Building Memories that Last at LEGOLAND

Since the thirties the brand name LEGO has been bandied around millions of households worldwide. Now, just forty five minutes away from Orlando, White Haven will be home to the largest LEGOLAND in the world as it makes its mark amongst the beautiful Florida landscape. 

Catch a shuttle bus from Vineland Avenue, and enter the pixelated world of LEGOLAND, Florida, where you are invited to take part in, marvel at, and explore hundreds of LEGO-themed creations and workshops: make no mistake, when you're on holiday in Orlando this is one of the top attactions.

You’ll feel like a giant as you wander around the twisting paths of Miniland USA. Replicas of several themed areas around Miniland appear in LEGO form; millions of bricks stacked perfectly together represent iconic attractions from Florida, such as the Kennedy Space Centre and Key West. The famous Daytona Speedway has also been recreated. Here, you can hop aboard your own LEGO brick race car and pit yourself against one another in contention for fame and fortune.

Las Vegas’ world-famous Strip makes an appearance, with several recognisable features such as the New York - New York Hotel and Casino, Mirage, MGM Grand and Stratosphere Tower. There’s also a wedding chapel with actual sounds recorded in Las Vegas playing out for extra authenticity – as if the buildings themselves weren’t representative enough.

California, with San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge and Hollywood Bowl, is on show; Washington DC features the White House and the U.S Capitol Building; while in New York dozens of yellow cabs crawl the streets of Times Square in their never-ending rush hour. The Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building have been recreated, as well – there are even tiny water fountains to recreate the Rockefeller Plaza in New York; it’s all so brilliantly intricate.

Lego NYC

As you make your way further into the theme park you’ll discover a medieval section where bold, mail-clad knights fight for the lives of both themselves and their fair maidens against ferocious dragons. It’s all staged within a foreboding castle in and out of which slithers ‘The Dragon’ rollercoaster. Then, there’s the ‘Woodsman’s Hideout’; a multi-level play area full of dangling ropes and precarious cargo nets, all intertwined among the woodland trees. ‘Merlin’s Challenge’, a wooden train ride, and ‘The Royal Joust’, where kids ride LEGO-themed horses and battle it out against computer simulated opponents, are the other activities to be found in the castle.

When you leave the castle your ears may be met by the distant rumble of a dinosaur’s throat. Drawing closer you’ll discover ‘The Land of Adventure’, a mixture of all things prehistoric and the discoveries in ‘The Pharaoh’s Kingdom’. There’s the ‘Coastersauras’ rollercoaster which ducks and dives through a forest overrun with life-size LEGO dinosaurs, and you can catch some air on the ‘Beetle Bounce’ as you’re fired up towards two towers atop which perch LEGO scarab beetles, bejewelled in brightly-coloured precious gems.

Visit ‘Imagination Zone’ where you can really get creative: build and race your own LEGO car around a track and try to beat the competition. Stand next to a replica of Albert Einstein’s head – rumour has it that if you place your palms on LEGO Einstein’s forehead and shut your eyes, you’ll become a genius. Try it, and get someone to take a photo of you stealing Einstein’s genius juice.

It’s not all bricks and blocks at LEGOLAND, though. Take a peek at ‘Pirate’s Cove’ for some live action swashbuckling fun. It’s set along the shores of the rippling Lake Eloise. Nearby there are the tranquil ‘Cypress Gardens’ where you can observe exotic native plant species that have all been preserved and restored as LEGOLAND was first being built. In the summer of 2012 LEGOLAND’s water world will open featuring flumes, a lazy river and a wave pool in which you can splash and flounder around while basking in the glorious Floridian heat.

As you make your way homeward after a frantic LEGO-fuelled day, don’t forget to stop off at the world’s largest LEGO shop (where would the world’s largest LEGO theme park be without its equally gigantic gift shop?) where you can purchase all sorts of LEGO building kits to take home. Failing that, step aboard the ’Island in the Sky’ and ascend to the heavens. Drink in the surrounding views of the park and beyond – who needs a map of the place when you can catch a bird’s-eye-view from such a glorious vantage point? It’ll stick like a LEGO brick in your mind.