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Legoland for South Korea - 2015

BigAl

BigAl

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Merlin are dipping into their pockets for another Legoland Park. According to this report spotted by Screamscape, $100 million will build them another park in Chuncheon, South Korea. Construction was supposed to begin last year but due to issues involving the formation of a special purpose company it was delayed.


This is what they're aiming for:

lego.png



A video of all the construction set to take place:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaN0ii9Ut9M#


And a (Korean) news report on the project which also shows you what the island is currently like:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ewlns5Hpljo#
 
I'm guessing this involves either government subsidy or some formal partnership with another company. I can't imagine Merlin stumping up $100m single handedly.

Looks great though! But... risky location considering the neighbours? Though, Merlin are experienced in dealing with neighbours suffering from a superiority complex I guess.
 
But will it be able to cope with the competition from nearby Magic Happy Land of the People? :/
 
This project has now seemingly been 100% confirmed as going ahead.

Screamscape said:
2016 - New Park - (11/5/13) According to this video news reporta new Legoland park is set to open in South Korea in 2016 as part of a new deal signed with Merlin Entertainment. The park will be built on Jungdo Island in the city of Chuncheon, Gangwon Province and will cost an estimated $470 million US dollars to build, with $94 million pitched in by Merlin itself. Construction is expected to begin before the end of the year.
Click to expand...

Video is in English and is worth watching, especially for local's concerns that Merlin are ripping them off. Interesting to see that it's been pushed back to 2016 now.
 
AT86 said:
Dragging this back up from the dead as Merlin have announced Legoland South Korea will now be going ahead with a 2022 opening.

This will be the 10th Legoland. Merlin are spending around £150 million on the park.

https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-m...ld-legoland-park-in-south-korea-idUKKCN1P10Y2
Click to expand...
Good for families in the area, but I'm surprised SK gets one when Japan is pretty close. China makes more sense in my head.

What's next? Texas maybe? Australia? India? Spain?
 
There already is a Legoland in Japan and China have 2 Discovery centres, with more on the way. A Legoland in China is also likely.

They may seem close to us, but consider that Billund (the original park) is only an hours flight away from us and Germany is not that much further. Most family's won't travel to anouther country just to visit a kids Theme Park.
 
I think Merlin are actually building a Legoland in Shanghai, so China is definitely on their minds, it would seem!
 
2022 update.

Despite this park having had a long journey to completion (hard to believe the original opening date was 2015!) LEGOLAND Korea is only a few weeks away from the grand opening. Technically it is already open, in a soft opening period with tickets only available to friends, family and annual pass holders.

As some of you know I've been involved with the park for the past couple of years. I've been to the site twice now, once late last year to oversee Miniland's installation and again last month to help with the handover. Although I never found time to do a full trip report I was there for the soft opening and wanted to summarise my thoughts on the park:

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Picture taken at the end of the first operating day from the Lookout Observation Tower. On the right is the Hotel with Brickstreet (the parks entrance) and the Factory Tour ride (regrettably I didn't get to see it) located underneath. Bricktopia (newer version of the Imagination Centre) is on the right. Miniland is in the centre with LEGO City Behind it. Pirate Shores in the top left corner and Ninjago World below it. The Castle is out of shot at the back of the park.

The location of the park is stunning. I got the chance to ride up in the parks observation tower a number of times and it's by far the best observation tower I've ridden. The horizon is beautiful from all angles. Korea is covered in mountains and the area of Chuncheon (the city in the background) is one of the few flat areas around. as such there was a lot to see with no boring spots.
Getting to the park is also an experience. The bridge to the island is held up in the middle by a massive portal structure. Driving through it really feels like you are leaving the city and entering another world. Especially at night when at certain times in the evening the bridge is lit in multiple different colours.
At this time the park is the only property on the island, but the local council (who have a master plan for the whole site) have proposed multiple other developments including hotels, shopping and dinning area's much like the Disney Village or Universal's City Walk. There's already a high speed rail connection just on the other side of the bridge. It'll be interesting to see what gets built over the next 10 years now that the anchor attraction is open.

Regarding the park itself, the LEGO parks have a reputation for being cookie-cutter style parks that have almost the same layout and ride line-up no matter which you visits. In many ways this is definitely true. Rides like Ninjago, The Dragon, Driving School, Boating School ect. are almost copy paste versions that exist at other parks. But I don't think there's any issue with that. A child growing up in Korea is unlikely to be traveling outside of their country for a Theme Park trip. So having a relatively nearby park in Japan (or soon to be China) with the same rides doesn't actually make any difference to them. What's important is that the parks reflect what that local audience expects to see, which is why Miniland, the heart of the park, is always a unique experience.

I'm too closely attached to give a fair review of Miniland. But the feedback from others seemed really positivise and I think it mainly comes down to South Korea translating so well to the Miniland format. Immediately visible when entering the park is Seoul, Korea's most famous city. Full of tall and distinct buildings that are very colourful at night. To the left is Busan, representing the industrial aspects of the country. in the centre is Gangwon. This is the region the park is located in, fittingly putting the local area of the park at the very centre of the park. This area is a blend of city and the mountains that dominate most of the country. A Temple area represents some of the more rural parts of the country and includes some very traditional eastern buildings (which translate really well to LEGO). The finale area, Jeju, is a volcanic island in the south of Korea that both fits in and is very distinct with a more tropical feel.
I wish I had pictures to share of Miniland but on arriving home I discovered I'd barely taken any (that weren't of a half finished state), besides this close-up of the previous shot:

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Although I previously said the rides are very similar across the LEGOLAND parks there was one thing I found very interesting if your only experience of a LEGOLAND park is Windsor. Seeing a new park that all fits into a masterplan highlights many of the changes that have taken place since the Windsor park was built. There's a stronger identity here that when you enter LEGO City, Pirates Shore, Ninjago and the Castle you have been shrunk down to fit within a LEGO set. walking through these area's there is a very chunky feel to the buildings and life-size minifigures are far more common.

Take The Dragon coaster as an example. In many ways (track and train aside) it's almost identical to the Windsor version. You enter the castle through a drawbridge, follow the same queue layout up into the battlements and through the towers. The LEGO set style makes everything feel bigger, while actually being smaller. The towers aren't large enough to fit more than a few people inside, which means it clearly isn't a like for like copy. But it still feels like the same space.
This similar but different feel continues to the ride itself which has replaced the human proportioned characters with LEGO built Minifigures. Yet scene for scene it plays out the same. Up until the Dragon scene when the ride makes use of the newer, more dynamic train design to drop under the dragon model and enter at speed into the lift hill. A nice addition, although I know it's not the first version of this ride to do it, just the first I'd ridden.

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I'm not sure if either style is better. Personally I'm an old school fan of Windsor's emphasis on impressive LEGO models placed in settings that are based on the sets. A style that is still used in areas here like Brickstreet and Bricktopia (the creative areas of the park) and the Mythica area recently opened in Windsor. But it was refreshing to see a park that had a consistency of all these area's being produced at the same time.

Anyway I hope you enjoy this update and a few of my thoughts on the newest LEGOLAND Park. I recommend checking out some of the videos starting to be uploaded now and in the coming weeks.
 
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