Pirate River Quest at LEGOLAND Florida just opened yesterday. And this weekend we’re with our daughter and our friends Suzie and Eddie celebrating their daughter’s birthday at LEGOLAND! And we’ll be one of the 1st to experience their latest ride. Read about our experience on Pirate River Quest and tips from our 2 days at LEGOLAND!
Planning Pirate River Quest and More
To visit LEGOLAND, you need tickets, a place to stay and a general plan. We started planning this weekend last year and got annual passes on Black Friday. We saved a 1/3 of the cost and we’re able to get the platinum passes with no blockout dates. But finding a place to stay is a little harder. You can stay at the expensive LEGOLAND Resort, at a cheaper hotel nearby, or an hour away in Orlando. We opted to stay in the same hotel Suzie and Eddie booked just a 6 minute drive away.
As for the general plan, we know we want to visit both LEGOLAND and Peppa Pig Theme Park next door. Both are included in our passes, but we want to spend our 1st day at LEGOLAND. And besides riding the new Pirate River Quest ride, there are 2 other things we want to do. Last time here we didn’t get to ride the Lost Kingdom Adventure or visit Cypress Gardens. So, our goal is to do all the things we didn’t do last time. And on the 2nd day we’ll start at Peppa Pig Theme Park before doing more at LEGOLAND. You can read more about Peppa Pig Theme Park and our previous stay at the Legoland Resort here.
The other thing we like to plan is our food. We have 1 goal and that’s to eat Granny’s Apple Fries. They are a LEGOLAND original snack and they are awesome! We also booked dinner the 1st night at the Shipwreck Restaurant at the Pirate Island Hotel. This hotel is attached to the LEGOLAND Hotel just outside the park gates and is our favorite. With our general plan, we decide to ride Pirate River Quest first.
Getting on the Pirate River Quest Ride
We got to the park entrance just after it opened at 10:00AM. But we found out Pirate River Quest is in the back of the park near Cypress Gardens. In fact, this boat ride actually goes through these historic gardens built in the 1930’s. Now we’ll be able to see the gardens from the land and the water. You can read more about this ride at: Pirate River Quest at LEGOLAND® Florida | All-New Ride.
By the time we get to the ride it’s 10:22AM and a 40 minute wait. But we figure this could get worse and we can knock it out first. As soon as we pull up an attendant asks the ages of our daughters. Suzie and Eddie’s daughter has to wear a life vest and our daughter doesn’t but gets one anyways. And then we head into the line, which doesn’t look too long. But we are waiting for at least 10 minutes before we see a boat return to the dock. Eventually we see about 3 boats even though they have dock space for twice as many.
Needless to say, it takes forever and we actually wait an hour and 15 minutes before we get on the ride! Not to mention it is freezing today, but we are ready for the ride.
The Pirate River Quest Ride
Each boat fits 11 people in 4 rows and the driver at the back of the boat. They split us up seating us in the front and 3rd rows with our kids in the middle. And as soon as we get going, we hear Captain Redbeard’s voice narrating our voyage. There is also a LEGO parrot up front that joins the captain on our trip.
Around the 1st turn we watch out for some LEGO monkeys and the captain asks us to look for treasure. And then we look for Calico Jane’s pirate ship which is being attacked by monkeys and is unfortunately sinking. We can’t help her so we must continue on. Also here we get some good views of the Chapel Gazebo in the gardens. We are on one of the 1st boats to go through these canals since LEGOLAND took over Cypress Gardens Theme Park.
The canals then narrow where we continue past more perils while counting different colored gems. We pass sleeping LEGO alligators, songbirds that can make you fall asleep and skeleton pirates. We also look for gold bricks while passing under spiders and quickly passing a sea monster.
Once through all the perils we exit the canal into Lake Eloise. We pass the Florida Pool in the gardens to see boats part of the water ski show next door. We heard Pirate River Quest is a 20 minute ride, but we were on the boat for about 25 minutes. Once back at the dock, we turn in the girls’ life vests and head to Cypress Gardens.
