The long awaited LEGOLAND Castle Hotel California has finally opened! We were so excited to be one of the first guests to stay and experience the new hotel. Read on to find out what we thought and why this should be on your must visit list!
Just as I recommended for the first LEGOLAND Resort, if you are planning a trip to LEGOLAND, you need to consider staying at one of these awesome hotels. From the moment you arrive you will be treated like royalty! As much as we loved the original LEGOLAND Resort, we are even more in love with the LEGOLAND Castle Hotel.
Staying here will ensure that your kids have an amazing experience inside and outside of the park – one they will probably want to do again and again!
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LEGOLAND Castle Hotel California
As you approach the park and hotels you will see the beautifully modeled grey LEGOLAND Castle Hotel. It looks like it could be made out of LEGOs, which we thought was super cool. Details matter and LEGOLAND has pulled out all the stops. Even the front entryway has a cobblestone look to help get you into the world of medieval times!
Upon first view, you might feel that the Grand Hall (aka the lobby!) at the Castle Hotel is much smaller than at the original LEGOLAND Hotel. You are correct, it is. But this is because the lobby is not the central feature of this hotel like the LEGOLAND Hotel. Instead, this is just a fun entry place to check in/out. Even though that is the central feature, the area is still loaded with fun for the kids to keep them busy while you are doing the business side of your stay.
With a towering Merlin statue overseeing the Grand Hall LEGO area and owl statues around, you will quickly get the feel of just how magical your stay will be. My son felt it was almost like visiting Harry Potter’s magical world which for kids is an added bonus.
While in the lobby area, don’t miss the super cool double sided photo wall, talking throne, the knock knock joke door and of course the slide!
The LEGOLAND Castle Hotel has more than 2,000 LEGO creations throughout the property using more than 3 million LEGO bricks. It is really amazing to see so many structures throughout the property. How many structures can you count?
The Rooms at the Castle Hotel
Much like the original LEGOLAND Hotel, the rooms at the LEGOLAND Castle Hotel California are spacious and super family friendly. LEGOLAND thinks of everything that kids of all ages need, which makes life for parents so much easier.
There are 250 rooms with three levels of rooms focusing on the castle theme. The premium themed rooms consist of Magic Wizard, Knights and Dragons and Royal Princess rooms. The different themes run throughout the room telling a story. From defending the King’s Castle and protecting the treasures from fire breathing dragons to learning potions and spells in the Magic Wizard room kids will have so much fun using their imagination even in the room.
My son was crossing his fingers for a Magic Wizard room to continue living out his Harry Potter dreams, but we got the Royal Princess room instead. Which I must say, was totally fine for a boy. The room was not overtly “girly” (aka pink), which was great as it can easily appeal to boys as well as girls. The only pink area was the canopy over the bed, but with it’s cool light feature I will venture to guess most boys could easily overlook the pink! The story of this room is that the princess, with the help of a jester is preparing to sneak into the Knights Tournament to compete against the men!
Don’t forget to pick up your scavenger hunt from the front desk to unveil treasure in your room!
Just like the original LEGOLAND Hotel, the rooms here have a king bed in the main bedroom with a separate children’s sleeping area with twin bunk beds and a trundle bed underneath, providing beds for 3 kids. For larger families this is huge- no more need for booking two different rooms or suites.
Each children’s bedroom area comes with their own flat screen TV and LEGO building table adding even more opportunities for fun.
In addition to these rooms, there are also 20 suites with several of each theme available. These rooms have a living room in addition to actual doors on both the bedroom and children’s sleeping area. The sofa in the living room also pulls out into a bed adding space for 2 more!
TURN off the lights and look up.. in the children’s sleeping area kids can sleep under the stars – literally – with the new dark sky feature.
Rooms on the ground floor facing the courtyard come with a small patio area which is great to view the happenings of the courtyard from your room.
[box]NOTE: If you have small children or are light sleepers, you might consider staying in a room away from the courtyard. Nightly entertainment in the courtyard can be loud for light sleepers.[/box]
The Hotel Grounds
All of the action here at the Castle Hotel is outdoors in the beautifully designed courtyard. I can guarantee this is where you will be spending much of your time at the hotel. With space for eating (or putting together LEGO kits!), space to run around, areas to build with LEGOs and of course plenty of play space this will be your child’s preferred home base.
As you enter the courtyard, you will find an outdoor seating area with tables that have games built in to the tops. We loved this addition as it helps keep kids occupied during meals or when everyone just needs a little down time.
Moving down the courtyard there is a stage where all of the nightly entertainment occurs. The current schedule is: 6pm Bubble Show, 7pm Knight Training or Dragon Training, and 8pm a Scripted Play. In between the shows kids can build on the lawn with either large duplo LEGOs or head over to the table to build with original sized LEGOs.
