LEGOLAND California is an enjoyment country park that is located in Carlsbad. LEGOLAND California concentrated on LEGO blocks. The park was opened on 20th March 1999, and it is the third LEGOLAND Park to be opened. LEGOLAND Billund was officially opened in the year 1968; ever since then, it has been the largest tourist attraction site in Denmark. The story of LEGOLAND Billund commenced with toy bricks which were invented by Christiansen Ole Kirk who was a carpenter from Billund (Bakir et al., 420). Christiansen in 1934 began the production of toys referred to as Lego. During this time, Lego was not in the form of interlocking plastic bricks; they were made out of wood. The blocks were built in high quality and standard; this was what Christiansen believed was the missing element in most of the toys produced then. This commitment to the production of high-quality toys was reflected in the name Lego, which means play well. In 1947 Christiansen began experimenting on the plastic blocks. The interlocking system was introduced two years later in 1949 as an improvement to the basic ideas emanating from the bricks production. It took nine more years before a patent for Lego was obtained in 1958, in the same year Christiansen died of heart attack, leaving his son to carry on with his beautiful work that culminated to the opening of subsequent Legolands, California inclusive. This paper shall discuss the history of LEGOLAND California and how it is successful in meeting both the expectation of the inventors as well as customer experiences.
LEGOLAND California Park was officially opened on 20th March 1999. These parks were sold in the year 2004; later on, the parks supervisory interest was sold in 2005. The corporation now controlling the LEGO Parks is Merlin Entertainments (JACOBY, N.p.). Merlin Entertainments is a brand of the Blackstone Group of New York which is an advisory and an investment firm. LEGOLAND California is successful in many ways. The outstanding uniqueness of the LEGOLAND Park California is seen in the way the park is spat into nine distinct sections including Dino Island, The Beginning, Fun Town, Miniland USA, Explore Village, Land of Adventure, Pirates Shore, and lastly the Imagination Zone.
Success of the LEGOLAND California
The Beginning
Legoland was the main point of entry into the park and was the only entry point for guests until the year 2008. This was so until the new hotels which were under construction in the back were open thereby creating a reliably new entry point in the Castle Hill. The Beginning is a service and shopping region within the park (Mercurio, n.p.). The prominence of the LEGOLAND California is vast, such that it is a marketplace which comprises of Wheelchair rental, a restaurant, a small store, and guest services. In the Centre of the Park is a colossal shop that contains LEGOLAND toy sets and souvenirs. The shop provides a feel of the historic metamorphosis of the LEGOLAND history and a clear pointer to exactly where its future lies. Since LEGOLAND is sponsored by Volvo Company, all Volvo drivers receive a discount on parking charges.
Dino Island
Here there is mini steel roller coaster that is called “Coastasaurus cure,” and it also slopes around giant LEGO dinosaurs. Another aspect that makes this region interesting to many is that; visitors can dig for simulated dinosaur's bones in the “Dig Those Dinos,” and they can earn rewards. Raptor splash which was an initial attraction was removed so that it may give way to the construction of carnival-style game.
Explorer Village
This includes Waterworks attraction that has quite some collaborating water activities. It is beside Musical foundation, and here guests hop up and down to water blow and make the music play. Correspondingly, a water slide referred to as the Fairy Tale Brook allows the guests to ride boats down a river, which is lined with lively LEGO models that are based on fairy tales. On the other hand, Play town is also a region that has LEGO buildings, activities, and slides. There is also a showplace, Restaurant, playground, and a ride known as Safari Trek. Safari Trek allows riders to see life-sized LEGO models of various animals.
Fun Town
In the Fun Town, there are two driving schools; Volvo Driving School for children above six years and Volvo Junior Driving School for children under five years. In this place, children are taught on how to drive LEGO electronic cars (Pickering, n.p). Volvo Driving School with a gas station and traffic lights is a little bit advanced than that of young children. The driving expedition provides the extra adventure that is missing in many Parks across the globe. There is Skipper School where children together with their parents can drive LEGO boats. Guests also take tours around the LEGO factory, and they learn how the LEGO bricks are manufactured. In the Fun town police and fire academy, different folks battle each other in a contest. The main objective of the race is to extinguish a small fire, or stop a robbery then drive back in the fire truck or police car. The competition is so intense that is reminiscent of the modern-day Formula 1 races. The most attractive feature is the Kid Power Towers, here two people go up a rotating tower, and they can relish the relaxing dawdling ride. Visitors can go up and down as many times as they want before the ride ends. In case the guests decide to board the Sky Cruiser, a pair of people pedal around the track, and they can see the whole park entirely. The Flight Squadron uses LEGO planes to raise the visitors up in the air. In the same way, those that go to the Sky Patrol are carried into the air through the use of LEGO helicopter. They are moved in a sequence of ups and down as they get a scenic view of Fun town. For those food lovers, there are also restaurants like; burger shack, Fun Town Hot Dogs, and a well set up restaurant (O'Brien, n.p).
