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Photo TR: Legoland Billund Polar X-Plorer & Land opening!


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Today was the opening of the Polar Land area at Legoland Billund (Denmark).

 

This is the largest single investment in the history of the park. Total investment is 75 million DKK. In this area we can find a restaurant, a penguin habitat for 15 penguins. These are Gentoo penguins which in Danish are called "donkey penguins" because they make a characteristic braying noise. The penguins have a land area of 80m2 and 70 m2aqautic area with 180000 liters of salt water.

As part of the Polar Land set up the Power Builder has been refurbished as well to the new Ice Pilots School.

In the restaurant visitors can enjoy a meal at Polar Pizza & Pasta while watching the penguins. The area will also have its own shop.

 

The centerpiece of the are is the Polar X-plorer.

Capacity: 850 riders an hour.

Max speed: 65 km/hour

Ride duration: 111 seconds

Max G-Force: 4.2 G

Visitors travel into the mountain at a height of 10 metres

The mountain is 16.5m high

The snowmobile drops 5 m vertically in a free fall.

 

Historical tip from the park:

An attraction for both birls and boys.

It's often interesting to observer how certain attractions appeal to grils and boys. Polar Land is a good example of an attraction that appeals to borth girls and boys. While the cute penguins will attract the girls, the Polar X-plorer ride will appeal to many boys.

 

To create as realistic a ride as possible, before starting the design of Polar X-plorer the designer of the roller coaster insisted on test driving a snowmobile.

 

About the ride:

To me it's a WIN for the park. You have to be 1.20m before you are allowed to ride (which is the same requirement as x-treme racers) And from the outside you can't see some of the surprises.

The enthusiast community was aware about the drop that is part of this ride. The VIP's (and a lot of guests) that were riding the coaster, apparently did not know about it. There were plenty of screams happening in that area. The families really seemed to like the ride and when it opened for the guests in the park the line filled quickly.

 

Anyway, after boarding the comfy train you leave the station to go up the lifthill (duhh) take a nice swooping turn to the left followed by a nice pop of air, through the mountain turning to the right before the next pop of air.

Another helix and then you are heading for a "dead end". It almost felt like finding a safe spot to park your snowmobile. Only bummer in this case.. the floor does not hold. The drop is not giant (like Griffon) but this coaster is not about the drop, it's about the family experience and the penguin interaction. That does not mean that your butt can't leave the seat when dropping though

After that it's a nice twisty bit that is taken at a more leasure speed to "recover" from the shock, time to look at the lego theming on the side and take a quick look into the penguin area. I only got to ride it in the front and did not have time to check out the back. So i'm not sure how much of a difference that will make.

 

When "parking" your snowmobile in the "cave" the doors close behind you making the area darker (which helps with the screen as well) It is that i took the video other wise i would not have noticed the entire drop mechanisme being so open/clear in the view (or even the ceiling). My eyes were drawn to the screen immediately to watch the lovely lego figures and hearing the cracking sound. You are coming out of the bright light and enter a darker area, so it does take some time for your eyes to get used to it.

 

To me the ride and the entire area looks pretty much complete (just one open area which will probably be used for the shop) and looking at the first reactions of the guests it will be a hit for the entire family.

 

Enough talk, here are a few pictures of the ride and a POV video

 

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I'm not driving, but this is where i'm heading today

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First it was presentation time. My Danish is not that good.. so i did not understand much of it

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but seeing the construction pictures in the background is this design for the area was a cool touch

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Philippe Cousteau was there as well (grandson of the one and only) He gave a nice speech about everything we do makes a difference

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enough talk, time for a small walk

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this is not an angle you can see from the park ;)

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just warming up

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press is ready to get a bunch of pictures

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a bit more talking and..

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we can check out the penguins

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ice penguin :) 5 seconds later the kids were all over it :)

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entertainment

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ok, time to focus.. it's coaster time

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it's rocks

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take the arch

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first train fo the day

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another train with VIP's

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graarrr

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fun for the entire family, and yes it's pretty "heavy" for some of the kids

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But these are happy faces.. and happy faces are an indication that people are having a great time

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is this mountain tiny?? i don't think so

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take the tunnel ;)

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Our ice pilots seemed to enjoy the ride as well

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yup

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not sure but it looks like fun

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and yes, there is hairtime in this image :)

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the ride opened for the rest of the guests in the park and they all lined up

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Polar Land

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After grabbing a quick bite this is what the que area looked like. The dome has a "small" inside que and then you board the train. The left has the quick que entrance and shop exit.

