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Legoland California Resort is a
theme park An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, as well as other events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central ...
,
miniature park A miniature park is a display of miniature buildings and models, usually as a recreational and tourist attraction open to the public. A miniature park may contain a model of a single city or town, often called a miniature city or model village ...
, and
aquarium An aquarium (plural: ''aquariums'' or ''aquaria'') is a vivarium of any size having at least one transparent side in which aquatic plants or animals are kept and displayed. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, aq ...
located in
Carlsbad, California Carlsbad is a coastal city in the North County region of San Diego County, California, United States. The city is south of downtown Los Angeles and north of downtown San Diego. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 114,746. ...
, based on the
Lego Lego ( , ; stylized as LEGO) is a line of plastic construction toys that are manufactured by The Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. The company's flagship product, Lego, consists of variously colored interlocking ...
toy brand. Opening on March 20, 1999, it was the third
Legoland Legoland (, trademark in uppercase as LEGOLAND) is a chain of family theme parks focusing on the construction toy system Lego. They are not fully owned by The Lego Group itself; rather, they are owned and operated by the British theme park com ...
park to open and the first outside of Europe. The park is currently owned by
Merlin Entertainments Merlin Entertainments Limited is a British entertainment company based at Poole in Dorset, England. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange until November 2019, when it was acquired by a consortium that includes Kirkbi A/S (the investment a ...
, which took a controlling interest in 2005. A second park in the United States,
Legoland Florida Legoland Florida Resort (stylized as LEGOLAND Florida Resort) is a vacation destination in Winter Haven, Florida. The resort features the Legoland Florida theme park itself, the Legoland Water Park, three on-site accommodations and a separatel ...
, opened in 2011. A third park,
Legoland New York Legoland New York Resort is a theme park in Goshen, New York owned by Merlin Entertainments. Consisting of seven Lego themed lands on a property of . The park contains numerous structures and attractions made of Lego or designed to resemble L ...
, opened in May 2021.


Resort

The Legoland California Resort currently encompasses: * The original park (opened in March 1999) * A Lego-themed Sea Life Aquarium (opened in August 2008), the first Sea Life in the United States * A Lego-themed water park (opened in May 2010) ** A Lego Chima expansion to the water park (opened in 2014) The resort site includes two hotels: * Legoland Resort Hotel (250 rooms, opened in April 2013) * Legoland Castle Hotel (250 rooms, opened in April 2018)


History

Lego opened the first Legoland theme park in
Billund, Denmark Billund () is a town in Jutland, Denmark. It is the home of the Lego Group head office. It is also the site of a theme park, Legoland, waterpark resort, Lalandia, and Billund Airport which is the second largest airport in Denmark. The airport o ...
in 1968, followed by a second park in Windsor, England in 1996. The Carlsbad park was the third to open, in March 1999. At the time, Lego was considering an additional United States Legoland to be located somewhere on the east coast. When the park opened, there were eight themed areas. Starting at the entrance (at the central southern part of the park) and proceeding clockwise, they were: * The Beginning (park entrance and gift shop) * Village Green (including Playtown for toddlers) * The Ridge * Fun Town * The Garden * Miniland (including The Lake in the center of the park) * Castle Hill * Imagination Zone By 2002, Village Green and The Ridge had been combined into an area called Explore Village and the Aquazone and LEGO Technic Test Track rides had been installed at Imagination Zone. The fourth Legoland, built in Germany, opened in 2002. Dino Island and ''Coastersaurus'' opened in April 2004; the park also added ''Fun Town Fire Academy'', a Florida-themed Miniland area, and the ''Block of Fame'' for its fifth anniversary. Legoland California installed the first KUKA
RoboCoaster RoboCoaster Ltd is an amusement ride design firm based in Warwickshire, England. Through partnerships with KUKA and Dynamic Attractions, RoboCoaster has installed its namesake products at locations around the world. History In December 2000, Ro ...
in the United States in 2005. However, the weak retail toy market led to the sale of the four Legoland theme parks in July 2005 for $456 million to
Blackstone Capital Partners Blackstone Inc. is an American alternative investment management company based in New York City. Blackstone's private equity business has been one of the largest investors in leveraged buyouts in the last three decades, while its real estate bu ...
, a private equity firm based in the United States. Blackstone had previously purchased Merlin in May 2005, which owned the
Sea Life Centres Sea Life is a chain of commercial sea life-themed aquarium attractions. there are 53 Sea Life attractions (including standalone Sea Life centres, mini Sea Life features within resort theme parks, and Legoland submarine rides) around the world ...
and
London Dungeon The London Dungeon is a tourist attraction along London's South Bank, England, which recreates various gory and macabre historical events in a gallows humour style. It uses a mixture of live actors, special effects and rides. History The Lo ...
; the two assets were combined as
Merlin Entertainments Merlin Entertainments Limited is a British entertainment company based at Poole in Dorset, England. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange until November 2019, when it was acquired by a consortium that includes Kirkbi A/S (the investment a ...
, with Lego taking a 30% ownership share in the combined Merlin Entertainments. Collectively, the four theme parks had approximately 5 million visitors per year at the time. Under Merlin, Legoland California would add Pirate Shores (2006), a Las Vegas-themed Miniland area (2007), the Egyptian explorer-themed Land of Adventure (2008), and the Legoland Water Park (2010). In 2009, Merlin requested permission to develop an onsite Lego-themed hotel in the existing parking lot; permission was granted in October and plans for the 250-room hotel were announced in 2011, making the site a resort in 2013. The first fictional Miniland area, themed with scenes from the six (at the time) ''
Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...
'' movies and the ''Clone Wars'' television series, opened in March 2011. The water park was expanded in 2014 with a Chima-themed area. A second 250-room hotel with a castle theme was added in 2018. Attendance at Legoland California reached 2.5 million visitors in 2013 and nearly 3 million by 2015, nearly double the attendance of Legoland Florida. More than $20 million was spent per year on sales tax on food and merchandise. The park employed more than 2200 workers in total: 600 full-time, nearly 500 part-time, and more than 1100 seasonal. In mid-March 2020, in line with other Legoland parks, the park was indefinitely shut down because of the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
and reopened on April 1, 2021.


