Legoland

Legoland (trademark in uppercase as LEGOLAND) is a chain of family theme parks focusing on the construction toy system Lego. They are not fully owned by The Lego Group itself; rather, they are owned and operated by the British theme park company Merlin Entertainments.

For other uses, see Legoland (disambiguation).

Legoland Parks
TypeSubsidiary
IndustryTheme parks, attractions, family entertainment centers
FoundedJune 7, 1968 (1968-06-07) (Legoland Billund)
Services
  • Theme parks
  • Hotel lodging
ParentMerlin Entertainments
Websitewww.legoland.com
The entrance of Legoland Deutschland

The Legoland Billund Resort opened in Billund, Denmark in 1968, followed by the Legoland Windsor Resort in Windsor, England in 1996. Further parks opened in Germany, Japan, Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates (Dubai), and the United States (California and Florida). Parks in New York, South Korea, Shanghai, Sichuan and a Legoland Water Park at Gardaland are currently under construction.

Attractions

The parks are marketed to families with younger children (15 and under), and although the attractions include a number of roller coasters, the roller coasters are not as numerous or as extreme as those in other parks, and there is a greater emphasis on rides suitable for younger children. Legoland parks are split into various areas, which are consistent among the chain's parks. For example, all six of the parks include a Lego miniland, a model village which includes models of landmarks and scenes from around the world, made from millions of genuine Lego bricks.

Educational elements
Educational elements of Legoland include the "hydraulophone" (water-operated pipe organ)

An important aspect of Legoland is education and learning.

Examples include:

  • Water flow channels in which participants can construct dams from Lego blocks to understand laminar and turbulent fluid flows
  • Interactive musical instruments, such as musical fountains, and the Aquatune hydraulophone, which is an underwater pipe organ in the shape of a giant Lego block
  • A 45-minute Lego Mindstorms class for fun-based learning
  • Duplo Gardens (for smaller children)
  • Driving area (including attractions such as Driving school, Boating school, Ballooning school, Flying school, and Fire Academy)
  • My Town
  • Wild Woods
  • Knights' Kingdom

The parks' rides are all Lego themed; many are made to appear as if they are built out of Lego bricks. They tend to be based on one particular line of Lego: for example, a popular ride at all six parks is the Dragon Coaster, which is loosely based on the Knights' Kingdom Lego sets. Another popular ride is the Driving school, in which children can drive small electric cars made to look like Lego cars around a small road network, after which they gain a mock driver's license.

Despite the commonality of the above-mentioned attractions, the exact set of rides varies between parks, although as with the Disney parks there is some overlap.

Parks
Locations of Legoland parks across the world

Europe

Site Location Opened Details
Legoland Billund Resort Billund, Denmark 1968[1] The oldest Legoland and was built near the original Lego factory. It is divided into ten different worlds: Duplo Land, Imagination Zone, LEGOREDO Town, Adventure Land, Miniland, Pirate Land, Lego City, Knights Kingdom, Viking Land, Ninjago World, Lego Movie World, and Polar Land. The park has 1.6 million visitors annually, making it the largest tourist attraction in Denmark outside Copenhagen.
Legoland Deutschland Resort Günzburg, Germany 2002 The second Legoland to open and the smallest outside of Asia. There are eight areas in the park: Imagination Center, Miniland, LEGO X-treme, LEGO City, Knights Kingdom, Adventure Land, Ninjago World, and Land of the Pirates.
Legoland Water Park Gardaland Castelnuovo del Garda, Italy 2020 At Gardaland Resort.[2][3][4]
Legoland Windsor Resort Windsor, Berkshire, United Kingdom 1996 Built on the site of the previous Windsor Safari Park. There are thirteen areas in the park: The Beginning, Imagination Centre, Miniland, Duplo Land, Heartlake City, LEGO City, Land of the Vikings, Kingdom of the Pharaohs, Ninjao World, Pirates Shores, Knights Kingdom, Star Wars and Adventure Land. It is the largest Legoland park in the world in terms of area – its area is approximately five times greater than that of Legoland Billund.

