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The kids will go bananas over this Legoland you’ve probably never heard of

At a fraction of the cost of other big-name theme parks, this destination ticks all your family holiday boxes.

Discover the ultimate family adventure at Legoland Korea

Before we even step inside the Legoland Korea Resort, the contagious energetic beats of "Everything Is Awesome" fill the air, delivering kids and adults alike a level of excited anticipation that can only come with a once-in-a-lifetime bucket list experience like this. 

As iconic as LEGO is, having a song like that as a theme song for a hotel and amusement park is a lot to live up to, so the question is, is everything at Legoland really that awesome?

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Legoland Korea is a fun place to take the kids. Image: Supplied
Legoland Korea is a fun place to take the kids. Image: Supplied

Legoland Korea Resort - based conveniently just over an hour from the capital, Seoul (an easy nine-hour flight from Oz) - is the world’s newest Legoland, and the biggest one in the southern hemisphere.

It’s divided into two parts - the Legoland Hotel and Legoland Theme Park. For our LEGO-obsessed nine-year-old son, all stops were pulled, and two full days and nights of our Korean holiday were devoted to the whole Legoland experience - but the park can certainly be visited on its own with a day trip from Seoul if preferred.

From the time we check in, Korea Legoland Hotel doesn’t miss an opportunity to fill the senses with all the bricky things imaginable.

It only opened in 2022, so it still feels squeaky brand new. Rooms are themed to match all types of fans’ interests, from LEGO Friends, pirate, kingdom and our choice, Ninjago. To say the room is top-to-toe ninja-tastic is an understatement.

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The rooms are themed. Image: Supplied
The rooms are themed. Image: Supplied

Checking in to our themed room

Parents are well taken care of with a luxe king bed while there’s a separate bunk-bed nook for the kids, giving both privacy and space while being in the same room. Every room comes with a treasure hunt that sends our child excitedly looking for clues to open the treasure chest that contains two sets of LEGO, so the awesome fun really can begin before we even reach the park. 

Outside the rooms, the Legoland Hotel is pure delight, with a huge indoor playground and loose LEGO pit, water play section, and drop-off creative workshops for kids to explore their artistic flare. Its two eateries are family friendly with both Asian and western options - and best of all, breakfast is free. 

Everything is LEGO! Image: Supplied
Everything is LEGO! Image: Supplied

While that’s all very well and good, er, awesome, we are also here for theme park thrills, and just a few steps walk beside the hotel is Legoland Theme Park.

With dozens of attractions and rides across five different lands - Ninjago, Pirate Shores, LEGO City, LEGO Castle and Miniland - this theme park surprisingly isn’t the hectic, line-filled craziness that we’ve come to expect (and dread) from these types of destinations.

Waiting less than 10 minutes per ride (most less than five minutes) we pedal our way in the sky in Merlin’s Flying Machines, take a seat aboard the Legoland Express train, be entertained at the Palace 4D Cinema, zip through the water on Surf’s Up and the Coast Guard Academy while little ones get their cute digital licences at the Driving School.

And that’s all just a taste of the fun that can be had, with so many more rides and attractions for varying ages.

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Activities for little (and big) kids. Image: Supplied
Activities for little (and big) kids. Image: Supplied

Our son’s favourite part, however, wasn’t a ride at all - it was Miniland’s spectacular displays of city scenes around South Korea, many of which are interactive so kids can throw a LEGO-style baseball at a stadium, control a digger at a construction site, and navigate a boat along a river.   

The awesomeness of Legoland doesn’t stop there. We were super impressed with how inclusive it is for disability access, facilities for parents with babies (there’s a room with bottle sterilisers!), how easy it was to exit and re-enter the park after a midday rest back at the hotel, plenty of water stations and care by the staff to ensure you’re having the best day possible.

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After the first day of fun, we couldn’t have been more thrilled that we had booked the Awesome Choice package, which includes a two-night stay, allowing us to then purchase two days of park tickets (and enter the park through a gate exclusive for hotel guests) so we could do all our favourite rides a second time around.

Awesome Choice also provides a free voucher to use at the hotel gift shop equivalent to about $AUD30. LEGO set souvenir sorted!     

The entertainment and food/drinks are all awesome. Image: Supplied
The entertainment and food/drinks are all awesome. Image: Supplied

It wasn’t easy to say goodbye to Legoland Korea Resort after our expectations were matched - and then some. So it goes without saying that the song was absolutely spot on.

At Legoland, everything really IS awesome.

Legoland Korea Resort has certain days of the year that are closed for maintenance so check the website before booking. The writer was a guest of Korea Tourism Organization Sydney but her views on just how awesome it was are her own.

Originally published as The kids will go bananas over this Legoland you’ve probably never heard of

Original URL: https://www.ntnews.com.au/lifestyle/the-kids-will-go-bananas-over-this-legoland-youve-probably-never-heard-of/news-story/a7d462672bbbcb89c78b140440252050