The 2013 North American tour of Lego Kidsfest has been announced, with cities and dates as follows:

• Richmond, Virginia (VA): February 15 – 17, 2013
• Louisville, Kentucky (KY): April 5 – 7 , 2013
• Houston, Texas (TX): May 17 – 19, 2013
• Phoenix, Arizona (AZ): July 12 – 14, 2013
• San Jose, California (CA): Aug. 30 – Sept. 1, 2013
• Portland, Oregon (OR): October 11 – 13, 2013
• Hartford, Connecticut (CT): December 6 – 8, 2013

Finding you can not get yourself to one of the Lego Kidsfest cities this year? Than check out our review of the Cleveland, Ohio Lego Kidsfest from 2011, which includes lots of pictures and details of the event.

Is Lego Kidsfest coming to your City, and you are trying to decide on when to go? Check out our tips.

1) If you want to be sure to get lots of free Lego items to take home with you, I would strongly recommend going on the first day, and early before the crowds start to build. I assume they have enough to hand out for the entire multi-day event, but I do not know for sure.
2) However, if you want to be able to see some of the larger displays towards their completion, we recommend possibly going on the last day and near the end of the event. There are several large builds that start at the beginning of the event, and as people continue to add on to the build, they become more impressive.
3) If you are looking to purchase Lego sets, I strongly encourage waiting until the Lego KidsFest as there are lots and lots of sets we never really saw available in traditional stores. In addition, they were blowing out several series on pretty great sales. When we were at the Cleveland show, they were selling 4 or 5 sets of the Prince of Persia sets together for $35. People were grabbing them like crazy, and I do not know if they lasted all weekend.

Want to save money on your admission tickets to Lego KidsFest? For the 2011 Lego Kidsfest shows, Groupon was an invaluable tool to help guests purchase tickets at discount. Tickets had gone on sale at the respective Groupon page anywhere from a month to two months ahead of the event. Therefore, it was important for guests to keep an eye out on their Groupon page. In addition, purchasing your tickets early was key once they showed up on Groupon. All of the events in the past had sold out.

For historical reference, here is some of the information I gathered on the 2011 events.

Minneapolis, MN
May 20-22, 2011
Groupon tickets went on sale about 4/12/11 for $12 each (up to $20 value)

Pittsburgh, PA
June 17-19, 2011
Groupon tickets went on sale about 5/3/11 for $12 each (up to $20 value)

Raliegh, NC
Oct. 7-9, 2011
Groupon tickets went on sale about 9/11/11 for $12 each (up to $20 value)

Cleveland, OH
November 4-6, 2011
Groupon tickets went on sale 9/14/11 for $12 each (up to $20.50 value)

Hartford, CT
Dec. 2-4, 2011
Groupon tickets went on sale about 10/15/11 for $12 each (up to $20.50 value)

Here is the bad news. Lego did not offer Kidsfest tickets for the 2012 shows via Groupon. I had discussions with Lego reps, and the demand was just too high for tickets to warrant the need to sell them via Groupon. This could change for 2013, but it all depends on how ticket sales go.

In my experience, the best way to score a discount for Kidsfest in 2012 was to visit local blogs. Last year Lego partnered with local travel and family blogs to not only offer a discount on tickets (typically $2-3 off tickets), but also gave each site a set of tickets to give away. This can be an excellent opportunity to not only score tickets for free, should you win, but also purchase tickets at discount.

Keep in mind, discount for Lego Kidsfest shows typically end a couple weeks prior to the show. So purchase your tickets early if there is a date and time you want to visit. From my experience, almost every showing, if not all, have sold out in advance.

Love Lego Kidsfest, and now are considering visiting one of the Legoland parks? Than check out our Legoland Coupon and Discount page, where we try to list every available promotion that we can find. Know of some discount that is not shown? Drop us a message, and we will get it added.

Have a great time at a Lego Kidsfest near you, as our two you boys loved the event!

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