• ℹ️ Heads up...

    This is a popular topic that is fast moving Guest - before posting, please ensure that you check out the first post in the topic for a quick reminder of guidelines, and importantly a summary of the known facts and information so far. Thanks.

Legoland Windsor

Yes, I realise that they're larger versions of on the minifigs but part of what made Legoland so special was the fact it reeked of craftsmanship and skill. As a brand that heavily emphasises imagination, rethemeing an area by ripping out the Lego models in favour of fibreglass replicas and painting large chunks of it grey, feels a lot like a kick in the teeth.

I don't think they have removed any lego models, I think the life size minifigs are in addition to the existing models. The driving school area has never been heavy on theming anyway.
 
Judging by the pictures of Boating School (or watever they are calling it now) the Chanel has been widened massively to help up the rides capacity. That's going to be a nightmare for the poor operators. The old channels width was chosen perfectly to prevent people doing a 180 and driving backwards. It sometimes happened but normally only as a result of side on collisions. Now anyone could do it, and probably will.

Not to mention that the 6 - 13 age restriction sign on the driving school has completely disappeared.

Ps. Those lamenting the loss of the old models that plastic Lego bike Shown in one of the pictures replaced an exact copy of itself only the original was made from Lego. Why they replaced it I'm not sure.
 
I know nothing about Lego Land Windsor, but the Lego land Florida is receiving an expansion containing the Disc'o ride themed around the supposedly popular Heart Lake City.

os-legoland-hotel-heartlake-city-expand-20150114


So this could be the theme for the new ride/ area.
 
Yep the new area is themed to Lego friends (Lego aimed at girls) and although not announced on the 2015 Windsor map their is a coming soon sign hiding a new attraction and from what you see looks exactly like the themed disko ride the Florida park are getting.
 
Upsets me in these times of 'gender neutral' toys for lego to be going so blatantly 'girly'. Feels like they've hit it off about 10 years too late there (not that lego had 'girly' toys 10 years ago..)
 
I don't have a problem with the Friends sets, some of them actually fill gaps that normal City sets never touch (because Lego City these days is nothing but a police state full of arsonists). If you want a school, vet, or a shop that sells something other than bikes or pizza, Friends is the only way to get it (or you could just build your own, but we all know Lego doesn't want you doing that anymore).

My only gripe is the abomination that is "Minidolls". Worse, they have started spreading in to new "girly" lines now. Last year they had a Disney princess range, now there's a line of "elves" sets. These things are not minifigs, they have half the articulation, grossly distorted proportions (OK, so do minifigs) and look like rejected designs by Poly Pocket in the 90's.

Oh, and Lego have always had "girly" sets, going back to Paradisa in the early 90's. But they used proper minifigs and could seamlessly integrate with other Town sets.
 
I've just posted that the park has put in an appeal for Haunted House. As of time of writing, the appeal document hasn't been released, but I am guessing that they are using the planning officers' recommendation for approval as the basis of the appeal. I was surprised they didn't do it immediately, but perhaps they felt they would be more successful if they left it a period of time being progressing it. Considering the officer's recommendation, I think they have got a rather good chance.

Alongside this, I am rather intrigued by the new Heartlake City ride that is coming soon. My only guess at this time is that it may be a more temporary ride to get around the planning issue, so more fairground rather than theme park.
 
Is the Windsor Heartlake addition actually meant to be getting a new ride, or is the Florida Disko causing confusion?
 
I have now posted up the reasoning behind the appeal on the website, which I have summarised from the submitted reports. However, to summarise, they are basically disagreeing with the decision based on the planning officers and highways officer recommending approval and no evidence to support the council's views on traffic, greenbelt and visitor numbers.

Without being an expert, their case seems strong on most of it. Their view that the number of visitors won't increase at all or much from the ride is an interesting one and I would be interested in reading their figures. If they can get the appeal approved and get the officer to support that there is a need for new rides to help maintain numbers rather than increase them, it should make future developments a lot easier to justify in terms of visitor numbers and traffic increases,
 
I hope that if they get Ghost, that the ride room is themed. The Billund version was awfully bare.
 
The plans showed that the facade wasn't even gonna be finished, high hopes for the interior being themed would be grossly misplaced...​
 
The plans showed that the facade wasn't even gonna be finished, high hopes for the interior being themed would be grossly misplaced...​

The exterior at Billund isn't finished, just the unfinished bit is backstage (similar to Duel, house facade on one side only or all of the Haunted Mansions where the ride warehouse is set back and backstage). Unfortuantly at Windsor the plan is to put ghost in the middle of an on-stage area so they can't just hide the warehouse building backstage in the same way. Yes it would be nice if the whole building was themed to the same standard but budget.
 
That was the worse thing about the ride, it will be mostly themed like TH13TEEN covered in scaffolding that just looks tacky and CHEAP! That will be the 100% reason it's themed like they on the outside. Just a shame they couldn't get this ride on the edge of the park somewhere so the shed could be hidden away like Duel.
 
Construction is well underway on the new ride, which is indeed a medium Disc'o. Theme park guide have some photos of the ride going up.

I've still got no idea how they're getting round the planning issue, but a ride that appeals to the older end of the park's supposed target market is long overdue.
 
Top