On our previous trip to Japan in 2017, we went to the newly opened Legoland Japan theme park. Even though we only saw part of the park last time, Tiny Dog enjoyed his visit so much that he wanted to return. It also helped that Ryan from Ryan’s Toy Review had gone to Legoland Japan, and as every parent of a 3-8 year old knows, if Ryan does it, your kid wants to do it too.

On our last visit, the Lego Hotel was still under construction. It was finished in 2018 and we were able to get first anniversary deals on our trip: 1 night in hotel, 2 days of passes to Legoland and the Sea Life aquarium next to the hotel, and free breakfast. It was still expensive, but much less expensive than attempting any of those things separately.

We took the shinkansen from Mishima to Nagoya, then switched to local trains to get to Kinjo Futo station. We arrived just before noon, checked in at the hotel, left our bags, and then had a pizza lunch at one of the nearby restaurants. After lunch, we entered the park and did a few hours of sightseeing and rides. Everything in the park was the same as the previous visit, however our now 5 year old son got a lot more out of the experience than he did on our previous visit when he was 3.

Before dinner we checked out our room. All of the rooms at the Lego Hotel have themes: we chose Pirates over Ninjago, Kingdom, Adventure, and Lego Friends. The room was decorated from floor to ceiling with Lego pirates – even the shower curtain was piratey. Tiny Dog was immediately entertained by the treasure hunt – there was a combination safe in the room, and to unlock the combination you had to answer some questions about the room (how many pirates in the bathroom, etc). The numbers from the answers unlocked the safe to reveal, as you may have already guessed, Lego.

My favourite part of the room was the layout. Our room was a suite containing a kids area right off the entrance, a long hallway with a bathroom, then the parents area. The kids area had a bunk bed, a TV playing Lego movies, and plenty of Lego blocks for building. The parents area had a large bed, a bigger TV, and most importantly, a hallway to separate it from the kids area. In a country short on privacy, this was the best we were going to get for a while.

The Legoland Hotel features a buffet style restaurant and a lounge which offered 2 hours of all you can drink for 2000 yen (about $25 CAD). Tiny Dog wanted to eat at the hotel restaurant, but I was craving curry from one of the nearby restaurants. We compromised – I got to choose dinner and we let him play at the giant indoor play area next to the hotel restaurant before dinner. I was very interested in the all you can drink, but after a full day of travel and theme park I would have probably fallen asleep after the first beer!

If you’re going to visit Legoland Japan, I highly recommend staying in the Legoland Hotel, especially if you are coming from out of town. The hotel is perfect for families, and there is literally nothing closer to Legoland or the Sea Life aquarium. If we return, we will be staying at the hotel again!

Next up: a full day of Legoland!