Kids are constantly told what they can't do. You're not old enough, not tall enough, not strong enough, not smart enough.
You'll shoot your eye out.
The new Legoland Florida does none of this. It recognizes children for the intelligent, aware people they are and offers a theme park just for them. Legoland tells kids:
You can drive a car.
You can pilot a boat.
You can put out a fire.
You can ride the biggest and best roller coaster in the park.
 You can, if you dream big enough and work hard enough, build a 20-foot Lego replica of the Empire State Building in your backyard.
Park officials believe this philosophy is what sets Legoland apart in the ultra-competitive Central Florida attractions market. Here children aren't relegated to the "kiddie rides," because that's what the entire park is made of. That and, oh, 50 million Lego bricks.
Mission: 'Impossible'—Build a Theme Park in Less Than Two Years
Legoland Florida opened Oct. 15, 2011, on the site of the former Cypress Gardens park in Winter Haven, Florida, which is about an hour's drive southwest of Orlando International Airport. Founded in 1936, Cypress Gardens is an industry legend that fell on hard times in the new millennium. After multiple ownership changes over the past decade, the park finally shuttered for good in 2008. Or so we thought.
 As is so often the case, where one door closes, another opens. In this instance the Gardens' troubles allowed United Kingdom-based Merlin Entertainments Group to revitalize the historic park with the Lego brand.
"The minute we walked around this park the first time, we had the hairs on the backs of our necks go up," says Nick Varney, Merlin's CEO, who first toured the facility in 2008. "It's a beautiful, beautiful park, and we just saw the opportunity. You add Legoland to this setting, you're going to create something very special."
The result, after a frenetic construction phase of less than two years, is the largest of the five Legolands worldwide at 150 acres, offering 10 themed zones with more than 50 attractions. Merlin's crew rebuilt the park from the underground up, replacing or refurbishing much of the infrastructure. From the biggest tasks like upgrading sewer and power lines, to the smallest details of installing new pavers along the midways and painting everything in the bold Lego colors, Legoland Florida feels like an entirely new park.
"My team has moved heaven and earth to make this happen," says Adrian Jones, the park's general manager. "We had what we felt was an almost impossible deadline, a very tight budget, and a site that was quite old that needed a lot of infrastructure changes."
 As of six weeks prior to opening, reports still had the park as a construction zone, though you'd never know it by the time the confetti started flying; crews worked 18-hour shifts to finish the project on time. "We never had to go around the clock," says Craig Riebel, construction supervisor for the park. "It was a lot of scheduling and planning, so we were able to work smarter than harder to get done."
"It was a tight timeline. Everybody was familiar with that," adds Marc Kish of The Nassal Company, which provided non-Lego theming elements throughout the park. "Merlin and Lego hired companies that are experienced in this kind of construction and understand what's involved in getting these things done. We were all able to work together and independently on what we needed to and then meet in the middle."
"I have to credit the whole Legoland development team. It was a very condensed timeframe, and they did an excellent job," adds D. Cale Heit, senior director for Forrec, which helped develop the park's master plan. "I was quite amazed."
Legoland Aesthetics Blend Old and New
Legoland is certainly a family park, but it is explicit in its true target audience: children ages 2 to 12. And nothing is dumbed down for that group. As opposed to, say, an animated movie where the filmmakers throw in jokes "for the adults," all the little details and hidden gems at Legoland are intended for kids and parents alike to find.
Miniland, the iconic collection of Lego models designed after famous landmarks, is perhaps the best example of this philosophy. Children's squeals of delight can be heard all over this section of the park as they discover pirates sword fighting or volcanoes exploding or a Lego-ized billboard for Blue Man Group's Las Vegas show.
So with this audience in mind, Legoland Florida's designers faced the challenge of blending their own iconography onto a park with a storied history and loyal fanbase. As Bill Vollbrecht, the park's lead designer, so succinctly puts it: "How do we respect what's here, but make it a new and different experience?"
