Last week I was half-pleased and half-irritated that the first of the 2014 LEGO Chima Summer Sets had arrived in the United States. While I was glad to finally see a new Chima set showing up, I was bummed it was only sighted at the LEGOLand Discovery Center Stores in Florida, California and Illinois. But destiny was on my side this time, as my wife was on a trip this week in the Midwest and stopped at LEGOLand Chicago for me…

I’m really not much for travel. If it’s not a state that I’ve lived in or a state with Disney Parks in it, I probably have never spent a night there. So as you might guess, the number of times I’ve been to the Chicago LEGO Land is exactly zero.

However, my wife does a bit more traveling than I do. And while she’s not a “stuff” person (bless her heart), she’d heard my whining about the exclusive LEGO Sykor’s Ice Cruiser polybag all last last week, and so she decided to schedule dropping by LEGOLand Chicago into her travel plans just for me!

I was really surprised when she sent me her photo of the outside of the Illinois LEGOLand Discovery Center, as I’d had no idea that the different LEGO Land locations had different LEGO giraffes. Our local LEGOLand Boston location has a standing LEGO giraffe, but the Chicago location’s is an awesome glasses-wearing LEGO Giraffe with way more personality which is falling through the entrance of the store! I’m mighty jealous of not getting to see that awesome giraffe in person!

Apparently the LEGOLand store was absolutely packed with parents and children, but had plenty of cool displays. My wife’s favorite part of LEGO Land Chicago–hands down–was the big LEGO Albert Einstein head. I’m not a scientist like my wife is, but even I have to admit that this is a pretty cool Einstein model make of LEGO Bricks!

My wife thought the layout of the store was “kind of awkward layout”, as “all the Chima stuff was around a corner in the back and next to impossible to find”. Luckily, she managed to navigate around the store safely and find a whole bin full of the LEGO 30266 polybag for me anyway!

You can also see a whole tub filled with the LEGO City Arctic Scout 30310 beneath the LEGO Chima Sykor’s Ice Cruiser in the photo! The LEGO Arctic Scout set is supposedly available at Toys R Us stores, but I sure haven’t seen it yet. If I’d know it was at the LEGO Discovery Center Store, I would’ve asked for that too! (Heh.)

It probably would have been less of a fuss to just buy a LEGO Sykor minifigure off of eBay, but there’s a certain thrill you get knowing you didn’t give in to online scalpers, you know? And as an added bonus, I feel all warm and fuzzy inside on the rare occasions when my wife acquires a collectible before I can get my hands on it myself (which does not happen often)!

Who else has dropped by the LEGOLand Discovery Center Store and picked up a LEGO Legends of Chima Sykor’s Ice Cruiser set? Any local Illinois residents have the pleasure of visiting this fine establishment regularly?