LEGO Discovery Center Boston — Attraction in Somerville

I am giving a 1 star review based on upon my recent experience. I had gone to the store with my girlfriend on 11/2/2025 somewhere in the afternoon, anywhere from 2-4. My girlfriend wanted to go here to see if you had the Star Wars Gingerbread AT AT.

As we did not see any out for display, my girlfriend asked one of the associates there if this was available. The associate, who had a short sleeve shirt, tattoos on his arms, and glasses stated he would check out back. He came back to the sales floor and expressed his apologies that they were not available. However, there would be a shipment coming 11/4 and held in the back. He specifically stated there would be 18 coming in and not going directly to the sales floor, given space constraints. I thanked him for the information and said I would return either 11/4 or 11/5.

I tried to call in earlier on 11/5 at approximately 12:15 p.m. given the numbers provided on Google, and followed all of the prompts. Unfortunately this led me to a customer service representative who was offsite. She had placed me on a hold after I given her the product description, and she was able to find the exact item. She then informed me that she was also not able to get a hold of someone from the store. I expressed that my mother who works in the area, would still stop by, given what my girlfriend and I were told by this individual on 11/2. She was kind and also stated she would send me an email if she was able to get an answer soon.

My mother went to the store at approximately 1:00 p.m. on 11/5 and asked about the Star Wars Gingerbread AT AT. The associates stated this item was not a part of the shipping manifest. I received a call from her and stated exactly what I was told and what this associate from 11/2 looked like. As I was on speaker phone, the associate called to the storage room to confirm this item’s availability. An associate then stated it was not part of the shipping manifest. I expressed my frustrations, as well as my mother expressing her frustrations, given what I was told on 11/2, and for her to go there and be informed the item was not even shipped.

Overall I am extremely frustrated with (1) being told it would be available and in the the back, (2) not being able to call directly to the retail store to speak with someone on site to confirm availability prior to anyone entering the store, (3) also being informed it was never on the shipping manifest to begin with. Furthermore, I am more frustrated the associate from 11/2 told me very specific information regarding the item.

I am not sure exactly when you will get this item in, but it would mean the world to me to get this item as a gift for my girlfriend. I would also hope that associates who do check for items being delivered to the store can be much more transparent, or rather more vague, as providing specific information such as it was confirmed 18 would show up, and then not even being shipped at all. This leaves me not wanting to shop directly at this location, and honestly prefer to just shop either online...

We arrived around 9:05 for the sensory friendly event scheduled for 5/5 at 9am and waited outside with another family. Meanwhile,

Around 9:10 an associate came out to ask if we ‘needed anything’. We explained we were there for the sensory hour event.

It’s no exaggeration when I tell you she was a deer in headlights. She said “uhhh….. let me get my manager.” The manager came out and said ‘there was no sensory times in May. We were mistaken. The next one was June. They didn’t have the staffing to accommodate it today. We could come back for 10am, however no advertised sensory accommodations would be available. Our tickets would be refunded. He recommended we go get a coffee and come back.’

Mind you the tickets the other family had booked were 5/5 at 9am.

I understand nothing could be done, but If you have any experience with an autistic child, you know how turbulent this change of plans can be. And to get something to eat at some random place that might not have a single thing he would eat would once again be turbulent. We found a place, $50 later, with no available seating, and an unhappy little boy who couldn’t eat anything. Once again, this isn’t a Legolands issue, but we would have prepared to avoided situation like this if we had known.

At 10, we waited outside and greeted by staff. Upon arrival, they offered to refund us. I was thankful to hear this. I explained we had a Merlin pass, and they would need to refund the charity. Again, deer in headlights. She had no idea what I was taking about. She said she never heard of Merlin’s magic day out. She did take record of it so they could process the refund. On the way out we saw a poster for the charity in the elevator.

I asked if there was any sensory accommodations inside we should be aware of. She said she didn’t know. I asked about the sensory bags, which was a very kind offering, and what was inside. She said she didn’t know again but offered to look. Inside there was a set of noise cancelling headphones and a plastic emotions card. We deferred the bag.

We arrived early enough so it wasn’t too busy. The kids loved the ride and climbing area. They loved looking at the little city and playing with the interactive areas.

A lot of the Lego stations were lacking pieces needed (the cars didn’t have enough wheels, flowers didn’t have stems, rockets needed more blocks etc.) when you first come in you get to create a little Lego person. It was pretty bare for just opening for the morning.

For legoland we are very disappointed. The last thing I want is to sound ungrateful But this should never happen to another special needs child. We have higher expectations from a business that claims to be autism friendly.

You can’t claim to be autism friendly when you forget to open or have enough staff to accommodate advertised sensory friendly mornings. Staff need access to more training for autism accommodations. Refund was kind, but it’s not about the money. It’s about the deregulation caused to our son. We went for the sensory accommodations. We also came...

On Saturday May 11th my family visited Lego Discovery in Boston. We knew it would be a busy day as it was Mother's Day weekend, so we had pre-ordered tickets for myself, my 7 year old and my parents. Upon arrival there was clear signage on where to check in but sadly the experience went downhill from there. We had opted for 12:30pm as we knew this was a bit quieter due to lunch. The young team members took our tickets and turned back to one another to chat. We were completely unaware of what we should do next! One gentleman finally turned around and informed us we could use the elevator to go up. Once we were upstairs the wall signage informed us to make a mini-figure. My daughter, having visited the LEGO store several times, was extremely excited. Our first major let down was looking in each bin only to find random LEGO pieces in the most unwanted colors. What could you possibly build with 5 random pieces?! There are several locations around the Discovery center where you are supposed to display or take pictures of your mini fig and because we didn't have one, this seemed like a silly attraction and we felt short changed. The small dark ride was honestly the most fun we had! We went on without a hitch and everyone kept score. Following that we visited each exhibit and each one got sadder and sadder. The 'race car' area was mostly just wheels and hubcaps. My parents searched and searched for parts but there were so many broken or just unusable ones we finally gave up. The largest room with the Boston skyline was impressive to look at. We loved the little 'T' stations as well as seeing the landmarks. However most of the buttons to press and see something happen were out of order. Everything felt very sad and lackluster. The flower cart had little to no pieces and the build and mount on the wall section was also very similar to the racing area. My daughter played a bit in the indoor playground but shortly after we left. This did not feel like a $37 experience... It felt cheap like we had visited a McDonalds Play-Place or a Chuck-E-Cheese without the prizes experience.

Update 5/28/24: I sent them a lengthy review which they asked for below and I get an auto response that the email address isn't monitored. Give me a break...

Update 7/1/2024: Funny how I never received a response. DO NOT VISIT.

Over a year later and it's like the review never happened. Lets keep this updated to keep the rating as what...