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Legoland Florida: Expansion

Danny

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Less than a year after opening, Legoland Florida is apparently expanding.

The theme park will announce plans for an expansion at a press conference today. A video file sent to journalists on Tuesday strongly suggests the expansion will have a Star Wars theme. This video can be found here. However, The Lakeland Ledger (http://bit.ly/Q2vEot ) has reported on Legoland's application for an expansion called Pirate Shores in 2013. Legoland officials have not commented on those plans.


I'll post any findings from the conference as soon as possible, so stay tuned.
 
More ridiculous Merlin expansion then... Their business model really does befuddle me.
 
Not really relevant here, but while I was on holiday a month back, this is what most of the tables looked like in the food court areas for the malls and outlets throughout Florida:

P1000508.jpg


Isn't it nice to see Merlin making the most of their money? :p
 
mrbrightside said:
More ridiculous Merlin expansion then... Their business model really does befuddle me.
No, see, I disagree completely - this isn't ridiculous Merlin expansion at all.

This is taking one of their already popular (albeit very new) attractions, and investing money in it to expand it. It's completely different to Merlin as a business expanding, by taking on new attractions and properties.

It's akin to a hypothetical expansion of Towers onto the Air car park, not Merlin expanding to take on a sea life centre in Australia, say. If the former ever happened, I doubt anyone would call that "more ridiculous Merlin expansion".
 
Upselling even when you're eating, they don't miss a trick do they. ::)

And expanding after just one year when parks like Chessington are in dire need of investment, ridiculous!
 
I agree that this is the correct way to expand (shame it's on the wrong side of the Atlantic), but will this be the kind where they remove another ride from our Lego Land for the Floridian one? -__-
 
It must be popular therefore they are expanding the attraction, that is what a sensible business would do which is a rare stroke of sensibility at Merlin.

I can't find a reason to complain about expanding a successful park, though i do think they need to improve the quality of the existing attractions as well.
 
RyanY said:
Upselling even when you're eating, they don't miss a trick do they. ::)

And expanding after just one year when parks like Chessington are in dire need of investment, ridiculous!

To be fair this park is in the middle of a hot tourist spot and I guess the park has had more guest numbers than originally expected when it opened, Which is why Merlin have decided to expand it. I'm not surprised as it's new.

Merlin are investing in Chessie, Remember the Safari ride that's scheduled to open next year? Chessie are getting investment, Just not what it REALLY needs.

:)
 
BigAl said:
I agree that this is the correct way to expand (shame it's on the wrong side of the Atlantic), but will this be the kind where they remove another ride from our Lego Land for the Floridian one? -__-
No, and to be fair that's not really what's happened before. The Jungle Coaster at Windsor was doomed from the point the modifications were made - Windsor likely would've got rid of it regardless of whether it got rehoused in another Legoland park, or whether it just got sold off altogether.

It was removed less for Florida's benefit, and more because it couldn't really survive at Windsor any longer.
 
Islander said:
BigAl said:
I agree that this is the correct way to expand (shame it's on the wrong side of the Atlantic), but will this be the kind where they remove another ride from our Lego Land for the Floridian one? -__-
No, and to be fair that's not really what's happened before. The Jungle Coaster at Windsor was doomed from the point the modifications were made - Windsor likely would've got rid of it regardless of whether it got rehoused in another Legoland park, or whether it just got sold off altogether.

It was removed less for Florida's benefit, and more because it couldn't really survive at Windsor any longer.

Still, it wouldn't surprise me if the residents complained a bit more and got half of the park shipped over to Florida because of noise issues. :/
 
I know Chessington are getting a new ride, but investment isn't just rides, it's everything on parks. Like keeping them in a presentable state, and rides like Oblivion are in need of investment to get them in a better state.