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start of the line

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lego theming

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there is your snowmobile

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more theming towards the Ice Pilots School

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but we can still look at the coaster from here

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plenty of room to walk underneath the coaster

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keep on smiling

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So here's a quick look at the Ice Pilots area

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Which looked pretty good with the big screen displaying footage from the tv show

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some random plane parts from the show being used as props

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Back to the coaster and the fun

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these rocks look pretty good to me

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another snowmobile going up the lifthill

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happy riders

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the front of the train

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ice pilots school sign

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and a lego pilot

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something is missing

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that's better

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more lego

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quick overview of the area from the "side". First drop, station area and mountain

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station, mountain and penguin area

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train antering the "cave" and getting ready for the drop

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but there is also food

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need a drink?

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plenty of people were taking a look at the penguins

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theming on top of the mountain

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Pizza and Pasta. Hopefully plain pasta as well ;)

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hands up is a good sign i think

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and yes.. there is air on this ride ;)

Edited by robbalvey
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I may be in the minority, but I think that the Ice Pilots thingie would be better if it had the screens in front of riders like Sum of All Thrills.

 

The Lego guy with the chainsaw is awesome, by the way. Thanks for the coverage Hanno.

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I'm a little bummed at the height restriction on this (47.3"). I get that their mouse is the same, but at Legoland and in Scandinavia, this seems really high for a children's attraction. I expected a 42" restriction for something like this.

 

Looks really cute though!

 

As for the new Pizza and Pasta Buffet, it's a little disturbing how much all the Merlin parks are starting to look the same.

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LOL Jzoole you beat me too it, I was just going to say I don't care who's grandson that Phillipe Cousteau is I want him

 

Anyways by the looks of the smiles on those kids faces I can assume they don't have any issues with the theming, the drop track or section after the drop track. Looks like they are having a ball and enjoying the ride for what it is a family targeted ride.

 

Thanks for the update Hanno!!!

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Interesting...the ride looks MUCH better from the off-ride shots and more like the concept art in these pictures than it does in the POV!

 

Great job, Hanno. Thank you!!!

 

I was thinking the same thing about the photos. You really captured the ride's "best side," Hanno.

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Interesting...the ride looks MUCH better from the off-ride shots and more like the concept art in these pictures than it does in the POV!

 

Great job, Hanno. Thank you!!!

 

I was thinking the same thing about the photos. You really captured the ride's "best side," Hanno.

 

This is basically the view of the ride you can get from inside the park (except 2 images at the start of the report). So from inside the park (and guest) view there is no "bad side"

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Great TR Hanno.

 

The new ride "looks" great, the first 1/2 seems pretty fun. But that last bit after the stop and the elevator thing ... couldn't they have done "SOMETHING" to make the ending more thrilling, or just longer?

 

Overall though I think it's a nice addition for a park like Legoland.

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I really get the feeling that the part after the drop is supposed to be this rides answer to a "dark ride" like section. You do the drop, you come out into a slow bit where you see the most amount of Lego characters, and then pass by the penguin area.

 

Personally, I think it looks "ok", but it just doesn't match up to The Dragon, which has unfortunately set the bar for a pseudo-themed Legoland coaster with "indoor parts" which is what this coaster has.

 

You can't help but to compare the two, and while I do actually like the look of what they've done with Polar X-Plorer, and the entire area, the indoor parts or "dark ride-like" sections of the coaster do fall short of The Dragon.

 

--Robb

Edited by robbalvey
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^^yeah, those were pretty my thoughts as well, the section after the drop track looked very dull even for a kiddie coaster especially compared to the first half of the ride. If it is the "dark ride" like section like on The Dragon it seems a little out of place being at the end of the ride. Still looks like a great addition to the park, and the surrounding area looks very nice.

 

When this thin was originally announced I was kind of imaging the drop section to be more like a frog hopper type track section thing and not just one small drop. I thought this would be like a frig hopper like sequence, and Verbolten's section be a little more intense like a mini tower of terror sequence.

 

Does anyone know if the drop section hardware is the same on this and Verbolten, or are the two sections completely different in size and capabilities?

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^At the Verbolten Hard Hat Tour, Larry Giles that the drop section was "magnetic," and when the magnets released the track, it would feel like "someone has yanked a chair out from under you." So, I'm hoping that it's a bit more intense than Polar X-plorer's drop section (which may be toned down for younger riders).

 

I did expect a bit more of a "dark ride" bit for Polar X, but I think the layout of the ride itself (particularly the first section before the drop) is very good.

Edited by cfc
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