Legoland Florida

[tiredoldspook]

Legoland will do fine through first of January then the newness will wear off. I expect it to be more seasonal. It is hard enough to get people to drive to Tampa or Daytona from Orlando. Legoland is really in the middle of not a lot of anything. If gas gets back to and near 4 dollars it will not help it's cause. I am sure they will make a lot of offers for school trips and such. I will wait till the 2nd year numbers are released before saying how it will or won't do.

 

[atigeg]

We never made it to Cypress Gardens in any of its incarnations, so I'm really glad that Legoland is making good use of that property and keeping some of the old features too. We don't have kids, but we bought the $99 APs anyway (with the rest of 2011 free) because we'll check it out in general and return for whatever holiday events or other special things they do. I'm hoping the Lego brand will be a big draw, but I worry that people who use Magical Express won't feel like heading out to something an hour away via rental car or shuttle. We got a helicopter tour of the construction site a few months back and it was looking pretty impressive so can't wait to see the finished product.

 

[tiredoldspook]

I think Legoland will do better with locals then tourist just a prediction. People who come in for Disney seldom Journey past Disney as they don't have transportation. The ones who do can travel 15 minutes to Sea World or Universal. That drive is the wild card of Legoland.

 

[CoasterHP]

^ Definitely. They really need to figure out a way to get people down to the park from the other area attractions. The high speed rail project could have been a hub for busing people down there but well.. stupid Governor.

Oh and for my comment earlier about wondering why everyone is seasonal. I found in the Lakeland Ledger tonight that everyone will be hired as seasonal and then after the Christmas season they will start converting some of those positions to part time or full time.

Makes sense I guess.. here's hoping that my degree and four years of experience at Universal and Disney stop being worthless

 

[Brian G.]

2nd Graders get free trip

http://www.orlandounited.com/2011/06/07/polk-county-2nd-graders-get-free-trip-to-legoland-florida/

 

[Octobers Fade]

^ Definitely. They really need to figure out a way to get people down to the park from the other area attractions. The high speed rail project could have been a hub for busing people down there but well.. stupid Governor.

Oh and for my comment earlier about wondering why everyone is seasonal. I found in the Lakeland Ledger tonight that everyone will be hired as seasonal and then after the Christmas season they will start converting some of those positions to part time or full time.

Makes sense I guess.. here's hoping that my degree and four years of experience at Universal and Disney stop being worthless

Also when you hire part timers you save on paying out benis. As well as weeding out the unwanted employees.

 

[tiredoldspook]

And High Speed Rail wouldn't have helped Legoland It would only help Disney. Sadly when you build a theme park it is not the State Taxpayers job to pay to get people to your park. Walt Disney Built Disney off I4 they didn't build I4 around it.

 

[CoasterHP]

^True it isn't the taxpayers burden to fund projects to increase accessibility to the theme parks, but since a major reason we aren't paying income tax in Florida is because of the theme park/tourism industry, we shouldn't kill projects (esp. those that are half paid for by the Fed Govt) that could have helped make getting to different parks easier (and cheaper) than a cab. The High Speed Rail wouldn't have helped Universal/Legoland/Seaworld directly but it would have created a few "hubs" where they could have shuttled people to and from the rail station to their front gates. For example, guests at Disney could take the rail to the Convention Center and then hop on a bus to Seaworld for the day.

And I hear you ^^ on the the saving money by not hiring full timers right away. It gives them some time to see how well the park is going to do initially. From my experience at Disney and Universal though you typically have the supervisors and then the attraction leads that are mostly full timers. They are kind of the backbone of the attractions team and there most of the time. If you only hire seasonal to open a theme park I sure hope Legoland is going to have some of them become leads or else the attractions department is going to be a mess. One supervisor can't cover three or four attractions, make rotations, keep counts, call techs, handle angry guests, keep staffing on budget, etc.. That's where the leads come in.. who are full time.. I'm sure they have everything under control.

 

[Scarletwebslingr]

I'm from Winter Haven so I just hope it works out for their economy's sake. Honestly though I agree that it's a pinch too far for Orlando tourists. I only see it pulling them in if it were a more adult, hard coaster type of amusement park.

 

[Brian G.]

100 days til opening!

http://www.orlandounited.com/2011/07/07/100-days-til-legoland-florida-opens/

 

[tiredoldspook]

Well lets see what happens if gas Hits 4.00 dollars. Legoland is going to do fine the first 4 months lets see what happens in January. Have they put up there 2012 calender yet? I am betting on Being closed till March just a guess.

 

[jj3352]

i think the park will be closed Mondays and Tuesdays during the "off" season

 

[Kraken&Manta]

i think the park will be closed Mondays and Tuesdays during the "off" season

Tuesdays and Wendsdays:

 

[Brian G.]

From the Legoland Facebook.

Hey friends! By my estimate we'll be out of our grand opening tickets in the next few hours!! Hurry! Get a FREE child ticket to either October 15 or 16 with the purchase of an adult ticket - these tickets guarantee your spot in the park on opening weekend!

www.LEGOLAND.com/grandopening

 

[Octobers Fade]

Good for them!

It sounds like it will be way more crowded than I would like, if I even wanted to go there.

 

[Brian G.]

From their Facebook.

Many of you have asked about our historic botanical gardens. We're happy to say they are as beautiful as ever and will be open to park guests as part of their day at LEGOLAND Florida! Here's a photo of the famous banyan tree.

 

[BJCool]

Incredible new photo update via Behind the Thrills:

http://behindthethrills.com/2011/08/legoland-florida-races-towards-october-15th-opening-date/

 

[King Royalty]

90 percent done, wtf, looks more like 70, i didnt see pictures of project x

 

[BJCool]

Attractions Magazine also took part in the recent construction press tour and has posted many pictures:

http://attractionsmagazine.com/blog/2011/08/03/construction-update-building-and-attractions-rising-at-legoland-florida-photosvideo/



They also posted a neat video overview of the park from the "Island in the Sky" ride, mainly focusing on all of the coasters.

[video=youtube;aDrvHxc8iwI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDrvHxc8iwI[/video]

 

[TheDecemberists]

Question. Does anyone know if the butterfly house is still standing? I used to go there when I was younger. I haven't been back since it shut down the first time.