Cypress Gardens
Since the water ski show is going on next door, we head past the stadium to the open lawn. Here we get to watch the last few minutes of the show. We got to see the show last time and highly recommend. If you would like to read more about it, click here. Then we head over to the historic gardens.
The gardens have nice paved walkways with benches that pass flowers, sculptures, and more. As we approach the Chapel Gazebo we see a great egret walking between the flowers. But at this point, Suzie can’t find her phone and Becky goes with her to look for it. But Eddie and I continue with the girls through the gardens. One of the highlights of the gardens is the Banyan Tree you can walk through.
We get to walk on the bridges over the canal to the shore of Lake Eloise. Another highlight is seeing the Florida pool built in the shape of the state for a movie in 1953. Though it doesn’t look like anyone has swam here in many years.
We pass some pretty views of the lake until we head back over a bridge to the other side. We loop back to the Banyan Tree before heading back to the exit. After a nice 25 minute stroll we head back to Pirate River Quest to see if Suzie found her phone. To our surprise, the ride has been closed due to the weather. It was cold and windy (more standing in line), but feel lucky we got to ride it today. And someone next door found Suzie’s phone left on the lawn after the show. It’s already almost 1:00PM, and we’re ready for lunch.
Technicycle and Lunch
We decide to head toward LEGO NINJAGO the Ride and look for lunch. We see Burger Kitchen and decide to check it out. But Becky and Suzie want to ride Technicycle with the girls while Eddie and I get in line to order. The wait time for the ride is short, and they’re on in 10 minutes. Technicyle uses pedal power to go higher making it a fun ride.
The girls are on the ride before we make it to the counter to order. There’s no one taking orders and the employees are struggling to get the food out to those already paid. But a new cashier arrives and the line starts moving. We order the BBQ Bacon Smokehouse Burger to share and a kid’s cheeseburger for our daughter. Both come with fries and hers comes with a drink.
We have to get condiment packets and napkins by the drink machines. But no tables inside, so we find one outside. The table is actually nice and the burgers aren’t bad. The kid’s burger is exactly the same size as the other burger except ours has BBQ sauce and bacon. And the 2 burgers and fries are enough for the 3 of us. Eddie and Suzie get chicken fingers for the 3 of them that they enjoy. After refueling we head to the NINJAGO ride but it’s temporary closed, so we head to Lost Kingdom Adventure.
Lost Kingdom Adventure and Pharaoh’s Revenge
On the way we pass the Ultimate Sandwich Builder food truck. Their menu looks good and we think it would be good to try tomorrow. But now we are ready for the other ride we wanted to do. When we arrive the wait time posted is 15 minutes, but takes us almost 30. At least they have a LEGO play area you pass while in the outside line to amuse little ones.
The car fits 4 of us so we split into 2 cars of 3 with the kids with Suzie. The ride itself is similar to Buzz Lightyear or Toy Story Mania at Disney. You shoot at targets to get points throughout the ride as it tracks your score on the car. Becky wins this time, a Master Treasure Hunter. After the 5 minute ride, we let the kids loose in Pharaoh’s Revenge Land of Adventure. This contained play area allows them to go through a maze they climb through. After about 20 minutes of play time, we want to do more rides.
Royal Joust and Merlin’s Challenge
We leave the Land of Adventure area for LEGO Kingdoms. And the 1st ride we see is Royal Joust that has a posted 15 minute wait. However this ride is only for kids between 4-12. So Becky and Suzie take the girls to wait in line while Eddie and I find a bench. After 20 minutes they get on the ride, which is a LEGO horse that trots through a medieval forest. The girls love the ride and it’s really cute.
Afterwards we see The Dragon coaster has a 60 minute wait, so we go to Merlin’s Challenge next to it instead. This time Suzie and I take the kids and after a few minutes we’re on the ride. This wooden LEGO train is powered by Merlin the wizard as it goes up and down spinning in a circle really fast. This was another new ride for us that we really liked.
