If you ever find yourself in Chicago (or near it) you will want to visit LegoLand Discovery Center. It looks like a store from the outside but it looks like an amusement park on the inside. Complete with rides! Kids of EVERY age will love this place and there is so much to see and do. I can’t wait to take the kids back!

We don’t usually get to take vacations but recently decided to take a mini one to Chicago. From Indy it isn’t so bad and in fact is almost day trippable (yep made up word). Since we have the 5 year old Gentleman and the 3 year old Diva we decided to make a mini vacation out of it and stay the night in a hotel nearby. Legoland was our first stop on our second day and it was SO much fun!

The first thing to understand is that it is in a mall. Well attached to the mall in Schaumburg and it looks more like a LEGO store but I assure you it is SO much more. There is a giant LEGO giraffe out front to greet you and if that doesn’t impress you just wait…there is more inside.

When you purchase your tickets (unless you are lucky enough to have a membership!) do not forget to purchase the Activity Pack. It is a lanyard that you get to keep, and the booklet has puzzles to do, spots for collecting stamps along the way and even a scavenger hunt.

Plus you get to keep it and if you show it to the store counter at the end of your adventure you get a Pop Badge (which is a lanyard button with a pop out back instead of a pin)! I love the little extras like this!

LEGOLAND is a place to make memories and they understand that so they have set up a picture area as the first thing you do before you adventure begins. We don’t take those because they cost money but now I wish we would have. I realized after we got home that we don’t get a lot of picture of us together because one of us is usually taking the picture. Plus…it would have an awesome LEGO background. Get your picture if you can.

When your adventure officially begins you will be in Miniland Chicago which looks like something all of your childhood LEGO dreams are made of. A huge table with a LEGO Chicago complete with skyscrapers, vehicles, a construction site and Navy Pier!

The detail is kind of amazing considering it is made out of LEGOs. They even put some of the pieces on movable parts which is amazing to me. Then again building a house is amazing let alone a ferris wheel or skyscraper!

Once you have explored, ooh’d and aaahhh’ sufficiently get your stamp and move on to the Jungle. If you weren’t amazed by Miniland prepare yourself because the next area will literally stop you in your tracks. At least it did my family!

We stopped and could not believe there was a life size Indiana Jones by us! Tigers, Monkeys hanging from trees, a Hippo, an Alligator, the list goes on and is equally astonishing.

At the end of the Jungle adventure there is a GIANT LEGO spider that my kids pretended to be attacked by…that was awesome. Once we goofed around with that for a minute we moved into the Star Wars room. My son and husband were lost to me…Life size Darth Vader and R2D2. Add to that a center piece of mini Tatooine complete with the Millennium Falcon! Ok I was a little excited too but my favorite part was next. Kingdom Quest.

 Kingdom Quest is not a display so much as a ride. An awesome ride that you get to participate in using a laser gun! You get on a roller coaster type cart and it has guns (attached to wires and a blinky light) that you get to aim at various points along the ride. Each person has their own point tracker and then there is one point total for all four. We went on this twice and I won both times…oh yeah.

After saying hello to a life size Santa Claus (yeah life size) we went upstairs to an area where you can build your own race car and race it on one of two tracks with different sized hills. We spent a little time there and all of the kids (including us) built cars and tried out the different tracks. Mine fell apart…twice. The Gentleman and my husband (still working on his super hero name) both had cars that made it down all the tracks. I believe “ha!” was said to me more than once…show offs.

We of course went on the OTHER ride they had there…more than a few times. It was a bike that when you peddle you go up in the air and there are wings above you that look like bat wings…I felt like Batman. What was also awesome is its name…its called a Technicycle, yeah I love that name and now I want one. All of us went on that one a few times in between racing, the giant play equipment and playing with giant rubber LEGO pieces and Duplos. There was also a cafeteria up there with decent prices!

When we decided it was time to move on we went over to the 4D Clutch Powers adventure movie. We sort of love the 4D experience but I am not going to spoil this one. Make sure you see it though and then the LEGO factory tour which is really a small room with replicas but you do get to learn how LEGO bricks are made. Not what I thought…at all but pretty cool and you get a souvenir brick to take home too.

They also had a LEGO Builder Academy that you could sign up for but its for kids 7 and up so we couldn’t do that one this time but we will when they are old enough for sure. Instead we finished up our tour by heading to the Store or gift shop. They had TONS of LEGO sets, candy molds, LEGO brick back packs, and you can buy LEGO people in single packs or packs of 5 themed ones.

Here is a gallery of some of the things we did and saw at LEGOLAND.

That is the place you show your Adventure Pack to get your Pop Badge for your lanyard. Another keepsake and they have a Penny Press machine here!!! We collect those from every where we go. My kids both chose LEGO foam shields as their souvenir which was of course awesome.

I would highly recommend a visit here and allow 2-3 or more hours and one of my favorite rules ever is:

“Please be advised adults must be accompanied by a child to visit the attraction but keep an eye out on our news and events pages for details of our special Adult Nights, exclusively for adult fans of LEGO!”

I just love that rule and not so much at the same time since that means I can’t go without the kids. We did love LEGOLAND Discovery Center Chicago and cannot wait to go back. Everything I mentioned is included in your admission ticket which is reasonably pricedYour entire family will LOVE this place and if you live near by you should really invest in a membership.

“My childhood may be over, but that doesn’t mean playtime is.”
~ Ron Olson