We took on Sea Life & Legoland ... the reviews are mixed

I was given a unique opportunity by US Family Guide, as well as Sea Life Aquarium Kansas City/Legoland Discovery Center. We were given four passes to spend a day at both attractions. We have been to Sea Life Aquarium as a family in the past, but it was back when they had first opened. Everything was still a baby and super small. My kids visited Legoland while they were staying with their aunt, but I have never been with Turtle. I was in for a great surprise.

We started the day off slightly rocky because we had to make sure the eldest, Peanut, was picked up for her social group class she had. We got arrived about 15 minutes early, but the kids did really good waiting in line. Even when they could SEE people inside!

 Once inside though, they have an aquarium that have a few fish for the kids to look at while the parents wait to get the tickets. Again, my kids were supremely patient while they pulled my tickets out and got us set up for the day of fun. It was then that I learned not only were we going to Sea Life, we were also going to Legoland.

*spoiler alert - I should have had a second adult*

I have two children who are tactile seekers. In other words, they need to touch EVERY.SINGLE.THING! This can be a HUGE problem in most places, but Sea Life Aquarium is perfectly set up for this. They have a huge tank near the very beginning that allow you to touch cleaners, sea stars, and a few other creatures. Bullfrog and Monkey absolutely loved it. Turtle wasn't convinced. She was much happier looking at all the fish and sea creatures ... but was perfectly fine with the solid glass barrier.

Before you enter the main exhibit, you can pick up paper goggles ... which were a huge hit with my son. Monkey preferred them only when she was "going under water" in the adorable bubbles that they created in a few of the tanks.

 While Sea Life Aquarium does have one GIGANTIC tank with sting rays, fish, and a few sharks, they do have smaller tanks with other sea creatures. They also are well prepared for children. There are small areas to sit down and interact with things along the wall. There is an Octonauts kid play area, as well as a play area at the end of the exhibit. My kids could have spent all day at Sea Life ... and next time I go with only one adult, that is all we will do!

HOWEVER .... I didn't know then what I know now. There are so many pictures I had to choose from with the Sea Life attraction. Unfortunately, Legoland Discovery Center is NOT designed for younger children. In fact, I think I would go as far as to say it really is best for children who are at least old enough to handle long BORING lines or they live, breathe, and sleep Legos. I have two of the latter but I have one that isn't EITHER of those. Turtle HATED Legoland ... like with a passion. I was not impressed at all.

Let's start from the beginning ...

Even though we had tickets, we had to leave the building and go back outside to get BACK in line to wait for our turn at Legoland. Really?! Okay, so once we got scanned in with the tickets we already had, we had to wait for over 15 minutes to get through a line (with nothing for the kids to do but stand) to get our picture taken (that we had no interest in purchasing) and then wait on the elevator to go up to the main entrance to the attraction. Over 15 minutes of boringness. Yup ... things were already going downhill.

Once we got into the main area, the first section was their "Lego factory" and there is a part of me that wishes we stayed there for a LOT longer. This area is very hands on and the kids had a blast trying out the different things. They could see how much they weighed in Lego bricks, design their own Lego creations on a touch screen, as well as pretend they were making a Lego!

I thought with how exciting that first section was, it would completely make up for the stupid wait at the beginning. I was so very wrong though. They put a ride at the VERY beginning of Legoland so of course, there is a bottleneck. Now, I could have bypassed the ride with the little girl having a meltdown, but then I would have had two other children having meltdowns because they didn't get to ride in the Lego car and shoot bad guys. THIS is why you MUST have two adults present if you have two very different types of children. Otherwise, you get to do what I did for nearly 45 minutes ... deal with this:

Turtle did not care that there was a ride ... she cared that she was forced to stand for 20 minutes for that ride (that you cannot go back to). She did not care that there were Star Wars Lego displays (which I couldn't photograph because of meltdowns) ... she cared that she couldn't do anything with them.

They did have a mini play land area, but neither of the toddlers were impressed. What they WERE impressed with was the build area (and playground) at the END of the exhibit. So ... for Turtle, we could have done the first part and the last part and totally skipped the rest. Honestly, Monkey would have been perfectly fine with that as well. However, Bullfrog KNEW the ride was there and wanted to show Monkey.

In the end ... we had a good time. Will I go back to Legoland? Meh, not so sure. It's a lot of money and really NOT designed for my children. It would be a great place for my husband and son to go on a dad/son outing ... possibly something that Peanut would enjoy as well. I just don't think I will attempt to take the entire gang back.

Have you been to a Sea Life Aquarium or Legoland Discovery Center? What are your thoughts? Do you live in Kansas City and want to go? US Family is teaming up with Sea Life Aquarium Kansas City and Legoland Discover Center to give you discounts making summer fun more affordable. Click on the hyperlinks in the previous sentence to get a coupon you can print off!