I went online and pre-purchased tickets for a specific day in order to get the discount. Now, beware of buying with this option because if something comes up that exact day of your ticket, you are out your money. Everything ended up fine for us and we made it on our day.
We started off letting the kids know about the trip by giving them a special gift of a box of Legos, not the ones that made characters, but the ones that they could use their own imagination to build. We stayed in a hotel close to LEGOLAND (although it would have been nice to have stayed in the new LEGOLAND hotel, we already had a place to stay close by). I brought along Lego-inspired activities for our journey. Lego DVD's for the car ride, book adventures of Legos for the nights, and a small Lego Notepad and pens for during our trip to Legoland. The notebooks were small enough that they could carry them into the park and draw some of the sculptures they thought they could make when they got home.
Now, one of the biggest reasons we went with a little older children (11 and 13) was to get into the LEGOLAND school and that ended up being a bust. You cannot sign up on the website nor make any other reservations by phone or writing. It is first come, first served. So, when we got there on a Saturday and ran right to the line and waited, and waited, they said that the school "closed because it was reserved by a school group". Lovely for them, not so lovely that there was no notification it would be closed anywhere else, including the really long line we waited in to hear that. Really? Why not a sign at the entrance or even at the line saying the building school was full? Why not make it simple to do online and, if a kid does not show up 10 minutes before, it is given to a standby person in line? Easy fix and we would have gone another day to have gone in.
**Although we did not stay at the LEGOLAND hotel, we did go into to check it out. It is ADORABLE and I would think that it would be the perfect place to stay with young kids. Right next door to the park and the aquarium. No additional parking needed and you can go in and out all day on your pass.
**Get the handpicked strawberries at the booth on Cannon and .... Which is no more then a mile or two from LEGOLAND!! The sweetest strawberries I have had. Take them back to the hotel with you and enjoy. The do not have preservatives on them so they do not last days. We bought extra to take them home with us on our drive, but they only ended up lasting 3 days. Buy accordingly!