As I mentioned in part 1 of our Toddler-Friendly Family Vacation to San Diego, we loved staying at the Carlsbad Seapointe Resort and enjoyed settling in there.
On our second day, we headed down south to Sea World. We got there right when it opened and had a plan for all the things that we wanted to see. Along our route we walked through Elmo's World and the Sesame Play Area. The kids loved some of the fun interactive play zones. We also came across the flamingos on parade. The Shamu 11:00 training show was a short show that introduced the whales and some of their tricks. We visited the polar bears and walruses, the penguin exhibit, got up and close and wet with the dolphins in the dolphin cove, and fed the manta rays. We ended our Sea World adventure with the Blue Horizons Show. It was magical. I would describe it as a Cirque du Soleil performance with birds, whales, dolphins and acrobats. The costumes and the music were beautiful, we were all captivated for the entire show! Plus it has a princess as the star of the show! It was a must see and a great way to end our day.
Our last big amusement park visit was Legoland. I must have spent at least 45 min. planning out our route around the park and reading about which lands and rides would be age appropriate for us. Having a plan made it very easy to navigate the park. We traveled our way around and were pleasantly surprised that my 2 1/2 year olds were able to ride and participate in more than I thought would be possible. I have to say the fairy tale boat ride was one of my favorites. Duplo Village was so much fun for the little ones. They loved the mini play buildings, the Lego activity stations, the musical fountain, the water guns and the choo choo train. We could have stayed there all day. In fact you could tell that many locals come there to play for their weekday play dates. Making our way through the different areas the girls took advantage of not having any lines and riding on most of the rides 2 or 3 times. There were more amusement type rides than I expected. We also enjoyed several breaks of Lego building at the play stations throughout the park. After having a ton of fun at the Pirate Shores shooting the boats with water guns, the girls spent forever in the suspended water park swings. Across the way, we grabbed a quick and delicious lunch at the Garden Restaurant. They have a great selection of pre-made salads and freshly made hot and cold deli sandwiches. I was so glad that I had done my homework, because this was a great stop. The sandwiches were about $8 a piece and came with chips. We spent much more on lunch at the other parks, and the food here was by far the best. A few steps up the road in Castle Hill, we tried Franny's Apple Fries, they are special to Legoland and in my opinion aren't worth the calories. The girls couldn't resist all the fun attractions. On our way out, one of the girls was glued to the storefront window with the display of Cinderella Legos, we broke down and bought a Cinderella's castle Lego set. This was my first trip to Legoland and I can't wait to go back.
On our last day, we had rain on and off and made an effort to run to the beach whenever the sun peeked out. We had fun digging in the sand and collecting sea shells. Our location in Carlsbad couldn't have been better. It was a wonderful family friendly property that I would definitely return to. Several weeks later, my girls still remember all the animals they saw at Sea World and can tell you what color airplane they "flew" at Legoland. I'm thrilled beyond belief that this was such a special adventure for all of us.
Posted by Liz
