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Underwater first for Legoland Windsor
The first Lego-themed underwater ride in the world will open this summer at Legoland Windsor near London. The £8 million Atlantis Submarine Voyage is part of a wider £30 million ($48m/€36m) park
investment from owner Merlin Entertainments. Families will be taken on a marine voyage through a 1-
million-litre ocean tank inside custom-built Lego-themed submarines, each holding up to 14 people. During the ride they will encounter over 50 species of rare sharks, rays and tropical fish and almost 100 Lego models designed to bring Atlantis to life.
The new attraction is expected to create over 50 jobs for the Windsor theme park, with three specialist jobs for the aquarium; one displays curator and two aquarists, working with colleagues from Merlin’s Sea Life attractions. Regular research projects will be carried out and education programmes offered. “This is Legoland Windsor’s biggest investment ever by the Merlin Entertainments Group and testament to the continued success of the park,” notes division director Sue Kemp. “Atlantis Submarine Voyage represents a unique partnering of a Legoland park with Sea Life, Merlin’s global number one aquarium
Legoland Discovery Centre Atlanta
As part of its aggressive US expansion, Merlin Entertainments plans to build a third Legoland Discovery Center (LDC) in North America. The $12 million (€8.7m) attraction will open in spring 2012 at Phipps Plaza shopping mall in Atlanta, Georgia. Merlin’s partner on the project will be the Simon Property Group, with which it is also building a Sea Life aquarium in Kansas City (see page 14).
“It is true that we have looked at a number of sites not just for this project, but also for some of our other attractions,” reveals Glenn Earlam, Merlin’s managing director of “Midway” attractions. “I believe that Phipps Plaza, already a popular destination for family visitors, is exactly the right location. Our experience has shown that bringing together an exciting mix of retail, catering and quality leisure attractions like LDC creates a whole new element to a family shopping day, delivering significant incremental business to both the mall and to the area as a whole.”
Designed as a fun, interactive and educational two to three-hour indoor experience, each LDC Outlet is pitched at families with children 3 to 10-years. Typical attractions include a 4D cinema, Lego rides, Lego master classes, party rooms and a MIniland exhibit designed to reflect local landmarks.
Merlin currently has nine other attractions in the USA including Legoland California and Legoland Water Park, Legoland Discovery Center in Chicago, four Madame Tussauds wax museums and three Sea Life aquariums. Three new attractions are sched- uled to open in the USA in 2011 including Legoland Florida and a Sea Life/Legoland Discovery Center cluster in Texas.
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Atlantis Submarine Voyage
brand and will offer families something they’ve never seen before.” Legoland Windsor opens its gates on April 1, kicking off a 15th anniversary season that will also include a Lego Star Wars laser show over the Easter holidays. In March 2012, the park’s very own hotel opens, a 150-room property on the edge of the park.
A rendering of the exterior to the new attraction
Leadership in place at Legoland Florida
“After interviewing internal and external candidates from around the globe, I know that we’ve hired the absolutely best leadership team possible,” says Adrian Jones, general manager of Legoland Florida. Jan Mahoney has been tapped as director of operations. Joining the Florida team from Legoland California, Jan is a native Floridian who moved to California in 1998 to open the Legoland park in Carlsbad. Previously he 14 years with Busch Gardens Tampa Bay. Kim Jensen has been chosen as director of food and beverage after 23 years with Legoland Parks in Denmark and Germany, while Teresa Vaughn joins the team as director of human resources after 20 years of theme park experience with Walt Disney World and SeaWorld Orlando. Erik Hendrickson will serve as director of retail, boating 15 years’ experience with Universal Studios and Lego, while David Johnson moves from Merlin-operated Warwick Castle in England to become director of finance. The five directors join Kim Isemann, director of sales and marketing and Jim Miller, director of ride maintenance, reporting directly to Jones. Legoland Florida opens this autumn (fall) on the former site of Cypress Gardens in Winter Haven. The search is now on for the 150-acre attraction’s remaining employees – anticipated to reach 1,000 by opening in October.
Story Land Splash Battle
There’s a new water ride in store this summer for visitors to Story Land, New Hampshire. Splash Battle Egypt from Preston & Barbieri in partnership with 3DBA will displace the Slip-Shod African Safari ride that opened in 1971 but is now destined for a fresh look in another area of the park’s African continent area. Seated in Egyptian-themed river craft, Splash Battle riders use wate cannons to blast other vessels. Passsengers can also exchange splash-blasts with shore-side guests who can launch “attacks” with water cannons fixed along the perimeter. Splash Battle Egypt will be set on a 6,100 square feet triangular footprint and use 103,000 gallons of water. The continuous moving boats travel through numerous interactions while cruising the 300ft-long waterway.
MARCH 2011
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