Florida Field Trips #5: LegoLand

Florida Field Trips #5: LegoLand

Dear friends,

Yesterday, I took my four youngest kids, ages 6-12, to LegoLand Florida, about an hour and half from our house in Seminole County.  Last fall, LegoLand opened in Winter Haven, not far from US Highway 27, on the grounds of what used to be the historic Cypress Gardens theme park.  Cypress Gardens was a classic Florida fixture for several decades until it ran out of money a few years back.  I remember going there over 25 years ago with my husband!

Our home school co-op scheduled this as a field trip so we could get the school discount, which is just a fraction of the cost of a regular ticket.  We paid $5 each for children ages 5 through 12, and $25 each for teens, adults, and preschoolers age 3-4.  Under age 3 is admitted free.  A regular adult ticket is $75 at the gate or $68 on-line, while children’s and senior citizens tickets are usually $65 at the gate or $60 on-line.   The moral of the story: go with a school group if you can!   We were initially told to bring our home school ID cards, but only our leader had to show hers.  Parking costs $12 for a car (maybe more for larger vehicles?) and can be paid by credit card.  

You can rent a single stroller for $9 or a double stroller for $14.  I rented one at lunch time so I could bring my heavy lunch bag to the back end of the park where our friends were eating, and so my tired six year old didn’t have to walk so much.  It was well worth the money.  Speaking of lunch bags, I’ve been told there is refrigerated storage area in the white mansion so you can bring it in.  I didn’t realize that ahead of time and had left mine in the car.  You can also get food in the park.  I saw an all-you-can-eat-and-drink pizza, pasta and salad buffet for $9.99 for adults and $6.99 for children.  At that price, I would have been tempted to just eat there if I hadn’t had as many kids with me!  Some of the other food is a big more expensive, such as a bottle of Gatorade that is $3 if you buy it inside or $2.50 if you buy it from a cart outside.  Other amenities include a pet kennel and locker rental.

The hours are 9:30 AM to 6:00 PM, Thursday through Monday (closed Tuesday and Wednesday), but they don’t seem to be very strict on the closing time.  We didn’t leave the park until 6:20, and there were plenty of people still in it.  

They are opening a LegoLand Water Park this summer.

Island in the Sky

While LegoLand is much more fun than the old Cypress Gardens, I am very grateful that they have retained the best features of the old park, including the actual gardens, water ski shows, and the Island in the Sky ride which is a viewing platform that rises high above the park and spins slowly for a terrific view of the Florida countryside.   I’m not sure which of the current rides remain for the CG days, but there are four different roller coasters and lots of other rides for all ages to enjoy.   

There truly is “something for everyone” at LegoLand, even if you don’t usually play with Legos.  We compensated for the differences in age and interest levels by trading off kids with three other families as necessary.  We kept in touch with cell phones so we could meet up frequently and trade kids again.

 New York City

Statue of Liberty

The really fun thing about LegoLand is the LEGO theme!  This is apparent from the moment you walk through the gates, because there are gigantic Lego sculptures throughout the park.  The crowning display of Legos is at MiniLand, where there are at least a dozen amazing scenes built entirely of Legos, including New York City, Washington D.C., San Francisco, the Daytona speedway, Kennedy Space Center, Key West, Las Vegas, and more.

U.S. Capitol Building

Space Shuttle at Kennedy Space Center

  

San Francisco with Golden Gate Bridge 

San Francisco

The Safari ride for young children takes you through an area with full size Lego animals. 

Some attractions that are not made of Legos still retain the theme, such as at the water ski show where the ship looks like it is made of Legos and the pirate is called Captain Brickbeard instead of Blackbeard.  During this show, there are four full-size Lego men (people in costumes) and a Lego pirate who water ski and act out the skit.    

In the Dragon roller coaster ride, the outside is a Lego looking castle with the trademark colorful plastic flags, a Lego gargoyle, and Lego soldier.   During the preliminary inside segment, you travel through a castle with large Lego sculptures of dragons and courtiers.   

The Dragon coaster ride was fun but not overwhelming, and I think it is the best pick of coasters for younger riders.  There is also a nearby Merlin’s Challenge ride for very younger children which is sort-of-kind-of like a junior roller coaster (goes up and down a little on a circle track) but ironically rougher on my joints than the Dragon and the wooden Coastersaurus!  I didn’t ride the Flying School suspension coaster, nor Project X (?) which is more curvy.

