Our daughter was obsessed with LEGOs when she was young. We never had the chance to visit a LEGO attraction when she was little but we know she would have loved it. Now that we live in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area and the LEGOLAND Discovery Center in Grapevine Mills is practically in our backyard, we take advantage of a morning or afternoon of fun whenever we have someone with younger children visiting. So this past weekend when my friend came to visit from Alabama with her 9 and 7 year old children, I knew I had to take them there. Lest you think the LEGOLAND Discovery Center is just an overgrown LEGO store, let me show you that it isn’t!
The LEGOLAND Discovery Center in DFW offers a great time for the family. An introduction to the center begins with Professor Brick-a-Brack demonstrating how LEGO bricks are made. Of course the Professor needs some kid energy to power the machines and there is never any shortage of help.
From there you are ushered into a central hub where there are a variety of activities for the kids to take part in.
In the center of the hub you’ll find the Lego City Play Zone and Fire Academy. Socks are required for playing in this massive play structure. If you come barefoot in sandals (like we did!), you can purchase socks in the café area for $1.00 a pair.
There are rides like Kingdom Quest, which is medieval themed and has you shooting laser guns to rescue the princess from some trolls. Unfortunately this ride was being worked on while we were there so we didn’t get a chance to go on it.
You can get some exercise as you pedal your way up, up, up on the Merlin’s Apprentice ride.
Our friends were quite entertained by the fantastic LEGO City Forest Ranger Pursuit where kids can drive their own LEGO cars! They got out of their cars and just got back into line again four or five times in a row!
Each LEGOLAND Discovery Center has a mini land dedicated to the city area where it’s located. The Dallas/Ft. Worth Mini Land is full of pint size LEGO replicas of the popular attractions that people recognize the cities for. Here you’ll find the AT&T Stadium home of the Dallas Cowboys, Reunion Tower, the Texas Star Ferris Wheel and even a model of the very building we were in! My favorite … the LEGO replica of the local vineyards 😉 Although everything is bigger in Texas, Mini Land is grand but on a smaller scale!
We built some race cars and tested them in the Lego Racers area.
The LEGO Princess Palace was a hit with our female 7 year old friend 😉 While she was not brave enough to try the karaoke, she did enjoy building with the feminine brick colors.
Don’t miss the 4D Cinema. The movie features cycle through 3 different shows. The kids wanted to see the one based on the CHIMA themed LEGO. The 3D animation is quite fun, but the wind and possibly 😉 water makes the movie very immersive!
The newest attraction at LEGOLAND Discovery Center DFW is the Ninjago Training Camp. This limited time attraction features interactive activities for the kids to practice their ninja skills! A whole wall to test reaction time, a laser maze to try and conquer as well as other activities will have the kids graduating as part of the Ninjago Team by the time they are done.
When you vacate the building you do go through the gift shop (just a warning Mom & Dad 🙂 ). So plan for some time to browse (and maybe buy!), as there is plenty to see in the store too.
New last year, but not open yet for the season (opens May 1st and closes in October) is the interactive water play place called Pirate Beach. The 10,000-square-foot area features water jets and fountains, squirt cannons and, a 50-gallon bucket that pours water on visitors. A wonderful addition to the center that is certainly welcome in the hot Texas summers.
The LEGOLAND Discovery Center DFW is located at 3000 Grapevine Mills Parkway (in Grapevine Mills Mall), Grapevine, TX.
LEGOLAND Discovery Center provided media passes for myself and my guests to enjoy the attraction. Opinions are always my own.
Tammy Litke is a Dallas blogger, blogging since 2008. She loves to watch movies, play video games, spend time in the kitchen, and travel. Between recipes and reviews you’ll find many helpful and some just plain funny posts on her blog. Welcome, pull up a chair and stay for a while!
My kids love Lego Land, we have not been to this one though.
I would never get my son out of there.