Disney Has Pin Trading--Legoland Has Minifigure Trading

When planning our visit to the Legoland California Resort, we discovered that trading Lego minifigures is part of the fun.  Bringing a Lego minifigure to trade is listed as the number one tip of the 5 top tips for enjoying your visit to Legoland.

Having traded pins at Walt Disney World and on the Disney ships, the boy wanted to get into the minifigure trading action.  Enter mom and Amazon.

The other day I saw sets of 20 minifigures on Amazon for less than $7.  This was such a great deal, I ordered two sets.  And, got them for FREE using my Swagbucks Amazon gift cards (click here to get started earning with Swagbucks). 

While the price was certainly right, the shipping may have been an issue.  An order placed on June 9 had a delivery date of July 22—which would have been after we returned from our vacation.  Not wanting to disappoint the boy, he had no idea the minifigures had been ordered.  To my delight and the boy’s, the package arrived yesterday. 

He set to work building minifigures and has a pencil case designated for the ones he is taking to trade. 

Click here to read about building minifigures at the LegoStore at Downtown Disney.

Click here to read about the husband’s 50 Disney FREE tradingpins.

Capturing Photos During Our Summer 2015 Disneyland/Legoland Vacation

Souvenirs?  Maybe.  Photos?  Always! 

For us, it’s all about the photos, especially during a vacation.  And, our upcoming Disneyland/Legoland Summer 2015 vacation is no different.  It’s all about the photos. 

While traveling to Walt Disney World, we have taken advantage of various renditions of Photopass—purchasing (usually pre-purchasing) a CD of all of our Photopass photos, then Photopass + which included ride and dining photos along with all in-park photos taken by Photopass photographers, and then, the most recent version—Memory Maker, which now includes ride videos in addition to ride photos!

At Disneyland, guests can pre-purchase the Photopass photo CD or purchase it after their vacation, but Photopass + is also available for pre-purchase!

Since planning a Disneyland vacation is new for us, I wasn’t sure which Photopass options were available at their parks.  Playing around on the Disneyland website, I notice links to Photopass when looking at various dining options.  Hmmm. . . that led me to believe that Photopass+ was available.  And, I found it once on the Photopass website, but could not get it show up in my “cart.”

Finally, I had to call Photopass.  They helped me find the Photopass + product for Disneyland under the “HELP” section of their website.  I’m guessing that this is so guests traveling to Walt Disney World don’t get confused as the product is no longer available for Walt Disney World.  I was able to pre-purchase Photopass + for Disneyland for $69.95 and had to guarantee that we were more than 14 days from our Disneyland vacation.  If I waited until I arrived at Disneyland, the price would have been $99.95.

Why at least 14 days ahead of my vacation?  When pre-ordering Photopass +, a voucher is mailed that is then taken to a Photopass location in either park to redeem for a special Photopass+ card that is “active” for two weeks.  Showing this special card allows for ride photos and dining photos to be added to our Photopass account.  Another voucher for a free Photopass CD is inside the case and I will use that when I get home.

So, what’s included in Photopass + for Disneyland?  All of our Photopass photos taken by Photopass photographers in both Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure Park, attraction photos at California Screamin’, Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, Radiator Springs Racers, and The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, and dining photos at Goofy’s Kitchen, Ariel’s Grotto, Disney’s PCH Grill, and Plaza Inn.  By the way, we will be dining at all of those locations.

Historically, any type of pre-ordering or pre-purchasing of a Photopass product, including Memory Maker, has been an outstanding deal for us.  Given that Photopass + allows for two weeks of photos will give us plenty of time to capture our memories in both parks.

But what about Legoland?  I was very curious to see if there was a photo product at Legoland.  (Last summer we discovered PhotoConnect at Universal parks.)  The website gave no indication so I made a phone call.  After being transferred three times, I was able to talk to someone at Kodak that told me that there are in park photo purchase options that can only be made at the Legoland park and include both digital and print options.  The price varies as there are “specials of the day” but typically an all digital package is around $45.  I then asked about multiple day options and was told that for an additional $20 another day can be added to the digital package.  I’m ready to investigate further and have this on our list the first day we are at Legoland.

