Legoland California: Visit A Fun Theme Park and one of the Best Attractions In San Diego

. . a place for the young and the young at heart--for anyone with an imagination.

Legoland California (or Legoland CA for short) is half theme park and half museum of dazzling and creative toys, a perfect place to take your kids and enjoy yourself as well. Your kids will love Legoland CA for the rides and attractions, and the chance to play with Legos and other kids. The kid inside of you will be amazed by the perfect scale models of some of the most famous buildings and landmarks in the U.S. and the world, as well as life-sized (or larger!) models of animals, busts of famous people, and movie characters.

Rather than just tell you about how wonderful Legoland CA is, I am going to show you.

Above is a Lego model of the world famous Las Vegas Vegas sign, with some models of the casinos on The Strip in the background.

Below is a picture of a Lego model of Freedom Tower and World Trade Center Memorial in New York City, with the Statute of Liberty and the Woolworth building in the background.

What is impressive about the model below to me is that Lego land California is many, many years ahead of the real world--Freedom Tower has not been built yet in New York!

Legoland California--like many attractions in San Diego--is incredibly easy and beautiful. It is probably the least crowded and most relaxing major theme park you will visit. Let's face it, even some of our favorite theme parks (I am thinking of, but not saying the word, Disneyland or Disneyworld because, well, you don't want to make The Mouse angry) can be very stressful for parents and children alike.

(When I first went to Disneyland as a kid, my sister and I cried a lot on arriving at the park because it was NOON by the time my parents finished breakfast and decided to get us there. NOON! But I digress...)

Also, Legoland is near the beach in beautiful town of Carlsbad, just a short drive north of San Diego. You can fit in a morning at the park and visit a gorgeous beach in the afternoon.

Legoland is, relatively speaking, one of the newest major theme parks in Southern California, having opened in 1999. It is one of four Legoland theme parks in the world--the others are in Denmark, England and Germany--and the only full outdoor Lego amusement park in the United States (there is a Legoland Discovery Center in Chicago, which is fantastic, but does not have the sort of rides and outdoor space that the full Legoland parks do.).

Miniland, U.S.A. is the heart of Legoland CA: 40 million Legos, 10 full-time professionals ("Lego Master Model Buliders"), working on recreating some of the most famous locations in the United States: New York, Las Vegas, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New Orleans, as well as bits of Florida and Southern California. Outside of Miniland, you will find some other models of famous constructions, such as the Eiffel Tower and the Taj Mahal.

Aside from Miniland, U.S.A., the rest of the park is full of other unique Lego sculptures. Where else in the world would you find a bust of Abraham Lincoln, or a life-sized Darth Vader (with light saber) or an 18-foot tall giraffe made out of Legos?

Legoland is also full of rides and other attractions, organized into various themed areas of the park: Dino Island, Explore Village, Fun Town, Pirate Shores, Castle Hill, Imagination Zone, and Land of Adventure. In these different themed areas, your children will ride roller coasters, soak each other with water cannons, watch musical comedies, drive, fly, sail, skipper a boat, play mini-golf, and just play with Legos of course!

I must admit that I only visited Legoland CA for the first time recently, with some friends with children. My loss for not visiting earlier. I absolutely loved it--I spent hours staring at the model buildings in Miniland. My friends (and their kids) had to physically pull me away from Miniland.

I guarantee you will not regret taking your children to Legoland CA--heck, you might even enjoy going without your children or with your husband, wife or significant other. Where else in the world could you see a 20-foot-tall model of the Empire State Building or a life-sized Darth Vader or a life-sized giraffe made of Legos? (And where else in the world could your children fight with you to play with Legos with other kids indoors when they could be seeing these wonderful sights for the eyes outside?)