I begrudgingly booked Legoland Pirate Hotel even though the price per night was astronomical. Per night, it was more than our 5 star hotel honeymoon suite in Waikiki, Honolulu, a few years back. So is Legoland Hotel worth the money?
On our recent trip to Legoland Florida, I was in a conundrum of where to stay. I wanted to rent a car to save some money but my husband didn’t want to deal with the hassle of rental cars. The 3 (or less) star motels across the street from Legoland were much cheaper but had absolutely terrible reviews, with comments like “don’t stay here!” or “cockroaches in the room”.
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Is Legoland Hotel Worth The Money?
Unfortunately prices for accommodations have gone up, travel has picked up since the pandemic and everyone is traveling as much as they can.
Legoland Hotel is not immune to this price increase.
According to a recent statistic, Orlando was named the most expensive family vacation in the world in February 2023, costing around $7350 for a 7 night stay for a family of four, with $4138 of that for accommodations.
That makes it about $590 per night for a family of four for each night of hotel or Airbnb stay.
Seems pretty accurate, since our trip to Orlando cost more than our trip to the Maldives.
After staying at Legoland Pirate Island Hotel for a few nights, I have come to decide that staying at Legoland Hotel is worth the money with a few caveats.
Legoland Pirate Island Hotel
The Legoland Hotel is right at Legoland, and about a 130 steps or so away from the Legoland gate entrance. It’s not cheap, it was about $450 USD per night for a 4 star hotel (this amount will vary depending on the date you are booking).
The Legoland Pirate hotel is connected to the main Legoland hotel and they have the same entertainment but just a different theme (so you can choose between the nightly entertainment options).
You can book directly on the Legoland Vacations website, but be aware that there are no refunds on cancellations (unless you purchase Trip Cancellation coverage). They take 50% of the total payment when you book and the remaining balance is charged 21 days prior to your stay.
The Legoland Pirate hotel is new and built in 2020 and has 150 rooms. It is adjacent to the Legoland Hotel.
The price for the hotel room does not include admission to Legoland.
Each room has enough beds for 5 people though and a separate sleeping area for the kids (it almost felt like a one bedroom it was so spacious). The sleeping area consisted of a bunk bed and a trundle bed.
Across from the bed was a small television and Lego bricks to play with.
The sleeping areas are separated by a bathroom (weirdly it doesn’t have a fan). The bathroom has cute Legoland themed body wash and shampoo products.
Finally the main sleeping area for the parents has a king bed (it’s very high though, maybe to encourage kids to sleep in their own sleeping area).
Legoland Hotel Amenities
Everywhere you walk at the Legoland Pirate Hotel there are Lego to play with and fun areas for kids to play in, for example, this Pirate Jail.
What makes Legoland Hotel different from other hotels are the amenities. There were a lot of cute touches that really made the experience of Legoland Hotel quite special and memorable.
For example, the morning after you check in, you get a cute delivery of the Lego Times newspaper (see the above picture).
There’s also a cute scavenger hunt in the room that your children can do and when they enter the code, they get a prize in the treasure chest (which is a Lego set and a box of apple juice). Your kids will get a new Lego set and apple juice daily.
Here’s an example of a Lego set they give daily to keep your children entertained.
Instead of a regular coffee maker, they have a fancier Kuerig coffee maker stocked with hot chocolate, coffee, earl grey tea cups.
One of the main reasons why this hotel is worth it is the breakfast. It is hefty and substantial. Bricks Restaurant and Pirate Hotel Restaurant. Bricks used to be a “buffet” style restaurant but they are both serving about the same breakfast and a server brings you your food.
There’s a huge selection of drinks such as orange juice, apple juice, chocolate milk, milk, coffee, tea etc.
At the Pirate Island Hotel Shipwreck restaurant, there is a large family style breakfast. You get a skillet of bacon, sausages, Lego shaped waffles, biscuits, gravy, and hash browns (and you can order more individual extras after if you are still hungry).
At Bricks you can choose an individual sized omelet (Florentine style or ham and cheese) in addition to the skillet. It is also served family style in 2023 (not a buffet style breakfast).
In addition, when staying at Legoland Hotel, you can sign up for a Master Builder class. You have to make an appointment ahead of time via the Appointly website, and you are only about to book about 10 days to 2 weeks in advance.
In this class your children will learn how to make Lego items without instructions (and if it falls apart later, the instructions are on Lego’s website).
I’m not sure the maximum capacity of students, but each class takes about 20 kids.
There are pools at both the Legoland Hotel and Pirate hotel (and you can use either of them). The pool at Legoland Hotel has a fun waterslide, the pool at the Pirate Island hotel is much smaller.
Probably the best amenity there is, is the live nightly entertainment in the evenings after Legoland closes (there are about 3-4 programs per night that last about 30 minutes).
There is a nightly pyjama dance party at 8:30pm.
Last but not least, your child can trade their Lego figurine (bring a few from home when you go) at the front desk.
Genymoney.ca’s verdict
So is Legoland hotel worth the money?
The $450 per night is steep but if you factor in what is included, it’s actually not that bad and I think it is worth it especially if you are a family of five.
Here are some reasons why:
The generous all you can eat breakfast alone is worth around $100 USD if you are a party of five.
It can sleep 5 people, if you have 5 in your family and if you were booking a hotel, normally you would have to book two hotel rooms to fit 5 people. For example, the Marriott Courtyard down the highway (about a 20 minute walk to Legoland) is cheaper, around $230 USD a night for these same nights, but if you have five people, you would have to rent two rooms which would be around $460 USD anyway.
Every day you get a package of Lego for each child (I estimate this to be around $10 a kit) and a box of organic apple juice.
The live evening entertainment such as the evening dance party, story time, and Bingo are included in your stay.
There’s also a Master Builder class where your child gets live instruction on how to build a unique Lego build (such as an airplane jet or a pirate) and your child can take it home with them. I estimate this to be another $10.
The convenience of being able to go back to your hotel room to chill out and rest and have lunch is fantastic and priceless. There’s a Publix supermarket across the highway (about a 10 min walk from the hotel) where you can stock up easily to eat deli sandwiches for lunch or something simple for dinner. You’ll save money by not having to eat $14 Legoland hot dogs for lunch.
The hotel is really is around 130 foot steps to the Legoland gate entrance. You won’t have to drive and find parking if you stay on site.
If you are able to get a Legoland hotel rate for less (by booking ahead of time for example) this is optimal. There are rates for $250 to $350 USD some dates.
Our kids had a blast at Legoland and the experience at the Legoland hotel was great and memorable for them.
What is your Legoland Hotel review?
Is Legoland Hotel worth the money for you?
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