Theme park


Explorer Island

Explorer Island is a section with themes of dinosaurs and exploration. It contains a large sand area where children may dig for "fossils" and the
Gerstlauer Gerstlauer Amusement Rides GmbH is a German manufacturer of stationary and transportable amusement rides and roller coasters, located in Münsterhausen, Germany. History In 1982, Hubert Gerstlauer, a former employee of the Anton Schwarzkopf-o ...
-built ''Coastersaurus'' mini steel roller coaster, a close copy of the
Legoland Germany Legoland Deutschland Resort is a Legoland park located in Günzburg in southern Germany, roughly halfway from Munich to Stuttgart, which opened in 2002. It is 43.5 hectares (107 acres) in area, and it is one of the four most popular theme parks ...
junior coaster ''Drachenjagd'', with a ride duration of approximately 2 minutes. It was installed in 2004 by
Ride Entertainment Group Ride Entertainment is a firm based in the United States specializing in the construction, sales, service, and operation of amusement rides and attractions. Divisions Sales Responsible for the sale of amusement rides, attractions and related pro ...
, who handles all of Gerstlauer's operations in the Western Hemisphere. Explorer Island was previously named Dino Island. When the Village Green/Explore Village area was taken over by Heartlake City, the ''Fairy Tale Brook'' boat ride and ''Safari Trek'' on-rail driving ride (originally a walking trail showing life-size African animals built with LEGO bricks) were counted as part of the renamed Explorer Island. These rides date back to the opening of the park.


LEGO Friends Heartlake City

The Heartlake City section, which opened on May 21, 2015, is based on the
LEGO Friends Lego Friends is a product range of Lego construction toys designed primarily for girls. Launched in 2012, the theme introduced "mini-doll" figures, which are about the same size as traditional Lego minifigures but are more detailed and realist ...
brand marketed to girls. The area features ''Heartlake Fountain'', a water play area; ''Friends Forever Stage'', where musical performances occur; ''Heartlake Stables'', a play area and building zone; and ''Mia's Riding Camp'', a carousel. Heartlake City replaced Duplo Village, which included a set of musical fountains and water features collectively called the "Water Works". A temporary installation of the sets from ''
The Lego Movie ''The Lego Movie'' is a 2014 computer-animated adventure comedy film written and directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller from a story by Lord, Miller, and Dan and Kevin Hageman. Based on the Lego line of construction toys, its story focu ...
'' opened in 2014 at Duplo Village. "DUPLO Playtown", a play area for little kids, and "LEGOLAND Express", a mini locomotive ride through the Playtown used to be in the Duplo Village/Heartlake City area. When Heartlake City opened, "DUPLO Playtown" and "LEGOLAND Express" became part of the nearby area, Fun Town. On May 9, 2019, DUPLO Playtown reopened in the queue of the Kid Power Tower. In that same year, Heartlake City was removed and replaced with a Lego Movie themed area.


Fun Town

Fun Town is a
role-playing Role-playing or roleplaying is the changing of one's behaviour to assume a role, either unconsciously to fill a social role, or consciously to act out an adopted role. While the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' offers a definition of role-playing a ...
amusement area where guests simulate adult skills or professional identities, such as driving cars, steering boats, or fighting fires.


