Legoland discovery centre Berlin

[fenrir]

Greetings,

I'll be going to Berlin next month. And in Berlin there's a Legoand discovery centre.

the entrance price is 15.95 euro (x2 = 31.90)

Has someone been there?

Is it worth the 32 euro? Or should I buy some Lego sets instead?

thank you.

Fenrir

[Whittleberry]

I don't know whether its worth it or not because I haven't been inside. I have been to the shop that's there though, and it's definitely worth a look. They have quite a bit of merchandise which you can't find at S@H or even the LEGO Stores! There's a small shop at ground level outside the Sony Centre (near the large unmissable giraffe statue), but then there's also a larger shop below ground. To get to this without going through the LLDC you have to go into the cinema inside the Sony Centre and go down the stairs to the cinemas, and then it's hidden around the back of the stairs.

[Dfenz]

If you search around you will find some discussions previously on lego shops in Berlin and in particular some comments on the Discovery Centre. My recollection is that many of the posts (including the one from me) were along the lines that it was somewhat of a disappointment. I also remember that some Department stores in Berlin had better deals and a wide selection of sets.

[Holodoc]

I´m going there TOMORROW

So stay tuned - I will post some pics and a short review in some days.

(Don´t know if I have access to the www at the hotel...)

[simonwillems]

I visited the LDC Berlin last summer and it was a big let down, a BIG let down.

When you enter the center the first thing you see is a room with really nice buildings (minifigscale, not Legoland scale) of the city of Berlin, that's nicely done. The only thing is that they added light-effects: every three minutes the whole scene turns dark (night)...

The rest of the center is centered around kids ranging from 3 to 9, with a castle ride (like the rollercoaster in Legoland, only smaller and much more boring, although with a few nice Lego statues on the way). There is a "factory"part in which you can see how Lego bricks are made, but the process is fake.

Then there is the workshop area: here you can build a small animal, in a group lead by an animator. It takes half an hour to build a 20 piece elephant....

And the whole thing is cramped and underground without any fresh air.

Don't get me wrong: I have been to two Legolandparks and I love them, but the Discovery center isn't anywhere near that.

I paid 8 euros for a discount ticket and I still think that is overpriced.

You should definately pay a visit to the shop though, they sell great things and entering the shop is free of charge. Just go to the cinema (down two flights of escalators) and enjoy!

I would not go a second time to the Discovery Center, but anyone of course has to decide that for himself, I think the visit is nicer when you have kids in the age between 3 and 9.

[fenrir]

Thank you all for the replies.

I´ve been to Legoland Billund last year, and realy loved it.

I didn´t knew what to expect from the discovery centre. But I think I won´t visit is.

I´ll visit the store anyway.

again, thank you for the replies.

Fenrir

[Holodoc]

Okay, I´m back home from my trip to Berlin.

Here are my thoughts about the LLDC, located at the Sony Center/Potsdamer Platz:

If you have been to another LLDC, you can easily skip this one. Despite the miniland it´s got NOTHING special you couldn't have seen elsewhere.

It contains of

1. Factory Tour

2. 4D Cinema

3. Dragon Ride

4. Adventure Trail

5. Miniland

6. Captain Brickbeards pirate's splash

7. Build and Test

8. Model Builders Workshop

The only thing worth going is the miniland. I went through the center in one hour, spending half of the time in the miniland and another 10 minutes wasting my time at the factory tour (this kid stultification is a shame! ) just to get another promo-brick.

Okay, I have to say I went to Legoland Germany twice, saw Billund last year, same counts for LLDC Duisburg. I knew I wanted to skip the cinema, the dragon ride and the adventure trail. :skull:

The good thing for me was since our last event I´m proud owner of the "Merlin annual pass". So I didn´t have to pay anything to get in (what counted for Madame Tusseauds and the Sealife Berlin as well )

To sum it up I´d say: If you haven´t seen anything from the above, it might be worth the visit - if yes, don´t go there!

I´ve been there on wednesday morning right after the opening and it was fun - almost NO kids. I was able to take my pics, had a small talk with the very friendly employees at the shop (well filled shelves by the way!).

I made the opposite experience in Duisburg last year: It was soooo crowded. No fun at all. If you´re going there at another time or even at the weekend (please DON'T) you will surely meet a huge crowd lining up at the entrance and an extremely noisy surrounding at the build and test area.

To get you some more impressions, here´s a small variety of photos I took:

The Reichstag/Bundestag by day...

... closeup ...

...and by night.

Party time!

Brandenburger Tor (day)

and (almost) night.

Berliner Dom

Gedächtniskirche (put somewhere in a shabby corner - very badly presented! )

The Pirate's splash...

Dragon ride

build and test

creativity area (see, almost nobody there - what a relief!)

the Fabrik (wohooo - one child!)

the PaB at the shop. Nothing really special there. I bought a minifig (put-together) 1,30€, some laser swords (bars and telescopes) 1€ and two SP III sets.

And the whole thing is cramped and underground without any fresh air.

Don't get me wrong: I have been to two Legolandparks and I love them, but the Discovery center isn't anywhere near that.

I paid 8 euros for a discount ticket and I still think that is overpriced.

Seconded. Especially the bolded part.

Find more pics of the LLDC Berlin in my BS-folder.