The LEGO Movie World and Ride
From LEGO Kingdoms, we walk to the LEGO MOVIE WORLD area. As soon as we enter, someone tells us we can meet a character inside Emmet’s Super Suite. And it’s Rex Dangervest, the alter ego to Emmet from the future! And there’s no line so the girls walk right up to him. Also unlike Disney, there is no professional photographer. However, you can take as many pictures as you want. Afterwards, we exit in a small store before we head out to do the “couch ride”.
The LEGO MOVIE Masters of Flight aka “couch ride” is an indoor ride on Emmet’s Triple-Decker flying couch. And for some reason it’s only a 10 minute wait. So Becky and I take the kids while Eddie and Suzie sit this one out. And it actually takes us 10 minutes to get on the ride. However, that’s as far as we get. We sit on the ride waiting for it to start for almost 20 minutes before we’re told it’s broken down. We’re told we can wait until it gets fixed, but they don’t know when it will so we leave.
The girls then wait in line for Unikitty’s Disco Drop next door while Eddie and I walk through MINILAND USA. We then meet at Granny’s Apple Fries after the girls stop at DUPLO Tractor ride on the way. It’s getting closer to dinner but Becky and I get an order of apple fries with caramel dip to share. The apple fries are quickly devoured between all of us. It’s just a sample, but we’ll be back tomorrow. Afterwards we exit the park to the LEGOLAND Hotel 10 minutes after 5:00PM.
Shipwreck Restaurant
We hang at the castle playground in the LEGOLAND Hotel while Suzie sees if we can get in the restaurant early. Though our reservation is at 6:30PM, she’s able to get us in an hour early. On the way to the Pirate Hotel next door, we see another character in the lobby. And once at the restaurant, we are seated right away. At the table, there are pirate bandanas the girls put on. And our server also finds us some eye patches to go along with them.
The food is family style all you can eat. There are 3 meal options, the Pirate Platter, Seadog Skillet or Plant Based Skillet. Even though our server said we could choose more than one, we choose the Seadog Skillet for the table. And the kids get chicken fingers and fries. The Seadog Skillet comes with grilled flank steak, roasted pork tenderloin, blackened fish (Mahi), sauteed shrimp and rotisserie chicken. Our server also brings out sides of rice pilaf, mac and cheese, green beans and mashed potatoes. The platter also has mushroom cream sauce and garlic butter for the pork and shrimp.
All of the meats are good, and we especially like the fish and order more. You can order as much as you want. And after eating dinner, our server brings out 3 desserts for the table. And she gets some others to come and sing happy birthday to Suzie and Eddie’s daughter. We get 2 chocolate fondues with bananas, strawberries and marshmallows (no peanuts). And also 1 warm chocolate chip cookie skillet with vanilla ice cream, chocolate sauce and heath bar pieces. It’s way to much food, but the quality is excellent.
Starting off 2nd day at Peppa Pig Theme Park
Check out our updated post Peppa Pig Theme Park Now Open! for our stop there.
Back to LEGOLAND
After we leave Peppa Pig Theme Park, Eddie and Suzie go to lunch while we head back to LEGOLAND. We accomplished what we wanted at the park yesterday. So our plan today is to do more things we didn’t get a chance to do yesterday. And it’s about noon when we enter, so we check the wait times. We see LEGO NINJAGO The Ride only has a 5 minute wait so we race to it. Yesterday it was closed when we tried to ride it, but today we get on in 15 minutes. This is another ride we all can ride where we use our hands like ninjas to shoot targets.
After NINJAGO, we head toward more rides in the LEGO City area. Our daughter wants to ride the Ford Driving School cars. It’s a 10 minute posted wait time, and of course takes about 15 minutes to get on. This is a kids-only ride where they ride little LEGO cars around a track. She has fun and afterwards we go into the shop attached to the driving school. Here we pay to get her driver’s license which comes with a lanyard. She loves it!
