Legoland yesterday was tons of fun. In particular, I loved the interactive rides. In one ride, for example, each family had their own fire truck. They pumped a handle to make it zoom down the track, then jumped out to pump water on to the fire. The first one to put out the fire and get back won.

Great stuff. Much more engaging than the typical stand-in-line-and-ride stuff. It did, however, bring out our competitive side.

One ride featured spinning towers with chairs on them. You sat in the chair (two people per chair) and pulled yourself up the tower via a rope. Once you got to the top (or just felt like it), you could let go of the rope and glide down.

As we walked to the ride, we divided into teams. It was my turn with my youngest, and he immediately started doing fist pumps. “Oh yeah,” he said to his older brother. “We’re going to crush you!”

The big guy glanced sidelong at his mom. “Oh ma-an,” he said. “I don’t want to race. I just want to ride.”

My wife rolled her eyes.

“Hey,” I said, “you have an advantage.” I nodded to my hurt wrist. “I can’t pull anything with this. You guys are going to have four hands to our three.”

“That’s all right,” my partner said. “We’re still going to crush them!” He danced around, doing his best imitation of a boxer throwing punches. Which is pretty impressive, considering he’s never seen a boxing match.

“Oh yeah?” his older brother rallied. “You know what our other big advantage is?”

“No,” I said. “What?”

He puffed out his chest. “Me!”

Heh. Tough to argue with that one.

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Legoland is a great park, by the way. Tons of fun. Unfortunately, they’ve priced it too high. It’s just not big enough to warrant the cost yet (about $300 just for tickets for a family of four), but I hope it survives and grows into its potential.