I also loved the Clutch Powers 4-D show we saw.  What is 4-D? It is 3-D with the additional sensory elements of wind, water and “snow.”   There are three 4-D shows available, including a racing one, and another with a wizard theme that looked a little dark for my tastes.

I am also super glad I took the opportunity to walk through the gardens, which I missed the last time I was at Cypress Gardens.   A Southern belle made from Legos replaces the human ones that used to grace the park.

The most outstanding feature of the gardens is a massive banyan tree that has several trunks.  

Banyan Tree

Gazebo, with pond that has alligators!

I think this is a Jack-in-the-Pulpit flower

I always love to stop and pay attention to details about God’s creation.  I kept noticing soft white clumps of fuzz on the grass in one area, and realized it came from baseball sized white clumps growing high up in the trees.   Yes, they were silk floss trees, the ones with really spiky trunks.  Very educational!

"Silk floss"

Look closely to see the soft white seed balls
on the silk floss tree

Trunk of silk floss tree

I have posted more Cypress Gardens photos on my main blog. 

  

One thing I didn’t like as much was that the map gave very little detail about what each attraction was. For example, we thought The Lost Kingdom Adventure was a roller coaster, but it turned out to be a little car that takes you through Egyptian tombs so you can shoot targets with a laser gun -- fun, but not the roller coaster, which was the adjacent Coastersaurus.  So you should do your research on-line ahead of time.  You can explore the Park Map here: http://florida.legoland.com/en/Park-Map/Park-Map/

I guess that’s enough about LegoLand and Cypress Gardens for now!  I hope it helps as you plan your trip!

This is the fifth post in my Florida Field Trip series.  You can find the other ones here:

#1: Historic St. Augustine

#2: Silver Springs Nature Park

#3: The Orlando Science Center

#4: Secret Lake Park

Have fun!


Virginia Knowles
www.StartWellHomeSchool.blogspot.com

Nature Walks

Dear friends,

This is an excerpt from my book Common Sense Excellence: Faith-Filled Home Education for Preschool to 5th Grade.  I'm really glad my kids are nature lovers!  We're going back to Secret Lake Park today to catch some little fishies, with a real net this time! (See Florida Field Trips #4: Secret Lake Park)  The photos and bird sketch in this post are from my son Micah's blog, http://www.godsanimals.blogspot.com/.  (Note: We're having problems with his blog right now, so as of June 23, you can't access it and the pictures that I linked here from there aren't showing up.  We're trying to get that fixed ASAP!)  

Enjoy!

Nature Walks  

Get outside and see nature!  After all, nature walks are free and easy to do, and observing nature for yourself is one of the best ways to learn about plants and animals.  Children get excited about their "specimens" and the fresh air is good for your health.  Francis Fenelon in his book Education of a Child says,  “A simple walk through the woods or splashing in a stream brings contentment to the soul and appreciation for God’s beauty in a manner that extravagant amusements cannot.”

Here are some ideas for your own nature explorations:

        Start in your own backyard. If you live in an urban or suburban neighborhood, you may not have much “habitat” at first glance.  Still, I’ll bet you could find lots of living things in your own backyard: birds, bugs, flowers, lizards, cats, worms...  To go farther afield, hike at a trail, park, preserve, lake, river, or mountain.

     Keep your eyes and ears open. Learning to pay attention is so important to nature study!  We often hear a red headed woodpecker rat-tat-tatting on our back fence.

 

     Be careful not to upset nature. Please remind your children to refrain from disturbing animal homes.  They don’t always know that they shouldn’t remove an egg from a nest, even if they return it right away.  This upsets the mama, and she may abandon it!  Talk about nature conservation -- how pollution and human expansion affect an ecosystem’s quality of air, water, soil, plants and animal homes.   Read about animals which have become extinct.  You don’t need to be a “tree hugger” to be a prudent environmentalist!  God has called us to stewardship!

    Practice nature safety.  Learn to avoid poisonous snakes, stinging insects, irritating plants, and hazardous bodies of water.  Wear protective clothing, sun screen, and/or insect repellent. 

   Collect and/or identify interesting specimens using a pocket-sized field guide. (Obtain permission from the landowner before you do this!) Look at your “finds” with a magnifying glass or microscope.  Do a scavenger hunt. Each person needs to find listed items like an oak leaf, a brown rock, a nut, etc.   You don’t need to take the items, just check them off on the list.  My friend Michelle suggests buying a plastic divided box in the sports department to store your treasures.

