Legoland Discovery Center in Boston, Massachusetts

Legos are an iconic part of everyone’s childhood. I still find myself helping my almost nine year old son recreate model villages, race cars, and “monsters” with his boxes of legos all the time (and making sure that my son cleans up every stray lego so we don’t step on them!) He can spend hours pouring over step by step directions to make a model ship or superhero.

Legoland Discovery Centers (there are 12 locations in North America) are great places to create and explore with legos. There are rides, workshops with master builders, movies, playscapes, and of course, bins and bins of legos. On a recent trip to visit friends in Boston, we spent the morning at the Boston Discovery Center. Technically located in the town of Somerville, it’s a less than fifteen minute drive from downtown Boston.

Traveling with Kids:

• Purchase tickets online here ahead of time and save money. Check your local papers and online for coupons like $5 off tickets and free child admission with paid adult ticket promotions.

• Park in the Artisan West Garage for a nominal fee (the first three hours are free). There are also some metered street parking spaces ($1/hour).

• Leave the stroller at home. The exhibit is on the second floor (you’ll take an elevator) and no toddler will want to sit still (although there are plenty of benches if they do tire out!)

• Bring quarters for the lockers on the second floor- the lockers are a safe spot to store coats and bags.

• Restrooms are located on the second floor next to the Academy

• You’ll exit back down on the first floor retail shop– legos in every color, shape, size, and theme are for sale. Note: Gift cards are not accepted. There is a discount for annual pass members.

Twelve Things Everyone (Adults included!) Must Do at Legoland Discovery Center Boston:

1. Purchase an activity book ($5 surcharge) and collect the stamps located throughout the exhibit. Plus, there are plenty of other activities in the booklet to complete at home, including directions to build a variety of structures.

2. Zap the trolls with lasers to save the princess in the Kingdom Quest ride and pedal super fast to fly high on the Merlin’s Apprentice ride. Unfortunately the Kingdom Quest ride was not working on the day we visited (an engineer was flown from Sweden in to fix the ride) but it looks cool.

3. Examine the lego replicas of many famous Boston landmarks, including the Prudential Center, Fenway Park, Gillette Stadium, TD Bank Garden, and Harvard University. Race crew boats down the Charles River.

4. Climb through the mazes in the Play Zone.

5. Coast down the slide and pet the giant cow in the Duplo Village (geared towards the toddler crowd).

6. Watch at least one of the 4D videos in the Cinema. A variety of videos circle through every 15 minutes. Don’t forget the 4D glasses and watch out for the snow, fleet, and wind!

1. 7. Check out scenes from Star Wars Episode II Attack of the Clones in the Star Wars Mini Land. You can also experience the “Great Lego Race”: a virtual reality roller coaster. Additional fee applies and this ride is not recommended for young children.

   8. Check the time with the Lego Clock on the center of the exhibit. It chimes every 30 minutes with and many lego characters dance to the music.

   9. Make new friends with one of the many lego characters who greet fans throughout the day- usually every hour on the half hour.

   10. Learn from the masters- take a class in the Master Builder Academy. Classes are offered from 11am-4pm most days.

   11. Create and race your original race car in the Lego Build and Test. There are three different tracks to make sure you car is road worthy.

   12. Play and build with legos. Everywhere you look there are legos! We saw just as many adults as children building all sorts of creations.

Bonus: With the release of The Lego Movie 2, each Discovery Center is celebrating with a full calendar of special events from February to April, including make your own glider (and test it on a zipline) and make your own stop action movies. Check here for updates.

Eating Locally: There is a Coffee Shop on the second floor, which serves premade salads and sandwiches, snacks, drinks, and Starbucks coffee. There are promotions for $10 adult meals and $7 kids meals. The Assembly Row complex has many dining options; check here for a list. Diagonal to Legoland Discovery Center are four great options: JP Licks for ice cream, frozen yogurt, and drinks; Paul for gourmet French coffees, pastries, sandwiches and sweets; and Ernesto’s for enormous pizza slices- each “slice” is a quarter of a full pizza.

For more fun in Boston, check out our adventures at the Museum of Fine Arts,  Boston Tea Party Ship and Museum, the Boston Historic Park, the Charlestown Navy Yard and USS Constitution and Museum, and Massachusetts State House.

Disclosure: My family was given a media pass to visit the Legoland Discover Center. All opinions expressed are my own.