North America

Site Location Opened Details
Legoland California Resort Carlsbad, California March 20, 1999 The park is split into nine sections, which are: The Beginning, Explorer Island, Heartlake City, Fun Town, Castle Hill, Miniland USA, Imagination Zone, Pirate Shores, Ninjago World, and Land of Adventure. A Sea Life aquarium is adjacent to Legoland California. In 2010, a water park opened on its grounds, as one of the only three of Legoland parks (Followed by Legoland Florida [Formerly known as Splash Island], Malaysia, and Dubai being the newest) to feature a water park. On May 24, 2014, an add-on was built for the water park, themed after Legends of Chima. The park and hotels have been shut down since mid-March 2020 until further notice, as of January 2021.[5]
Legoland Florida Resort Winter Haven, Florida October 15, 2011 The second Legoland park in the United States, and the world's second largest Legoland park after Legoland Windsor which is 5 times bigger than the one in Billund.[6] The park was built on the former site of Cypress Gardens, a historically famous Florida theme park. This park is divided into 13 areas: The Beginning, Fun Town, Duplo Land, Miniland USA, Kingdoms, Pirates Cove, Imagination Zone, Technic, Land of Adventure, Lego City, Lego Movie World, LEGO Friends, Ninjago, and a restored replica of Cypress Gardens. Legoland Florida opened a water park replacing the former Cypress Gardens "Splash Island" water park on May 26, 2012.

Asia

Site Location Opened Details
Legoland Japan Resort Nagoya, Japan April 1, 2017[7] On June 30, 2014, Merlin and Nagoya city officially announced that they had signed a contract to construct Legoland Japan, to open in Nagoya harbour, Japan, in February 2017.[8] Construction officially began on April 15, 2015.[9] The park was expected to cost around US$15 million to construct for the first stage.[10] The park officially opened on April 1, 2017. According to the contract, the second stage of the Legoland will be completed in 2021.
Legoland Malaysia Resort Iskandar Puteri, Johor, Malaysia September 15, 2012 It is the first Legoland in Asia. Initially, there are 8 themed areas of attractions for all ages which are; Miniland, The Beginning, a new LEGO Ninjago World, Land of Adventure, Imagination, LEGO Kingdom, LEGO Technic, and LEGO City. The centerpiece of the park is Miniland, where almost all Asian landmarks were built using LEGO bricks. LEGOLAND® Water Park was built up by March 11, 2016.
Legoland Dubai Dubai, United Arab Emirates October 31, 2016[11] It was originally scheduled to open in 2011 in Dubailand as "Legoland Dubailand",[12] but was then delayed until October 2016 and is now located at Dubai Parks and Resorts and Water Park as "Legoland Dubai".[13] It has 6 areas: Factory, Lego City, Imagination, Kingdoms, Adventure, and the first indoor Miniland. The Park contains over 15000 LEGO models by using 15 Million Lego Bricks.

Future parks

North America

Site Proposed location Planned opening date Details
Legoland New York Goshen, New York Unknown, pre-planning stages[14] In May 2016, Merlin Entertainments reported that it had purchased 520 acres (210 ha) in Goshen, New York, just south of the former Arden Hill Hospital, to develop a Legoland theme park.[15] The park was originally scheduled to open along with a hotel on July 4, 2020,[16] but the opening was pushed back until 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Europe

Site Proposed location Planned opening date Details
Legoland Belgium Gosselies, Belgium In September 2020, the Brussels Times reported that Merlin Entertainment was planning on building a new Legoland park on the former site of Catapiller's Gosselies factory. Although Walloon Minister for the Economy Willy Borsus confirmed it was possible, it is still in the early planning stages.[17]

