Legoland opened 5 years ago in Goshen, New York, just a 3 hour drive from Central Mass. I visited over April Break with my husband and 4 and 7 year old daughters. We had a blast! We planned to do two full days, but the weather had other plans on day 2. Day 1 we left Central Mass at 7 AM and got to the park right for opening at 10 AM. We stayed for about 6 hours before walking over to the Legoland New York Resort. On Day 2, we stayed at the park for about 3 hours until we called it quits due to heavy rain.
Please note: Legoland New York is a theme park. It is NOT the same as the LEGO® Discovery Center in Boston.
The Theme Park
Here are some awesome features you can expect at Legoland NY:
- Big kid coaster + separate little kid coaster. These “dragon” themed rollercoasters were our favorite rides!
- Various other typical amusement park rides (all Lego themed!!)
- Plentiful playgrounds
- The LEGO® DUPLO® PEPPA PIG Playground for the little ones
- A Wharf themed playground (a huge Coast Guard boat play structure)
- A Pirate Boat themed playground
- Unique Legoland attractions you won’t find in any other theme park such as: LEGO® Factory Adventure Ride (feels like you’re the size of a minifigure going through the factory), LEGO® NINJAGO® The Ride (you wear 3D glasses and try to slay ninjas), Ninja training camp, and The Great LEGO® Race Virtual Reality Experience.
- Lots of Lego building experiences: Model Builder Experience, Builders Guild, Build and Test Center, Build A Boat, LEGO® Ferrari Build and Race.
- Palace Cinema: Catch a 4D film from LEGO® City Studios.
- Minifigure Sky Flyer: 7 pods are available to take you down to the bottom of the park, or back up to the top. This was a lifesaver when the moms needed coffee around 2 PM and it was only sold at the entrance of the park.
- Miniland: One of our favorite attractions! Literally, mini cities from around the US…all made out of Legos of course. Miniland was built entirely by hand which is beyond impressive. The structures are 20 times smaller than real life. There are over 22,231,368 Legos in Miniland. You can find lots of New England cities such as Manhattan, Philadelphia, Washington DC, and BOSTON!! Miniland also features the Mid West and the West Coast such as Las Vegas and Hollywood. We had to walk through Miniland several times because it is just incredible!
- Legoland character Meet and Greets
- Like any theme park, there are numerous food options and gift shops.
The Hotel
Legoland NY has a hotel on property, just a stone’s throw from the park entrance. We opted to stay at the Legoland hotel in order to get the full experience, but there are certainly more affordable hotel options in the surrounding area.
Some standout features of the hotel include:
- Play structure IN THE LOBBY. This is a huge bonus of staying at this hotel. The lobby has a Lego castle, with a slide, and a moat filled with Legos! It was so nice to sip coffee in the morning, sitting in a comfy chair, while the kids played in the lobby. It kept us entertained while we waited for the park to open on day 2. The kids also played on this play structure for a long time the night before. It was a welcome distraction while the parents figured out dinner! We ended up ordering from a food truck behind the lobby because the kids were playing so nicely we did not want to go anywhere else. So convenient!
- Entertainment such as an interactive story time and a dance party in the lobby.
- Fire pits outside and smores kits sold in the hotel gift shop.
- Outdoor pool (wasn’t open on our April trip)
- Themed rooms: Ninjago, Pirate, Kingdom, and Lego Friends. We stayed in a Kingdom room and it was awesome. My children asked to live there forever. The rooms included two Lego play areas and a room scavenger hunt which led to a code for the secret treasure chest…when we opened the chest, we were gifted with a little Lego building kit and a Lego magazine, one for each child.
- DISCO PARTY ELEVATORS! If we drove 3 hours to New York JUST to have fun in these elevators…it still would have been worth it. Every elevator ride was a disco dance party. Talk about a mood booster!
- Minifigure Wall: There was a huge wall of over 5,000 minifigures right by the check-in kiosks and front desk. It was VERY hard to find the specific ones for the scavenger hunt, but with some help from a sweet Lego fanatic that was also staying there, we were able to find them. We were then gifted with a Legoland Pop It Badge, which can be worn on a lanyard or a shirt.
- The hotel features a restaurant and a bar. Our hotel package came with “free” family style breakfast but we did have to add on minifigure shaped pancakes as they were not included in the complimentary menu.
- Characters: Legoland characters did Meet and Greets in the lobby. We really felt fully immersed in the Legoland experience by staying at the host hotel!
My 7 year old daughter says Legoland is 10 out of 10! I have to say, the Lego branding/visuals of the hotel and park were very impressive. A lot of the fun was had simply walking around and seeing so many things made of Legos (people, animals, buildings, etc).
Of note, this park requires a lot of walking and is hilly. Also, in terms of rides, I think this park is geared toward lower elementary and preschool-aged kiddos. However, the Lego building experiences and attractions can be enjoyed by all ages!