 Vollbrecht and his team accomplished this in both large and small ways. For starters, the Cypress Gardens name lives on—it's right there on the park map, and guests can explore the botanical gardens at their leisure like it's 1939. The park also pays homage to Cypress' famous waterski shows; "The Battle for Brickbeard's Bounty" finds Lego characters zipping across the waters of Lake Eloise in a playful swashbuckling show. Meanwhile, Heit says Forrec was literally going tree by tree to preserve as many of them as possible in the design phase.
Cypress Gardens' major attractions were all evaluated to see if they fit the new park's audience. Three of the coasters, including the famous "Starliner," were jettisoned as too aggressive, while several others were overhauled into the Lego brand. "Rebuilding the rides was a big challenge because some of them were pretty old," says Jim Miller, the park's director of maintenance.
Miller mentions the iconic "Island in the Sky" crane ride, specifically, as it was quite a feat to get it soaring 100 feet into the air again for unparalleled views of the park (it also received a Lego-color facelift). Four other roller coasters went through maintenance and thematic overhauls, as well, giving this Legoland the first wooden and inverted coasters in the worldwide chain.
 The two parks meld in more subtle ways elsewhere. There's a Lego artist figure in Miniland, standing beneath a beautiful tree with easel at the ready to paint the scene in front of her. Take a stroll from Miniland back toward the Imagination Zone and you'll pass the iconic Cypress Gardens waterfall, where a Lego deer rests on an outcropping and a small Lego fox hides in the nearby grass. And perhaps the most appropriate nod of them all is a Lego-ized Southern Belle who reclines in the sunshine out in the gardens, a nod to the friendly greeters who used to roam the midways of this beloved Florida park.
"I think of this as a new beginning," Jones says. "Legoland Florida has inherited all the beauty, character, personality, and soul of what Cypress Gardens had and made special. We've done a great job in preserving that essence."
The Strength of Lego's Brand
The Lego brick as we know it today debuted in 1958 in Billund, Denmark. Since then the Lego Group has sold literally billions of its little building blocks and is now the third largest toy manufacturer in the world.
 This, then, is Varney's simple answer to those who wonder how Legoland Florida will fare: "A lot of people underestimate the strength of the Lego and Legoland brands."
"It's the simplicity of the material itself," explains Michael McNally, brand relations director for Lego Systems Inc., Lego's North American arm. "Every child who touches that brick can infuse a piece of themselves into it. With Lego, you can get 10 kids around the table, they'll all use the same pieces, and no one will make the same thing. That's what makes it so special for everybody. When you ratchet that experience up to the level of a theme park, where it's all about that same type of creativity, that's fantastic."
Translated from Dutch, Lego means roughly "play well," and Varney says this is the spirit that envelops Legoland.
"It's all about Lego: interactivity, hands-on, minds-on engagement," he says. "In most other theme parks—and I'm a big fan of them—you sit on a ride or in a theater and things are done to you. It's a passive experience. Here, you drive a car in the 'Driving School' and get a license; you work with others in the 'Rescue Academy' to put a fire out. That's what makes Legoland different."
"Legoland brings the kid out in all of us," summarizes Forrec's Heit.
What Are the Keys to Legoland Florida's Success? Look Close to Home
Much of the discussion around Legoland Florida focuses on whether or not tourists will spend a day away from Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando, SeaWorld Orlando, and all the rest Central Florida has to offer. There are three factors at play here: ingrained vacation habits, guests' willingness to drive away from Orlando, and the park's pricing. Legoland officials, however, say these questions aren't as important as some might think.
 Legoland Florida plans to follow the model set by its sister park in Southern California, a facility that has not just survived but thrived in its own attraction hotbed. Like Legoland California, the Florida park is marketing itself primarily to local residents, not tourists.
"We don't need millions and millions of visitors to make this model work for us and deliver a very nice return," Jones says. "The beauty of our location here is we have 50 million tourists that are only 45 minutes to an hour away. Although we can pull a fraction of those tourists with time, it isn't the basis for our survival. Our survival is about making sure we have more annual passes and resident passes, and that we get them coming more frequently with time."
