This is wonderful news for Central Florida.
Legoland Florida is a huge win-win for all of us theme park geeks.
Back me up parents ... Legos ain't cheap!
But I still think that Cypress Gardens was killed more by location than anything else. I just think its plain too far away from Disney/Universal/Sea World on or near I-4
To do well, Legoland needs to draw the locals in.
And (once again) Legoland's model does not require attendance beyond a couple of million guests (about 5,000 a day) in order to succeed.
I have not been to the LL park in CA but I would imagine that it might attract a younger crowd than Busch Gardens or Universal. WDW still has the Magic Kingdom, of course, and so I don't foresee too many young visitors (and their older escorts) being siphoned from there.
I have been to Cypress Gardens within the last five yrs and although they added some "rides" my two sons were completely bored. LL might be just what the area needs, IF they are looking to attract visitors, of course.
There will be an initial increase in employment which is a BIG plus and their business model suggests they only need 5000 visitors per day to do well, but I am willing to bet a bucket of legos that in the end it's not going to work as planned.
WDW and USF offer something for EVERYBODY. Legoland will offer Legos (I know there will be more to it than that,so no sarcastic replies please, but you get what I mean).
I just think the culture of the Orlando area is getting more mature and WDW and USF has both kiddies and adults covered. In my humble opinion what Orlando needs is a kickass gigacoaster park. The biggest exciting news lately were for Manta and Rip Ride Rocket. People want these exciting and cutting edge attractions.
I have nothing against legos. I had tons as a kid learned new and adventurous language when my parents stepped on them in their bare feet (ultimately reducing my inventory of Legos).
I hope they are very sucessful and will def visit the park once.
Additionally, Merlin has loads of cash and experience to make it work. As long as LL-Florida is ran as competently as LL-California, it is a guaranteed success. It'll draw tons of locals and siphon off enough tourists from Orlando to do around 2 million guests, which is plenty enough for it to make a profit.
Also, LL-Florida has little to do with the Lego store in Downtown Disney. LL is part of Merlin while the stores are part of Lego. Two completely different companies (although the family behind Lego does own a minority share in Merlin).
Should have built in Orlando. When I went to Disney World as a child, Cypress Gardens had one of those hotel brochures, that looked cool, but ultimately got tossed away because it was no where near where we were staying in Orlando. I just don't think they'll get the traffic necessary to sustain it in the longrun.