Following the announcement earlier this year of a new Legoland in Dubai, this week Merlin officials announced that a sixth Legoland park will be built in Malaysia. The $200-million theme park will be built across from Singapore, as part of the multi-billion-dollar Iskandar Development Region in Malaysia's Johor state.
Merlin will own 20 percent of the park, though it will design it and operate it. The park is scheduled to open in 2013.
Update: Interesting local reaction. In short, people not happy. They wanted Disney instead.
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For the most part, these deals are easy money for theme park companies. The local developer pays for the project and, in some cases (though not this one), even for the parks' operation. The theme park company does the design and training, then cashes the checks.
Disney pioneered this model with the Oriental Land Company in Tokyo Disneyland.
Now, the question is... how many of these parks will end up being built? I've read plenty of skeptical comments about how many of the announced Dubai projects will ever see opening day. Don't know about the Malaysian situation however. I wonder what the percentage of announced projects that get built there is.
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