My planning for Legoland began in December 2012. That was a long time to wait for a cool place. But it was a great way to keep my kids behaving (for the most part) during the year, knowing that the carrot at the end of the reward stick was Legoland.

So you can imagine how insanely excited we were when December 2013 arrived, and we had our tickets in hand.

Legoland is a bit different from other theme parks because of the Lego brand. Not only are there fun rides, but tons of Lego building opportunities, shows and exhibits.

What To Do in Florida Legoland? – A quick glimpse

Meet and Greet Characters – you can find Lego characters all over the park at different hours of the day – all day.

All sorts of Cool Characters

The Kingdoms Section – where Jousting and Medieval Castles come to life

New exhibitions – when we arrived, World of Chima was the newest to open.

Water attractions – this was in the World of Chima

Medieval castles

Playgrounds

Build your own race car – this is one of those places that 90% of the active players are males, while women sit back and relax or, do like I do, and take tons of photos

Race it with others

Take it on an extreme track

Build Star Wars Figurines

Put your mind to the test with building and creating

Walk around on the cutest streets

Check out some shows

Learn at the Legoland Factory how the pieces are done

Shop for any Lego piece you can think of

History of Lego Bricks

This is the fun part. How did it all start?

• The Lego Group began in the carpentry workshop of Ole Kirk Christiansen, in Billund, Denmark.

• In 1916, Christiansen purchased a woodworking shop in Billund but it burned down in 1924, so he constructed a larger one.

• In 1932, Ole Kirk’s shop started making wooden toys.

• The business wasn’t great but in the mid-1930s, the yo-yo toy fad gave him a brief period of increased activity.

• In 1934, Ole Kirk held a contest amongst his staff to name the company. He was considering two names: “Legio” (with the implication of a “Legion of toys”) and “Lego”, a self-made contraction from the Danish phrase leg godt, meaning “play well.” He later discovered that “Lego” can be loosely interpreted as “I put together” or “I assemble” in Latin, so they adopted it.

• After World War II, plastics became available in Denmark. This allowed Lego to purchase a plastic injection molding machine in 1947.

• The traditional date for the first Lego blocks is 1947. It consisted of a truck that could be taken apart and re-assembled.

• In 1949, the Lego Group began producing bricks, manufactured from cellulose acetate in the spirit of traditional wooden blocks that could be stacked upon one another but could be “locked” together. They had several round “studs” on top, and a hollow rectangular bottom. They would stick together, but not so tightly that they could not be pulled apart.

• In 1953, the bricks were given a new name: Lego Mursten, or “Lego Bricks.”

• The product wasn’t well received by customers. They weren’t versatile and people preferred metal or wooden toys.

• Ole Kirk Christiansen died in 1958. A man named Godfred took the lead of the company.

• Another warehouse fire struck the Lego Group in 1960, consuming most of the company’s inventory of wooden toys. By that time, sales had improved and there was no need to continue manufacturing wooden toys, so they stopped.

• In 1961, Lego wished to expand sales to North America so they allowed Samsonite to begin producing and selling Lego products in the United States and Canada.

• Between 1961 and 62 the first lego wheels started being sold.

• The famous Lego train system, was first released in 1966.

• On June 1968, the first Legoland Park opened.

• In 1969, the Duplo system went on sale. These are much larger LEGO bricks, targeted to younger kids, that are still compatible with the regular ones.

• In 1971 LEGO tried to reach girls by manufacturing dollhouses and furniture pieces.

• The expansion continued on 1972 when ships that actually floated were released into the market.

• The famous expert builder sets for older people started being released in 1977.

• “Lego Family” sets became their best sellers during the late 70’s.

• In 1985 the Lego Group’s educational division produced the Technic Computer Control, which was an educational system whereby Technic robots, trucks, and other motorized models could be controlled with a computer.

• In August 1988, 38 children from 17 different countries took part in the first Lego World Cup building contest.

• Two Guinness records were set in 1992 using Lego products: A castle made from 400,000 Lego bricks, and measuring 4.45 meters by 5.22 meters, was built on Swedish television, and a Lego railway line 545 meters in length, with three locomotives, was constructed.

• During the 90’s they also started selling sets inspired by popular movies.

Fun Facts About LEgo

• It is one of the oldest plastic toys in the world.

• Teachers started LEGOs during the 60’s and haven’t stopped.

• In 2000 the British Association of Toy Retailers named LEGO the “Toy of the Century”

• In 2002, LEGO sued the Chinese makers of “Coko Bricks” because the resembled LEGO bricks. Coko had to apologize and stop making them.

• An average of 80 pieces of LEGO have been produced for every human on the planet.

• Not even Bridgestone or Goodyear produce as many rubber wheels as LEGO.

• The tallest LEGO tower was 94 feet high.

• LEGO also moved into video games. There are currently over 50 of them.

• The largest commercial LEGO set is that of the Taj Mahal.

• To celebrate the 80th anniversary of the inception of the brand LEGO, an animated short film titled ‘The LEGO Story‘ was made by Lani Pixels.
  

Video Fun

Information About Florida Legoland 

You can definitely do the entire amusement park in one day. However, we missed out on the water park which is closed during the winter months. And I would definitely recommend doing both. In that case the two day pass is a way better deal.

Address: LEGOLAND® Florida One LEGOLAND Way Winter Haven, FL 33884

Phone: 877-350-5346

Prices:

• 1 Day – Pick-a-Date

Adult (13+) $69

Child (3-12) and Senior (60+) $62

• 2 Day – Pick-a-Date

Adult (13+)  $84

Child (3-12) and Senior (60+) $77

• 1 Day – Regular Tickets

Adult (13+) $84

Child (3-12) and Senior (60+) $77

• 2 Day – Regular Tickets

Adult (13+) $99

Child (3-12) and Senior (60+) $92

Hours:

Mon to Fri – 10am to 5pm

Sun and Sat – 10am to 6pm

Hours might change – Link to the monthy, updated schedule 

Recommendation – Legoland is for kids up to 12 years old. So if you have young ones, I would take them and have a blast now. After twelve I can see how the older kids can be want a bit more action. Although, a couple of the roller coasters we went on can give you a jolt to the heart.

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