A builder's dream - Legoland Discovery Center

Today was a rainy day.  It made me want to stay inside.  Although I am fine with playing in the rain, sometimes I’m just not in the mood.  Plus when you have a young child staying inside is not necessarily more fun.  Instead of going to the park, I decided to have an adventure with my son.

After a bit of research I decided to take him to Legoland Discovery Center in Odaiba. It is an hour and a half train ride from our house, but thought the journey would be worthwhile.    With my husband help, I purchase tickets online the night before.  They had a discount ticket for one adult and one child under the age of five that I was able to utilize that saved me ¥1,600 (spent ¥3,200 instead of ¥4,800).

We headed out first thing in the morning.  My son has decided that trains are not as exciting as they once were.  So an hour and a half ride can be a little too much. Since discovering this I have tried to make sure to prepare him for longer rides. He did great this morning knowing that Legoland was in his future.

We entered Legoland quickly with our prepaid tickets. The first exhibit showed us how Legos are made. It was pretty fascinating, probably more interesting for me than my 4 1/2 year old. They broke the process down into 5 steps and kids were able to “help” at each stage. Although informative, he was ready to play versus learn after sitting nicely on the train for so long.

I was really excited to see the Miniland replica of Tokyo.  They built all the major sights in Legos.  Our favorites included Tokyo Tower (because that is always my son's favorite), a Godzilla that popped up from behind a building when you pushed a button, Sensoji Temple, and a sumo arena where you can participate in a sumo match (by pushing buttons).  I could have spent so much time in Miniland.  It was so neat to see all the buildings and people and boats and more!  Just when I couldn't get any more impressed, the lights started to fade and the Legos lit up as if you were in the city at night.

The next area was an interactive ride which involves shooting monsters as the throw rocks and other things at you. Even though my son declared it was scary, he wanted to go a second time. Since there weren’t very many people there, it was fine to go again.

He joined a "master builders class" where he built a pirate ship.

He had a ball in Ninjago City - a play structure that he could climb through.  I loved it too, because he burned through some serious energy climbing and jumping and pretending he was a ninja.  Just like the rest of the center, it wasn't very crowded, so he was really able to let loose and enjoy himself.

There were several other areas to enjoy, and boy did he!  He kept pausing to say "Thank you Momma for bringing me here.  I am having so much fun!"  After 3 hours of playing, I found myself getting down on his level and telling him "I'm so glad we came here together.  Spending the day here was so much fun with you."

I know they recently opened a Legoland theme park in Japan, but for a younger kid, the Discovery Center is perfect!  We could have played for longer if we didn't have other places to go.  I can't wait to go back when they have new exhibits.  Dinosaurs are coming in March...