It's official: Legoland announces $20million expansion, aquarium

[RobotMirror]

Los Angeles Times story:

Legoland California, already the fastest-growing amusement park in North America, announced a $20-million expansion Tuesday, including a new themed area and a 36,000-square-foot aquarium.

A 350-room Sheraton Carlsbad Resort & Spa -- with an entrance to the park -- is also in the works, fitting into the larger strategy to extend the length of time guests spend at the park.

...

Although the 128-acre Legoland in Carlsbad is the least-visited among Southern California's amusement parks, last year its attendance increased 16% to more than 1.6 million visitors, a sharp rise ...

That growth rate, higher than that of any other theme park in North America, is the result of significant capital investment by park owners Merlin Entertainments Group, which in 2005 purchased the four Legoland parks in California, Germany, Denmark and Britain. In the last 3 ½ years, Legoland California has added 15 attractions. It opened the $10-million Pirate Shores in May and added Miniland Las Vegas.

...


As part of the expansion, Legoland will add a Land of Adventure, to open in March. It will include four attractions: Lost Kingdom Adventure dark ride, Beetle Bounce drop ride, Cargo Ace plane ride and Pharaoh's Revenge foam ball pit.

The aquarium will be two stories and will charge a separate admission fee of less than $20.

more at the link above.

[k_peek_2000]

I read this in the paper today at school. I didn't have my reading book so i picked up a small section of the paper, and was like, "Oh cool".

[PirateMickey]

I guess the value of our LegoLand Lifetime AP's just went up...

[DL Steve]

Now that it is official, here are some pictures from the press conference from Legoland on Tuesday, plus links to more information:


Waiting for the press conference to begin


The Lego Models


Legoland California's General Manager and President, John Jakobson


The Land of Adventure presentation with models


CEO of Merlin Entertainment (Legoland's parent company), Nick Varney


Nick Varney unveiling the SeaLife Center


John and Nick at the end of the conference


A 10 foot tall obelisk made entirely out of Lego bricks! If you translate the hieroglyphics, they actually say something in English too (but I am not telling what it says).


Finally, me and my creation.

Here is a link to the rest of the album with a couple additional photos.

Also, here are some additional links to a few other publications that attended the conference:
LA Times Travel
United Press International
San Diego Union Tribune

I am not sure if I am allowed to post construction updates or not, but if I can I will do so. Enjoy!

[Alchimedes]

Sorry DLSteve, your first link didn't work. Can you post the link again please?
This is great news.

[DL Steve]

I fixed the link in my original post, but here it is again: Press Conference Album

[Alchimedes]

Thank you!

[Alchimedes]

They turned out great. I'm curious, do any of the pieces need to be modified to fit a certain part of the face?

[DL Steve]

Nope, all the bricks are without modifications. They are the same ones you can find in Lego sets.

[sir clinksalot]

Originally Posted by DL Steve

I am not sure if I am allowed to post construction updates or not, but if I can I will do so. Enjoy!

First off, awesome pictures.

Secondly, absolutely you can post construction updates as long as their your photo's (which it seems they are) and your not hot-linking them from another website (like Screamscape).

Other than that, your golden, and we'd love to have them.

[DL Steve]

Originally Posted by sir clinksalot

First off, awesome pictures.

Secondly, absolutely you can post construction updates as long as their your photo's (which it seems they are) and your not hot-linking them from another website (like Screamscape).

Other than that, your golden, and we'd love to have them.

I am glad that there is interest in construction photos and I will do my best to upload some whenever possible. I only meant that since I work for Legoland, they might not like me to post those updates (even though it is free publicity). Go figure.

[pixie chick]

Sounds like good news for Pixie Kid. He loves Legoland!

I'm not sure if adding an aquarium will make that a 2-day park for us. I guess it's a step in the right direction, though.

[vfire]

It's great that Legoland is expanding, it's one of my favorite parks. The interactive dark ride sounds great, along with the foam ball pit, but the other two rides are not up to Legoland's innovative standards. Cargo Ace sounds like exactly the same thing as another existing ride in the park, Flight Squadron, just your standard toy planes flying in a circle thing. The drop ride is the standard off-the-shelf one, and not inventive like the kid power towers in the middle of the park that rely on human power to hoist oneself. I wish Legoland would not put up those two weak rides, and instead build another playground with an Egyptian theme. Legoland is known for its innovative and interactive rides, and I'd like to see them continue in that regard and forget the off-the-shelf carnival rides that I think most people are bored with.

[Dustysage]

Good for Legoland. They want to grow their attendance, so they are building multiple rides and whole new lands. That's the way to do it!

A single new ride may build some excitement, but whole new lands not only build excitement, but expand capacity as well.

I'd love to see construction updates and ride info as it becomes available.

[Dutchman]

Hmmm, wonder what the Orca down at Mission Bay has to say about the water attraction going in?