Ford announces new relationship with LEGOLAND Florida

[Eilif]

My son and I had the privlege this morning of being at the FORD plant in Chicago for a news confrence and model unveiling.

LEGOLAND Florida is going to have a Ford "Driving School" for kids as one of it's attractions. Though the ride will be in much smaller cars, as part of the attraction the LEGOLAND model team just finished a full size model of the new Ford Explorer.

After a brief presentation including a time-lapse video of the building of the car, The full size model of a red Ford Explorer was rolled off the assembly line behind a couple of actual Explorers. Though built and destined for Florida, Chicago was the site of the unveiling because the Ford Chicago plant is the site that makes the Ford Explorer SUV's. It was a very nice presentation from Ford and LEGOLAND. Special thanks to Tim Courntey who, though contacted at the last minute (Messages to AFOL's went out on Friday), he instructed someone among the event organizers to reach out to some local AFOL's, including the Northern Illinois LEGO Train Club by which I was informed of the event.

I had a very brief talk with the General Manager LEGOLAND Florida Adrian Jones and he revealed a few tidbits of information regarding LEGOLAND (Owned/Operated by Merlin Entertainment) and it's relationship to The LEGO Group (TLG) and FORD.

I inquired about the requirements when LEGOLAND/MERLIN makes a relationship with an outside company. He informed me that within some general guidelines,(no liquor or cigarette brands for example...) LEGOLAND is free to establish these kind of relationships with very little oversight from TLG.

Also, he revealed that the driving school was already planned, when he reached out to Ford about the potential for cross-promotion, starting with an initial contact with a dealership that lies just off the free way on the way to LEGOLAND Florida. Apparently Ford was very interested and it quickly moved up the corporate foodchain to establish the relatioship/sponsorship that currently exists.

Lastly I learned that LEGOLAND Florida is a redevelopment of the former Cypress Garden's Amusement park which had fallen on hard times in the economic slump and was acquired by Merlin entertainment specifically for the purpose of redeveloping it into a LEGOLAND park.

I've attached a few pics from my mediocre camera. I should have some improved pics from a friend of mine shortly to add to the mix. That's myself and my son in the last picture.

A few facts from Ford

•Full-size LEGOLAND® Florida Explorer created from more than 380,000 LEGO bricks makes its debut at Chicago Assembly Plant; model took more than 2,500 hours to create

•New LEGOLAND Florida theme park is the second in the U.S. and the fifth and largest LEGOLAND park in the world; it’s comprised of more than 50 million LEGO bricks

•Ford Driving School at LEGOLAND Florida allows children to experience the fun and responsibility of driving in their own vehicles (at a maximum speed of 3 mph)

Ford Press Release about the event.

http://media.ford.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=35337

[Brickdoctor]

This is most interesting, considering the relationship that LEGOLAND California has with Volvo. The Driving Schools there also mention Volvo, feature a life size Volvo minivan, and Volvo drivers get special parking privileges at LLCA.

[lightningtiger]

Interesting story, could this mean Ford will want sets designed for them....eh ?

Minifig scale Explorer ? (one can always hope )

[Eilif]

Unfortunately unlikely as the relationship is between Ford and Merlin Entertainment, not Ford and TLG.

[Eilif]

Time Lapse of the car being built!

[Dazmundo]

This is most interesting, considering the relationship that LEGOLAND California has with Volvo. The Driving Schools there also mention Volvo, feature a life size Volvo minivan, and Volvo drivers get special parking privileges at LLCA.

In Legoland Windsor it is with Fiat!

D

[Ratshot]

This was extremely interesting to read! Thank you for posting it

They really got that Explorer right on.

[Freddie]

In Legoland Windsor it is with Fiat!

And in Denmark it is with Toyota.