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This past weekend, we went to LEGOLAND California to celebrate my son's 5th birthday. They had just opened the new The LEGO Movie World a couple of weeks prior so we're seeing a lot of cool new stuff!

Emmet's Flying Adventure Ride & LEGOLAND California's Waterpark

The priority on our list was Emmet's Flying Adventure Ride since it's their newest ride! The waiting time was about an hour for that when we were there. My older son had a melt down because he was getting really hot but luckily it wasn't too long after that we were able to get on the ride. It turned out to be his most favorite ride! We're so glad we stuck it out and did not get out of the line. It was well worth the wait!

We also took advantage of the clear and sunny weather to enjoy the waterpark at LEGOLAND California. I stowed my phone away in the locker since I was going to get wet so I wasn't able to take pictures inside but my kids were ecstatic and we enjoyed having some water fun. It was a busy crowd but not overcrowded. No one wore masks at the waterpark. However, outside of the waterpark, masks were required to roam around the resort. (This has changed as less restrictions are in place by California.)

There were many things that I've already blogged about in a previous LEGOLAND California Adventure. Read this older LEGOLAND California blog post to read about our experience at the connected SEA LIFE Aquarium. Please go to that link to also read more details about our other ride experiences at LEGOLAND in Carlsbad. Otherwise, I will dive into my first LEGOLAND Castle Hotel experience below! 

LEGOLAND Castle Hotel Review

We stayed at the LEGOLAND Castle Hotel for the very first time during this trip! It really made the whole weekend getaway so much more memorable. I was so impressed with everything inside of our room! I could hear the music coming from LEGOLAND California park and it really puts you in a wonderful mood. While people were walking to the park or to their cars, we were walking to and from the hotel. It is a great convenient way to maximize your experience at LEGOLAND.

We chose the wizard theme and each room had a bunk bed sectioned off so the kids get they own area to play, build and watch TV while the parents can sleep on the other end (still very close), near the window. Here are pictures from our LEGOLAND Castle Hotel stay. It was wonderfully themed and decorated. There were LEGO figures throughout our entire hotel room. Breakfast came with our stay so it was very nice to come downstairs and enjoy breakfast right away without having to leave the hotel. We made reservations for breakfast online and then they just checked off our names before hitting the buffet line. This was a very efficient process.

LEGOLAND Castle Hotel Delayed Check In Process

The only complaint I would have about staying at the LEGOLAND Castle Hotel was the check-in process. There were lines of people around the lobby waiting to get checked in or getting their keys. Even though it said check-in time was 4pm, we had to wait another hour for our keys as they were still cleaning the rooms! I am glad they are spending the extra time to clean rooms thoroughly, especially in a pandemic. However, we were really tired from a long day at LEGOLAND, going on rides and traveling so it felt really exhausting to have to wait around. However, around 6pm, we were able to check into our hotel and from then on, everything was just awesome!

See my video clips from my stay here at LEGOLAND Castle Hotel and their newest section: THE LEGO MOVIE WORLD.

Pool at LEGOLAND Castle Hotel

There's also a pool at LEGOLAND Castle Hotel for hotel guests so if you didn't buy a waterpark ticket for LEGOLAND California's park, you still have the option to have some water play at the hotel if you're staying there. There's a large playground right outside and an itinerary with scheduled entertainment exclusively for hotel guests! These are all inclusive too with your resort fees.

Reading Suggestions:

• You can see more pictures of the rides that we went on from an earlier LEGOLAND California visit. Read about our LEGOLAND California visit before the pandemic happened. 
• See discounted ticket prices from arestravel.com. Depending on the season, their prices may be cheaper even with convenience fees factored in than the official website.

Read About Our Other Travel Adventures and Reviews:

• Birthday Weekend at LEGOLAND Castle Hotel Review and LEGOLAND California Amusement Park Review


• Birthday Celebration at Great Wolf Lodge in Southern California


• Alaska Cruise on Princess Cruise for 11 Days


• Ensenada Cruise on Carnival Cruise for 3 Days


• Ensenada and Catalina Island Cruise on Royal Caribbean for 4 Days


• Moon Palace The Grand Family Summer Vacation in Cancun for 5 Days


• Universal Studios Hollywood Family Trip During Spring Break


• Cabin Trip in Monterey


• Staycations at the Iconic Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo: Madonna Inn’s San Francisco Room Review OR Madonna Inn’s Antique Room Review


• Staycation at the Granada Hotel & Bistro in Downtown San Luis Obispo


• Staycation at La Quinta Inn in Downtown San Luis Obispo


• Staycation in Atascadero at The Carlton Review

Discount LEGOLAND California Park Tickets

Depending on the time of year, you can score cheaper LEGOLAND California Park tickets from arestravel.com. Even with convenience fees, when you total everything at end, you could save money for your LEGOLAND trip. It's worth taking the extra 5 minutes to compare before you buy. Sometimes they even offer a 2nd day free where you can go back within 5 days of your first LEGOLAND California visit! See more tickets of LEGOLAND California and Discount LEGOLAND California tickets from arestravel.com.