Asia

Site Proposed location Planned opening date Details
Legoland Korea Gangwon Province, South Korea 2022 Legoland Korea is currently under construction in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province originally slated for opening in Spring 2019[18] but delayed until 2022.[19][20] Upon completion it will be the world's largest Legoland at nearly 1.3 million square meters including a Lego hotel, condos, water park, spa and outlets.[21] Construction of the bridge connecting the Legoland island to Chuncheon Station officially began on November 28, 2014 and construction of the theme park will be finished by January 2019.[21][18] Located next to Seoul Metropolitan Subway's Chuncheon Station, the site is a 1-hour trip from Seoul via the ITX train.
Legoland Shanghai Jinshan District, Shanghai 2023 On November, 6 2019, Merlin and China Media Capital announced a £500 million joint venture investment to build a Legoland amusement park in Shanghai, China. It is expected to open in the area in Jinshan District after 2023.[22]

Former parks

There was an earlier Legoland Park in Germany, from 1973 to 1976.[23] It was located in the city of Sierksdorf in northern Germany. In 1976, the park was sold; the former Legoland Sierksdorf is now Hansa-Park.[24][25]

See also

References
  1. "Billund travel guide". World 66. Archived from the original on May 13, 2016. Retrieved May 3, 2012.
  2. "Legoland apre a Gardaland, e cerca 50 appassionati bagnini". Corriere della Sera (in Italian). Brescia. January 22, 2020. Retrieved January 24, 2020.
  3. "Attrazioni e aree tematizzate di LEGOLAND® Water Park Gardaland che aprirà a fine maggio 2020" (in Italian). January 21, 2020. Retrieved January 24, 2020.
  4. "LEGOLAND® Water Park to open at Gardalans resort, Italy in 2020". July 11, 2019. Retrieved January 24, 2020.
  5. Legoland California Resort web site. Accessed January 9, 2021.
  6. "World's Largest Legoland Park 'Legoland Florida' Will Open Saturday, October 15, 2011". Net news. May 23, 2011. Archived from the original on October 4, 2011. Retrieved August 4, 2011.
  7. Yoshimoto, Minako. "Long line marks opening of Legoland Japan in Nagoya". Asahi Shimbun. Retrieved April 4, 2017.
  8. "Merlin Entertainments to open Legoland Japan", Blooloop, archived from the original on July 1, 2014.
  9. The Asahi Shimbun. "The Asahi Shimbun Weekly". Getty Images.
  10. "New Park to Be Built". Legoland Japan. Scream scape. July 8, 2014. Retrieved July 31, 2014.
  11. "LEGOLAND® Dubai Unveils Exciting Plans" (PDF). October 15, 2015. Retrieved June 14, 2015. |archive-url= is malformed: timestamp (help)
  12. "New Legoland Park to open in Dubai in 2011". Lego.com. May 7, 2008. Archived from the original on March 17, 2012. Retrieved May 3, 2012.
  13. McGinley, Shane (April 26, 2010). "Legoland Dubai 'will go ahead' despite delays - developer". Retrieved May 3, 2012.
  14. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/legoland-york-resort-open-2021-180600742.html
  15. "Legoland confirms plans to develop theme park in Orange County". Mid-Hudson News. Statewide News Network, Inc. Archived from the original on May 30, 2016. Retrieved May 27, 2016.
  16. Herrmann, Michele. "LEGOLAND New York Resort Announces July 4th Opening". Forbes. Retrieved October 12, 2019.
  17. "Legoland heading to Belgium, Halloween is on at Legoland Windsor". Blooloop. September 14, 2020. Retrieved October 11, 2020.
  18. "춘천 레고랜드 본계약 성사… 이달 착공". 강원도민일보. April 14, 2017.
  19. New Legoland theme park to open in South Korea by 2022
  20. Merlin Entertainments recommits to Legoland Korea
  21. News, Donga, November 27, 2014.
  22. "Merlin announces LEGOLAND Shanghai Resort". Legoland Shanghai. November 6, 2019.
  23. Der Spiegel, DE.
  24. "Hansa Park". Roller Coaster DataBase.
  25. "Meilensteine in der Geschichte des Hansa-Parks". Hansa-Park (in German). DE. Retrieved July 26, 2014.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.