Continuing down the courtyard is an amazing playground with a built in obstacle course (says my 7 year old!), slides and play structure. This is one of our favorite additions to the hotel. Even though you might think that a day walking and exploring at LEGOLAND would tire the kids out, they often still need time to get the wiggles out by being kids. This play structure is perfect!
If the kids are too pooped to play, they will love the outdoor cinema where families can hang out to watch movies or just relax. The outdoor cinema is the perfect place to throw down a blanket and chill after a long day at the park.
And finally, the pool! The pool here at the Castle Hotel is also a big hit with it’s zero entry, splash features and buildable floating LEGOs. Families can rent cabanas or just stake out chairs to spend the afternoon soaking up the sun. The water is heated to ensure water fun can be had all year long.
Dining at the Castle Hotel
There is only one dining area at the Castle Hotel, but it pulls out all the stops for family meals. The Dragon’s Den is where all the castle’s kings and queens eat and drink. The new addition here sure to make parents happy is the large play area where kids can play while waiting for the meals to arrive. A self playing piano, LEGO building area, and ‘audible’ seats, it will be difficult to pull kids away when it’s time to eat! Additionally, this area hosts entertaining improv sessions throughout the day which makes it another great place to situate yourself for a little down time.
The food at the Dragon’s Den is great as well. The Dragon’s Den is a full-service sit down restaurant with options for both picky eaters and grownups looking for a little more culinary delight. Breakfast is included with your stay and offers a wonderful buffet style service where even kids can help themselves! With everything from fruit smoothies, waffles and eggs there is something for everyone at breakfast.
The Dragon’s Den has an open kitchen for guests to watch chefs preparing the food which is always great entertainment for the kiddos as well.
While in the Dragon’s Den, have your kiddos look around for the hidden LEGO mice that are all over the dining area and LEGO structures. We had fun trying to count how many there were.. Our number is in the 20’s…let us know what you come up with!
Our Recommendations
If you are coming down for a quick visit, arrive early enough on your first day to really enjoy the property at the LEGOLAND Castle Hotel California. It really is it’s own attraction that should be given ample time. With the splash pool, playground and entertainment in the courtyard, you will want to have time to enjoy it all without pushing into your LEGOLAND Park time!
As much as we love the original LEGOLAND Hotel, both my son and I fell in love with the Castle Hotel and think that it is definitely the top choice for staying at LEGOLAND California.
Have you been to a LEGOLAND Hotel in other places? Share your experience with us!
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This place looks so perfect for a birthday celebration! I’m sure my son would love this. Thank you for sharing the pics 🙂
Just some fyi for your other readers: we’ve stayed in both suite types at the Legoland hotel. The suite on the outside corner has a bigger kids room. We actually pulled the trundle out completely and put it under the window. So much easier than pulling it out every night, and the other kids having to step on it to get to the other beds. The parents room has a sliding door which was nice for some privacy but the living room was small. Barely room to move around with the sofa made in to a bed. Ther’s one chair in the living area, a small table and a lamp. The parents bedroom has a desk with a chair and one whole wall is an open closet/storage area. The other suite, on the inside corner, has a smaller kids room – more the size of the regular rooms, but the rest of the suite is very roomy. The living area has a sofa bed, coffee table, two arm chairs, a small cafe table with two chairs and an end table. There is also a sofa table that was under the tv but we moved it in to the hallway in front of the connecting door to the next room and put all the kids hats, backpacks, sunglasses, etc on it so they wouldn’t forget them. There’s no privacy door on the parents room – wish they had the entry to the kids room on the other side by the bathroom, that would have been better. We kept the sofa bed out all week and moved a few things around and still enough room for everyone (all 7 of us) to play or watch tv. There is also the open closet/storage along the wall from the entry door to the back of the suite. Both these suites have 3 tv’s. We’re off this next week to stay in the castle hotel.
Thanks for the detailed message! I think we only saw one suite, which sounded a bit different than what you stayed in, so this is great to know!
Hi! we’ll be going to legoland in november (me, wife, 3 kids – 3-4-6 yo), from Brazil. We’d been to the original legoland, and I’d like to know if you can help us… at afternoon / night, the kids playing area will be outdoors or are there indoors playing areas in the castle hotel? I ask this because in november nights may get cooler and I’m sure the original has an indoor playing area… tks !
Bruno Soares
Hi Bruno! Yes there is a play area inside the Castle Hotel as well in the dining area and inside the lobby. It’s not as spacious as the other hotel, but there are still plenty of places to play. But most of the planned activities will still happen outside so bring a hoodie in case it’s chilly!
Thanks so much!!