We just made our first visit to Legoland in California and now I am back and full of all sorts of tips for you!
My children are aged 5 and 6 and both are girls so I will share our experiences. My girls are interested in Legos and play with them occasionally but I wouldn’t say they are super fanatics. We still had fun without being huge Lego fans- so I would totally recommend this park to anyone- not just Lego fanatics.
GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT LEGOLAND
First I just want to say that I was warned repeatedly that Legoland is not the cleanest amusement park. I asked for feedback from readers before we left and heard over and over that the park is just not very nice. We went on our trip expecting something like a Fair or Carnival.
This is just my opinion but to really enjoy Legoland I think you need to understand it is not Disneyland. Legoland is much smaller and I didn’t find it quite as clean- however I didn’t think it was a dirty park by any means (and I am a fussy person about cleanliness). The attractions had a little built up grime and spiderwebs and just needed a good spring cleaning. I was really looking though and I think some people might not even notice (for sure your small kids won’t notice.) I really only found some grime on the models on the boat tour (they have very cool Lego builds of the Taj Mahal and Sydney Opera House and other cool landmarks) and the Aquarium and the mini city could have used a dusting off. Otherwise we found the park to be very clean and nice.
The advantage to Legoland is that I found it was less overwhelming then Disney can be. The lines were WAY shorter and the park is no where near as crowded. They do have a cool water park and we loved the roller coaster but just note you won’t find the huge, crazy rides at Legoland. You won’t find the huge rides but the great thing is that we probably spent a max of 15 minutes in line though for the top rides at peak time. Oh and Legoland has legos set up for the kiddos to play while the parents wait! If you have small children they might be afraid of some of the larger rides at Disney anyway so this is a great option for smaller children.
The second important bit of information is that Legoland is comprised of (3) sections- the amusement park, the Sea Life Aquarium and the Water Park. You will need to buy tickets for just the amusement park or spend a little more and get access to all 3 areas- (more on tickets in just a bit).
Another important thing to note is that the park is open from 10am until 6pm.* We did the entire park in one day and we were going from basically open until they start pushing you out the gates. We felt that was sufficient time to go on our favorite rides a few times, spend time at the Water park and the aquarium, sit down for lunch and basically not have a big frantic race to get to everything.
We probably could have used one more hour to shop for souvenirs and spend a little more time in the mini city. I think one more day would have been too long at the park but again just my opinion for our family. Had we arrived at 9am and not had the brutal wait at the onset, we probably could have fit almost everything in. If you have a child that might be fascinated with the Lego statues and such, one day might not be enough to see the entire park.
Oh and I had read reviews from people indicating that Legoland simply doesn’t have the ability to get people through lines like Disney does. The staff is slow or the process is slow but I did find that to absolutely be the case. I found the staff to be friendly and helpful for sure but we decided to upgrade our tickets to go into the waterpark when we arrived around 10am and it seriously took like an hour. It really started the day off on the wrong foot and we only had about 5 or 6 people in front of us. (I later discovered that I think we could have upgraded the tickets right at the water park area with no lines at all- lesson learned.) The staff was extremely friendly though- they gladly took bags, sunglasses, drinks etc… to hold for you while you were on a ride. Very helpful.
Also we did arrive right at 10am when the park got flooded with people so that could have been why the wait was so long. To actually get into the park was no issue at all- we zipped through.
*Oh and one last important thing– the rides open at 10am. I would recommend getting there earlier- maybe 9 or 9:30 so you can get tickets sorted out, get some photos etc… and then you are off and running at 10am. If I could do it again I would have arrived at 9am. You can see the opening hours of operation for the dates you are planning to visit here. It looks like they are open as late as 8pm on some dates and then if you look at the top in red it indicates the park opens at 9am and select rides start at 9:30 (despite the actual calendar stating 10am so go figure on that one.)
FOOD/DINING
Another very important thing to note is that technically the policy at the park is no outside food or drink. I always pack food at these types of places because park food can be really expensive and not the best choices nutritionally. I was nervous about packing bags of food and having to toss it all out at the gate so this time I just packed waters. Apparently the rule is no outside food and drink but from what I saw they totally don’t enforce that rule. Person after person walked right up with coolers and bags of food and there was no problem at all. The kid in front of me at the ticket booth was actually eating from a large bag of chips and walked right past security- I asked and was told they never enforce the rule of no food so there you go.
