LEGOLAND Discovery Center Kansas City

About

Sort the parking out before you go. The attraction sits inside Crown Center and validates six hours in the connected garage, which sounds generous until you meet the payment machines - reviewers describe them as fiddly, one visitor was billed anyway despite validating, and overstaying gets expensive fast. The second thing to know at the door is that the whole site is cashless, gift shop included. It is stated in the website's FAQ and almost nowhere else, and it catches people out.

Inside there are two real rides - the laser-shooting one draws the most affection, from competitive adults as much as from children - a 4D cinema that sprays water, which a child who hates surprises should sit out, a communal mural people add to, and a long run of build-and-test stations. There is a small soft-play structure and a baby area off to one side. Reviewers put the sweet spot at ten and under, and most families are through it in two to three hours plus however long the shop takes.

The complaint to weigh is size. Several visitors who plainly enjoyed themselves still say it is a single floor and smaller than the price implies, and the VR racing is a paid extra on top of admission rather than part of it. If you are going anyway, the combined ticket with the aquarium next door is what reviewers recommend, and it need not be one long day - buy the combo after half past one and you have thirty days to use the aquarium half. Bring a layer, too. They keep the room cold.