Why photos?  For us, photos capture memories and never go out of style.  I’ve seen people agonize over photo purchases (as when traveling with Disney the prices can be alarming) but not agonize over purchasing some other type of souvenir.  Have you ever seen photos in a garage sale?  Nope.  We don’t ever outgrow photos.

Legoland Coming Out Ahead of Disneyland in the Anticipation Scale

The boy and I were out and about yesterday running errands—haircut and a bit of shopping.  While at Wal-Mart, I was buying plumbers tape, the boy was browsing the Lego aisle.  He had some Valentine money and his allowance.  He spotted a building set that had 5 mini-figures and two builds for $15.  It fit in his budget and yet he still was having a hard time committing to the purchase.  (It is very hard for him to spend his own money!)  I told him that with 5 mini-figures in the set, it was a good deal as mini-figures can be quite costly.  After some deliberation, he decided.  (I love it that these decisions are difficult for him!) 

When taking the box to the check-outs he then pondered aloud if the mini-figures in this set would be some he could trade.  Trade?  Yep, trade! 

At Legoland the employees will trade mini-figures.  Think pin trading with Cast Members at Disney, but with Lego mini-figures instead.  Ah, we’ve traded pins, we’ve traded Vinylmation, and now we want to trade mini-figures.  Got it.

Our walking conversation continued.  When we stay at the Legoland Hotel, there will be a bucket of Legos in our room.  He said he knew that and was planning on building something.  And, we talked about building our own raft at the Legoland Waterpark. 

I asked if he was more excited for Disneyland or Legoland this summer.  He said both, but Legoland a little bit more.  I understand.

Since our errands were done by lunchtime, the afternoon was dedicated to building  the new set of Legos.  At least until it was time for indoor soccer.

Our Trip Out West Is Shaping Up!

Our trip out west is shaping up!  We are officially booked to stay 4 nights at the Disneyland Hotel, 2 nights at the Legoland Hotel, and 5 nights at Paradise Pier, a Disneyland Resort Hotel.  (The Grand Californian was a bit too grand for our budget.)

Disneyland has 3 on-site resort hotels for guests and several “good neighbor” hotels that offer some Disneyland perks.  Even though we are paying more to stay on property, the husband and I talked it over and we wanted that experience.  Even with the convenience of staying on-site, we are still navigating transportation, dining, etc.  Staying on-site was a decision to make at least a portion of our vacation planning “easy.”

Of the 3 on-site resort hotels, pricing varies with the Grand Californian being the most expensive, followed by the Disneyland Hotel, and Paradise Pier, while not cheap, is the least expensive.  We designed our stay to take advantage of any savings. 

The first “leg” of our trip is 4 nights—all week-days.  Therefore it made sense to spend this part of our vacation in the most expensive, to us, resort.  Disneyland Hotel it is!

The week-end, Friday and Saturday nights, are the most expensive nights when staying on Disney property.  We, then, decided, to head to Legoland for the week-end.  We got a reasonable “advance rate” which does require full payment and a really good deal on tickets for Legoland Park, the Water Park, and the SeaLife Aquarium at a buy one day, get one day free rate.  More good news is that our stay includes breakfast!  There are also many fun things to do at the Legoland resort which we will do our best to take advantage of.  Oh, and guests get to select the theme of their room, based on availability of course.  Choices include Pirate, Adventure, and Kingdom all appropriate for either boys or girls.  The vote at the Williams' household was "Pirate."  (Our travel agent predicted that one!)

The last “leg” of our vacation is 5 nights.  Staying the least expensive resort made sense due to the length of our stay.  We are looking forward to exploring Paradise Pier.

Park tickets have also been secured—a 4 day Park Hopper on each leg.  This will give us plenty of time in the parks and some time to play on “non park” days. 

Now, to figure out dining. . .