If you do decide to buy food at the park- I have good news. There are some places that actually served good food. One thing I love about the San Diego area is that the healthy choices are so readily available. We ate at the Garden Restaurant which serves sandwiches and salads. We got yummy freshly made sandwiches (me and my husband) and they included potato chips. The kids shared a children’s meal which was PB&J and that came with Honest Juice and chips. The total for all 3 of us (without drinks for the adults) was about $30. The restaurant has a pretty view overlooking a few of the rides so it is a great spot to regroup and rest for a few minutes.
This is my terrible and out of focus picture but at least you get an idea. If you don’t want a full meal, there was a little stand in the front of the park near the gift shop that looked wonderful. I saw lots of fresh fruit, little salads, coffee and more. Perfect options to snack on while you are waiting for rides.
The park is best known for these yummy apple fries:
We had a late lunch and waited until about 5pm to get the Apple Fries and the lines were crazy long. These are very good though- sort of like an apple flavored churro with whipped cream. We got one container for all 4 of us to share and that was enough (although my kids probably wouldn’t agree.)
RIDES
A lot of the rides for smaller children were too small for my just turned 5 year old. I thought the rides would have been better suited to a 2-3 year old as some felt pretty slow. At the park you need to be 42 inches tall to get into most of the better rides and my little girl just barely hits 42 inches so we got lucky that she was able to do everything. If she had been a little shorter I think she would have not enjoyed herself nearly as much. You can see the various rides and the height requirements here. Both my 5 and 6 year olds had a great time on many of the rides but I noticed it was mostly the rides with the 42 inch height requirement that they enjoyed the most.
There is a log ride at Legoland that looked really fun. We were party poopers though because people were getting completely drenched and we decided to skip it and stay dry. I wish we hadn’t because it looked like a lot of fun! I recommend grabbing those poncho things that are inexpensive before your trip so you don’t miss out on this fun ride.
There are lots of other rides that weren’t hugely memorable but I thought they were very pleasant and really allow for quality time with your kids.
This boat ride I can’t remember the name of but my girls enjoyed it- I had my foot on the gas with my 6 year trying to be sure we beat Daddy and my 5 year old (we did beat them by the end- booyah!)
And this one I went on with my girls and I remember laughing so hard! You squirt your gun at strangers in other boats and all three of us had a great time. I haven’t laughed so hard in a long time and the children loved this one. Also I want to mention the details at Legoland once again– see the Shark at the bottom left there? There are just so many details to see all over the place!
We thought the roller coaster at Legoland was very fun and we went on that about 3 times. If you want more details on the rides I found some You Tube videos that will basically take you along on each one here.
You probably want to get started on your top rides as the lines are shortest at the beginning of the day. We also found the lines to be fairly short in the early afternoon (I am guessing some visitors left for nap time and such). Legoland has a lot more to offer then just rides though- they have a few pretty neat playgrounds for the kids. They also have a factory tour (we missed it) but you can apparently buy Lego bricks by the lb there). They have Adventurer’s Club too which we missed but I heard good reviews. So really open yourself up to everything Legoland has to offer because it is much more then just rides and roller coasters.
Even if your children aren’t huge on Legos- the things that they build with Legos are just incredible and absolutely worth exploring.
WATERPARK
So we are from Northern California where it can get to be very hot. Whenever I go to San Diego I am always surprised at how cold it is (same with San Francisco). We went to Legoland in June and it was blazing hot in most parts of California except San Diego was a nice mild temperature. This was lovely except that the water park was freezing. The kids were so excited to go inside and we had figured a good part of the day would be spent there. We found some awesome water slides, wave pools, splash pads and adorable swings in the splash pads for babies plus a pretty cool build a raft river.
The little inner tubes have Legos on the sides so you can build something while you float! Now the kids and my husband went onto the water slides and in the river and such for about 30 minutes. I was busy looking around and taking photos and stuff. They came back and they were ready to go- what?!
My girls will stay at a waterpark for basically as long as I let them so this was a huge surprise. My husband said that the water was OK when you were totally submerged but if you came out to get in line for the water slides or whatever it was freezing cold. My 5 year old’s little lips were literally turning blue so we just showered them off, changed and that was the end of the water park. Lots of other people were in the water so this was just our experience but I do want to mention that you want to pack towels and warm clothes for your trip- even in June! Oh and the schools in Southern California get out much later then schools in other parts of the country so that was a huge bonus to keep the crowds down.
