Legoland with littles (Part 2): 6 survival tips

Much has been written about both the Legoland theme park and water park, and we have also shared about our stay in Legoland Hotel Malaysia. It's a great place to visit as a family, since it's just across the causeway, and day trips are possible. I must say that it's best to go when the kids are older (four and above), since there are a lot more rides and slides they can take when they are bigger, and you don't have to worry about naps. However, for families with more than one kid, you'd probably find yourself paying a visit with a toddler in tow. If so, this post is for you, since this is more or less a guide to surviving (and enjoying) Legoland with littles. Here's our survival checklist of tips (which also applies to those bringing older kids):

1. Check the weather, and pack accordingly:

We visited the parks during the hazy period, and were given one day tickets to the water park and theme park, and advised to visit the water park on the first day if the weather was good. That turned out to be great advice, since it poured on our second day there! Both parks have very little shelter, so be sure to bring along umbrellas if you are visiting the theme park (doesn't matter at the water park since you'll be drenched most of the time). Since the haze was still lingering when we visited, we brought along masks. Those didn't stay on very long, since everyone got really hot and uncomfortable wearing them, so we tried to keep the kids at indoor activities to minimize haze exposure.

2. Get a map, and plan your visit before you go:
If you are visiting Legoland with toddlers or babies, you'll find there is less time to explore the park since you need to factor in nap-time. Also, the rides have different age limits, so if you have more than one kid, you might have to plan to split up during some parts of the visit, especially to avoid the case where you have a toddler screaming that he wants to go for the ride that his big brothers are going for! You also do not want to queue up for a ride, only to find out that one out of three kids are eligible, so do your planning!

The best thing to do would be to check out the rides online (activities for the theme park here, and those for the water park here) before your visit, and get the kids to list the rides they would like to (and can) take. Get the kids to plan a route around the park (this is even more so for the theme park as it is much larger than the water park). I found this post (and the links at the end of the post) by Life's Tiny Miracles very helpful during our planning process.

Try to visit during weekdays, and avoid the weekends, since it gets very crowded on weekends and the queuing times can get much longer. There is a baby care area, and I am told that the younger kids can take their naps there, otherwise, you might want to see if your young ones can nap in the pram. We were staying in Legoland Hotel, so we could easily skip across and back to our room when Baby J got tired, so that was really convenient.

3. Settle your meals in the park to save time.
It can be quite troublesome to leave the park to have lunch before returning again, and I think certain tickets also do not allow you the option of re-entering the parks. So it's best to eat in the park (on the go if possible!), and there are dining options in both parks. If you are worried about food allergies or the price, bring your own food. Otherwise, we found that the Market Restaurant food was pretty yummy, and they had both local and Western options, as well as kids' meals.

4. If you have a few kids with you, check out Lego City:
We found that there were quite a few rides that catered to all ages at Lego City, so we chose to spend quite a fair bit of time there. All three loved boating school, since they got to steer the boat! (Do note that they only allow one adult with one child in each boat, so if you have three or more kids, some kids would have to wait their turn.)

Junior Driving School was another ride they loved, but Baby J was too young and had to be content watching his brothers drive the cars around the circuit.

5. Note the indoor areas in case of rain or haze:
For the theme park, there are indoor areas which are great to visit if it starts to rain, or if there is haze. The kids enjoyed exploring the relatively new Star Wars exhibits, and there were buttons to press to activate the models, which kept them engrossed for awhile.

That aside, the Lego Academy room provides boxes of bricks and guides to building various models. This is a good place to hang out with the younger ones if the older kids are off riding the scarier rides!

6. Be prepared to split up at the water park if you have toddlers:
Many of the fun rides have a height limit. To my surprise, the usually cautious Junior J loved the Red Rush and many of the other slides, and the hubby went with him. I stayed with the younger two since I couldn't do many rides with the big baby bump anyway.

Here were some of the activities we checked out together as a family:

:: Duplo Splash Safari: We probably spent the most time here, since it was just a shallow pool with floating large Lego blocks. The younger two loved their time there, and Lil J spent alot of time trying to construct a raft to ride on.

