After being cooped up for a couple of weeks with a nasty case of mono, Samantha was so ready to go back to school once her fever went away last week. Unluckily for her, that happened to coincide with some snow and a school cancellation. She was livid. At me, at mother nature, at her immune system, at pretty much anything she could think of.
Luckily for her (or, more accurately, my sanity), the snow cleared in time for us to head down to Ridge Hill to catch the premiere of the brand new LEGO 4D Movie at LEGOLAND Discovery Center Westchester. Ellie and I had visited back in November when we got to meet a couple of the Rockettes, but Samantha had never been there before. This visit definitely won her over—and did wonders for her mood.
One of the problems I sometimes have when taking my girls (who are about five years apart) out to new places like this is that they’re interested in completely different things. When I’m wrangling them by myself, this can be a major pain in the ass. But that wasn’t a problem at LEGOLAND. In fact, having her big sister there encouraged Ellie to try new things that had made her a little nervous the first time we visited.
The first thing we did this time was to try out the Kingdom Quest ride, which Ellie had zero interest in whatsoever back in November. Samantha coaxed her a little and the fact that I could get in there with them sealed the deal. We rode through the little course, zapping trolls and skeletons and big old spiders with our laser guns, Ellie squealing and yelling out the whole way.
Next, we made our way through MINILAND®, which is full of famous NYC landmarks that the girls were excited to recognize. They also really liked that parts of it were interactive—you could press buttons on the buildings to light things up and see what some of the figures were doing inside. Anther perk was that, for the 4D movie premiere, there was a scavenger hunt with figures from the movie hidden inside the city.
After we scoured the city for awhile, it was definitely time to sit down and watch the movie. If you’ve never seen a 4D movie before, you’ve totally been missing out. You sit back in your 3D glasses and, as if things jumping out at you wasn’t fun enough, there’s the added thrill of having air blown at you when there’s something flying close by or getting wet when something splashes. My girls couldn’t wait.
And it was so good! There was humor directed at both kids and parents (which is always a plus in my book) and my girls loved the fact that it was a mini-adventure that picked up where The LEGO Movie left off.
In this one Emmet, Wyldstyle, Unikitty, Benny and MetalBeard get a mysterious invitation that leads them to a new theme park (which happens to be a LEGOLAND copycat located next door) where all of the rides are based on what happened to each of them in The LEGO Movie. Only it quickly becomes apparent that something just isn’t right. The heroes are thrown into an evil secret plot, this time by President Business’s brother, Risky Business (voiced by Patton Oswalt). Check out the trailer here.
With wind, water, smoke and special lighting effects, the 12-minute short kept us on the edges of our seats—and kept Ellie squealing and yelling out “Did you feel that?!!!” Her reactions alone were worth the price of admission.
After the movie they tried out all of the other spots (although Ellie sat out the Merlin’s Apprentice ride, preferring to tackle the slide in Duplo Village while big sis spun around and around). It was decided pretty quickly that we have to come back with Daddy.
If you and your family would like to check it out, LEGOLAND Discovery Center Westchester is offering Cuddles and Chaos readers a 20% discount! Here are the instructions:
Tickets must be purchased online here. There is a limit of 5 adult and 5 child tickets per transaction (max purchase = 10 tickets). Once on the promos webpage, you can choose your ticket package. On the next page there will be a Promotional Code tab at the top. Enter promo code MB16001 and then follow the prompts to complete your purchase.
Have fun and let us know what you think!
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Hi! I'm Jen, a freelance writer and girl mom who loves reading the newest children’s books as much as I love a good psychological thriller. I believe fiercely in the power of kindness, empathy, and really good quality chocolate. When I'm not knee-deep in glittery crafts and girl talk, you can probably find me sprawled out on my couch in the middle of a Netflix marathon with dark chocolate smeared on my face. The struggle is real. 
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