                           Savor the seasons of nature.  Do special activities related to winter (snowmen), spring (flower arranging), summer (beach trip) or autumn (pressing leaves).  My uncle in Pennsylvania hosts home school groups for syrup making when the sap starts running in the maple trees.  What makes each season special? Flowers have their own annual timetables for sprouting and blooming. Northern trees bud in spring, stay green through the summer, turn brilliant colors in autumn, and are bare in the winter (except for evergreens, of course)!

   Take field trips to organized nature study areas.  Go to the zoo, petting farm, botanical garden, nature center, science museum or county fair.   Out of their natural habitats, you can find specimens organized by category.  When you go to the zoo, have your child identify whether an animal is a mammal, bird, insect, amphibian, reptile, etc.  What are the characteristics of each group?  (Before you go, you can learn about this from books.)

       Find an experienced nature mentor.  This human resource can answer your questions and  help guide your explorations.  It could be an adult who works in this field, but don’t overlook home schooled kids as resources.  When we had questions about catching bugs or growing pineapples, we used to call two middle school boys in our support group.

        Keep a nature journal.  Have your children make drawings or rubbings of what they see, and then label them, also telling where they found the specimen.  For language arts, they can also  “paint” a word picture to describe a flower or other nature object.   A nature journal is also handy for recording changes in the seasons or the weather from day to day or week to week.

      




  Take pictures.  Show your child how to take landscape pictures or close-up shots.

    Bring portable field guides: I recommend Peterson’s or Audubon. At the minimum, you should have one each for birds, insects & spiders, and flowers.  Trees, reptiles, rocks & minerals, and other guides will be useful too, if your child is interested. A regional field guide will focus on species which are most commonly seen in your area. 

Florida Field Trips #4: Secret Lake Park

Dear friends,


Now that our school year is out for the summer, the kids are eager to visit public parks as often as possible.  Today, my four youngest children chose nearby Secret Lake Park in Casselberry which is nestled among the three lakes on Triplet Lake Drive.  No matter where you live, you can probably find a park like Secret Lake.  Just explore the possibilities!


There is a wonderful playground with a huge wavy climbing structure, a spinning metal and rope carousel, swings, slides, etc.  We actually didn't spend much time on the playground today, so we'll have to go back soon.  






Micah made a beeline for the lake shore with the camera when we got there, and took these pictures of the purple flower and the spider web.  

When we went to look for Micah, we ended up taking a walk down by the canal.  We should have been better prepared!  The kids remembered how much fun it was to try to catch little fish in the canal, but we hadn't brought any containers to catch or store them.  As it turned out, I happened to see a stand with doggie cleanup bags, so that's what we used for storing them.  They caught them with their bare hands, which is no easy feat.  Next time, we bring a net and a bucket, as well as shoes more appropriate for water!  (I loaned my crocs to Naomi.)


Just got some plastic bags from the dog cleanup station...

They caught some and are taking home their trophies in the doggie bags...

  
A white ibis

Beautiful park!

  

A vulture swooping around above

The guppies in a container at home, before their new bowl was set up.

Our plan is to visit at least one park each week.  I'll let you know if we go to any really good ones!  If you have any ideas for us, leave a comment!

Meanwhile, here is some information from the Secret Lake Park web page.

Nestled within three lakes, Secret Lake Park boasts an abundance of options for any lifestyle. For the more active there is basketball, softball, tennis, racquetball and soccer. For those looking to relax and enjoy nature there is the boardwalk connected to the sidewalk which meanders through the entire park, as well as the newly built fishing pier. There is even a playground for the little ones. Secret Lake Park is home to the Casselberry Recreation Center. Whether you're looking for a peaceful place to walk, a pick up game of hoops or even hoping to watch a game of soccer or baseball, Secret Lake Park is the place to be.

Facilities
Ball Field, Basketball Court, Racquetball Court(s), Tennis Court(s), Playground, Recreation path/boardwalk, Restrooms, 3 Pavilions (1 with electricity), and Casselberry Recreation Center.  For reservation/rental information for the pavilion, call or visit the Casselberry Recreation Center, (407) 262-7700 Ext. 1575 or at 200 N. Triplet Lake Drive. Monday through Friday from 8:00 am to 4:30 pm.