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Published: September 7th 2011
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We are entering the last few days of our little West Coast adventure. South California is the kingdom of theme parks. Done already in the past were Universal Studios, and twice with Leslie at Seaworld. Few months ago, I asked Leslie where would he wanted to go for his birthday, the answer was straightforward....Papa, can we go to Legoland!
Leslie is now 11, eleventh years old love Lego...but the funny thing is as much as this love is peaking, we know that it will fade very soon with the teenager years coming faster than we think.
Our last few days will be divided in three places, Raging Waters in San Dimas, Seaworld in San Diego and Legoland next to Carlsbarg.
First little point for parents reading this. Two kids, two adults, this hurt your wallet solid...not for one park, but if you try a full collection of them, it hurts even more. Well, as usual, there is a trick! You know me! The total full prices of visiting the three above parks, for a family of four is a ridiculous 750usd, and this doesn't even include parking your car! What we paid, around 430usd....the name of the game
is called "coupon", I'll come back in details on this!
First day, on the 16th August, we spent a full day at Raging Waters in San Dimas. This place is the biggest water park in California. It is a good hour drive East of downtown LA....but our hotel was only a five minutes ride from it...bigger suite...cheaper suite....oh do they say...Location, location, location...
I've never been to such a big water park. For me, they even beat the two great parks in Dubai. This is not a place for a 6 years old. Tiffany, 9, is just at the right age to start enjoying all those slides, or should I call them rides! We don't have many pictures as we spent most of of time queuing together before going down on our back, carpets or inflated devises at various speeds in various tubes! It was a full wet day of joy!
We only avoided one crazy drop of 40 feet (13 meters) slide...but beside this, everything else has been done, at least for Leslie who was super excited and had to try everything at least one...teenagers I'm telling you! He loved the place!
They have at
least 15 different types of slides...never saw before such a variety...a place to come back for sure...
The damages...regular price is 37 usd a head...and the kids are tall enough to be charged the same high adult price. We managed to get tickets at 25 usd by packaging them with the hotel (this was negotiated last minute while already at the local Sheraton). To this you add 8usd for a locker and around 12usd just to park the car...it hurts, but it's going worst tomorrow.
Next stop, 17th August, Seaworld. This is the third visit for Leslie, but we had to bring Mari and Tiffany here. The park has evolved a lot since I came here with Leslie just over four years ago. Shamu, the killer whale show is involving a lot more killer whales interacting together. But the main change is the addition of more rides, and they seems to continue to expand in the years to come.
We all loved the 3 main shows, aka the dolphins, the killer whales and the sea lions. You should have seen the smiles of Tiffany...and the questioning on her face once she found out that Leslie was already
at his third visit here!
The damages...adult price 69 usd per adult...children, still a whopping 61 usd per child. The trick...go coupon hunting. I found some Mc Donalds online discount codes...we didn't go to Mc D...new price, 49 usd per adult, 41 usd per child. I looked for a while but couldn't find the best deal, which is a simple one, pay one adult, one child goes free...Oh yes, car park, another 10 to 15 usd!
Than the big day came, 18th of august, today Leslie is 11! Every single birthday is an emotional ride for me, after all, it's already nearly 5 years that Leslie came to live with us! No home made cake or birthday cake today as we are on the road. We don't like to do these things half way. Mari is baking the best chocolate cake in the world, Leslie would just have to wait few days to get back home to get his!
We started the day early, leaving our hotel in San Diego. The day would be a very long one, as we were sleeping close to LAX. Birthday dinner for Leslie today...at In-N-Out burgers. We have fall in love
with this simple burger join. I may have visited more than 30 times the US prior to this trip , this was a first for me...and all the little family. Happy birthday my big boy!
But let's come back to the big day. Yes we did Legoland! This is a place to visit if you have children aged between 6 to 12 years old. If you are single and without children, don't come...this is a place for the kids...and their parents who loves those smiles!
Few easy rides where pretty fun. It was a first for Tiffany. Scared at first, at the end of the day she couldn't stop to ask for one more ride. Scott, they both have their Lego driving licence!
We really enjoy the "little America" built in Lego as well as the new Star Wars exhibition. What a day! We spent 40 minutes at the end of the day in the Legoland water park. This place is really not worth it, so we slides three tubes and it was already time to head to Los Angeles.
The damages....69 usd per adult, 61 usd per child. This is for Legoland only, if you
want the combo Legoland +Legoland water park, it rises to 83 usd per adult. Took me a little research for this. Wendy's had an offer. Medium adult meal gives you a cup coupon with "pay one adult, get on free child ticket". The only issue, you have to buy the water park combo. So be it, it was still cheaper at 166 usd for four of us, including that little water park! Big difference with the full price, we just had to have dinner at Wendy's. for info, they are far away from our prefered burger joint in the States...but it was big saving for the next day!
The next morning, it was already time for Tiffany and Leslie to fly back to Asia. Two long flights for them on Asiana. Leslie enjoyed dealing with their checking by himself. Next year, he will finally be allowed to fly on his own...fully unattended!
The wonderful month with our little ones is over...wow, that was fun and full of smiles! One more little stop for Mari and I, and than we will all be back to Asia.
Happy birthday Leslie....you are growing fast!
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