Read our blog entry about our recent experience watching Circus Vargas perform on July 3, 2021 via this link.

Read my tips and experiences on going to Circus Vargas in SLO with kids.

Last month, my family and I decided to get away in Los Angeles after I received my second Covid-19 vaccination.

We see a lot of visitors from Los Angeles coming to visit San Luis Obispo County, and I know Los Angeles is a popular destination for San Luis Obispo residents. However, it has been a really long time since our family has really spent some time in Los Angeles. I'm a native San Diegan so usually I am just passing through LA to get to San Diego from San Luis Obispo. I always dread the LA traffic and how everyone seems to be in a hurry. But if my destination is Los Angeles county, it really didn't seem all that bad and long!

Our main points of interest were Santa Monica Pier, eating some seafood and then a last minute visit to the Mattel Store located at the Mattel headquarters.

They also have a Sanrio store in Los Angeles, but you'll have to go to the downtown area in Little Tokyo to find it. It's worth a visit if you love Hello Kitty, Kerropi and other Sanrio collections!

Santa Monica Pier


The picture above was taken while we were buying cotton candy for the kids. As you can see, the Santa Monica Pier was still very busy for a pandemic, judging by the number of cars. Most people wore masks so that was comforting. We stopped by the arcade there and as always, we'd win something and then I would have to be the one holding everything.

The kids had a lot of fun and I was very surprised by how long and large the pier is! Before we even reached the end of the pier, my kids were tired!


Eating Seafood
I didn't care which restaurant I was going to have my seafood fix, as long as it was at a restaurant on the Santa Monica Pier. The most interesting place seemed to be Seaside on the Pier, even though Bubba Gump is usually more well known. The Seaside on the Pier had a second story and a lot of seating in the front, back and upstairs. Usually at a place this huge, there's a high chance that there's room for us without a long wait. We were right. There was no wait when we asked the hostess! I ordered the fried calamari from their starters/appetizer section as my meal. 

The food was fresh and tasted great! They also serve California beers on tap!

Hyatt Hotel Stay at in LA

I had some points that I had accumulated as a Hyatt member so we used them to redeem a free night at the Hyatt Place/Los Angeles/El Segundo. It was only a 20 minute drive from Santa Monica Pier and I had just the right amount of points to redeem for a one night stay at this very hotel. The hotel is located right by the LAX airport so traffic could be very congested as you get closer to the hotel location. However, I still enjoyed my stay even with all the bad traffic. I liked that the hotel is located in the middle of it all, close to so many stores and restaurants. Our hotel room was very clean and my view from the window was awesome! (See picture below.)

The check in process was easy and I discovered from my room that I could surprisingly see the Mattel sign and building! Mattel is the company that builds famous toys like Ken, Barbie and Mega Bloks. I did some research about it and it just so happens that Mattel is headquartered in El Segundo and they had a store that is open to the public on the ground level! So, we decided to make an impromptu trip to their store the next morning!

Mattel Headquarters

When we decided to come 15 minutes before the Mattel Toy Store opens at their headquarters, I thought we were going to be too early. To my surprise, there were already 20 - 30 people there waiting in line already! I didn't know it was a popular place to visit! It's such a unique experience to buy toys straight from the headquarters and there are only 2 Mattel Toy Stores in all of U.S., even though Mattel toys are sold is many major stores all over the country. I even saw two guys brought their Ken Dolls while they were waiting in line. I can see how this place could be an excellent photo op and destination for collectors!

I'm a Game of Thrones fan so when I saw that there were Mega Construx dragon eggs I could buy, I snatched one of these Drogon ones. This is the very one that I bought at the Mattel Toy Store at their headquarter store. See the video clip of my Drogon egg. I highly recommend visiting this Mattel Toy Store at the El Segundo headquarters if you have the time and are already planning to visit Los Angeles county or El Segundo anyway!

Miyako Hotel, a Little Tokyo Hotel
Several months later after our initial Los Angeles trip, we decided to come back to explore more of LA because there's so much to see. We stayed at the Miyako Hotel in Little Tokyo this time. The unique hotel is smack in the middle of all the wonderful Asian restaurants and shopping. Notably, it's a short walking distance to the Sanrio Store. It was very cool stay here at the Miyako Hotel. We had a large window from our hotel room that allowed us to see all the busy action at night and people getting in line to order their ramen. 