Legoland Florida Director of Sales and Marketing Kim Isemann says originally the park was only looking to residents within a two-hour driving radius for its first year of marketing, but response to the park's preview days was so strong she's already moving to the "staycation" crowd as far out as Miami and Jacksonville. And in 2012, you might start seeing Legoland ads all along the U.S. East Coast.
Don't think for a minute the park isn't reaching out to tourists, however. There is a daily shuttle bus from the Orlando Premium Outlets near Walt Disney World, and Isemann says her team will evaluate that service's popularity and consider expansions. Merlin has also announced plans to add several of its smaller attractions to the International Drive corridor, so it's easy to imagine some marketing and ticketing synergies between those properties and Legoland.
Speaking of ticketing, Jones says Legoland is "a prestige product" that is priced accordingly in the Central Florida market—at a value, he says, because the $75/$65 (adults/children) gate price is approximately $10 under the park's major competitors. Annual passes are a bit harder to compare since Disney, Universal, and SeaWorld all offer multiple-park options with widely varying pricing structures. The Legoland pass starts at $129/$99, and Isemann says the average passholder will attend the park six times in one year.
So in the end, this is certain: Merlin is in the Central Florida market for the long haul. The company has aggressive expansion plans for its property in Winter Haven, especially, that could appeal to both residents and tourists. Already announced for May 2012 is a Lego waterpark; there are also preliminary plans for a Lego hotel in the coming years, as well as a promise from Varney that "there will always be new things to see and do."
"We are absolutely focused on moving from a single-day visitor destination to a multiday resort destination," Jones adds.
"They have a niche and a great brand, so I believe they're going to be successful," says John Wood, whose Sally Corp. provided Legoland Florida's "Lost Kingdom Adventure" dark ride. "We found out just how much people are truly in love with that brick."
Contact Senior Editor Jeremy Schoolfield at jschoolfield@IAAPA.org.
Brick by Brick:
How Legoland's famous models are built
 Whether it's a giant dinosaur, a Southern Belle, Albert Einstein's face, or the Daytona Motor Speedway, Lego models are the signature element of Legoland Florida. But how are these creations of imagination built, exactly?
First, it's important to note none of the 50 million Lego bricks in the new park are customized—all the models are constructed from Lego pieces you could buy off the shelf. This is the implicit inspiration of a Legoland park: It may take you months or years, but you can, theoretically, build what you see. That's exactly how Jason Miller, one of Legoland Florida's master model builders, got his start, when his job was just a hobby he didn't know could turn into a career.
"It's all up to our imagination and creativity," Miller says.
The largest models are designed on a computer, while the smaller installations are first mapped out in tiny demos as a test. Construction timelines vary based on size and complexity; just as an example the remake of Grand Central Station in the New York City section of Miniland took six builders three months to finish and had to be moved via pallet.
There's no fakery in Legoland, either, Miller says: If it looks like it's built of Legos, that's because it is built of Legos. The model builders use a special polymer that melts the plastic bricks slightly as they are placed layer by layer, gluing the entire structure together.
"If we don't catch [a mistake] before the glue dries, we literally have to go in with a pair of pliers and rip pieces out," Miller says.
Finally, a UV coating is applied to the outer layer to help guard against the hot Florida sun; this lasts about five years before it gets sandblasted and given a new coat. The models last 15-20 years, overall, Miller says.
Legoland prepared for severe weather, as well, most notably hurricanes. Just like real Florida buildings, these mini-structures have their own safety codes. The smaller ones are all bolted to the concrete, while the taller structures rest on steel with a compression plate on top to hold them in place. If a hurricane comes, Legoland's Model Citizens scramble to grab all the little pieces—boats, cars, etc.—and everything else is ready to withstand the punishment.
Authenticity is another key for Legoland models, especially in Miniland. When developing the Florida section, designers traveled the entire state to decide which elements to include from the park's home state; featured locales include the Kennedy Space Center and Miami's coastline.
