LEGOLAND Parks & Discover Center Buying - General discussion

[damnsanders]

There were sergeants and tcs in almost every store in llfl when I was there last month. Also the symbiote polybag. Also had some sand green in the pab section. Nothing at the Schaumburg discovery center worth mentioning when I was there last week. Bam section was destroyed and pab was the saddest I've ever seen. (Small selection and empty bins)

[donbee]

Cupcake stalls, fire atvs, and duplo duck polys in the water park. Series 5 & 7 mixels.

[donbee]

Lesson 2: annual pass gets you 10% off everything, including Lego, which seems to be at rrp, though I didn't check any of the larger sets.

Lesson 3: look around more before spending your budget on the first load of polys you find. The Friends store and the Minifig store had PEE in it, as well as other seasonal promotionals.

Lesson 4: don't take your little girl in to the minifig store, or you'll end up spending $3.99 on two tiny kitties, a tiny chihuahua, a sea gull (why is it rubbery) and a silver fish (the fish was actually for me, she was gonna get another bird).

[donbee]

Also found a bunch of those target polys that go on discount after holidays. Like the blue race car from valentines. And the race car that came after that. Not at discount of course. Lots of series 15 minifig blind bags. Which kids and employees were smooshing left and right.

That should be Lesson 5: no smooshing at Legoland, they've already been smooshed. Unless you get there at 9:30am and think it's a fresh box.

No Olaf polys or the new Disney minifigs. Which I was really hoping to see.

[donbee]

Lesson 6: For local BPers. They do allow you to "shop only" for free. You go to the ticket booth and say your just gonna shop, you have to pay for a one day pass, but they hold it as a deposit. You get 1 hour to return and get your deposit back.

But I'm sure you'll have to pay the $15-22 for parking.

[Alpinemaps]

As a follow up to@donbee's posts...

All sets at LEGOLAND are RRP. Unless they are on sale or are damaged box.

Smoosh away, at least in Caifornia. There are so many boxes of Minifigures everywhere that there is no problem. And if you're really nice you can ask them to bring out a fresh box.

Shoppers pass - correct on the one hour. You get your money back as long as you are out within an hour. If you spend $20 you get your $15 parking fee refunded too.

[donbee]

I tried the ticket booth manager, the annual pass manager, and guest services to refund my parking and they all refused, even though I had purchased an "Awesomer" pass for an extra $50, which includes free parking. On the parking receipt it says "no refunds." Could be ymmv, or FL just sucks. 

@Alpinemaps I mentioned smooshing because I've been following the poly forum and they were recently debating the ethics of smooshing. Several ppl have posted that it's ok to smoosh because Lego employees smoosh for you. I thought I'd make a joke and say don't smoosh, not because it's unethical, but because you're getting sloppy seconds. =) 

[Alpinemaps]

2 hours ago, donbee said:

I tried the ticket booth manager, the annual pass manager, and guest services to refund my parking and they all refused, even though I had purchased an "Awesomer" pass for an extra $50, which includes free parking. On the parking receipt it says "no refunds." Could be ymmv, or FL just sucks. 

@Alpinemaps I mentioned smooshing because I've been following the poly forum and they were recently debating the ethics of smooshing. Several ppl have posted that it's ok to smoosh because Lego employees smoosh for you. I thought I'd make a joke and say don't smoosh, not because it's unethical, but because you're getting sloppy seconds. =) 

That's weird that they wouldn't refund your parking after buying the AP.  That's standard rule at LLCA.  From parking attendants to the annual pass processor, they're always telling people that they can get a refund on their parking if they are activating/purchasing an AP.  Weird.

[donbee]

In Toronto for work, and found a Discovery Centre right down the street from my office building.

Picked up 7 Olaf polys (expensive) that they were keeping in back.

And several monthly polys

No clearance. Saw lots of Big Bang and Dr Who. And some polys I haven't found in FL, but over priced. And lots of Birds.

They said they were not getting the storm trooper poly, and had Disney minifigs but would not sell until Sunday.

[glostik]

My local discovery charges 6$ for polybags, is this normal?

they also offer me 5% off since I have  VIP but no points. This seems like a good deal to load up on exclusives and not get banned since they aren't keeping track.

 

[Lordoflego]

44 minutes ago, glostik said:

My local discovery charges 6$ for polybags, is this normal?

they also offer me 5% off since I have  VIP but no points. This seems like a good deal to load up on exclusives and not get banned since they aren't keeping track.

 

My discovery center charges $4 now, it use to be over $5, can't remember if $6 or even $8 - at least some x-mas poly use to be $8 there. With vip you don't get points, just right then and there they take off %5. With annual pass it use to be %10 on certain sets but many (all) exclusives don't apply so it's not worth to me anymore getting a pass. Check it often (unless you are in IL, if you do: stay away from my discovery center!  ) because you never know when they get new polys and some of them are not available anywhere else, at least for period of time. 

