The LEGO Cul-De-Sac

After Christmas, we headed up to Dallas for a few days. Our first stop was the new LEGOLAND Discovery Center that had opened up there this Spring.

We were all excited, especially our resident LEGO expert, Ryan. Here he is taking a picture with his new LEGO camera of me taking a picture of him outside the center.

Despite the fact that we had reserved tickets ahead of time, we still had to wait in line for over an hour before we could get inside. This did not start things off well for Team Danger.

It did give me a chance to admire the LEGO Christmas tree on display, though, and decide that I want to have the boys make these next year as Christmas presents.

Finally, the big moment arrived and we were granted entry to LEGO mecca.

Except... it wasn't quite the LEGO mecca we were all expecting.

I knew that it was just a "discovery center" and not a full-fledged LEGOLAND, and I had done my best to explain this to the boys before we went. But after our visit to the San Diego LEGOLAND 2.5 years ago, we were expecting just a little bit more.

When you enter, Professor Bric-a-Brac engages the kids and teaches them how they "make" LEGOs.

 The boys were excited to participate.

 But in the end, the result was so hokey and so brief that Alex and Ryan were not amused.

There was a cool ride you can then go on.

But it was sort of a low-rent Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin that was over way too quickly, and which you couldn't ride more than once.

Other than that, there was one other flying ride, a giant playscape that really wasn't very LEGO like, and a 4D LEGO movie theater. The boys spent the bulk of the time in the plasycape.

 There were also some cars you could build out of LEGOs and then race down a ramp, and this tower you can build and then shake so you can test how sturdy your building design is.

The best part of the visit was seeing how they had constructed Dallas' big landmarks out of LEGOs. It would have been nice to see some other Texas cities as well, the way that the San Diego and Orlando LEGOLANDs also includes San Francisco, Las Vegas, New York and Washington D.C.

It even included a display of our hotel for the next few nights, the Gaylord Texan.

At the end, Alex commented that it really wasn't much of a LEGO "land.".

More of a LEGO City, I suggested?

Nope, Alex thought it was more of a LEGO Street.

Well, not even a full Street.

Just a LEGO Cul-De-Sac.