LEGOLAND Japan Pictures Preview Part TWO

So this week we got to go to the LEGOLAND Japan preview days. It was my littlest's Birthday over the weekend and two of the days her brother was in school so I thought it would be the perfect treat for her to have a little time with Mommy and even Daddy joined us one of the days. Then we went both days over the weekend with her brother. I took a ton of LEGOLAND Japan pictures to share with you guys!

I know what you guys are thinking... "you are so lucky!" Yep, we had fun and the kids really love the place, but we are exhausted! We don't have a car and mixed up a little public transportation, with some bicycling, baby-wearing, and walking. So. Much. Walking. We finally broke down and rented a stroller the last day just to carry around our backpack...

So on to the LEGOLAND Japan preview...

I chatted a lot about the place in my first post a couple days ago. Going several more times really gave me a little more time to find a lot of the funny little "Easter eggs" in the park, like the giant 1x1 round LEGO piece "poop" under the dino in front and angry minifig on cleanup. I got a good laugh out of that.

This park is so great with all the little photo-op scenes. We loved this little car with a bunny because there were buttons to make the horn blow, the engine roar, and the headlights go on.

A lot of the rides were not yet open or only open for short periods of time. Also, I'm not sure how popular the ones where you get wet will be in the winter, here, where it gets quite cold. There were a couple rides and walkways where you may be surprised with getting water splashed or shot at you and luckily it was on the warmer side because a group of hoodlums (my own kids) got me! Be vigilant for these water features and don't let your guard down or you will end up looking like you work here when you have to buy a change of clothes in the gift shop and have to spend the rest of the day telling people where the restroom is.

If I didn't mention it before, all the buildings and structures in this park are beautiful! Everything is so colorful, bright, with the perfect mix of decorations, scaled up LEGO pieces, props, signs, LEGO models, and design. I'm going to agree with my husband who has seen all of the parks up close and say that this is probably the nicest and best looking of all of them. Everything just looks so well-done and it truly embodies the quality of the LEGO toys.

There is nothing cheap or as they say in the industry "value-engineered" here, or at least if there is, the average guests will not notice.

It is all clean lines, chunky decorations, and details that are coming together cohesively as you walk from land to land yet keeping a common and stylized thread. I'm not just saying this because we are big LEGOLAND fans or my husband works for them. I'm thoroughly impressed. I feel like we are finally seeing what a LEGOLAND park is supposed to be.

Of course the other parks will still have their charm and their uniqueness. LEGOLAND Japan doesn't make me love them any less, and certainly doesn't mean that you shouldn't visit the other parks. In fact, quite the opposite.

They are actually all quite different and special, especially their Minilands, which are all VERY different from one another.

My what big teeth you have...

This is a dragon footprint inside the store in Knights Kingdom. This is where the two coasters are in this park. I was a little surprised that there was not another bigger roller coaster but I'm also noticing that I can feel my age a little bit when I ride one so it was fine by me...

The food options weren't really suitable for vegans. We try to eat food that should be vegan but we have no clue (like french fries) when we go to places like this. As a (mostly) vegan family I still need to do my research on the ingredients and I promise to share what I come up with. They are very good about identifying allergens in foods at this park and I've already crossed the very cute brick shaped tater tots off my list because they make them with eggs.

So far, I know these are NOT VEGAN... but darn cute. Who else thinks all things made out of potatoes should be vegan???

The fruit is the only food item I know FOR SURE is vegan. I'm SURE of it!!! I had a backpack full of snacks when they did the security check at the front gate so I'd say it is completely safe to assume that you can bring your own food here. If not, I would have cookie monstered my snacks right there - no problem. It's hard because I'm like always hungry... please feed the vegans.

Really cute dance show in Adventure and the 4D is pretty cool but understandably all in Japanese. The Ninjago show is visually awesome, too, but also in Japanese. I'm glad we got to see it in the Malaysian park where they do it in English.

The landscape is all gorgeous. It is always cool to see it grow into a park... BEST landscaping is hands-down in LEGOLAND Florida, which used to have a botanical garden, and LEGOLAND Billund has a really beautifully landscaped Miniland as does the California park in my opinion.

Each DeMaria was entitled to lose 500 yen at the game of their choice. No second chances or you forfeit your souvenir in the Big Shop. No crying either. Only one broke that rule... I wanted a damn norwhal. They're my favorite. Stupid games :(

She cheered for herself even though she blew it. LOVE her!!!

Somehow, I've managed to avoid this so called "ride" at ALL the parks. I have sped past it with my stroller claiming potty break. I've taken alternate routes. I've secretly been super-happy when it was down for maintenance or turned into a snow slide. It is WORK. You pump a lever to move it and little kids cannot do it at all. Then you pump a lever to make water come out so kids with NO AIM try to spray a target that is too small.

This time, we ended up with a group of friends and the kids took over and demanded it. It was actually pretty hilarious and a miracle that none of the moms ended up in first aid but an employee had to jump in and finish for our friends. I laughed myself to tears.

Why does he have to look like he would be THAT cop. The one that enjoys pulling you over. You can be a cop if you like, kid, but please be like the dancing one, or one that or the one that says, "I'm going to let you off this time..."

Then we went up into the observation tower to get some pretty amazing views of the park. We won't see the Miniland on this tour but soon, my friends. It looks SO cool. It is all miniature cities and landmarks in Japan made entirely out of LEGO bricks, including Tokyo, Nagoya, I could see Nagoya Castle, Mount Fuji, Himeji Castle, Tokyo Skytree... I am so excited to see it and CANNOT wait to see if it was made with love. The cityscapes and layout look fantastic but I want to see if the designers were thoughtful and creative when it comes to populating the city as my colleagues and I were when I worked there years ago...

Finally, for a special treat, you can actually run around the park with me in a little (well maybe not so little - like 10 minutes or so) video I put together! Enjoy.