Traveling north from Ohio for the holidays is not ideal but it’s what I have to do until I can convince my relatives to move to a southern, warmer climate. I had to make as much out of the situation as possible so my wife and I took our three year old son, Henry, to Great Lakes Crossing in Auburn Hills, Michigan to the closest thing to a theme park we could find: the Legoland Discovery Center.
Before we even arrived my expectations were low thanks to the mostly bad reviews on Google. We used a coupon to get Henry in for free but even then is was $47 for my wife and I to enter. Would it be a good value?
The attraction starts out great. You wait through a short pre-show video before the doors are opened and a group of maybe 20 people are allowed to enter. You proceed to enter a dark, circular room where you find outward facing control panels. A few short videos showing how LEGOs are made is shown. Interactive segments have us using joysticks to create our own LEGO characters. Fun!
Next, we move into the next room and get in line for the star attraction of the Legoland Discovery center, Kingdom Quest. Thanks to @esainton on Twitter, I found out the ride system is by ETF, media by Threshold, and the integration and shooting by Alterface. For a dark ride inside of a shopping mall, it’s very well done. There is a nice mix of physical props and screens. The vehicles are trackless, and while the ride path is very short, the car pauses in front of some of the scenes to prolong the experience.
Up to this point I was having a great time, but as we entered the next room my mood quickly plummeted. We were dumped out into a large, loud, hot and stuffy room crowded with visitors. After scanning the space I realized that this was it; everything I could see was all the Legoland Discovery Center had to offer. The only two big attractions left was a spinning ride and the 4D show.
We opted to do the 4D show which turned out to be the biggest time consumer of the afternoon. They play at least three different movies and I sincerely hope the other two are better than Chima. The animation, 3D effects, and in-theater effects were all really, really well done. My complaint is the story and characters were terrible. I know the target age group is low but can we at least get a coherent storyline where the characters have a clear goal? Something not completely forgettable? Is that too much to ask for?
After roughly spending two hours in the Michigan Legoland Discovery Center we had to depart so as not to miss our dinner reservation. Was it worth $47 for two hours of entertainment? Probably not. The attraction starts out great and the anticipation builds as you move through the first couple rooms. But when you’re dumped into the large combined room you quickly realize what you can see is all you’re going to get. I am wondering if the real reason behind the steep admission prices is simply to try to limit the crowds. They already use timed entry to keep the wait times down. I wonder what the total hourly capacity of the center is? A quick search through the other Legoland Discovery Center’s websites shows they are all mostly the same, with some having maybe one additional ride or play area.
With Legoland Discovery Center, SeaLife Aquarium, and Rainforest Cafe, Great Lakes Crossing offers a small dose of themed entertainment experiences for those that can’t make it to an actual theme park. However, the steep admission prices may not make the experience worth it for everyone.
Have you ever been to a Legoland Discovery Center? Which one and what did you think? Was it worth the price of admission?
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