Miniland USA

Miniland USA is a 1:20 scale model
miniature park A miniature park is a display of miniature buildings and models, usually as a recreational and tourist attraction open to the public. A miniature park may contain a model of a single city or town, often called a miniature city or model village ...
featuring prominent architecture and symbols from seven areas in the United States. Certain models are visible throughout the Legoland park. It was constructed over the course of three years using more than 20 million LEGO bricks. The Coast Cruise ride, which departs from Miniland USA, travels through the lake in the center of Legoland. The lake covers . Miniland includes the Model Shop, the main design and building office for Legoland's US parks. A large viewing window allows guests to watch master model builders working on new models. Repairs and refurbishment of existing models are also conducted in the Model Shop. Certain model builders have inserted incongruous scenes into the Miniland vignettes, including a businessman mooning the presidential motorcade and a man using the toilet in the Grand Central Station model. Miniland officials insist all such scenes are incorporated with full management knowledge and approval. The ''Star Wars''-themed Miniland was expanded with a life-size model of an X-wing starfighter, on display in 2013. A large-scale model of the
Death Star The Death Star is a fictional space station and Weapon of mass destruction, superweapon featured in the ''Star Wars'' Space opera, space-opera franchise. Constructed by the autocratic Galactic Empire (Star Wars), Galactic Empire, the Death Star ...
was added in 2015, along with a recreation of the trench run scene from the climax of Episode IV. Scenes from ''
The Force Awakens ''Star Wars: The Force Awakens'' (also known as ''Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens'') is a 2015 American epic space opera film produced, co-written, and directed by J. J. Abrams. The sequel to ''Return of the Jedi'' (1983) ...
'' were added in 2017, including what was billed as the longest LEGO model for Star Wars Miniland, a long ''Resurgent''-class
Star Destroyer Star Destroyers are capital ships in the fictional ''Star Wars'' universe. Star Destroyers were produced by Kuat Drive Yards, later Kuat-Entralla Engineering, and serve as "the signature vessel of the fleet" for the Galactic Republic, Galactic Emp ...
''Finalizer''. On January 6, 2020, Star Wars Miniland closed permanently.


Castle Hill

Castle Hill is a
medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...
castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...
-themed area. The area includes two coasters and a wooden playground for little kids. In 2005, Legoland opened the ''Wild Woods Golf'' putting course decorated with off-green LEGO models on the west side of Castle Hill. ''Wild Woods Golf'' and the neighboring ''Enchanted Walk'' were replaced by the submarine ride ''LEGO City: Deep Sea Adventure'', which opened in July 2018.


Imagination Zone

In the Imagination Zone, visitors can ride a Wild Mouse-style roller coaster called the '' Technic Coaster-Test Track'' (formerly named ''Project X''), ''
Bionicle Bionicle was a line of Lego construction toys, marketed primarily towards 8-to-16-year-olds. The line originally launched in 2001 as a subsidiary of Lego's Technic series. Over the following decade, it became one of Lego's biggest-selling prop ...
Blaster'' (a variant of a
teacup ride Teacups is an amusement ride characterized by cup-shaped spinning vehicles atop a turntable-like floor. Typically, each set of six teacups has a center bearing mounted underneath, similar to a car wheel bearing mounted on a circular floor capab ...
), or the ''Aquazone Wave Racers'', a dual water carousel. Kids can also build and race Lego cars down a ramp at ''Build 'n Test'' (younger children have a similar build and play area in the same building, named ''Duplo Play''), play LEGO PC games at the ''Maniac Challenge'' (later converted to consoles and renamed the ''Xbox Family Gamespace'' after its corporate sponsor), and program
robots "\n\n\n\n\nThe robots exclusion standard, also known as the robots exclusion protocol or simply robots.txt, is a standard used by websites to indicate to visiting web crawlers and other web robots which portions of the site they are allowed to visi ...
in ''Mindstorms''. At the park's opening in 1999, the Imagination Zone only referred to the ''Maniac Challenge/Mindstorms'' and ''Build & Test/Duplo Play'' buildings; the other rides had not yet been built. The ''Maniac Challenge/Mindstorms'' building was distinguished by large LEGO models of
Albert Einstein Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theory ...
's head, a submarine, and a Technic
Tyrannosaurus rex ''Tyrannosaurus'' is a genus of large theropod dinosaur. The species ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' (''rex'' meaning "king" in Latin), often called ''T. rex'' or colloquially ''T-Rex'', is one of the best represented theropods. ''Tyrannosaurus'' live ...
. The ''LEGO Show Place'' theater screens
4-D film 4D film is a high technology multisensory presentation system combining motion pictures with physical effects that are synchronized and occur in the theatre. Effects simulated in 4D films include motion, vibration, scent, rain, mist, bubbles, fo ...
s. In the initial incarnation, the movie was interactive and the audience could decide the ending. Later, more movies were added, including ''Bob the Builder'' and ''Clutch Powers'' (a racing movie). ''Racers 4-D'' began alternating with the new ''Spellbreaker 4-D'' film in May 2006. ''Bob the Builder In 4-D: Bob the Builder and the Roller Coaster'' was added in March 2009. ''The Legends of Chima'' debuted on March 7, 2014. ''The LEGO® Movie™ 4D A New Adventure'' was added to Legoland California on February 6, 2016. ''LEGO® NINJAGO® - Master of the 4th Dimension'' opened on January 12, 2018. ''LEGO City 4D - Officer in Pursuit!'' was added on April 12, 2019. In February 2019, sets from '' The Lego Movie 2'' were installed in the Imagination Zone.


