Legoland, and the Hochseilgarten

What could possibly be less crowded than Legoland in the off-season?  Legoland, in the off-season, in the rain.  But, being from Seattle and, thus, of sterner stuff, we didn't let the morning damp scare us.

The payoff: we were able to walk onto to any ride in the park. And so we walked on to all of them. Multiple times.

Because we saved so much time not waiting in lines, we were able to do several things that we'd skipped during our visit earlier this year.  For one, we spent some time at a magic show with a particularly charismatic magician.  Magic being a universal language, the kids enjoyed it thoroughly.

And we took the kids to two of the three 4-D movies playing in the Legoland theater (for, apparently, they've found the fourth dimension in Günzburg, Germany. Who knew?)  The kids absolutely loved those as well: there's nothing more endearing than little minifigs engaging in acts of derring-do.

Dennis, he of the iron stomach, had been wanting to try a ride based on the Lego Bionicles toys, one of those fabulous things where you're strapped in a chair and flipped in all sorts of directions.  None of the kids were even remotely interested in joining Dennis, but Alex joined me to watch on the observation deck. The room for the ride was dark and a kind of dystopic-future feel. Alex watched with horror as they attached people onto scary claw arms and shook them around...and then he lost it. "Not Daddy! I don't want them to hurt Daddy!"  Oh, poor little guy!  Not until Dennis had him in his arms did Alex start to relax.

We also spent some time slowing down, particularly for the sake of our stressed-out Alex: we walked through most of the lego sculptures, spending extra time in the Star Wars section.  The kids have only seen Episode 4, but there's something so appealing about good guys, bad guys, robots and monsters.

We also spent a long time in the discount sale tent.  They had an enormous bin of loose Legos for sale, cheap, by the bag: I think they're discards from the main pick-a-mix shop. We let the kids put together a bag, and I think it was even more fun than panning for gold.

We ended up spending a full day at the park, a little over seven hours, but we weren't done yet.

It turned out to be a very good thing, indeed, that we've spent so much time on challenging Swiss playgrounds: they prepared us for the German ones!

Since our last visit a couple of months ago, a large Hochseilgarten (or high ropes course) sprang up in the Legoland hotel complex.  The thing was massive, and it had all of the Geelses salivating.  Except for Joey: he told me, earnestly, that he shouldn't go up there because he would hurt his knee.

Incredibly, the age limit for the three-story rope park was a mere four years, so Alex did get to play.

The rope park didn't open until 6:30, with sessions lasting 90 minutes. Ella and I let Dennis and Alex go first, since Ella is somewhat better at staying up late.  Dennis and Alex got harnessed up and went through a short training session, but really, the safety system was pretty foolproof.  There were six hexagonal courses, and at the beginning of each, you would latch onto a safety line that ran all the way around the course: you didn't unlatch until you were back, safe on the platform.  And a parent and child could go in tandem: they had two parallel safety lines running around each course.

Alex was mostly excited, but also, wisely, a little fearful. Dennis did a fantastic job of coaching and encouraging the little guy, and he ended up having a great time, and feeling very proud of himself.  He decided he didn't want to go any further than the advanced-beginner courses, though.

Dennis, however, did, so after he and Alex played up there for an hour, I took Alex back down, and Dennis finished the rest of the courses.  It was pretty impressive, watching him: all of his yoga must be doing something: he could cross through every course but two or three without depending on his safety wire.

Ella, however, was less pleased about watching her father: she was overly eager to take her turn up there, but ended up having to wait until after 8:00 before she and I could suit up.  She almost lost her head, she was so eager and, probably, tired, but she kept it together, and we were still able to have a go.

As soon as Ella was in the air, she was as happy as could be: giddy, really.  She told me she was determined to do all six courses (even though Dennis had warned us away from the last one: it was just too challenging to be at all fun), and she remained undaunted throughout the night.

Of course, it was very easy for her to say she wanted to do them all, because, in her mind, "doing a course" simply meant getting from one end to the other, and picking up her feet and gliding across from one platform to the next on her safety wire, zipline style, was absolutely acceptable.  Preferable, even.

Such grace! Such style!

But I, most unfortunately, have my pride, so, while Ella was blissfully flying through the obstacles, I lumbered after her, trying to match my husband's agility.  But I don't do yoga, and I think I'll be sore tomorrow.

It also got to be really late as we attempted progressively more difficult stunts: by the most challenging course, I was exhausted.  But not so tired that I didn't want to try the course zipline once or thrice.

The zipline!  It went, triangularly, around the hotel's little lake, and it was fantastic.  Children weren't allowed to attempt it alone, mostly because they're not quite heavy enough to make it across the line on their own.  Parents could take the kids across the line in tandem, though, with the parent going first and the child holding onto the parent's back strap. Truthfully, I was a little nervous about doing the line myself, the first time: as dark as it was, it felt slightly dangerous.  And I was more nervous about getting my daughter across. So I didn't urge Ella on too terribly much when she decided the zipline was just too scary.

But I did go myself.  It was too dark for photos, so you'll just have to take my word for it.

The zipline, which ran triangularly around the lake 

The third time I went across the zipline, I didn't jump off the starting platform, and I didn't have quite enough thrust to make it to the other side. And so there I was, stuck dangling  over a lake, my daughter's giggles floating over toward me.  But I well know the German word for "Help!" and one of the supervisors came over.  And then he pulled up from the lake bottom a slimy rescue line, which I had to use to pull myself to the other side.  That was less exhilarating.

But still, it was a fantastic night.  Ella, too, was incredibly proud of herself, and a little choked up as we took off our halters.  "That's as close as I'll ever get to flying."