School was still in session during our trip in mid June.
Oh and at the Chima WaterPark area if you do plan to hunker down for most of the day, you can rent a private cabana. The cabanas are nice to have for a family-they are fairly spacious and the price is $130 for the entire day or $80 for a partial day. The cabana is 10×10 and has 2 lounge chairs, 2 seating chairs, towels, a full size locker and a little table with Duplo blocks. It will completely enclose with plastic curtain things so this might be a great option if you have little children that might need naps.
Side comment: I don’t want to sound like a grump but the Legos for play kind of grossed me out. They didn’t look very clean to me- as you might expect with tons of kids grabbing them all day. You might bring hand sanitzer for your littles if you are a grump too :).
SEALIFE Aquarium
I was not terribly impressed with the aquarium. It was small, cramped and this felt like the dirtiest part of the park to me. I think it is worth walking through and my girls did enjoy it but if you have larger aquariums at home, you might not want to spend the extra money to go to Sea Life. I did find a nice little cafe with a coffee bar at the end of Sea Life so that was a nice bonus and then at the end they had a little pond where the kids can touch a few marine life creatures. My girls loved that.
SHOWS
The shows at Disney are usually fantastic but you can’t really compare Disney to Legoland. My wonderful husband took our girls into one of the 3D shows and I sneaked away to check out the inside of the Legoland hotel. It is literally feet away from the entrance to the park and there is a nice little lobby with a small play structure inside for the kiddos. Littles around 2-3 would be in heaven.
There is a little bar inside the lobby and I parked myself down and charged my phone for a few minutes and saw many parents enjoying a beer or glass of wine as the kiddos played. There were fantastic balloon people (what are they called?) and face painters and such wandering the lobby. Apparently the hotel has quite a bit of activities for the kiddos all during the day and at night if you are planning to stay on the property.
Back to the shows… my husband gave it a thumbs down and the girls said it was just OK and they were ready to move on. But on a positive note, we always wait in line for Disney shows and at Legoland the kids walked right up as it was about to start and got right in!
SHOPPING/SOUVENIRS
So technically the park closes at 6pm but the gift store will stay open later. We thought we were super clever to wait until 6pm and hit the store. Terrible idea. Terrible, terrible idea. The entire park had the same thought and that store was crazy! It was like Walmart on Black Friday and I had to throw some elbows to get my Batgirl Lego keychain souvenir. They had lots of other Lego things but honestly we couldn’t see through the swarms of people to really do any shopping. On a completely serious note the store really was a zoo and as you might guess a trillion people were trying to push gigantic strollers through the store- just a total mess.
I was so stressed out that the kids would get lost it was not worth it at all. This was just at the very end of the day though- you could shop at the start or during the day and not have any issues. I think you could probably sit down at 6pm and wait about 30 minutes for the initial crowds to leave and have a much better experience. I would for sure hit the stores at some point during the day- they have so many fun things you won’t find elsewhere.
I do want to say some of the artists around the park are remarkable. My favorite thing was the guy that makes your name into that flowery script. We weren’t allowed to take photos of any of these things but seriously that guy was awesome! They can turn the letters of your child’s name into super heroes, Lego guys, princesses…. I couldn’t decide which Princess was prettier (Elsa, no Merida, no Rapunzel, no Ariel… and the Super Hero ones were just amazing too.) I believe it was something like $40 for 5 letters but check it out if you go. Really lovely work!
If you buy things in the park as you wander you can have it all sent up to the front gates to pick up at the end of the day.
If you have a little one that buys a Lego minifigure they can approach any staff member all day and trade figures. The staff have them on their name badges so your child will see exactly what it is. I didn’t see anyone do that all day but it could be a fun way to entertain the kids. The minifigures are also on sale for about $5 in the park.