And I'm not saying a expansion is ridiculous, I'm saying that an expansion after just one year it a bit silly. I'd of thought waiting another year or so would of been better, because then it'll get more public interest. But I do hope all the best for the park, although I'll probably never visit it. :p
 
RyanY said:
And I'm not saying a expansion is ridiculous, I'm saying that an expansion after just one year it a bit silly. I'd of thought waiting another year or so would of been better, because then it'll get more public interest. But I do hope all the best for the park, although I'll probably never visit it. :p
Not particularly - the park opened small, they knew it was small, and it needed expanding. Instead of opening all at once at great cost, they're opening areas slowly - smoothing out the cost of building the place, and ensuring that they have the figures coming in before expanding.

Also it makes sense as cypress gardens is not in a tourist hotspot - it's miles out of the way. About an hour away from the orlando attractions. Only thing pulling people in is the lego brand, which although is popular doesn't always translate to guests appearing at their parks (windsor is still the only one doing very well).

They've definitely got their head screwed on with this. No need to merlin bash here, boys.
 
My earlier reaction may well have been kneejerk so I apologise if it seemed rash. However, despite this expansion seeming to have well grounded intentions it does annoy me that the company are still aggressively expanding around the world.

The expansion here may well be sensible in terms of the individual park - but it's yet more expense for a company that seems unable to run its core business in the UK correctly. I just don't understand how their finances are managed at all.

All that being said though, if it brings in more revenue ahead of its cost then it is a sensible move by the park and Merlin.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
The expansion has been confirmed as an outdoor Star Wars miniland section. You can sort of make the layout from this projection shot;

A2HeRyJCAAA7Nuo.jpg:large

(Photo source; Attractions Mag)
 
mrbrightside said:
The expansion here may well be sensible in terms of the individual park - but it's yet more expense for a company that seems unable to run its core business in the UK correctly. I just don't understand how their finances are managed at all.
But the thing is this is simply a new attraction within the park. Expansion is clearly the wrong word - it's not comparable to the expansion of Merlin as a company in any way.

I don't get how anyone can be irked at a new attraction at a park. Not only that, but: I don't know the ins and outs of Legoland Florida, but this was probably always planned from the offset, and is simply a sort of staggered opening/completing of the overall park/project.

Windsor did similar with Knights' Kingdom (Dragon, Dragon's Apprentice etc.), which back in the 90's was named Castleland. Castleland was always designed to be a part of the park, but whereas the park opened in 1996, Castleland wasn't opened until the 1998 season. Same is kinda true with Miniland, which to my knowledge had a few islands added over the first few years, and it would seem that that's essentially what's happening here - it's simply a new area within Miniland.

Essentially, this is comparable to a new attraction, so the word 'expansion' is simply setting off the wrong alarm bells in people.
 
RyanY said:
And expanding after just one year when parks like Chessington are in dire need of investment, ridiculous!

Chessington isn't in competition with Walt Disney World, Islands of Adventure and Busch Gardens.

Looks really great, not that exciting, but a solid addition. I love the Miniland bit of the Windsor park! I think this park should also get an Atlantis at some point. :)

Will this park maybe become the test-bed for new attractions at the Legoland chain? Because it's quite clear that this park will have to invest more than the others because of the increased competition. Maybe the more successful projects from a once-a-year investment cycle in Florida will become the big once-every-three-years projects at the other parks. :)
 
Don't forget, it's not the first (and nor was Windsor's). Billund, Germany and California all had outdoor Star Wars Minilands first. Windsor's was a new iteration, taking the attraction indoors so that sound, lighting and video could all be well utilised.
 
From Screamscape today:

2013 - New Land / Expansion - (1/1/13) A couple of new items for Legoland Florida this week. For starters, I’m told that a new sizable Fried Chicken restaurant opened back in November across from the Driving School attraction, adding a needed new indoor food option for the park. I’m also being told that construction on the park’s new land is under way and anyone who takes a spin on The Dragon coaster can see it quite well it seems. There has been a switch it seems with the theme of the new land and rides… as the park is rumored to have dumped the Pirate Shores theme in favor of something new that will be unique to Legoland Florida when it opens in Summer 2013.
In other news, I’m told there is another area of the park fenced off directly behind the Coastersaurus ride for another possible new addition for late 2013 or 2014. Anyone know more about what may be going on here?
 
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