JJ at the Lego Ninjago SlamJam Competition at Legoland JB

JJ at the Lego Ninjago Spinner SlamJam Competition at Legoland JB (Jul 2019).

OK, so Gugu J has been a faithful sponsor of our Lego and we continue to be blessed by her generosity which we warmly accept 🙂

Seems she has been on some Lego mailing lists and she informs Jon of an upcoming Ninjago Spinner SlamJam Competition happening at Legoland in July. There are specific dates and time slots you can register for, but Mummy and Daddy J decide on Saturday, 13th July.


That fateful day finally arrives (a beautiful day indeed!), and Didi has been practising hard – I mean real HARD. There are apparently different stages/rounds requiring different strategies and he’s simulated all possibly scenarios in the past couple of weeks, anticipating having to persevere through 3 differing trials, each assessing his strength, speed, and agility!

We arrive ahead of the 1pm start time, and were pleasantly informed the competition would be extended to interested walk-in participants. Hearing that, Daddy persuades me to signup and compete alongside Jon. We were one of the early birds, seems there were like 10 other kids at that time and the organiser asks us to get in queue.

As we were a little early after rego, Mummy allows us to go on some rides! After all, whats a visit to Legoland without our usual dose of the Ninjago ride?

We set our personal record of 462,850!

On the way past the Fireman’s Bistro, we smell the familiar scent of our favourite fruit – the King of Fruits, that is! But wonder how it could be possible… but alas, it is true! Legoland JB is selling durians! 🙂

Lucky for us though, this departure terminal doesn’t have a ban on durians!

After some rides, we trod back to the competition venue – Sensei’s Brick Shop and who do we meet but the wise sensei himself, and his faithful side-kick, our fiery Kai!


The organiser explains the mechanics of the contest.

Round 1: In the very first trial, the task was to take down all the cut-up villains (ranging from 10-60points each) using Lloyd’s Titan Mech.

Round 2: In the second round, each contestant was given a slam spinner with the objective to take down as many of the 9 villains set-up in a 3×3 matrix formation.

Round 3: In the final showdown, contestants were asked to pitch their spinning skills aimed at the longest spin, each timed with a stopwatch.


After 3 gruelling rounds, the organiser asks for some time out to tabulate the scores, and we wait in anticipation.

After awarding the consolation prizes to the runner ups, it boils down to the final 2… he asks “whom of the following 2 do you think is the champion?”

Jon basking in jubilation over his win and poses with his clinch – the new Lloyd Titan Mech! Way to go CHAMP!

My very proud littl’ brother – grinning from ear to ear with his bounty in tow.

By the way, Daddy’s smiling cheekily also, proudly whispering to Mummy how he’d just saved $120 bucks not having to buy us that new mech. He thinks we can’t hear! 🙂

~Jo aka Twin1

JJ at Legoland Hotel JB


Well it happens JJ’s favourite aunt – Gugu J manages to book out The elusive Ninjago Lloyd (aka Green Ninja) room on a mid-week Wednesday, so what d’ya know we pack our bags and head to the Legoland Malaysia Resort! BIG HURRAY for the HUGE Ninjago fans JJ are.

We have had the annual passes for some years but never actually utilised the discounted rates on Legoland Hotel so this was an opportune time to leverage the 20% discount on rooms.

Turns out we would be coming straight from KL the day before so when we got to the Legoland Hotel we were just yearning to stay in and rest. Alas while we really did just hibernate in the room, rest was elusive as there was just so much fanfare and excitement – the oohs and aahs from JJ the moment we stepped into the room, admiring the tastefully done Ninjago-themed decor (what else would you expect!), Legoland toiletries and amenities (!) , to getting thru the treasure hunt and eventually unlocking to secret chest to uncover our treasure!

Legoland Resort Malaysia Johor Bahru undergoing a facade face-lift.

Lobby/check-in with Lego Knights Castle (akin to Daddy J’s Black Knights Castle) and Pirate’s Ship play area!

The usual disco lights and music play go on when the elevator doors close – “Everything is awesome, everything is cool when you’re part of a team (by Tegan and Sara)”… different elevators have different themes ranging from Adventure, Pirates, Kingdom…

*Elevator dings* we’re at Level 5 and greeted by none other than Master Wu. Ninjago rooms share the same level as Pirates-themed rooms, which is also the same floor as the hotel pool.

Getting into our Lloyd-themed room…

Treasure hunt instructions laid out on the bed.

[Spoiler alert] Click here for the answers to unlock the treasure chest!