Face Paint, Finding Lunch and a 4D Show
Once outside the shop, we see a face painter with no line unlike the one in LEGO Kingdoms. She gets the unicorn mask which turns out great. But now it’s after 1:30PM and we’re getting hungry. We go to the Ultimate Sandwich Builder food truck we saw yesterday. But for some reason today, it’s closed. However, we grab a couple beers at the stand next to it before heading back the way we came. Here we see a sign for Deli Takeover with a menu of sandwiches so we decide to check it out. It’s inside the Imagination Zone building which we would have never known was here without seeing the sign. They have grab and go sandwiches, but you can also order paninis which we did. We also ordered a grilled cheese for our daughter. And they’re actually pretty good.
At this time Suzie and Eddie get back to LEGOLAND and decide to do the NINJAGO ride. Since we just did it, I take our daughter to the Funtown Theater for a 4D show. They play different shows throughout the day, and The LEGO Movie 4D: A New Adventure show is about to start. The theater is really large inside with plenty of room, though not sure what a 4D show is. But we soon find out when water sprays on us during the show. It actually happens 4x waking me up from my nap! And I was more than just a little wet. So we head outside to dry off in the Sun.
More Rides and Apple Fries and Ice Cream
Becky meets up with us afterwards and we walk to Mia’s Riding Adventure. This ride has a 48″ minimum height, but our daughter is tall enough. And we get on in less than 5 minutes. However, this ride makes no sense. You saddle into a horse on a disc coaster that not only goes up and down but spins. I’m not sure how it does all that or why horses, but it’s a blast! And afterwards, we meet back up with Suzie and Eddie in LEGO MOVIE World.
Suzie’s in line to ride Unikitty’s Disco Drop. So I join her with our daughter while Becky gets in line for the LEGO Movie Masters of Flight Ride. The Unikitty ride is another surprisingly fun ride for kids and adults alike. After Unikitty, I meet Becky in line with the kids and we get to do the “couch ride” this time. After the ride we head to the Florida Prepaid Schoolhouse in Duplo Valley which is an inside playground. Eddie and I hang out and let the kids run around while Becky and Suzie get apple fries and ice cream.
When we get to Granny’s Apple Fries Becky and Suzie are waiting with apple fries and ice cream to share. The apple fries are great, but even better with ice cream! They each got one and we all enjoy devouring them. Before we go I take our daughter to ride the carousel one more time before we go shopping. We head into the LEGO Factory store and then the BIG Shop buying a few things before we leave around 5:30.
Summary of Pirate River Quest and More at LEGOLAND
After 2 days at LEGOLAND, we accomplished our goals. The 1st day we did the new Pirate River Quest ride which we really liked even though it was cold. Not only does it go through Cypress Gardens, but we walked through the gardens afterwards. Both the ride and the gardens will be so much better in the spring when warmer, but we really enjoyed them. We also got to ride the Lost Kingdom Adventure for the 1st time which we all liked. We also got a taste of apple fries before having a wonderful dinner at Shipwreck Restaurant. The 2nd day we started at Peppa Pig Theme Park next door before heading back to LEGOLAND. We then got to ride the NINJAGO and LEGO MOVIE rides we missed out on yesterday. Our daughter also got face paint and a driver’s license before we all ate apple fries and ice cream!
It was a full 2 days, though we could have done more. There are so many rides between the 2 parks, there’s no way to do them all. Our only disappointment was the posted wait times were always less than the actual wait times. Last time it was the opposite, but this time the actual wait times were longer. Though we weren’t disappointed their waterpark was closed due to the weather. Because that sounds like a plan for next time. But this time we really enjoyed Pirate River Quest Ride and More at LEGOLAND!
For more info about LEGOLAND, you can read about our 1st trip here at: LEGOLAND Florida Is Amazing And Awesome!