What is up with LegoLand?
Where is everybody?
From N B
Posted September 4, 2012 at 9:56 PM
I recently opened a Twitter account and I added quite a few technology and theme park enthusiast websites to the list. So now I get updates and comments constantly.
I saw some recent pictures of LegoLand at around 2PM and there wasn't a soul in sight. It looked completely abandoned. There were maybe 20-25 cars in the parking lot and the wait for the rides was 0. There was absolutely nobody there.
I realize September is a slower month for theme parks, but people responding to the tweets say it is like this on a daily basis. I am sure Disney or Universal on it's slowest day still put up decent attendance numbers.
After the first year, Legoland proved that it couldn't handle matching up with Sea World and Busch Tampa, much less Universal and Disney.
From Dominick D
Posted September 5, 2012 at 10:41 AM
LEGOLand only appeals to the 10 and under crowd. LEGOLand won't stand a chance against the other parks in Florida.
From Amy Smith
Posted September 5, 2012 at 10:58 AM
Legoland is also a pretty long drive for most of the visitors to the area since they're usually staying at Orlando area hotels and getting to legoland via car trip or shuttle. Since the park is geared towards smaller children, maybe the parents don't feel like driving 45 minutes both ways with screaming children when Magic Kingdom is right there?
From Chad H
Posted September 5, 2012 at 1:19 PM
Legoland is a place I'd like to go, if only to recapture a bit of my youth....
But its clearly a place you'd have to visit with a kid in order to a) not look strange and b) get the full effect.
Legoland is probably like this because the 10 and under crowd are either in school or in daycare.
From N B
Posted September 5, 2012 at 3:48 PM
Karly, I completely agree. Families will pull kids out of school to take trips to Disney or Universal. I just don't see LegoLand being around in a few years if the off season is like what I am seeing.
From AJ Hummel
Posted September 5, 2012 at 4:29 PM
At Legoland California, the park is packed when school is not in session, and empty when it is. If you visit on an off-season weekday, you can get on everything in 1/2 to 2/3 of a day, but in the summer expect 30-45 minute lines for all but the highest capacity attractions. This is probably the reason the park isn't open daily in the off-season (I think it's 4 or 5 days per week). I'd guess 95% of the visitors to the park are either elementary school aged or younger, or are visiting with said children. I also don't know how it is in Florida, but here probably 4/5 of Legoland California's visitors are So Cal residents.
I'd wait for an annual attendance figure before saying the park is in trouble. I could see it being popular with Florida residents during the summer as a cheaper and less crowded alternative to Walt Disney World. I do think it is probably not a place most people would include in their vacations as it is 45-60 minutes from WDW and Orlando, but it certainly is a different type of park than those (I don't know about Florida's park, but at Legoland California about half the rides are interactive and Miniland alone is worth seeing if you've never been).
Let's put it this way, if they where in "Trouble" they wouldn't be expanding and adding new attractions/rides/areas at the speedy rate they have been lately. I've seen their summer pictures, they where PACKED nearly everyday and the waterpark even hit capacity a few times.
It's the off season, right now I've even seen reports of ALL UOR attractions only having 5-10 minute lines with FB only having a 25 minute line. It's the SLOW season, these things happen. Double that since it's a park that caters to those in the 12 and under category. I'd expect their attendance is higher on weekends and will pick back up around the Holidays like the other parks.
Legoland is closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays during the off season. You were looking on Tuesday, September 4th?
From Crystal A
Posted September 18, 2012 at 1:25 PM
We went there this past March for Spring Break. It was so crowded that we didn't even get to do everything before the park closed. LOTS of buses with school field trips when we attended. I want to go back in the next few months. Hopefully it will not be as crowded.
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