Legoland builds Carlsbad’s tourism

Despite this year’s challenging economy, Legoland California continues to post excellent numbers for both Legoland and their new Sea Life Aquarium.

While Legoland won’t give out numbers specific to this park, their parent company, Merlin Entertainment Group, is reporting 28% annual growth in visitors for its 57 attractions. The numbers no doubt have been bolstered by the addition of the Sea Life Aquarium with its 36 displays enclosed in a 36,000-square-foot, two-story building. Opened last summer, the aquarium contains more than 250,000 gallons of water — 200,000 of which are devoted to the Lost City of Atlantis, a display featuring sharks, rays and tropical creatures all swimming in an elaborate depiction of the lost city made of Legos.

We especially enjoyed the acrylic tunnel that puts you right in the middle of the tank with dozens and dozens of creatures swimming around you.

Young visitors also will enjoy the Discovery Zone Touch Pool with its hands-on opportunity to interact with several species of sea creatures.

There is a separate charge to get into Sea Life Aquarium, although there are combo tickets that help bring down the price. The aquarium is about $19 for an adult; the combo ticket adds $10 onto the normal adult Legoland ticket of $63.

When Legoland opened in 1999 it helped put the San Diego area on the theme park map. On any given summer weekend day, you’re likely to see as many as 10,000 people enjoying the 128-acre park.

While directed at kids between 2 and 12 years of age, the park has found a way to involve parents, grandparents, teenagers and people of any age. People don’t just go on rides, they’ll actually do things like build model racing cars or participate in pirate ship water fights.

They’ll also marvel at the number of creations that can be made from the Lego, the basic building block invented more than 50 years ago that has come a long way from the simple four-walled structures we oldsters built when we were kids. Legoland features more than 15,000 detailed Lego creations throughout the park, ranging from animals to model cities to a life-size replica of a 2006 Volvo SUV.

Those Lego creations are fascinating. If you can imagine several American cities depicted in miniature, and everything built from Lego blocks, you can quickly get the idea of how intricate these displays are..

In 2006, the park added the $10 million Pirate Shores area of the park, a block of attractions featuring two new rides, Splash Battle and Treasure Falls. Both rides will get you drenched.

Water also figures big in the two attractions included in Pirate Shores: Soak-N-Sail and Swabbies Deck. The Soak-N-Sail is a maze-like playground-platform where kids are greeted with plenty of squirting water and two buckets that dump between 300 and 600 gallons of water on the participants.

In addition to Legoland, Carlsbad in recent years has added major-league upscale shopping at Carlsbad Company Stores, the Museum of Making Music and top hotels and resorts.

The beaches also make Carlsbad attractive to family visitors.

An endless blue horizon awaits the visitor to Carlsbad, a stretch of beach that allows you to walk unobstructed from Oceanside to well south of Carlsbad.

If you’re looking for a fun area to stroll when you’re not at Legoland, Carlsbad has a quaint downtown area. Along State Street you’ll find numerous one-of-a-kind shops and restaurants. Everything in this area is within walking distance, including a wide beach that offers good swimming and even better people-watching. Late in the day, downtown comes alive as visitors stroll through the area in search of a restaurant or outdoor café. A vibrant music scene has emerged in recent years, with outdoor bands at the Coyote Café and several other bars offering live music.

For more information on travel in California, visit www.californiaweekend.com.