Legoland 20 - 21 October 2012

Hotel: Mutiara Hotel, Johor Bahru

Deal purchase: LEGOLAND® Theme Park: 2D1N Stay at 5-Star Mutiara Hotel - Includes 2-Way Super Deluxe Coach + Buffet Breakfast + Premium Outlet Tour + Tour Guide Service (Min 2 Pax) – 3 Price Options Available

Please note that this deal was purchased a couple of months back...way before Legoland was opened.  That could explain the steep price.

The hotel was conveniently located within walking distance to KSL Mall and Holiday Plaza.  The tourguide drops us back at the hotel at about 6pm (after our visit to Legoland), thus giving us enough time to get to KSL mall for dinner, shopping and movie.  The thing we didn't quite like about the hotel is that there's no free wifi.  Then again, most of the time....free wifi only comes with boutique hotels.

For a 5 star hotel, breakfast was not fantastic. Soup was cold and thus my self-made noodle came out hard.  Tried the congee, it wasn't hot either.  Maybe people staying in that hotel like their things cold.  But what surprises me was the temperature controlled shower...we can actually set the temperature!!  I set my hot shower at 36 deg :)

The main reason for this trip is Legoland.  The unforgiving sun wasn't treating us well.  My bestie and I came back sun burnt!  Well, she managed to save her face coz she has the habit of applying sunblock on the face.  I didn't. Upon entering Legoland, we were greeted with a huge arch that tells you you're in Legoland Malaysia.

There are rides and games mainly for small kids and the young at heart.  All rides are free but you have to pay for the funfair types of games.  Good thing is that you are guaranteed a prize.  See the 4th pic below?  You have to pull yourself up...so this is where daddies can play with their kids.

My favorite part of Legoland is the Miniland.  I'm super impressed that the miniature landscapes are so realistic.  From left to right (top to bottom): Taj Mahal, India; The Forbidden City, China; Wat Arun, Thailand; Port of Tanjung Pelepas, Malaysia.

From left to right (top to bottom): Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin Mosque, Brunei; Patuxi, Laos; Karaweik Hall, Myanmar; Angkor Wat, Cambodia.

From left to right (top to bottom): Singapore - Fullerton Hotel; Singapore Flyer; Merlion, Riverside Point.

From left to right (top to bottom): Kuala Lumpur - Petronas Towers; Perdana Putra Building; KLIA; Streets of KL.

Other than those miniatures, you will also see mascots walking around for photos.  All photos are by Legoland photographers carrying their Canon DSLR camera.  It wasn't too hard to guess who the camera partner is.  At Tan Chong Motors, your kids can learn how to drive their lego cars and get a license for that.  Note that the junior driving lessons are available for children age 3 and above.  Don't forget to take the lego train that circles around miniland plus some parts outside.  The queue is long and the ride is only perhaps 10 mins or less but it's quite interesting if you are too lazy to walk around and wants to know which area to focus in.  

I find it interesting that the shopping trolleys are kids size!  Really!!!  And you can even see kids happily piling up their trolleys with toys. 

Before I end this Legoland blog, here's some take home tips:

1. There's not alot of food inside Legoland and prices in there are steep (ie. RM6 for a bottle of coke or RM20 for chicken rice with a cup of drink).  You might want to get a re-entry stamp (like the above) and exit Legoland.  Right opposite Legoland, you will find Medina Mall which has more variety of food choices and of course, the price is alot better.
2. Bring sunblock!!!  This is important if you don't wish to BBQ your skin.  Shelters are not available sparingly although there are some along the way.
3. SGD accepted!  If you run out of Ringgit, fear not...they accept SGD with standard exchange rate throughout the theme park.  They will return your change in the form of ringgit.
4. If you bring along your entire home to the Theme park, they have lockers to help you with that as well.  They only have daily rental and the prices are RM20 per day for medium lockers and RM40 per day for large lockers.

After leaving Legoland, we were driven to the hotel.  Our lovely tourguide has already done the checkin for us while we were having fun in the theme park.  So the moment we got on the bus, we were given the keycards to our rooms.  We freshened up abit and went for dinner opposite KSL.  It was a short walk from our hotel.  I had pig stomach soup and she had BKT.  It was a simple and filling dinner.  After dinner, we proceeded to KSL for our Taken 2 movie ^.^...compared to the movie prices in Singapore, this is considered dirt cheap.  Just look at my BBQed skin....it's bad! -_-"

Breakfast was ok.  Can't say we were spoilt for choice considering the fact that this is a 5 star hotel.  But we managed to fill our stomach enough to skip lunch at Johor Premium outlet.  Didn't really take alot of pictures of JPO.

More photos available here

Legoland official website here