Legoland's first animatronic character will come to life in the preshow of the new Galacticoaster, opening soon in Florida and California.
Legoland California invited me out this morning for a construction tour of its new Lego Galaxy land. Taking over about half of the former Fun Town, Lego Galaxy will include Galacticoaster along with two other attractions: a new Huss Airboat called G-Force Test Facility and Duplo Launch and Land (a retheme of the former Sky Patrol).
The new land will open March 6, with the Legoland Florida installation of Galacticoaster opening one week earlier, on February 27. But the Florida installation will be a stand-alone attraction. Only California is getting the full Lego Galaxy land, which also includes three food and beverage locations plus a play area and retail.
The two coasters will appear identical on-ride, but the show buildings will not be the same. In California, Legoland has dug into the ground to allow the coaster's show building to come in under local height restrictions. But in Florida digging into Earth is not really an option. That means that Florida building will have ramps to bring riders up to the load platform level, where in California riders will access the ride from street level.
Join me for today's construction tour, including a walk-through the queue and preview of the ride's two pre-shows.
That new animatronic, Chief Engineer Biff Dipper, explains our mission, then talks us through creating a customized digital version of our spaceship. The character is capable of more than 45 digitally projected facial features and nine practical body movements.
But what about that mission?
"Galacticoaster is all about saving Legoland from the 'Asteroid of Probable Destruction,'" Merlin Magic Making Creative Director Rosie Brailsford explained. "The second [guests] come into the ride, the experience starts. You will meet Biff and he will give you your mission briefing. This is about creating the most awesome spacecraft you ever can, to lure the separators to take apart the asteroid before it hits Legoland."
In other words, it's "Armageddon," but instead of Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck playing oilmen drilling into an asteroid to blow it apart, Legoland visitors will try to design a spacecraft with enough flair to attract Lego Brick Separators (who are just flying through space looking for a gig, one presumes) to pry apart the asteroid before it clobbers the theme park.
In the ride's second pre-show room, riders will choose the from among five options for a nose, tail, wings and flair to add to their spaceship. Provided RFID wristbands will associate the team's design with their ride vehicle, allowing digital screens on the ride to display your design. The custom design also will be seen in on-ride photos and the on-ride video that Legoland will make available for guests to purchase after their ride.
The ART Engineering indoor coaster will launch riders into their adventure at an impressive 40 mph. Six trains of two four-passenger cars will run on the coaster, which will have a cycle time of about 2.5-3 minutes. Legoland officials are aiming for an hourly capacity of about 850 riders on the new coaster, which is the first at Legoland California since Coastersaurus opened in 2004.
Galacticoaster will have a height requirement of 90cm (35.5 inches) to ride, and 120 cm (just over 47 inches) to ride alone. Passengers will be grouped into teams of four to design their vehicles and to ride, so expect small parties to be grouped together.
That's by design, not only for throughput efficiency, but also to encourage people to work together with new acquaintances. After all, Legoland is all about playtime, and an important part of playtime is learning how to meet and get along with others, right?
Lego Galaxy's main restaurant will be U.F.O. (Ultimate Food Outlet) - a rethemed Fun Town Urban Kitchen, which will feature a new menu that includes spicy chicken sandwiches, tacos, noodles, and ramen. Burger Stop will become Satellite Bites, and there will be a new Stardust Treats sweet shop.
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Um, wouldn't the figures on The Dragon and Lost Kingdom Adventure be considered animatronics? Admittedly those are a lot more limited in motion and have probably seen better days, but I feel like they should still count.
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It looks great! Too bad my son has outgrown Legoland so I won't get to experience it for quite a while.