I just visited Legoland Florida on Monday and as a big Lego fan I was really disappointed. I have been before and really enjoyed it, but that was several years ago. We also went to Legoland New York last year for 3 days and we loved it. I have also been to Billund and California.

This trip:

• Nearly every food option was closed. The only places that were open were Granny's Apple Fries, Lego City Burger Kitchen, and Dragon's Den. Only one of the refresh stations was manned, the others only allowed refills. The places we were most interested in (the Taco place, the Ninjago food truck, the Funnel Cake place, the Sandwich place) were all closed.

• Several experiences were closed: The Water Stunt Show, which I get that it's January, but still. Zane's Temple Build and the Imagination Zone were closed. There was another, but I forget what it was.

• The park was dirty. Like unswept, dirt in the corners, just a "dirty" feel to the place. The water in Miniland had debris in the bottom, and could have used a cleaning.

• There were many things that needed repair. Minor damage to models in Miniland that should have been repaired quickly were not. Some Miniland models were not functioning properly (like cars not moving, boats not moving, etc). Landscape lighting was broken and not repaired. Some bathrooms were in rough shape and needed repairs, and the repairs that were made seemed to be half-assed.

• Many of the Miniland models were VERY faded. I understand that it's outside and in Florida, and it looks like they put the big canopy over it to prevent further damage. It did also look like they are in the process of replacing models because some of them looked brand new.

• There were hardly any staff wandering around the park. Those that were consisted of landscapers raking and using leaf blowers to clean up. Their equipment was not in the best condition. It seemed out of place for a theme park in the middle of the day. There were not many people to help direct you where to go when you got lost.

• I saw zero staff that had Minifigures to trade. There were no Pop Badges to collect.

• There was no Minifigure build area. They only had pre-built 3-packs you could buy, and you could not personalize them at all.

• Along the same lines, there is no "exclusive" Legoland Florida Minifigure or set available. This is really a missed opportunity for them.

• We were convinced to buy the photo package for $30, which we found out has only 6 rides that have photos, and out of those, Ninjago's camera was broken, so we didn't get photos from there. Then you find out that it's also an additional $80 to buy a brick print.

• We went with 3 children - of which they are 10 and 12 the other is an infant. Based on what we saw online, there should have been several rides that the infant could have ridden on, like Safari Trek, Ninjago, Coast Guard Academy, Duplo Train, and the Carousel. She was only able to ride with us in the Carousel, and only on a bench. We didn't have to pay for her, but it was still disappointing that we could not take her on the rides to go as a family. Disney had no problem allowing her on the slower rides (Teacups, Pirates, Small World, Toy Story, etc.), so we expected a similar experience.

Overall, after visiting Disney for 4 days and then going to Legoland, it was like a completely different world. Nowhere up to the standards of Disney, by a very long shot. I don't expect perfection, but I do expect to get my money's worth. Why do we have to pay the same amount as someone who goes when all of that is open? I am very glad we didn't spend money to stay at the hotel, because this park was easily done in a day, even without early entry.

I took the time to give feedback to the park through one of the iPads that they had around, and added my email address. I was rewarded with a canned response that they "value [my] opinion". I responded that I would like some responses to my complaints, and again, got a slightly more personal response saying that they are sorry that my experience wasn't as good as I hoped, but without really touching on any complaints, nor offering any remedy.

On the bright side, Cypress Garden's is beautiful. If you do go, definitely spend time there.

I really cannot recommend going there. I wouldn't waste the money on tickets, parking, the hour drive from the Disney area, etc. Sadly, if it continues I see this place having the same fate as Cypress Gardens did.