Lego-styled toiletries! Literally everything is AWESOME!

The pool which was virtually empty when we got there in the morning after brekkie. But then again, who would need a pool when you have the Legoland Water Park right at your doorstep! *Splash!*


We did head out eventually to the Legoland Theme Park for our regular dose of Ninjago ride (note Jon beat his record of 204,750 with full bragging rights to it!), dragon roller-coaster (Jo) and for dinner at the Medini Mall (we walked past the newly-opened Sealife aquarium)

There are nightly activities at the Lobby, ranging from movie nights to kids playing in the lego pits and running through the pirates ship deck or knight’s castle. That night we were there though, we enjoyed a little Hari Raya magic show! Kids were all in their PJs, literally wayyy past their bedtime!

The next day we just took it easy – having extended breakfast at the Bricks Family Restaurant (sprawling with KIDS!), playing video games at the Games console room and watching tele in the room before checking out at noon (note the hotel’s official check-in and checkout timings are 4pm/11am respectively).

 

After checkout we were deliberating between going into Legoland again or checking out the latest attraction (Sealife) – given it was sweltering hot then with the noon day sun blazing, it really did make more sense to do a look-see at the air-conditioned Sealife.

Sealife Malaysia officially opened its doors in May 2019 after almost a year in making since groundbreaking in August 2018. Legoland regulars would remember the works-in-progress through this time, the dust and temporary walkways from the open air carpark to the park entrance… but alas, this is all now behind us! Owned and operated by the UK-based Merlin Entertainment Group, the fresh-faced Sealife Malaysia joins a network of >50 other such aquariums/oceanariums around the world (Merlin is also synonymous with Madam Tussauds, Sydney Wildlife Zoo, among others).

In all, we spend slightly more than an hour, zipping* through the various exhibits but spent disproportionately most time at the life-sized aquarium screen – similar to whats now super popular at kids’ play areas and entertainment centers, the one at Sealife Malaysia though has individual screens (not just paper you colour on and snapshot with the digital projector) where kids (and adults too!) design their own sea-life and spawn them into the vast underwater world…. Daddy J himself gets creative with his zebra inspired starfish.

Kids to Daddy: How do you tell the difference between a zebra-striped Daddy and Mummy star fish?

Daddy J: Daddy starfishes are black with white stripes, but Mummy starfishes are white with black stripes

JJ: 🙂

 


*Note: the layout is cleverly designed over 3 levels of exhibits intertwined and accessed by steps (there were lotsa climbing up and down steps to the different floors. Not to worry though as there are also elevators to make accessibility easier!

Lego Ninjago

JJ are HUGE fans of the Lego Ninjago Series… prolly smitten by the same Lego bug as was Daddy J in his younger days.

One fine afternoon when we were about 4, Daddy J whips out little Lego System Black Knights Castle ensemble from the closet and intrigued us. That kinda sparked our interest in these little’ bricks yet he said we were too young to fiddle around with them – instead he shoved us some Lego Duplo blocks instead *bummer*

One of our first Lego (Duplo) sets we bought at the Lego store @ Rinku Premium Outlet in Osaka, Japan.

We will be sure to keep this in neat condition for junior JJs in future 🙂

However since embarking on our very own Ninjago journey 2 years back, there’s been no turning back.

JJ’s Lego Ninjago journey…

Kudos to the LEGO team for the very clear and intuitive instructions. JJ have had very minimal supervision building these sets. The only help Mummy and Daddy J have provided are in ensuring the pieces stick together snugly, and the very occasional re-orientation (left/right hand of the Kai Fire Mech or left/right wing of Jay’s Lightning Jet)…

Clockwise from Jon’s hands…

  • Jay’s Lightning Jet (Blue)
  • Cole’s Quake Mech (Grey/Black)
  • Garma Mecha Man (Black)
  • Kai’s Fire Mech (Red)

Clockwise from Jon’s hands

  • Firstbourne Dragon (Red)
  • Stormbringer Dragon (Blue)
  • Lloyd’s Green Dragon

  • Ultra (White) Dragon

  • Destiny’s Bounty

  • Our favourite Ninjago City!

    

  • Manta Ray Bomber

  • Ninjago Temple of the ULTIMATE Ultimate Weapon (Ninjago Joke)

  • Ninjago Temple of Resurrection

  • Miscellaneous Ninjago sets

To top it off, we were recently gifted a Legoland Ninjago Lloyd staycation @ the Legoland Malaysia Resort by our lovely Gugu J – check out our review of that stay here.