circles as "sideways, not on top."  The class had kits made up of unusual, rare pieces.

 Sabrina added a flag, a cannon, and some arches to her car:

We had a lot of fun and I am glad we went.  We paid $54 for the 4 of us.  If we go again, it will be during a school day when most people are in school.  The crowds were too much, but it was a holiday weekend.  I would recommend bringing comfortable shoes and a book to read.  The essence of this place is to let the kids just sit and play with LEGOs for hours, making a mess elsewhere, using a much larger assortment of pieces than you have in your home.

Also, if your kids are young enough and want to play in the foam area, which is huge, they have wear socks. We did not read that on the web site and Robby had to run to a department store in the mall to buy a pair of socks for Sabrina.

There are two "rides," both of which were kind of silly and boring.  There was also a 4D movie, which included and "immersive" experience: i.e. you got snowed on.  But, the movie was not even dubbed in English and the story line was therefore hard to follow.

So, like I said above, the most valuable aspect of this place is the opportunity for kids to just play with LEGOs for hours on end.