:: Imagination Station: This allows kids to build and test their own creations against flowing water, but this was more appropriate for the older kids since the water table was too tall for Baby J.

:: Build-A-Raft River: The older two loved this, but Baby J was terrified initially, even though he was being carried all through the ride! However, he calmed down and enjoyed himself the next round.

:: Wave Pool: All three loved bobbing around in the wave pool, and life vests are provided for the kids.

I admit, we were initially a little skeptical if the visit would be worthwhile, since we had to bring all three, and there would be a fair bit of juggling to do, not to mention toddler tantrums! But the kids really had a really good time there, so much so that Junior J was close to tears when we had to leave. He now lists Legoland as one of his favourite places to go, and promptly drew this picture the day after our trip (It show the entrance to the park, and says "I love Legoland")!

Once again, thank you, WTS Travel and Legoland Malaysia for having us!

PS: This is Part 2 of a two part series on our experience at Legoland Malaysia. Click here to read about our experience riding the coach to Legoland, and our stay in Legoland Hotel!

We were sponsored one night's stay in Legoland Hotel, coach transfers, as well as two day tickets to the Legoland theme and water parks for purpose of this review. No monetary compensation was received, and all opinions are our own. 

Legoland with littles (Part 1)

If you've been following this blog for awhile, you would notice that we are not really fans of themed parks. Children really don't need much to keep them entertained, and I find that the boys are usually content and happy to run about in nature. So we put off visiting Legoland Malaysia for the longest time, even though most of our friends have gone there and have raved (or blogged) about how much their kids have enjoyed it. We felt that it would be better to visit when the kids are older, and we didn't have to worry so much about nap-times, height restrictions, and terrible twos. However, we were recently invited by WTS Travel for one-night's stay in Legoland Hotel, along with passes to the theme and water parks and coach transfer, so we decided to give it a try!

The coach ride was smooth and comfortable. There are two pick-up points for coaches headed to Legoland, and we boarded the coach at the Singapore Flyer. There are quite a few pick-up times each morning, and if you are early, you might find that you are able to board the earlier coach instead, which means more time at the parks later. WTS Travel provides coach transfers, or packages with park tickets and coach transfers, and you can get the details here. 

The journey was relatively short, so aside from Baby J trying to bounce between me and the hubs, the kids were more or less well-behaved, though we were probably the noisiest family on the bus! We had brought along books and our quiet book, so the boys were occupied most of the time. I would say that driving your own car across is more convenient, especially with the kids all strapped into their carseats. However, should you not have that option, the coach transfer is a great way to head to Legoland. Just remember to pack light (cabin luggages are great), since you'll have to bring your luggage down from the bus when you cross the immigration checkpoint. Do also bring something to keep the kids occupied on the bus, and prep the kids mentally about what to expect, and how to behave when going across (very important especially when you have strong-willed kids, as we learnt!). 

Legoland Hotel has a pretty late check-in time at 4 pm, but we managed to check-in much earlier. If you have littles who still need naps, it's best to check with the hotel if you can do an earlier check-in. 

The check-in process was fast, and the kids were kept busy in the hotel lobby, which had many stations for them to build with Lego bricks, both big and small. 

The hotel rooms are split into three themes: Kingdom, Pirate and Adventure, and a lot work has been put in to transform the rooms to fit their themes, from the wallpaper, carpet, and Lego decorations scattered around the room. We were given a Kingdom-themed room (I had requested not to have Pirate-themed room, since the kids get spooked by skull-and-crossbones motifs). 

You could tell that a fair bit of thought went into making the room kid-friendly, from how they had two sinks in the toilet, one which was positioned lower for easy access for the children, to the inclusion of a box of Duplo blocks for the kids to play with in the room. 

