Anonymous wrote:We are planning to drive to Legoland NY this summer. Could you do that for a weekend?

*I LOVE the OG Legoland in Denmark, it's amazing, I wish I could go back and I'm in my 40s!

If you time the traffic right, you can be there in about 5 hours. So if you leave Friday afternoon, you could spend all day Saturday there and come home Sunday. But it is 75 miles northwest of NYC, I don't know that I would drive all the way up there to go to an amusement park and drive back, I'd try to tack on an extra day in NYC or Philadelphia on the way home.

We are planning to drive to Legoland NY this summer. Could you do that for a weekend?

*I LOVE the OG Legoland in Denmark, it's amazing, I wish I could go back and I'm in my 40s!

We took our 10 year old and she still enjoyed it. The one in DC is smaller than the one in Philly, so you could do the Philly one if you want to make it more "special".

I'd not do both Scramble and DC Legoland in one day -- just one of those is enough excitement for a day.

Also look into Cartoon Network Hotel in Lancaster, PA, and it's next to Dutch Wonderland.

My 8-year old loves both places, and we are semi regulars at both, but we enjoy them in a “isn’t this a fun thing to do on a rainy day” kind of way and not a “destination visit” kind of way, if that makes sense.

Legoland NY might be more up your alley, but if your son is a big thill seeker he may have already outgrown it.

Try Diggerland in New Jersey, plus Ocean City New Jersey and/or Philadelphia attractions like their science center.

Diggerland lets kids drive trucks and operate excavators (with a lot of staff and safety precautions). It was the best destination we went to around that age.

Lego discovery center is ideal for 4-7. The theme park in New York is maybe for up to 10, max. I took my son when he was 8 and he had already outgrown a bunch.

Probably not as cool as what you did but the National Building Museum has a Lego exhibit https://nbm.org/exhibitions/brick-city/

Recently took my 7 year old, who loved it! We were there about 4 hours

If you can swing it, Legoland in Florida or NY would be better options. That said, we took my kids to the one in PA a few years ago when they were 7 and 10 and we all had a good time and spent about 2 hours there. I was underwhelmed when we first walked in, but the activities were actually really fun, and the master builder class was cool.

My 8 year old is pretty bored at the Lego Discovery Center after a short time. I'd be more inclined to head to Legoland in NY or Florida.

When is the birthday? What about the legoland amusement park in upstate NY, that is about a 5 hour drive and you can make it a weekend trip. It is open weekends beginning at the end of march.

The train museum in Baltimore?

Air and Space out at Dulles with the imax and the flight simulators?

The discovery center I think is geared towards younger kids. I took my lego obsessed kid there when he was 10, and while he loved seeing the lego builds, the activities are pretty simple.

No to the discovery center.

Quick backstory: My 7-year-old was privileged to have the opportunity to visit Billund, Denmark April 2025 and we stayed at the Lego Hotel (ninjago themed room), spent a day at the Lego House, and another day at Legoland. It was magical and my kids loved the hotel and Lego House the best. Here's the link for the legoland hotel https://www.legoland.dk/en/short-break/you-can-stay-here/hotel-legoland/? if you want to go.

So that being said......
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My son asked if we could go to Legoland (billund) for his birthday this year and thought we could just hop on a plane, no prob and spent a long bday weekend there and invite his bestie+mom (I'm friends with his mom). I'd love it, but it's not in the budget, so I'm trying to find something else that could be really special and semi similar.

I'm considering planning a really fun birthday weekend, maybe in northern VA? While there is no amazing lego hotel There is my parents home in Arlington with several guest rooms and it's free! I was thinking about taking the kids to "Scramble-Shirlington", so they can do Parkour and also go to the Lego Discovery Center.

Has anyone been to the Lego Discovery Center?? Is it worth it? Will it be totally lame for kids turning 8? Are there better options for a special birthday weekend?

Thanks