Castle Hill
It is a castle-themed region which was originally known as Knights Kingdom. The chief attractions of this region are the dragon roller coaster, which tours the castle slowly. After that, Lego wizards cast spells and the gates to the outdoor open then the roller coaster hastes out, it serves just like a normal roller coaster. Another form of a ride is the Knights tournament, visitors ride in a huge robotic arm, and they select different levels between one to five (Johns et al., 10). Likewise, the Hideaways are specially designed and suited for younger children; it is a large wooden structure with ropes, ladders, bridges, and slides. Tiny horses carry the guests through a mock medieval journey. LEGOLAND also decided to introduce a new attractive feature known as the Wild Woods Golf, which replaced the Singing Rock Garden.
Miniland USA
It comprises of a miniature of seven regions in the United States that are built together using forty million LEGO bricks; this structure took approximately three years to finish due to its complex nature. Some of these major cities can be easily seen from different areas within the park (Bakir, n.p). When one is in the coast cruise ride, they can see some of these mini models which have a hidden view. Miniland is also the location where the Model shop is, the main design, and the building office for LEGOLAND California. Huge viewing windows on the front side give the visitors a chance to see the builders as they do their work.
Pirates Shore
This beautiful shore has five rides and attractions that keep guests making it one of the must-reach destinations in the LEGOLAND California. The first one is the Splash Battle, where visitors enter their pirate ship, and they battle with other visitors, as they try to avoid the blasts of water. Second, we have the Soak and Sail; here, parents and children play with water pouring on them. In this site is also the Treasure Falls which is majorly for young children who are not able to ride bigger logs. Fourth we have the Swabbie's Deck; it is the little kid's water region (Bakir et al., 420). These kids can wet their feet, before attempting to soak and sail. Finally, we have the Captain Cranky's Challenge which is a brand new ride that replaced Zamperla Rockin.
Imagination Zone
Visitors can ride a Wild Mouse style roller coaster known as ‘Technic Coaster- Test Track.’ Kids can pick between three distinct games, and they can also race LEGO cars which they construct on their own in the Build and Test. Kids can also play some LEGO PC games and robots in “Mind storms.”
Land of Adventure
It is the newest section of the park, which was designed as a replica of 1920's Egypt. The guest fire foam balls at each other in the Pharaohs Revenge. There are infinite numbers of contest games that can be played this section of the park. In the Beetle Bounce, visitors jump 15 feet high to touch larges beetles that are high above. In the Cargo Ace, visitors board on one of the eight airplanes and they can fly six feet in the air (Rubin, n.p.). The most recent form of attraction in LEGOLAND California is the Lost Kingdom Adventure, here visitor ride a roadster to cover the treasure that was stolen by blasting targets through the use of laser guns.
In conclusion, LEGOLAND California is one of the greatest attraction sites in California. The main reason towards its success is because the management planned the park well and it included various games which accommodate people of all ages. It is for sure that the people who visit LEGOLAND California enjoy themselves completely.
Works Cited
Bakir, Ali, and Suzanne G. Baxter. "Touristic Fun”: Motivational Factors for Visiting Legoland Windsor Theme Park." Journal of Hospitality Marketing " Management 20.3-4 (2011): 407-424.
Jacoby, Edmond. "Legoland California says visitors, revenues up sharply in 2004." The Union-‐Tribune (2005).
Johns, Nick, and Szilvia Gyimóthy. "Postmodern family tourism at Legoland." Scandinavian Journal of Hospitality and Tourism 3.1 (2003): 3-23.
Mercurio, Michael Robert. Categorizing fun: Identifying hierarchy in California amusement parks. Diss. California State University, Long Beach, 2011.
O'Brien, T. "All Food Cooked " Served Up Front At Carlsbad's Legoland California." Amusement Business 112.28 (2000): 25.
Pickering, David, ed. The ultimate LEGO book. Dk Pub, 1999.
Rubin, J. "Learning to Lego (Europe contributes to the US theme mix with a new California park, Legoland-California)." ENTERTAINMENT DESIGN 33.8 (1999): 42-+.
