Legoland Florida Discussion Thread

Here is the footage from last week's media preview of The World of Chima, including a full POV of The Quest for CHI splash battle, footage of the opening ceremony and interviews with Adrian Jones and representatives from the LEGO Group and Cartoon Network!

After my initial reservations about the mountain seeing it in the POV it is much better than I was expecting. The ride sort of reminds me of a water version of Laser Raiders. Still looks like a great addition and I hope it does well for the park.

-Craig

Sweet!!

Yet another thing to do in my upcoming Florida trip (63 days!!!!!!)

With all the new things since 2011, and all the thnigs i missed last time... its like adding a whole other holiday on to an already packed schedule.

Love it!!

http://florida.legoland.com/en/about/press/Press-Releases1/LEGOLAND-Florida-Announces-New-DUPLO-Valley-Toddler-Area-Opening-in-2014/

LEGOLAND® Florida today announced new attractions and significant renovations to the theme park’s toddler-dedicated area, which will be called DUPLO® Valley when it reopens in spring 2014. Planned enhancements will bring the LEGO® DUPLO line of preschool building toys to life with new farm-themed attractions, an air-conditioned indoor play area, and a water play area all geared to toddlers ages 2 to 5. DUPLO Valley will be the ideal place for park guests to play and relax with their toddlers.

 

New attractions coming to DUPLO Valley include a train, a mini tractor ride, and a water play area. The central feature will be the DUPLO Train where toddlers can board a train on their own or with their parents to explore countryside-themed scenery passing through farms, fishing holes and campgrounds. Just across the way, toddlers can jump on a tractor just their size and help the farmers plow the cornfields and hunt for missing farm animals. For those looking to cool off, the new splash and play area will be refreshingly fun with intermittent water spouts and interactive water elements set among larger than life farm animals with a soft deck for safety.

 

Another key element will be the existing DUPLO Barn, which will feature significant enhancements to allow kids to play indoors in the comfort of air conditioning. Existing attractions will be enhanced with additional DUPLO farm-themed play areas and a toddler room where parents can relax while kids build with DUPLO bricks. The barn’s Baby Care Center will continue to provide all the amenities to take care of young children. It offers private nursing stations, rocking chairs, microwaves, bottle warmers, high chairs, changing stations, Wi-Fi, cell phone charging stations and more. The Baby Care Center will remain open during construction to accommodate families.

 

During construction, park guests with toddlers are encouraged to explore the many other attractions the entire family can enjoy including the newest attractions in The LEGO World of Chima presented by Cartoon Network. A complete list of toddler-based attractions can be found at http://www.legoland.com/toddlers.

 

The new DUPLO Valley will add more excitement to LEGOLAND Florida’s line-up of more than 50 rides, shows and attractions dedicated to children of ages 2 to 12.

To get a better impression this it how Duplo Farm Village looks like in Billund:

This looks like another great family friendly addition to the park. This park is definitely becoming the most friendly to families with young kids.

^I was going to say the same thing. It's a lifesaver for parents to have somewhere even the smallest of kids can enjoy!

To get a better impression this it how Duplo Farm Village looks like in Billund:

They actually already have something of that caliber. To me it sounds like they're adding in two small rides, water play area, and air conditioning the one enclosed area they already have. Small addition but will be nice.

The air conditioning alone makes it a great addition!

^In Denmark they could use heaters for a good time of the year...

Lots of news coming out of Legoland Florida today!

First off, I attended the ground breaking ceremony for the new Legoland Hotel which will open in 2015. The hotel will feature 152 rooms with plenty of land available for expansion. The hotel will sit just to the left of the park entrance and guests will have easy access in and out of the park. Here is a quote from the press release:

“The opening of a LEGOLAND Hotel will transition LEGOLAND Florida from a single-day visit theme park to a multi-day resort destination,” said Jones. “This will serve as a catalyst for future economic development in Polk County.”

 

Welcoming guests with a multicolored exterior and entrance, the four-story LEGOLAND Hotel will immerse families with young children in the world of LEGO®, as an extension of the vibrant and interactive theme park experience. Created to bring children’s imaginations to life, the LEGO-themed hotel will feature 152 brightly colored and highly themed rooms and suites, LEGO décor; interactive play areas; a pool and a restaurant.

 

LEGOLAND Florida Hotel will add 250 construction-related jobs during the construction, and another 250 jobs to its employee base to staff the new hotel upon completion.

