®Yonkers, NY
Ok, so I just need to remind everyone before I get a nasty-gram from someone about how I am covering places that are not in Putnam. The name of the website is Adventures AROUND Putnam. Using that word, as far as I’m concerned, allows me to include places that are around the perimeter of Putnam. The point is that the places I write about are all written from a Putnam-centric view. In other words, day trips a bit outside Putnam are free game. Because the availability of those day trips are one of the things that make Putnam such a great place to live.
This particular trip took us to Yonkers. My kids love LEGO®. (By the way, the plural is indeed LEGO®, not Legos. Just ask the company.) And since they are not an electronic device and require real world interaction, I fully support their love of LEGO®. So when we heard last March that a Legoland® Discovery Center has opened in Westchester, it went on the family to-do list.
The Legoland® Discovery Center is located in a complex called Westchester’s Ridge Hill. Their website, www.westchestersridgehill.com, describes itself as, “Creatively designed to be gracious and magnificent, yet comfortable and charming, Westchester’s Ridge Hill is the ideal environment for shopping, dining, strolling, lounging and enjoying. A captivating village green sets the stage for evening entertainment. Comfortable outdoor furniture and lively fountains offer a sense of both engagement and tranquility to nurture the spirit and prolong the visit.”
While I’ll admit it feels a bit too planned and ‘corporate’ compared to what I usually like, I also have to admit it was pretty cool. It is a sort of outdoor mall with a Main Street America feel, and being a pedestrian doesn’t feel as threatening as many place have become. It was nice to see so many outside benches, tables and chairs. After getting our ticket for the multi-level parking garage, we found a spot rather quickly as we wondered aloud how big the bill would be when we left. We parked at the far south end of the complex, and walked about three blocks north to the LEGO® center at the other end.
It is best to buy your tickets online ahead of time. Time slots sell out, and if you try to walk in, you may be disappointed. But, hey, if you think you can explain to a five year old why you can’t go into the LEGO® place once you’re standing in the lobby, be my guest.
Being frugal, we used coupons that we got from McDonald’s. that offered one free child admission with each adult admission. We paid $22 for each adult, and ticket for our third child was $18. Of course, before left the cash register, , they hit us up for an extra $3 or $ $4 per kid for a lanyard with a workbook that included a scavenger hunt and a places to collect “stamps” for each section you visit. If you get all nine stamps, the kids get a prize. Before you leave the cash register, ask them to validate your parking ticket.
You walk into a waiting area that helps build the tension as you wait for the ‘factory doors’ to open to bring you into the LEGO® Factory section. There are a number of hands-on displays that explain how the plastic bricks are made. From there you can get on line for the Kingdom Quest Laser Ride – which turned out to be the entire family’s favorite feature. Its a fun-house style ride where you shoot up skeletons, bats, spider and other bad guys with a pirate gun (that also happens to have a laser sight).
Off the ride, you are guided past a place to buy photos (we didn’t because we are obviously uncaring parents who don’t want keepsakes to help us remember this day) and then into the LEGO® Miniland. This was a pretty impressive display, and the scavenger hunt in the workbook did help the kids find things to focus on instead of just being overwhelmed.
From there, you head into the open area. It feels a bit like walking on the NYSE trading floor of yesteryear. Running around, yelling, fortunes being made and lost (ok, well, not that last part). The center of the room is dominated by a large jungle gym, and the perimeter of the room has a series of “stations” including a 4-D movie theater, another carnvail-type ride, a build-and-race racetrack, and a few other sites.
The 15 minutes movie was very good, and the lines weren’t bad. The food, however, was expensive. $8 for a hot dog, chips and drink feels a bit wrong. And you can’t bring in outside food.
We spent about 3 hours there, which was perfect. The kids were tired but not overtired to the point of meltdown – which many of the other kids we saw their were well into that phase – which means the parents weren’t far behind. We got lucky, ending on a high note while everyone was still happy.
The exit takes you through the gift shop, which has become a standard modern strategy for any place that is kid-related. Here, the prices weren’t too bad. Some of the LEGO® sets sold for less than what you would find at, say, Toys r’ Us. (In the spirit of disclosure, I would never know this on my own. For this fact, I relied on my wife’s expertise.)
It did bother me that we couldn’t use our LEGO® Store gift card for our purchases. Apparently, the store for the Discovery Center is not an official LEGO® Store. This snafu and the expensive food, are the only two negatives on an otherwise very fun day. One last tidbit is that there is no place to store your coats if you go during the cold months, so you may want to bring a backpack to carry the family’s gear.
On the way out, we stopped to get a hot pretzel as we walked around Ridge Hill. We passed a small playground, but the kids were tired, it was a bit cold and windy, and it was getting late in the day. Parking cost us $3.25 on the way out.
All in all, I am glad we made this trip. Yes, I spent a decent amount of money. But I had happy, engaged kids who had no need for cellphones, tablets, video games or TV. And when we got home? Everyone played LEGO® – together.
Legoland Discovery Center is located at 39 Fitzgerald Street, Yonkers, NY. Their phone number is 866-243-0770. To get there from Putnam, take either Route 684 or the Taconic Parkway south to the Sprain Parkway south. Take the Tuckahoe Road West exit and turn right onto Ridge Hill Blvd. Go up the hill and turn right to get into the Ridge Hill complex. The parking lot closest to the Lego center is the Otis Drive Garage. If you are using a GPS, use the address of 1 Ridge Hill Blvd., Yonkers, NY. Their website is www.legolanddiscoverycenter.com.