LEGO MINICITY
This was a highlight I read about over and over again. I did like the Mini City area and we saved this for last – like 5:45pm because we had to get a few extra turns in on the roller coaster. There wasn’t really enough time to appreciate the city but basically it is various cities in the US recreated with Legos. You see the Brooklyn Bridge and awesome taxis and Times Square for NYC, the Vegas sign and strip the French Quarter in New Orleans and so on… Very fun and a lot of detail to see! There is a even a Subway for NYC! We probably could have spent about 45 min to an hour looking around and so you might not save this to the end like we did. It is a perfect spot to snack on your apple fries as you wander and look at all the cities. There is a lot to see in this area! If you have tiny ones that might need naps, this would be a great spot to let them nap in the stroller as I found it to be fairly quiet and relaxing.
TICKETS
And now for the bottom line. The ticket prices. Luckily, Legoland offers lots of promotions and discounts!
As of posting, the current pricing is $107 for an adult ticket. That includes all of the activities- Legoland, the WaterPark and the Aquarium.
A child’s ticket is $97. Legoland does offer promotions if you buy tickets online in advance. You can get bonus day admission to the park for free with those prices. So as of posting they are offering 5 days free when you pay the $107/97 ticket prices.
I think that makes the price of the park much more affordable providing you don’t mind visiting for a few days. If you only want to go to Legoland and plan to skip the waterpark and aquarium the price drops to $78- adult and $68-child and still includes the bonus 5 days.
Note these promotions typically won’t apply to walk up visitors so you do want to buy tickets in advance online.
- If you do a little digging you should be able to find Buy One Adult ticket Get One Free child ticket to Legoland. Occasionally fast food restaurants run the promotion with purchase of kid’s meals- Wendy’s, BK and McDonald’s have done it in the past.
- Last but not least, subscribe to the free Lego magazine and they also have coupons inside for Buy One Get One Free. Subscribe well in advance and you want to get the Lego magazine not Lego Jr so register a child 7+.
If nothing else you can check with your hotel and see if they have discounted tickets. I believe Costco used to sell discounted tickets too but I haven’t seen them in maybe 2 years now.
So all in all you should pay roughly $214 for a family of 4 to visit all 3 parks for one or more days. If you do have the ability to visit for a few days this works out to be very affordable in my opinion. About $50 per person for one day is really not bad either.
PS: You can shell out an extra $20 for preferred parking. That takes you right up to the gate but for our family it wasn’t really worth it. I don’t mind a bit of a walk and it really wasn’t very far at all to walk to the regular parking lot. If you might be going back and forth to the car a lot during your day it might be worthwhile to you but Legoland does have lockers to rent to hold all your stuff inside the park.
FINAL THOUGHTS
And to wrap up this long article I will say I thought it was a fun day and my children were very happy. It wasn’t as exhausting as Disneyland but we also had a much shorter day. We were in Southern California for a week and decided to just stick with the one day at Legoland. I asked my girls after the trip what they thought and both said they loved Legoland- so a win there! If the weather had been warmer for the Water park, I think that would have been a different story entirely- they probably would have spent the entire day just on the waterslides alone :).
One thing I notice and love with my children is that they notice every little detail. All sorts of things I never even see and Legoland is a great place to foster this with your children! They will point out so many little things to you and they will love all the little surprises around every corner. The great thing about this park is that it just isn’t as crowded so you are able to actually sit back and look at those details as you walk around.
I hope this helps when you are planning your Legoland Adventure! If you have been to Legoland recently, please share your experiences in the comments below. I’d love to hear what you thought!
Update- 7/2015: Our family is now planning a trip to the Orlando area and we gave the children the choice of several parks in the area to visit. The winner was Legoland! Of all the places we mentioned they both resoundingly voted for Legoland so stay tuned for a review of the Orlando trip! I can’t wait!
And if you are considering Disney, check out this article with tips to save money at Disneyland.
And here is one for Universal Studios in Florida:
LEGOLAND is ideal for younger kiddos but once they get to about 10is depending on the child it starts to loose its charm but I still love it. We spent one day last week at the waterpark all day and we all loved it very much…we splurged an got cabana for the day and it was worth every penny!!!! It was very hot that day and it was jam packed with people in the midday so we had our own little safe haven from the crowds. I probably would not normally get the cabana because they are a splurge but we had 5 boys of different ages in our group with our 2 years so it was our base camp and it really did make the day much nicer for all of us. We used the b1g1 free promo deal online and it was really the only way to go for us. It may not be the most exciting water park but it was fun and would definitely do another staycation there again. I am glad you enjoyed it! Oh and no they do not enforce the no outside food rule if you are discreet but some folks push the line so who knows how long that will last.