"This is the heart of the park—it's the creativity center. I've seen people spend hours—hours—in Miniland," Miller says. "Kids and adults can look at these models and realize they can physically make all of these at home. It's all about ingenuity, and that's what we want people to take away from Miniland."
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A Walk Through the Park
Legoland Florida is divided into 10 different zones with more than 50 attractions. Here's a quick look at what the park has to offer:
 The Beginning
The park's entrance includes its instantly iconic "Welcome" sign that just about demands a family photo, along with a few large Lego models to greet visitors.
Highlight Attraction: "Island in the Sky" is a holdover from Cypress Gardens, taking guests 100 feet up via crane on a brightly colored rotating platform for unparalleled views of the park and Lake Eloise.
 Duplo Village
This hideaway is geared specifically for the youngest of Legoland's visitors, with play structures abounding.
Highlight Attraction: "Duplo Farm," where the smallest guests can play like a ranch hand.
 Fun Town
The park's "main street" offers a variety of shops and eateries, along with a 4-D theater that shows a rotating schedule of Lego-themed movies.
Highlight Attraction: "The Grand Carousel," complete with Lego horses.
 Imagination Zone
The title is self-explanatory, but here parents and kids alike can build Lego creations and see how they work in the most "hands-on" section of Legoland Florida. For instance, visitors can build their own race cars and test them out on a timed track.
Highlight Attraction: A giant Lego version of Albert Einstein's face greets visitors on the walk into Imagination Zone from Lego City.
 Lego City
Perhaps the most action-packed zone in the park, Lego City allows children to do things typically reserved for adults: drive a car, pilot a boat, or operate a fire engine.
Highlight Attraction: "Ford Driving School" allows children to drive Lego-ized go-karts along a mini-city street, following the rules of the road to earn their Lego license.
 Land of Adventure
This ride-heavy land features a wide range of attractions, from the "Land of Adventure" laser-shooter dark ride to the "Safari Trek," which is akin to a Lego version of the classic Antique Cars attraction, only with Lego zebras to look at.
Highlight Attraction: "Coastersaurus" marks the first wooden coaster at a Legoland anywhere in the world. This holdover from Cypress Gardens was refurbished and rethemed with a "Jurassic Park" feel.
 Lego Kingdoms
Lego's iconic medieval playsets come to life in this land featuring "The Forestmen's Hideout" play structure and "Royal Joust," where children can sit astride Lego horses. And perhaps of equal importance, children can outfit themselves in Lego medieval attire, including shields, swords, and tiaras.
Highlight Attraction: "The Dragon" is a steel coaster that begins as a dark ride inside the Legoland Castle as medieval Lego characters go about their business. The ride then moves outdoors and transitions into a traditional coaster experience, with some of the most aggressive "pink knuckle" thrills in the entire park.
 Miniland
This is the official "heart" of Legoland Florida and the largest of its kind in the world. Guests can spend hours investigating Miniland's six themed areas looking for clever little details such as Lego-ized versions of Blue Man Group or the first family of the United States.
Highlight Attraction: The Florida and Pirate Shores sections are Miniland debuts for all Legoland parks.
 Lego Technic
The Lego Technic category of toys is focused on, highly technical mechanical structures. Thus this section of Legoland features two rides of that type, including the "Aquazone Wave Racers," where riders can adjust the paths of their Lego-ized air boats as they travel around in a circle.
Highlight Attraction:"Test Track" is a Wild Mouse with vehicles themed to look like they're made of Lego parts. Cresting the lift hill offers a magnificent few of Lake Eloise … for a split second, anyway.
 Pirates' Cove
This zone pays homage to the park's past, where guests can once again wander the lush pathways of Cypress Gardens. Can you find the Lego-ized Southern Belle reclining in the sunshine?
Highlight Attraction: "The Battle for Brickbeard's Bounty" features costumed Lego characters zipping across Lake Eloise on Jet Skis and water skis as guests help Lego soldiers defend the beach from rascally marauders. "Brickbeard's Bounty" is the latest iteration of the famous Cypress Gardens ski show. |
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