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.

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!

Legoland Florida November 2013 Media Annoucement - Page 1

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