Seriously getting wet!

There are quite a few rides for everyone to enjoy at Legoland, especially for the younger crowd, but there were also a bunch of rides that people our age were allowed on, by our age I mean people who are not kids, I know that a bunch of us still act like kids so I will say that there were also a lot of rides perfectly suited for kids of the adult version.

Not long after our visit to Legoland started and Mimi got us all suited up in the gift shop, it started getting hot, the guy at the gate had suggested we go to the total opposite end of the park and work our way back to the front, his reasoning was that most people start at the front, so this means more people and longer lines at the front. I'm here to tell you that by the time we got to the back we were all sweating, and about half of the kids of the adult version were looking for a shady place to sit.

Cindy suggested that we find a water ride to cool off, and upon reading our handy dandy Legoland map we decided on Pirate Reef, this ride appeared to work kind of like the log rides at a lot of parks, you know where you get into a boat type contraption and get pulled to the top of a flume of water, then you ride around a semi circle at a tolerable pace and just about the time that you relax, the nose of the boat tips downwards and you are all of a sudden speeding straight down splashing into a pool of water where everyone on the boat gets a little splash, sometimes you get pretty wet but most times you walk away semi dry.

(Source) this is what the Legoland site shows.

And to make Pirate Reef more fun, they have water cannons on Pirate ships sitting on each side of the flume where people can give you, or each other a blast of water as they "fire the water cannons across the ship's bow" those little kids are viscous and also good shots, they weren't worried about firing water cannons across any ships bow, they were looking for the driest person in line and eliminating them from being dry.

We all finally made it to the front of the line, and wouldn't you know it that Cindy and I somehow ended up in the very front seats on the boat, I looked around and noticed that we had lined up in the first slot but everyone else skipped all the slots next to us, it was like everyone had moved away to the back of the boat, I had to hold up my arm and give myself a cursory sniff, in case it was me...I really didn't think I was sweating that much.

When our boat arrived Cindy and I were guided into the front seat, Benjamin, Tim, and Elisa were seated in the row behind us, then we were given plastic bags for all of our belongings. Everyone was relieved of their phones, cameras, Cindy's plastic see through backpack, and even my new hat that Cindy had bought me back in the gift shop. I questioned if I really needed to give up my hat, the ride operator said that it was only necessary if I didn't want to either lose it or to get it wet, so into the bag my hat went.

With us being relieved of all our possessions and locked into the front seat of the ride, Cindy asked the ride operator if we had picked the wrong seats, he just stood and looked at us for a minute, then turned and laughed as he walked away, everyone behind us in the boat joined in his laughter, Cindy and I looked at one another and she said, Maybe these seats weren't a good idea after all.

Suddenly the ride began, the boat moved upwards climbing the rise to the top, all we could see was the sky, then the boat leveled out and the nose dropped making you think that you were about to make a really big dive, but instead it just sailed along the flume, we were looking around at the park and the other guests waiting in line below us, when all of a sudden the boat slowed down.

Looking ahead I no longer saw the water flume that we were sailing along in, it was like we were hanging over the edge of the world, nothing below us, just hanging out there in midair, it seemed like we sat there forever although I know it was only seconds, Cindy's eyes were big as saucers and the nose of the boat dropped, this is where you have to remember that we were sitting in the nose of the boat...

We were now flying downhill, everything around us was a blur then all of a sudden it was like we slammed into a wall of water, we were seriously getting wet now. I was looking through water spots on my glasses, and just as I turned to look at Cindy another wall of water landed directly on top of our heads. My hair was hanging in my eyes and Cindy's hair was hanging all around her face, kind of like Cousin It from the Addams family had been drowned.

This is more like what we experienced

And speaking of drowned we nearly were, my shirt was sticking to me and water was dripping from my hair and beard, I turned around to look at Benjamin and his row of seats had not faired any better, they were all just as wet as we were.

Then here came the water blasters, just as we were wiping water from our faces, we were being blasted by water cannons from children who were supposed to be firing their water cannons across the bow of the ships, but we were in range and we were wet already.

Notice the bridge in the picture above. You can stand on this bridge and share in the splash of the boats sailing into the pool of water, or you can stand on the pirate ships and shoot the water cannons, just as I talked Benjamin into standing on the bridge with me, I was hit right in my ear with a blast from a water cannon. I looked around to see my daughter in law pointing a cannon in my direction. I'm not sure if this was an accident, or a hint to not take her baby onto the bridge, I chose the former so Benjamin and I headed out on the bridge.

The only dry thing in my possession at the time was my new hat. Holding my new hat behind my back to keep it dry worked really well during the splash on the bridge, that is until a little girl filled it with water from a blaster.

Seriously  while I was holding my hat behind my back at belt level, a little girl with a water cannon from the Pirate ship completely filled that hat with water, it's probably a good thing I had my butt covered, I told you those kids are good shots, and viscous. I dumped the water out of my hat and said to Tim. Did you see that? He looked at me and said yep and dumped the water out of his hat, she had got him too.

I placed my now wet hat on my head and we all dripped a trail of water behind us as we left the Pirates Reef.

If you need to cool down at Legoland I recommend Pirate Reef, and if you want to stay dry, this is not a good idea.