[Alpinemaps]

1 hour ago, glostik said:

My local discovery charges 6$ for polybags, is this normal?

they also offer me 5% off since I have  VIP but no points. This seems like a good deal to load up on exclusives and not get banned since they aren't keeping track.

Legoland California charges $5 for polys, but they also get some exclusive polys that you don't see anywhere else.  Or you get them 9 months before anyone else.

As far as picking up exclusives - yes, it's a fantastic way to load up without being tracked.  Just be sure you're nice, and don't load up too quickly.  Because they have been known to crack down occasionally.  Also, LEGO has been putting pressure on the Legolands to not sell so much to resellers.  So you may be subject to limits.

[ivyhedge]

3 minutes ago, Alpinemaps said:

Legoland California charges $5 for polys, but they also get some exclusive polys that you don't see anywhere else.  Or you get them 9 months before anyone else.

As far as picking up exclusives - yes, it's a fantastic way to load up without being tracked.  Just be sure you're nice, and don't load up too quickly.  Because they have been known to crack down occasionally.  Also, LEGO has been putting pressure on the Legolands to not sell so much to resellers.  So you may be subject to limits.

Discovery Center near Boston is gross. Disorganized and frequently emptied of everything useful. I've complained, others have complained, and only the manager seems to care (nice guy) but there's inertia. The staff is perennially comprised of <20yr olds who literally don't care. Of course, if you find something (star destroyer poly) they also don't care if you empty the store. But I'd rather it be the opposite and have a nice experience. Polybags are $4.

[weitzel78]

I'm not a big fan Lego Discover Center Atlanta. Short return policy and you cannot earn or use VIP points. They do not even offer free promotional sets that you find at Lego real stores. The store is a mess and its hard to look around without getting pestered by the employees. They always seem to ask me multiple times what I'm looking for... when it seems obvious that I want to browse. Never found any rare Polybags.

I'm curious why people shop there? What am I missing?

[glostik]

I find that strange that theres such a big variance on polybag prices between the stores. All their other prices are in line with lego SAH.

[Sharkbait]

7 minutes ago, weitzel78 said:

I'm not a big fan Lego Discover Center Atlanta. Short return policy and you cannot earn or use VIP points. They do not even offer free promotional sets that you find at Lego real stores. The store is a mess and its hard to look around without getting pestered by the employees. They always seem to ask me multiple times what I'm looking for... when it seems obvious that I want to browse. Never found any rare Polybags.

I'm curious why people shop there? What am I missing?

One of the reasons you see this is because the discover centers are not run by Lego, it is a 3rd party. That is why they don't do the same promotions. If you show your VIP, they usually give you a discount (except for select sets that are on a do not discount list).

I know I've seen poly bags at the discovery center near me that the actual Lego stores don't get. I've also found discontinued sets there I haven't seen other locations. 

[weitzel78]

1 minute ago, Sharkbait said:

One of the reasons you see this is because the discover centers are not run by Lego, it is a 3rd party. That is why they don't do the same promotions. If you show your VIP, they usually give you a discount (except for select sets that are on a do not discount list).

I know I've seen poly bags at the discovery center near me that the actual Lego stores don't get. I've also found discontinued sets there I haven't seen other locations. 

Does the 10% off with annual pass apply to all items or only those in the do not discount list? Every time I mentioned VIP they said they would give a discount.... but low and behold the exclusive I was buying was on the list. Lego gives VIP on all sets! From a business prospective I get that they are separate entities, but it's lame from a consumer prospective.

[donbee]

Still finding lots of those little yellow creator Boxes. Like the PEE and the wedding. And the rose.

A few star wars polys. But mostly 2016 friends, elves and city.

Disney minifigs at every register.

I could not find any at Disney Springs (downtown disney) or that Lego store in Orlando.

[justapilgrim]

can the buy one ticket, get one free be used on the 5 day passes?

[Alpinemaps]

I'm pretty sure it's only for a single day admission.

[stackables]

Anyone hit up the legoland in Michigan?  Curious how it is and what the stores have.

[donbee]

Picked up the Heartlake GWP.

Incredibly small, but It's a pretty coolidea. Easy to MOC, but comes with a bunch of stickers.

[Alpinemaps]

46 minutes ago, donbee said:

Picked up the Heartlake GWP.

Incredibly small, but It's a pretty coolidea. Easy to MOC, but comes with a bunch of stickers.

GWP at LLFL?  That's pretty cool.  My wife just introduced my daughter to sewing this past weekend, and they're already sewing up a storm.  I'll have to see if LLCA has that.  I know my daughter would flip.

[Dr. Brick]

On March 23, 2016 at 4:54 PM, jkris53406 said:

The resort in Florida was fantastic. We were there at thanksgiving and the experience was phenomenal. The park was great as well. As for merchandise, don't forget the LEGOLAND exclusive train set. When we were there it wasn't there and I was kind of bummed. The clearance store was across from the pirate show and was pretty sparse.

I bought 15 of those last month and got 10% off with my discount card

[Brickbuilder.g]

Can you buy at LL in CA without buying an admission ticket?