Preview day at Legoland, FL

[krystalKING]

Hello! Just this weekend I had a chance to preview legoland FL before the grand opening,(courtesy of AAA.)as I have never been to a Legoland I just could not say no. I guess I should start with my stay at Bed and Brick. (A coverted best western.) It was a simple one-night stay, with check out in the morning before I left. The weather was bad, to say the least, as it rained all night and some in the morning. (Not to metion after midday while I was at Legoland) The beds were comfortable, and the staff were very nice. There were sets, MOCs and a 2-foot high minifigure dressed in a bathing suit and snorkel. I was up at 7:30 and headed down to the entrance (Half a mile away) at 8:51 I arrived and spent the next five minutes heading toward the entrance. I arrived in time to watch the ribbion be cut by the park manager and Max.(No lie.) There were Dinosaurs as I passed the first store, The Big Shop, a massive store, across from that was the Marketplace, A food store with a coffee shop in the same building.after that I came to a nice highlight, the Lego studio store, holding only licensed themes including, but not limited to: Harry Potter, Star Wars, and Spongebob. Then there was the factory tour, right across from the studio, there was a amusing video that showed minifigures operating the factory, followed by A more kid-like version of the real factory in Denmark.

After that I was pleasantly suprised to recieve a grand opening Duplo brick, and had a chance to fill a pick-a-brick bag, at the insane price of (ARE YOU SEATED!?) 9:99 per quarter pound! The part selection recieves top marks though. (DARK TAN!) I then had a snack of grannys apple fries and viewed the highlight of any Legoland, Miniland

As I have never viewed a miniland I was pushed people aside left and right to see the models, including: the foutain of youth, a wrecked spanish galleon, a pirate display, the white house, the kennedy space center, and new york.

I viewed a model of the golden gate bridge that was 22 feet long acording to one of the master builders. it started raining then, so I went on the roller coaster project X, followed by flying school and coastersaurus, after that I visited the minifigure shop, and then the big shop before leaving. it was raining during all of that. I ended up with a camper, waldurk forest, and a lego towel and commenrative ticket.

Just a quick summaration of my first visit.

Edited October 10, 2011 by krystalKING

[Brickdoctor]

had a chance to fill a pick-a-brick bag, at the insane price of (ARE YOU SEATED!?) 9:99 per quarter pound! The part selection recieves top marks though. (DARK TAN!)

It's the same at LLCA. The part selection there used to be pretty good, with lots of bins with a variety of Technic and Bionicle elements, but they're moving towards basic colors of basic bricks, now. PaB's become more worth it for me in the past couple years.

[Blondie-Wan]

Thanks for the "preview notice," krystalKING! They're having additional advance previews this week for annual passholders; my girlfriend and I will be there for the last of those this Thursday, October 13, and return to the park for the official grand opening two days later on Saturday the 15th. We're really looking forward to it, especially me - I wanted to go to LEGOLAND back I first read about it in an issue of National Geographic World magazine when I was a kid, back in the '70s / '80s (when there was just the original Billund, Denmark park), so in a way this is something I've been waiting over 30 years to do, and now I finally not only get to go, but go on opening day.

It's the same at LLCA. The part selection there used to be pretty good, with lots of bins with a variety of Technic and Bionicle elements, but they're moving towards basic colors of basic bricks, now. PaB's become more worth it for me in the past couple years.

Thanks for the heads-up, though I can't tell from your description whether you're pleased or disappointed with the PAB at the park (though of course I'm sure it will vary from park to park and day to day, as with the PAB selections at the regular LEGO Stores).

[Brickdoctor]

Thanks for the heads-up, though I can't tell from your description whether you're pleased or disappointed with the PAB at the park (though of course I'm sure it will vary from park to park and day to day, as with the PAB selections at the regular LEGO Stores).

It used to be a lot better, though depending on what you need, the LLCA PaB can be useful for basic plates and the like. And if you can't pack a PaB cup well, paying per pound could still be a benefit.

(admittedly, the last time I seriously looked through the selection was a few years ago, when, amongst a ton of other useful Technic elements, you could find Visorak minifigs there and the bags were $7.99 per quarter pound)

[Sid Sidious]

This sounds cool. What is the normal going rate for bricks at a LEGO store, and how much weight of bricks can fit in a cup? I wish that they opened this when I still lived in Alabama, and it would have only taken a couple of hours to get there. Oh well, it still sounds cool. I've never been to a Legoland but hopefully I will go someday.