Wow, thank you for posting such a detailed and informative review!! I haven’t heard the best things about Legoland either, but it wasn’t anything specific so your post is super helpful. My 3.5 year old likes he Duplos but isn’t exactly a fanatic about them…she would probably prefer Disney just because of the princesses! Thanks again. 🙂
I’m so sad that you had such negative things to say about LEGOLAND. In my opinion, Disneyland is just too crazy and I have no desire to go there. LEGOLAND is perfect for the 2-8 year old crowd and it’s only downfall is the high costs of tickets.
Amy- I don’t think it was a negative review really. I mentioned a few things we were disappointed about but I don’t think I was negative. Just trying to express what we liked and didn’t like. It is hard not to compare Disneyland and Legoland. If you haven’t been to Disneyland then your perspective is not going to be the same as others might have. I have been to Disneyland a few times so I do have that filter when I go to other theme parks. Ultimately I think any experience is what you make of it and we choose to have fun on any adventure we go on as a family. So we did enjoy our trip very much. As I mentioned in the article, if I lived in Southern California I wouldn’t hesitate to get season passes. If I was going to look at spending a thousand dollars+ to get hotel rooms and airfare to visit… well I would have to think about that but I would probably say no. Just my opinion though and thanks for sharing your opinion ;).
You know Caitlyn- mine are way into the Princesses too but one thing with Disney is that it often feels like shuffling from line to line to line. We went at the end of 2012 and we got there during the Magic Hour and went straight to the Princess line and it was still something like 2 hours to wait to see the Princesses. At Legoland we didn’t find that to be the case at all except the ticket thing in the beginning. At Disney my girls weren’t into the rides as much but they loved Toon Town with Mickey and Friends– Minnie’s house especially. And then Cars Land was amazing for the rides and Disney Junior shows we loved too. Plus the parades and the fireworks… 🙂 So there are pros and cons to both places. We enjoyed ourselves on both vacations. I will say the price hike at Disney is really a shame.
Chacha- I completely agree with you on that one. You know the cruddy water parks here in Sacramento are over $100 for a family of 4 so Legoland is almost a bargain- especially if you can take advantage of one or more days. I would have splurged on that cabana too ;). Skip dinner out 3x and you easily paid for it and made your day 1000 nicer for everyone.
Thanks, very honest review and think we will still try it but good to have a real life perspective rather than rely on their marketing. Thank you for spending the time doing this!!
We love legoland! Did you have a chance to eat the churros? They are way better than the apple fries! Best churros I have ever had! (I don’t even like churros normally) 🙂
My family went to Legoland when the kids were ages 4 and 7. We live in San Jose area and took a plane and stayed in a hotel in Carlsbad. We went to a special Star Wars weekend where there were many Star Wars characters in uniform throughout the park. We went for 2 days. The 4 year old liked Legos and Star Wars. Dh said the Star Wars characters made the trip more fun and likeable for him. June weather is great in San Diego. Mini City and some shows are great to save for the 2nd day, which we took much slower than the 1st day. My kids have not been to Disneyland. We all enjoyed Legoland very much. My 7 year old enjoyed it, but I can see that beyond age 9 it would not be as awesome.
Darn! No I missed those- we love churros!
*mini land
We just went there in January and we stayed at the Legoland hotel. My boys are 7 and 11 and I think they liked the hotel as much as the park. Ok, I won the 4 tickets from a Ralph’s contest so shelling out for the hotel made it a pretty cheap little vacation. Going in the off season was key- the rates were MUCH better at the hotel (check to be sure the park is open though- off season it’s closed some days). The themed rooms, disco elevator, pool and the scavenger hunt to get the prize in the room’s safe made it really fun for them. A bonus of staying at the hotel is it comes with a free breakfast buffet that was really good. Lots of choices for both the kids and adults and we all filled up so no one needed to eat as soon as we got into the park. If you stay at the hotel you can also go into the park an hour earlier, which would have been good if my kids don’t like to sleep late! We missed that little perk, needless to say, but a plus if your kids are early birds! Visiting in the off season made the lines in the park much shorter as well. We walked right onto many rides and were able to do all we wanted to in the park by the end of the day. I think they close at 5 during the off season but that was plenty of time. My kids are Star Wars fans and loved the SW mini village and there was a life size X Wing ship made of Legos that my kids (and hubby) loved. I think my husband loved it the most! I don’t think we will go back but only because the kids are getting to be too old for it, but it was a decent time and we enjoyed it.
