My kids have been looking forward to visiting the new Legoland NY since before it opened.

To fully enjoy the visit, we’d have to stay over close to the park in Goshen, NY. If we drove from home, it would take a minimum of two hours each way.

Considering the park is only open from 10AM-6PM, that would mean getting up very early to make it in time for opening.

Hotels in Goshen could be pretty pricey thanks in part to Legoland. A solution to help with this was a Marriott 25K Free Night Award.

Regardless of the deal, I have a lot of hotel free nights expiring on December 31 or soon after so it was a no-brainer to use one.

We decided to stay at the Fairfield Inn Goshen Middletown. The cash rate for the property was $284, $331.28 with tax! Talk about a ridiculously high price for a nice but cookie-cutter room!

Using points, the room could be booked for 20,000 points. While my certificate was good for a room up to 25K points, there was no need to hold onto it.

If you ask me, this was a very solid redemption for a free night which I got from a  credit card which I paid an $85 annual fee for!