I will be the first to admit that I am not the world’s biggest Star Wars fan – in fact, I’m not sure the term ‘fan’ applies to me at all! I know a handful of the characters and think the music is pretty cool, but I’ve never seen the movies and only found out yesterday that Darth Vader is apparently not the hero of the story!
But my 4-year old, Harrison, is Star Wars obsessed! Despite never having seen any of the movies, he knows the name of every single character (the way he corrected me when I called her Captain Plasma made me think that I’ll be a great embarrassment to him in his teenage years!) and is currently working on his Duplo creation of the Millennium Falcon. When I found out that Legoland Florida would be hosting two consecutive Star Wars Weekends in May, I knew we absolutely had to go!
As I’ve said over and over, we are huge Legoland Florida fans (read this post on visiting Legoland Florida with young kids to find out why!) and their hosting of a Star Wars event was perfect! Lego Star Wars Weekends are an annual event, this year being held on May 6th-7th and May 13th-14th, with all kinds of special events planned. We visited on the very first day of the event and had the most amazing time! I thought I’d share our day with you here, and tell you about why Lego Star Wars Weekends are an absolute must for any Star Wars fan!
Why LEGO Star Wars Weekends at Legoland Florida are a must for any Star Wars fan!
Character meet and greets at LEGO Star Wars Weekends
We weren’t in Legoland 5 minutes before we had met Chewbacca, seen Stormtroopers marching by, and been greeted by a Jawa (yes, I had to ask my son what a Jawa was!)
These characters aren’t officially sanctioned Star Wars characters the way they are at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, but incredible members of the 501st Legion, a Star Wars fan organization with the most incredibly accurate costumes you’ve ever seen!
As well as Chewbacca, we met Darth Vader, Stormtroopers, R2-D2, a rather intimidating Jawa, and a whole host of other characters that Harrison was beside himself with excitement to see! Every character was friendly and the lines were well organized. The characters roamed the park for the entire day, even riding the rides – seeing Chewbacca on the carousel as we left the park was one of the highlights of my day!
Meet Lego Darth Vader at LEGO Star Wars Weekends
There was one official Lego Star Wars character to meet, and that was Lego Darth Vader. While I think the regular Darth Vader is a bit scary, the Lego one seems a lot less intimidating – maybe even a bit huggable!
He was to be found in an indoor space next to the Lakeside Sandwich Co, which was a big improvement on the location of Lego Batman for Lego Batman Movie Days back in March. This location was air-conditioned, spacious, and, because it wasn’t right at the front of the park, we had a very short line to wait in.
There was an official photographer there to take photos, but we were able to take our own photos as well, and we had a lot more time with this character than we did with Lego Batman. We were given a Stormtrooper mask to take away with us, which of course Harrison insisted on wearing for the rest of the day!
Tatooine Photo Spot at LEGO Star Wars Weekends
There were two different photo spots for families to take pictures in front of a cool backdrop. One of these was the family photo spot over by Pirates Cove, and the other was the Tatooine photo spot in Duplo Valley. This was a cool backdrop and when we were there, there was a Rebel X-wing pilot there to greet us! He was super friendly and happy to chat with Harrison about all things Star Wars (Harrison has now decided he wants to be an X-wing pilot when he grows up!)
Droid Scavenger Hunt at LEGO Star Wars Weekends
Besides meeting the characters, this was Harrison’s favorite thing to do this weekend! Miniland USA is one of my favorite areas of the park, with over 32 million Lego bricks used to build entire cities such as Washington DC and San Francisco, and classic attractions like the Kennedy Space Center and the Daytona Speedway. There’s even a Star Wars area!
Many of the structures are interactive, with buttons to squirt water, race cars, and even activate a volcano! This area was home to the Droid Scavenger Hunt, where we hunted for as many droids as we could find hidden among the bricks, then tallied our total and turned it to the Lego Studio Store for our chance to win a prize. The droids were pretty tricky to spot, but we had so much fun searching for them!
Competition Build & Coloring Activity at LEGO Star Wars Weekends
Another activity that seemed to be really popular was the Competition Build happening in Duplo Valley. Set up in the Tot Spot was a table where you collected a little Lego board with a number, then you were let loose to build anything you wanted related to Star Wars.
The creation could only be as small as the board (which was about 4 square inches) but other than that, you were free to make whatever you liked! Once your design was complete, it was set on a table for later judging (a form was filled out at the beginning with your information on so they knew whose creation was whose.)
Harrison built some sort of a spaceship, and the only challenge was convincing him to leave his creation there! Next to the build was a coloring station where kids could choose to color from a selection of different Lego Star Wars pictures. This area was so much fun for the kids, and encouraged them to let loose and use their imaginations – which is the reason I love Lego in the first place!
So much more…
There were so many other amazing activities that we never even got around to as part of the weekend – we may just have to go back another time! From the Lego Star Wars Droid Tales double-feature being shown at the theater, to the costume parade for kids under 12, to the opportunity to meet a Master Model Builder as they built a Star Wars creation, the opportunities for Star Wars fans were everywhere.
We had such an amazing time at this event! If you are a Star Wars fan, or have one in the family, I cannot imagine how this wouldn’t be something you would absolutely love. To learn more about the event, the event guide can be downloaded here.
Many thanks to Legoland Florida for hosting us on this visit. As always, all opinions are my own.
Kate
Monday 8th of May 2017
So I would say that anywhere from a toddler to a preteen would enjoy it - maybe from around 2 to about 12. There are some bigger coasters that I think most older kids would like, and Miniland USA is an incredible area to just marvel at what can be created with Lego bricks. If he's a Lego fan, I would think at least one trip would be worth it.