Legoland is one of the only theme parks in the world which focuses entirely on children under 12
NICK FARMER Farmer Attraction Development
The Space Shuttle and the Kennedy Space Center are popular models
Classics such as the Duplo Village are
new additions to the site and having inher- ited a fl ying coaster, Merlin has re-themed it to add a fl ying school alongside its well- loved boating and driving schools. Of course the Lego is the real star of the
show – 50 million bricks were used to con- struct a range of attractions, models and the delightful (and always my favourite) Miniland, which features sets of the Space Shuttle at the Kennedy Space Center, New York, Washington DC, the Daytona International Speedway, Las Vegas and California, with the Golden Gate Bridge. As with all the Lego parks, the whimsy and attention to detail are delightful and the sets are brought to life with movement, light and sound. Other areas of the park include Fun
Town with its Grand Carousel and Factory Tour, where you can see Lego being ‘made’; Lego Kingdoms which has a castle at its heart, as well as the Dragon
AM 1 2012 ©cybertrek 2012
Lego parks always have such great humour, based on careful observa- tion of life and portraying the simplest of human foibles with charm and wit, it’s no wonder Miniland is always a highlight. As I walked around, it seemed a shame I didn’t have a couple of children in tow to enjoy the attention to detail and laugh along with the visual jokes.
coaster and Merlin’s Challenge ride; Land of Adventure with its dinosaur-themed ‘Coastersaurus’; and Lego City – home of the fl ying, boating and driving schools.
IMAGINATION ZONE I was particularly impressed with the Imagination Zone where children can build and test computerised Lego Mindstorm robots or build a Lego car and test it against others on a digitally timed track. They can also try Hero Factory – an immer- sive interactive play area based on Lego’s Hero Factory line and a pulley tower which they can play on with their parents to learn about leverage and gravity. When I visited, the area was buzzing
with children who’d settled down to play and looked as though they didn’t have the slightest intention of leaving until they were dragged away by their parents – most of whom were having a well-earned rest.
The Pirate Waterski show didn’t
quite hit the spot. Its tenuous sto- ryline lost the thread and it ended up as a parade of merely ade- quate water skiing characters and a bad guy driving a jet-ski which
has been branded by a local dealer – a villain’s paint job on this jet-ski is a prior- ity, as it’s not ‘on-brand’. However this minor comment aside,
if I’d taken a family to Legoland Florida I would have had a good day out and the children would have had a great time.
It will be interesting to see how Merlin
takes advantage of Lego Mindstorm – the launch of which was which was announced recently. Lego’s toy business will work in partnership with the popular online game Mindstorm to create a special Lego set. Although Merlin says there are no plans
to tie the Lego Mindstorm launch in with the theme parks in the foreseeable future, the fact that Mindstorm has 20 million online users could create an interesting commercial opportunity for the parks in both experiential and retailing terms, and the Imagination Zone would be a perfect location for a Mindstorm themed attraction. The visitor fl ows have been calculated
extremely thoughtfully and work well across the site. Although it was busy dur- ing my visit, there were no obvious areas of congestion or long queues – fortunately, as this is something young children not only detest, but are incapable of enduring.
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