I loved how the room was partitioned into two sections, one for the kids with a bunk bed and a trundle bed, and the other for the parents with a king-sized bed, and a sliding door that you can close in between. That was really handy when Baby J was napping on our bed, since the older two could continue playing in their part of the room. Another thing about naps: staying in the hotel is really convenient, since the older kids can stay in the parks to play, while their younger siblings can head back to the comfort of the hotel to sleep!

The beds were really comfy!

Some complimentary beverages were provided in the room, and I loved how they included decaf amongst the tea and coffee sachets.

I think one highlight for the older two was the treasure chest in the room. You are given a list of clues, and solving them gives you the combination code to open the chest. They were awarded with two keychains and a magnet for their efforts. (A word of caution though, for those who have kids who want to work on their Lego sets when staying in the room: do ensure that they pour all their pieces into a box or tray, since the colourful carpet makes it really hard to find any dropped pieces!) 

If you have littles who take ages to eat, and need their naps, then it might be more practical to have your meals at the hotel, or at the parks, to maximize your visit. There is a mall just next to the hotel that has various eateries, but we opted to eat at the hotel for our dinners, simply because we were just too tired to walk! You can read more about the dining options at the hotel here. 

Breakfast is provided with the hotel stay, and is served at the Bricks Family Restaurant. The variety of dishes is quite mind-boggling, and the food is pretty good (what you'd get at most hotel breakfasts). We certainly enjoyed all the local food that was served!

The restaurant also serves buffet lunches and dinners. However, they only open at 6.30 pm for dinner, so we opted to dine at Di Mattoni instead, since that was open from 3 pm onwards (but as such, does not offer lunch options). 

Di Mattoni was a cosy little restaurant that served Italian food, and we found the pizzas pretty good and quite value for money! 

Kid's pizza on the left, and a regular pizza (which is pretty huge!) on the right for the adults. 

One nice feature of the restaurant is this large Lego baseboard, which forms a Ninjago picture after many of these smaller plates are filled up with tiny bricks. The older two spent a fair bit of time working on filling up their smaller Lego plates, and had a fun time trying to find out where to put their plates when they were done:

The kids really loved their stay, from the lifts which got them dancing every time they entered, to the comfortable room with all it's Lego and kid-friendly features. As for the adults, we were quite impressed at the level of service, and how all the staff we met were friendly and helpful. Junior J enjoyed his time there so much, he got pretty upset when we had to leave! He now lists Legoland as one of his favourite places to visit. I must say that the hotel rates are pretty pricey though, but a occasional stay in this hotel might be something we might consider, if we want to celebrate a special occasion. You can go here and here to read more about the experience of other families staying in Legoland Hotel Malaysia. 

Thank you, WTS Travel and Legoland Malaysia for having us!

PS: This is Part 1 of a two part series on our experience at Legoland Malaysia. Stay tuned for our guide to surviving both parks when you have toddlers in tow! 

We were sponsored one night's stay in Legoland Hotel, coach transfers, as well as two day tickets to the Legoland theme and water parks for purpose of this review. No monetary compensation was received, and all opinions are our own. 

Wander: Tioman with kids

It's been a month since our Tioman trip, and I've yet to get down to blogging about it, since everyone has been taking turns to be sick! I'm so glad that the boys are more or less recovered, and my cough is slowly clearing up. The boys have been talking about Tioman since the trip, and sometimes play pretend games where they sail to Tioman during a flood. They say that they enjoyed themselves, and would like to go back again. 

We planned this trip with two other homeschooling families (we had seven kids between us all), and stayed for three nights at the Berjaya Tioman Resort (which is one of the more popular resorts over on the island).  There are quite a few options for accommodation when it comes to Tioman, from the no frills to luxurious, but we decided on something more comfortable since we had the kids with us, and wouldn't be wandering too much from the resort during our trip.

The resort consists of chalets spread across the rather extensive hotel grounds, and there was a playground, as well as rather nice children's pool, complete with a few slides. However, the kids spent most of their time at the beach just next to the pool, and my boys said that was the highlight of their trip: digging sand, and splashing in the crystal clear water while trying to spot fish. They all busied themselves digging a big hole for Baby J, and decided that it would be a tub for him, so they spent half an hour running up and down collecting water to fill the tub. It was such a delight watching them play together!