Pirate Shores

Pirate Shores is a splash park with water-oriented rides and attractions. This area was added in 2006, and ''Captain Cranky's Challenge'' was added in May 2007.


Land of Adventure

This section is designed to replicate the 1920s in Egypt, drawing inspiration from the
LEGO Adventurers Lego Adventurers was a Lego theme based on an early 20th century 'explorer' concept. It centred around the main character named Johnny Thunder and a team of explorers who go on adventures. Unlike other Lego themes, which take place in a fictional ...
line (Egypt sub-theme). Land of Adventure opened in March 2008.


LEGO Ninjago World

The Lego
Ninjago Lego Ninjago is a Lego theme that was created in 2011 and a flagship brand of The Lego Group. It is the first theme to be based on ninja since the discontinuation of the Lego Ninja theme in 2000. Whilst it retains some elements of the previous ...
World opened in May 2016. The area features ''Ninjago: The Ride'' along with new retail and dining options. ''Ninjago: The Ride'' is controlled by hand motions using "Maestro" technology developed by
Triotech Triotech is a manufacturer of out-of-home multi-sensory interactive attractions. Since 2006, TRIOTECH has operated its own studio to develop custom content for its attractions. Founded in 1999, TRIOTECH is a privately held company based in Canada ...
, who had previously developed the interactive ''
Voyage to the Iron Reef Voyage to the Iron Reef was a 4D interactive dark ride located at Knott's Berry Farm theme park in Buena Park, California. Designed by Triotech, the underwater-themed attraction opened to the public on May 15, 2015. It was the second release in ...
'' dark ride at
Knott's Berry Farm Knott's Berry Farm is a theme park located in Buena Park, California, owned and operated by Cedar Fair. In 2015, it was the twelfth-most-visited theme park in North America and averages approximately 4 million visitors per year. It features 40 ...
. A reviewer who experienced an early preview of the ride declared it "among the world's best interactive theme park attractions".


Retired rides and attractions


The Lego Movie World

In Spring 2020, LEGOLAND California Resort was scheduled to open their biggest addition in the history of the park, The Lego Movie World. The opening was delayed until May 27, 2021 due to the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
. The area features Emmet's Flying Adventure - Masters of Flight, a flying theatre attraction (similar to Soarin' at EPCOT and Disney California Adventure). Unlike Florida and Billund, this version will include two theatres rather than one. This area will also feature Unikitty's Disco Drop, a drop attraction where riders seated in four pairs raise, drop, and spin around a pole. It features two towers. There is also a carrousel called Queen Watevra's Carrousel, from LEGO Friends Heartlake City. Additionally, there is also a build area, Build Watevra You Wa'Na Build, and small playground, Benny's Playship, with two tall twisty slides that look like a rocket. There is also a splash pad with fountains, a convenience store, three dining locations, Everything is Ramen (a ramen quick service location), Cloud Cuckoo Crêpes (a crêpe stand), and Benny's Rocket Fuel (basic food stand with popcorn and pretzels).


Sea Life Aquarium

The first Sea Life Aquarium in North America opened at Legoland California in August 2008. It has of floor area on two stories, featuring a long acrylic walk-through tunnel and LEGO models in the tanks.


Water Park

This is a water park area in Legoland California. Planning for the water park began in September 2009, and it opened on May 28, 2010. It is located next to the buildings in Fun Town, meaning admission to the water park is an extra cost ticket in addition to regular park admission. It is the first Legoland to feature a water park; a Legoland Water Park opened in Florida in 2012. At Legoland California, a Legends of Chima-themed expansion to the water park opened in early July 2014.


References


External links

*
Satellite image from Google Maps

William Webb's New York Photo Gallery
* {{Amusement Parks & Theme Parks of California Legoland Amusement parks in California 1999 establishments in California Buildings and structures in San Diego County, California Tourist attractions in San Diego County, California Carlsbad, California Amusement parks opened in 1999