Every year, it’s my job to plan trips for the family.   I’m getting pretty good at it but sometimes things don’t end up as planned.  Here’s a candid tale of the fambam’s (mis)adventures in Legoland Hotel and Legoland Park Malaysia.
I must admit we were all pretty excited.   We have visited Legoland  California twice before and we thought the experience in Malaysia would be similar.I checked the sites,  read reviews and got as much information from the net as I possibly could.  There were three themed rooms to choose from :Kingdom, Pirate and Adventure.  Since it was my daughter’s birthday treat, we all decided on the Kingdom theme suite.  After all, our princess deserves to sleep in a castle!
If you read my post “Welcome to Hello Kitty Town!”,  I wrote there that we chose Singapore as our entry point and we rented a car  going to Malaysia.  Our driver Ramli had been taking tourists like us to Legoland Hotel in Johor Baru since it opened.  “I don’t want to scare you off but almost everyone I’ve brought to the hotel complained that it’s too small!”  We had to see for ourselves.

THE HOTEL
 Lobby
The lobby had two play areas – a pirate ship and a castle.  The reception desk had a lego figure riding a bicycle with magnifying glass wheels.  There are hundreds of miniature lego figures on the wall!

Kuya M liked the Pirate ship set-up.

 

R  preferred the castle, of course!

 

This disco elevator played Village People music all day long.

No Kingdom, We Ended in Adventure Room Instead
Admittedly. we went during Labor Day weekend which would probably account for the “throng” of  visitors.  The hotel was fully-booked and we ended getting a Premier Adventure theme room instead.
Upon entering , the first thing that came to my mind was “OMG, it’s smaller than the sala of our room in Marina Mandarin (Singapore).”    But the troopers that we are, we just got ourselves settled and started playing  “I Spy.”  The room had drawings and figures everywhere– from the ceiling, to the walls, to the carpet.

The room was VERY SMALL. If we were Lego-sized people then it would’ve been perfect. There was hardly any place to put our luggage and R’s stroller. The kids loved it though.

 

Kuya M answered the questions correctly and got the right combination to open the treasure chest! He found Lego toys inside the wooden drawer.

Stuck In The Middle of Nowhere
Write-ups will tell you that the hotel and park is right next to the Mall of Medini. Well, the mall turned out to be a cluster of restaurants in a covered court.  We were surprised to see Pancake House there. We entered, ordered, and waited for an hour to be served.  My daughter was already bawling from hunger ( she also wanted to go to the theme park already).  I don’t know whether to laugh or cry when our orders finally came.  The chicken on my plate was as big as  three cotton balls stuck together. It was insane!  We stood up, left and went to KFC instead.   ( Before the trip was over, we ended up having four meals in Kentucky).

Gold for Bricks
We did try the Bricks buffet restaurant inside the hotel .  Again, maybe because it was Labor Day weekend, the place was so crammed and noisy.  Imagine your high school cafeteria. It was a lot  like that.  The price was pretty steep, too.  (880 rupiah per adult and about 600 plus rupiah for kids) .

THEME PARK  
The heat was terrible!  We had to go back to the hotel after thirty minutes to change our shirts.

We enjoyed this ride so much even if it we were dripping in sweat! M drove our boat and expertly maneuvered through the turns. Dad and little R on the other hand found the course tricky but finished with  big smiles on their faces!

We rode the Legoland Express, the airplane and Project X. The son thinks I’m the coolest for riding the death defying roller coaster! It was so hot that M couldn’t even sit on the buggy! Sobrang init talaga – Grabe!

 

The attractions in Johor were  pretty much the same as the ones in Carlsbad, California. The main difference — the killer heat!

 

Then after struggling with the heat all day long, it rained in the afternoon. We were stranded in one of the dining places for two hours. Hubby just decided to buy raincoats and umbrellas so we could go back to the hotel.

THE BQP’S VERDICT
We were supposed to stay for three days in Malaysia but we left after the second day.   We were afraid of getting sick and thought it best to spend the last day of our trip back in Singapore.  Our tickets allowed us to go to the Water Park but we didn’t even make it there.  We really tried our best to enjoy the theme park (we  did, for awhile) but the weather really took its toll.
For me, open theme parks work best in cold weather.  Our Legoland experience in California was so different from Malaysia.  True, we had to wait longer lines in Carlsbad but it was tolerable since we were comfortable.  If you want to plan a trip to this particular theme park , I suggest you do it in the cooler months and not during summer.
In the end, we made a pitcher of  lemonade when we were handed lemons.  Life is such that you can’t plan everything.  We decided to have fun despite of the circumstances.  Our next stop : Universal Studios , Japan!  Hogwarts Castle here we come!
QUESTION:  What type of car was my daughter driving in the post? What animal was on top of the treasure chest?
Answer these on the comment section of the blog and get the chance to win a Jollibee Happy Plus Card!

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34 comments

  1. Hope I can go to Legoland Malaysia with my kids when they grow up. It seems to be a happy place for everyone especially those who love Lego! Can’t wait for your post about Universal Studios Japan and its new attraction!

  2. Thanks for these tips BQP! I keep on insisting to my hubby that we should visit Malaysia when we go to Singapore and he always say that the kids may not enjoy it much for varied reasons.
    We docked in Penang when I cruised with my girlfriends in 2009 and we ended up going back to the ship after 30 minutes because the place wasn’t appealing to us.
    Getting excited with your Japan adventure blog because we also plan to visit in April next year!

  3. Don’t worry yourself too much, BQP… As the old saying goes, the weather is really unpredictable. I could just imagine R when you said she was crying because you had to wait for food to be served. An hour? I won’t just cry; I’ll barge into the kitchen and take anything edible! Ha ha ha! The best part is you all went together as a family…

  4. The Nissan toy car and a monkey. What a cool place! I want to visit malaysia soon! Maybe if I have time! 🙂

  5. 1) WHAT TYPE OF CAR IS MY DAUGHTER DRIVING ?
    A Lego Single Pedal Car.
    2) WHAT ANIMAL IS ON TOP OF THE TREASURE CHEST?
    A monkey.

  6. 1) WHAT TYPE OF CAR IS MY DAUGHTER DRIVING ?
    = A Lego Single Pedal Car.
    2) WHAT ANIMAL IS ON TOP OF THE TREASURE CHEST?
    = A monkey.

  7. Your write-up gave me a very good picture of your experience that even with these circumstances, the kids had a great deal of fun and that’s what matters. This is also my first to hear about Legoland Malaysia. I appreciate the info Paulynne!

  8. My answers are:
    1) Single pedal car
    2) Monkey
    Thanks for this article! Traveling vicariously through your post is interesting. 🙂 Too bad the weather wasn’t favorable, but it’s nice that you made lemonade when life handed you lemons.
    I’d love to ride the Disco Elevator! 😀

  9. My big boys and Ate ella still want to go to Legoland , even though they’re too big to ride those lego cars coz its one of their first toys that they love the most!
    1 Nissan lego car
    2 monkey

  10. R is driving a Nissan and its a monkey on top of the treasure chest ! 🙂
    BQP, I am way too excited to see Universal studios in Japan!!! planning a trip with my daughter N 🙂 despite the challenges in Lego land, glad that the FamBam just got more quality time together. That’s what matters. 🙂

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