Years ago I read in the bricklink forum that you can get a free two hour pass to go into LEGOLAND just to go shopping.
I called and asked about that before going. There is no free pass just for shopping. You can buy a 2 hour pass for the last two hours of the day they are open for 1/2 price. I had considered that but I am glad I went ahead and paid for the full day. I spent almost 1 1/2 hours just in MiniLand so 2 hours total would have been very rushed. Overall, I spent 4+ hours at the park and felt like I saw everything and was not rushed at all (being by myself was very efficient as I was able to move around very quickly – as opposed to having three kids in tow). They did offer a 5% discount on admission and all purchases for VIP cardholders (but strangely no points for either admission or purchases). They also had 10% off admission for AAA members, so that saved me $8.30 (off an $83 adult admission). One neat shopping note; anything you buy you can have them sent it to the front gate to be held until the end of the day. That avoids having to lug around large bags of purchases. There is no extra charge for this service and it made shopping easier (exactly the point – removing a barrier to purchasing). At the end of the day, I just went to the pickup counter, got my purchases, and left. Similar parks like Disney probably offer similar services, I just can’t remember.
I have a lot more pictures from Legoland California that I will upload to my Flickr account (I’ll post back here when I have done that).