Time at the beach aside, Tioman is known as a good location for diving and snorkelling. The kids were too young to manage the snorkel masks that we brought along (from Decathlon), but they managed an island-hopping trip which took up the most of one day. You can book these trips via your hotel, and the trip took them to four islands, where they got to bob about in the sea and feed fish. If you go on such a trip, make sure you bring the sunscreen and slather it on! Most of the group went and had a good time, however, I opted to stay back and laze at the resort, as Baby J needed his afternoon nap, and the nausea from pregnancy meant I got easily seasick. Junior J ended up hanging out with me, since he too gets seasick. 

You can also go trekking in Tioman, and there are waterfalls to visit. However, we skipped that since we had little ones and I just didn't feel up to it with all that pregnancy exhaustion. I found out that there is also a turtle sanctuary you can visit, where you also can do volunteer work for a couple of days. The hotel also helps to arrange for visits to the sanctuary, but each trip takes over 2 hours, as the turtle sanctuary is on the other side of the island, and also includes a trip to look for mousedeer. We didn't manage to visit this round, but we would definitely include this for our next trip. 

Since we took it easy for this trip, we ended up having most of our meals in the hotel, which has two restaurants. The food wasn't anything to shout about, but the portions were generous (the spaghetti bolognese was so large that my three kids shared it and couldn't finish!), and meals were relatively cheap by hotel standards. 

Anyway, if you're intending to pay Tioman a visit with kids, here are some things to take note:

:: Pack light:
Tioman is a little troublesome to get to, since you have to get a ride up to the Mersing Jetty, and then you have to take a ferry ride across. A friend who frequently visits advised us to pack light, since the ferry can get crowded, so I packed really light this time round. We had one cabin luggage (with all the diapers and clothes, as well as some food and the electric lunchbox for cooking the toddler's meals) between us all, backpacks for the adults and the older 2, and a big tote with their beach toys. (You can read about our travel packing guide here.)

:: Useful things to bring:

The beach is littered with coral, which can be really painful to walk on, so pool shoes (like these Poolzies) can be really useful for little feet. Beach toys are great, sunscreen is essential, water bottles are useful, even if the hotel provides bottled water (I always find it's never enough!). I brought laundry detergent, which came in really handy, since the boys chose to wet their one and only jammies (I packed light remember?) two days in a row. The chalets all have a balcony/verandah which came in really handy for sunning their clothes, so we survived!

:: Watch out for sandflies: 

It's best to dress the kids in long-sleeved rashguards/suits when at the beach, since sandflies are a problem. Strange thing was, while there were days the kids were in short-sleeves at the beach, they didn't get bitten, but all the grown-ups did. At the end of the trip, we all had small red pimple-like bumps that itched like crazy, and they took ages to clear up. The hubs had 20 over, while I had 10 plus bites... but we were just glad the kids were spared. We read that the main way to avoid bites would be to cover up, so for the guys, you can keep your T-shirts on (Pack those dri-fit types. I forgot and hubby's T-shirts took ages to dry!), and for ladies, this isn't the place for bikinis, unless you want a spotty mid-riff to show off post-trip. The hotel gift shop apparently was supposed to sell a local concoction that worked as a sandfly repellant (regular insect repellant doesn't work), but they weren't selling it when we were there. 

:: If you are staying in Berjaya:

 If you have little kids, and opt to stay in Berjaya, ask for a room on the ground floor. The chalets are double-storied, and have wooden floors, so kids running and jumping around would really create a din if you are staying upstairs! The resort only has Wifi in the hotel lobby and the restaurant, and that sometimes doesn't work, so leave the laptops at home. 

We might make another visit down when the kids are older, since they enjoyed their visit so much. I'll share more about how to get to Tioman next week, since it's quite an adventure in itself! Have a blessed weekend!