Reading Suggestion:
Read about our Spring Break Trip to Universal Studios Hollywood after Super Nintendo World opened and our first ride experience on the Mario Kart.

AJ Spurs is located right off Highway 101 so it's a quick exit in Grover Beach. It's pricey, quirky and great for a special occasion.

We've actually dined at the AJ Spurs in Buellton (part of Santa Barbara County) before we got the change to dine at this Grover Beach location (in San Luis Obispo County). The decor is similar but I feel like this place feels much bigger! The parking situation is much easier as well.

We're in a pandemic when we came here for the first time and it was very easy to get seated. After the pandemic, business here seemed to have picked up a lot. The place feels dark inside as it should as it's meant to have an old western vibe with a lot of taxidermy!

The portions were very big! The kids seemed to enjoy looking around in their seats. There's a whole lot to take in. Desserts came with the entrees that we ordered and you could pick from a float or a sweet alcoholic shot of the day. This place is definitely different. Be ready to spend 30 - 40 dollars for a nice steak entree but you will definitely not leave hungry!

Here's how the inside looks:

See other restaurants that I've dined at with my family in San Luis Obispo County under the Restaurants page.

AJ Spurs Address: 1760 El Camino Real, Grover Beach, CA 93433

Reading Suggestions:

To see other pictures of restaurants that I've visited in San Luis Obispo County, go to the Restaurants Page.

See 16 restaurants that I've visited in Paso Robles.

Read about my date night in Pismo Beach.

We did a staycation at La Quinta in Downtown San Luis Obispo about a year after the pandemic started.

It was a short 18 hour staycation. Our main motivated was we wanted to be able to use our 1865 Craft House & Kitchen gift card that we've been hoarding and since it's located right next door from the La Quinta Inn in Downtown San Luis Obispo, we decided to have a relaxing tourist experience as locals as well. Since traveling far was not advised during the pandemic, we opted for staycations instead and my family really enjoyed this nice relaxing Sunday dinner and relaxation afterwards. 

Dinner at 1865 Craft House, Next to La Quinta Inn San Luis Obispo Downtown

Here are pictures of the food that we ordered from the 1865 Craft House & Kitchen Restaurant below. They seated us outside and our table had a fire pit. We had dined at 1865 Craft House before so we knew to expect creative drinks and delicious food with excellent service. They have a lot of patio space and indoor space. I ordered the salmon, shared the wings and enjoyed one of their pretty cocktails. My kids enjoyed the mac and cheese and a side of sweet potato fries.






The service was great and the food came out fast. The food quality was top notch and the kids enjoyed their selection from the kid's menu!

One Night Stay at La Quinta Inn San Luis Obispo

After we had a nice dinner at 1865 Craft House & Kitchen, we walked back to our hotel.

It was too cold to dip into the pool but my sons and I still took the elevator up to the 4th floor to check it out and look at the view. It's so awesome. I really didn't expect a rooftop like this at a La Quinta. 


In the morning, they had grab and go breakfast bags for free for guests so we grabbed a couple and enjoyed some local Edna pastries, breakfast bars, orange juice and water. They charged me $10 for parking, which is fair and I didn't need to put any ticket on the dashboard so that saved me a trip back-and-forth because normally, I'd do this after checking in at a hotel to make sure no one would tow it.

One thing I want to note is that every room has a mini-fridge but the mini-fridge is located inside of the closest, not the cabinet. I thought that was strange but maybe it's for sanitary reasons! I had a hard time finding it at first.

One complaint: Even though check-in time was 3pm, when we arrived there at 3pm, our room was still not ready and we had to wait another hour. We booked a deluxe double queen, which has a balcony so there were only certain rooms with that feature. I thought that was a real bummer to have to wait but they said they were so busy the night before. In retrospect, I think they should have just upgraded me to an available suite so I didn't have to wait. Anyway, they gave me a coupon for 2 free cocktails or appetizer for the restaurant next door, which we had planned on dining at anyway. I'm not sure if they gave every guest this 1865 Craft House & Kitchen coupon or only if they are trying to step up their customer service when needed.

All and all, I would definitely return here and recommend my friends.

Note: This staycation was not sponsored in anyway and they did not know that I am a blogger. Therefore, like 95% of my content here my website, this review is not biased.

Staycations at other hotels around San Luis Obispo County:

• Read about my staycation at the famous Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo.
• Read about my staycation at Granada Hotel & Bistro in Downtown San Luis Obispo.
• Read about my staycation at The Carlton in Atascadero.

To see other pictures of restaurants that I've visited in San Luis Obispo County, go to the Restaurants Page.