Thank you for such a thorough explanation! I have two young kids and we have discussed visiting Legoland, so I found your writeup very helpful! 🙂
Very nice article, not negative at all…very fair and balanced! :). Thank you I really like reading articles likes this…I have a 1 year old and a 3 year old we are thinking of taking them later this year
That was one detailed review! I’m sorry to hear your experience on Legoland being not clean enough. When we were there last year, we had no issue with cleanliness. Did you go to the waterpark? We had our most fun there! I hope you don’t mind if I link this page from my website if I ever get a chance to write my reviews on Legoland. We went when my boys were 1 & 3, so we have a slightly different perspective :).
Yenny- I didn’t think it ruined the trip or anything. In fact the cleanliness didn’t really upset me. I was prepared for a dirty park just based off A LOT of comments I heard from readers so I wanted to address that. I do think the park could use a good overall pressure wash but I definitely wouldn’t say it was dirty 🙂 Yes I mentioned the waterpark in a post– somewhere in the middle I think.
Thanks for all the information! We are headed there in about 6 weeks (the week after the waterpark closes), but my 4 year old is a lego fanatic… so based on all your information I think it will be a huge hit.
We went to legoland about 2 yrs ago and thought it was great! Non of my girls are into Legos but the creations were fun and the rides were great for my 9,7,& 3 yr olds. If your kids aren’t into big rides this place is perfect. We went in October so kids were free!! And my 3 yr old was thrilled that she could ride almost every ride. At other parks she couldn’t ride hardly anything which was frustrating. She cried the time at Sea World because she couldn’t go on any rides with her sisters. So I think Lego land is great. The rides are smaller and geared for the younger or maybe not so adventurous crowd. But go in October when it’s cheaper.
Just FYI, coastal San Diego is always gloomy in the months of May and June with daily overcast skies and temperatures in the 60’s. We rarely see the sun during those two months. Locals call these times of year “May gray” and “June gloom”. It’s a good idea to have a jacket with you at all times during these months.
Thanks, this was a very useful review! We’re thinking of visiting the week after Memorial Day. Do you have any idea of how long the advance purchase discounts/free days tend to be available? The free day offer is on at the moment, for example, and I wondef if we should pick that deal already or if it’s okay to wait. We are from Finland, so can’t really take advantage on the coupons in the supermarkets etc. but the online saving tips are really great. Thanks!
Thank you for the tips. Heading there in a few days.
Thanks for an informative review on LegoLand! I have two questions. What day of the week did you go? We have a choice of Saturday through Tuesday. I am thinking that Monday would be less crowded. Also, if we rent a Cabana at the water park area, can you go back and forth to the LegoLand easily? I have a 2, 5, and 7 year old. It seems like a Cabana might be a nice “home base”.
BreAnn, The Cabana is a bit of a trek depending on where you will be in the park since it is in the very back.
The park is much smaller than other resorts so I think you have a good idea especially if you have a stroller or a little push car for your 2 year old.
Here is the map of the park:
http://www.legoland.com/globalassets/california/downloads/resort/legoland-california-resort-park-map.pdf
When the park was closing we raced from Miniland to the front back to like the Castle Shores area and I remember thinking that felt like we walked forever.
I guess that isn’t much help. If the 2 year old is a napper I would probably say get the Cabana. It will be a nice break for you and a quieter place for the wee one to nap 🙂 I remember when my girls were really small the little nursery at Disneyland seemed like heaven to me.
I don’t remember which day we went. It was definitely a weekday.
Hi, i understand the value of having a stroller for younger kids but I am reluctant to take ours in the plane as I am flying solo with my 4 year old– do you know anything about the rental strollers besides the cost of $15/Day? Debating on what to do……I could buy a cheap one to leave behind or rent one.
Lindsey- I can’t recall paying much attention to the strollers but it seems like almost everyone rents strollers. If you buy a cheap one- like an umbrella stroller it would collapse which would be nice but it wouldn’t hold much or be super comfortable and shaded for naps. I always hated those cheap strollers because I found them to be low and hard to push around all day… It has been a long time since my kids were in strollers though so I don’t know how much help I am 🙂