In other news, Coastersaurus re-opened today with the new GCI "Mini-llennium Flyer" trains. While the trains look and ride GREAT, I have to be honest it was disappointing to hear that the height restriction was raised from 36" to 42". I really hope the park can work with Great Coasters to lower that a bit, at least to 40" to match The Dragon also at Legoland as well as other rides in the area. The 40" mark is kind of a key height restriction in Central Florida. How do you tell a kid "Sorry, Johnny, I know you were able to ride Tower of Terror, Test Track, Big Thunder Mountain, Dinosaur, Star Tours, Splash Mountain, Spider-Man, and Transformers... but you can't ride the junior woodie at Legoland." Gotta think something can be done (38" with an adult, 42" to ride alone maybe?)

Anyway, here's some photos & video!

Welcome to Legoland Florida! Today we are here for the ground breaking of something exciting!

In just a few moments, Legoland will announce a huge new expansion!

Adrian Jones, Legoland Florida General Manager takes the stage.

The new Legoland Florida Hotel will be open in 2015!

Now for the official ground breaking....

...err maybe brick tossing!

Welcoming guests with a multicolored exterior and entrance, the four-story LEGOLAND Hotel will immerse families with young children in the world of LEGO®, as an extension of the vibrant and interactive theme park experience.

Created to bring children’s imaginations to life, the LEGO-themed hotel will feature 152 brightly colored and highly themed rooms and suites, LEGO décor; interactive play areas; a pool and a restaurant.

The hotel will be built, directly to the left of LEGOLAND Florida’s entrance, just steps from Lake Eloise.

LEGOLAND Florida Hotel will add 250 construction-related jobs during the construction, and another 250 jobs to its employee base to staff the new hotel upon completion.

Let's go take a look at the new Coastersaurus trains!

GCI has creating these new "Mini-llennium Flyer" trains for Legoland.

They look FANTASTIC!!!

The only disappointing news is that the height restriction for this ride has been raised from 36" to 42". The reality is this - the ride is VERY tame and it's obvious it was originally designed for a much younger audience. The Dragon, which is also located at Legoland Florida is a much wilder ride and only has a 40" height restriction. Hopefully something can be done to correct that.

And off they go!

The very first "junior Millennium Flyers" have left the station!

Banks Lee gives it a thumbs up (of course! He's tall enough to ride!)

Would you all like to go for a ride? Of course you would! Check out the POV video below...

Here is the current entrance to Legoland Florida. The new hotel will be off to the left. That means this view will be changing soon! We look forward to more additions to Legoland! It's a great park and we hope everyone that visits Central Florida will visit!

This looks very cool - and definitely sets a personal goal to brainwash my soon-to-be-born son effectively enough that this becomes a must-visit destination in a few years!

Awesome update! It's great to see just how much love the Legoland parks have been getting in recent years. Great upgrade to a ride that existed before the park did, and the fact that they feel comfortable building a hotel means they're pulling in great numbers! Really glad to see this kind of expansion from the Lego parks.

The hotel looks great as well as the new mini-lliniem trains! As a huge fan of LEGOs I still can't believe we haven't been to the park yet. It is on our plans when we go to FL next year.

The new hotel looks good, and should be a nice draw. It is a shame about the new hieght requirement for Coastersaurus, though.

It's sad that a park that caters to families so well has increased the height limit so much.

And add seatbelts. Weren't the previous trains just a lapbar?

I really like the lap bars on the new trains. The Millennium Flyer's lap bars can really dig into the stomach sometimes (especially when you get those ride ops who insist that the bar is three clicks down farther than it should....), but these look wonderful.

It's sad that a park that caters to families so well has increased the height limit so much.

I like the trains, but share these exact sentiments.

The trains look great, very surprised by the height restriction though. Legoland are all about family experiences and tailoring to a younger audience so this seems odd.

Trains look great, but the height requirement is a little disappointing. I was hoping to take my daughter on this coaster next year but might have to wait another year now, oh well, I guess that just gives her something to look forward to the next trip!

The hotel is a pretty cool addition that I'm excited about. I haven't been to Legoland yet but I've been looking forward to taking my daughter (when she's old/tall enough) ever since it opened. As a semi local Floridian Legoland isn't far away but it isn't exactly an easy day trip from here with small children either. The hotel should make this a nice little "long weekend" destination for us at some point in the future!

How would you like to be the parent of the kid who could ride it before but can't now?

When my kids were little they loved Legos and would have loved to stay at a Lego hotel.

That looks GREAT, It is on my to do list

Who do you blame? Legoland or GCI

Who do you blame? Legoland or GCI

Both. Equally. Those trains should have never been designed with such a high height restriction and Legoland should have worked with them to come up with an alternative solution.

Not saying it needs to be exactly 36", but something like 38" with an adult or 42" to ride alone would have to be in the realm of possibility.

Who would have ever thought a PTC train would be the better solution???