| LEGOLAND Windsor | |
|---|---|
| Location | Windsor, Berkshire, England, U.K. |
| Website | www.legoland.co.uk |
| Owner | Merlin Entertainments |
| General Manager | Sue Kemp |
| Opened | March 1996 |
| Operating season | March to November |
| Area | 150 acres (0.61 km2) |
| Rides | 50 total
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| Slogan | Heroes Wanted |
Legoland Windsor is a child-oriented theme park in Windsor, Berkshire in England, themed around the Lego toy system. The park opened in 1996 on the former Windsor Safari Park as the second Legoland after Legoland Billund in Denmark. The park is located within close distance of Windsor Castle and about 8 miles (13 km) west of London Heathrow Airport. In common with the other Legolands across the world, the park's attractions consist of a mixture of Lego-themed rides, models and building workshops. The park was acquired by Merlin Entertainments in 2005, who now operate the park, with the Lego Group retaining part ownership (30%).[1][2] The facilities are mainly targeted at children between three and twelve.
In 2010, the park had 1.9 million visitors, making it the second most visited theme park in the United Kingdom after Alton Towers and before Thorpe Park, and the 10th most visited in Europe.[3]
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The Lego Group began research for the development of a second Legoland park after Legoland Billund in 1987, with over 1000 sites considered.[1] In January 1992, Windsor Safari Park went into receivership and the 150-acre (0.61 km2) site was chosen.[1] Throughout 1992 and 1993, planning, design, site preparation and the design and construction of models began,[1] and new homes were secured for all the safari animals.[4] 1994 saw the installation of services, foundations and infrastructures,[1] and in 1995, one year prior to opening, Big Ben was installed in Miniland. By this time, buildings and attractions were becoming established[1] and in September, advanced bookings were opened for entrance tickets.[5] Final installations were completed by the beginning of 1996 and at this point, the Legoland Windsor staff-base was recruited.[4] The grand opening of Legoland Windsor occurred in March 1996. During its first season, the park attracted over 1.4 million guests.[4]
In April 2005, Lego made the decision to sell the Legoland parks, due to rising losses across the whole company.[6][7] On July 13, 2005, Legoland was acquired by the Blackstone Group and control of the parks passed to Merlin Entertainments.[1][2]
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The park is split into a number of themed areas, incorporating various attractions, restaurants and shops.
In addition to the physical presences, various carts and stands are located around the park selling souvenirs and other small products, food and drink and items for special events, such as glowsticks, as well as caricature artists. Also, on-ride Photography is available for Driving School, L-Drivers, Pirate Falls, The Dragon, The Dragon's Apprentice, Fairy Tale Brook, Laser Raiders and Viking's River Splash, and from May 2008, there have been roaming photographers, with prints purchased from a hut in The Beginning.[20]
The Beginning is the entrance to the park and is accessible before park opening. The area contains the ticket booths and gates, height chart, guest service, Annual Pass and Q-Bot facilities, as well as toilet and cash machines. The area features the Creation Centre, originally sponsored by Boeing, housing various models, such as Lego Crown Jewels, Virgin Boeing 747 cockpit and a motorbike, and model makers in the Model Maker's Workshop, andRocket Racers, where visitors build and drive a virtual car.
The Hill Train, a funicular railway down a curved slope, remains the only attraction from Windsor Safari Park, being revamped when the parked open with stained glass windows made from translucent Lego bricks from local school children.[4] It travels 300 metres between The Beginning and Traffic and with a height difference between the top and bottom stations of approximately 27 metres.[23]
Shops in the area are The Big Shop, incorporating Pick-a-Brick, which is the park's main store, selling a wide range of Lego products and souvenirs and being open during the winter when the park is closed, Kids Wear, which sells a variety of Lego branded children's clothing, and Racers Store, which sells discounted Lego items.
The Imagination Centre is just above Miniland. It features educational attractions Build & Test Workshops, Lego Mindstorms NXT based Lego Mindstorms Workshop and Robolab Workshop, all of which are open to schools during term time. Rides include wire climbing Space Tower and aerial powered car track Sky Rider. Finally, the Imagination Theatre is a small cinema showing 4D films, currently showing Lego Racers 4D,Spellbreaker 4D, Bob the Builder 4-D: Bob and the Rollercoaster, added in 2009, and Lego City A Clutch Powers 4D Adventure, added in 2010.
Miniland is a miniature park in Lego form, depicting towns and cities from around the world, using nearly 40 million Lego bricks in models often at 1:20 scale. The area features a number of animated models, interacting with each other. Motor vehicles use cables under the paths emitting radio wave signals to steer and allow charging when required and overnight. The train system runs on tracks, slowing for stations using slow down bars and also charging, and the boats use rubber loops under the water driven by motors, with sensors to detect the boats for operating bridges and locks. The system, with lights and sounds, is run by 14 computers using 300 kilometres of underground cabling.[4]
London includes the Gherkin, the Millennium Bridge, a rotating London Eye, Canary Wharf, St Paul's Cathedral, Horseguards Parade with the Queen, Tower Bridge and a train system modelled on the Docklands Light Railway and the London Underground. England includes Brighton Pier, the Angel of the North, Smiths Arms Wiltshire, the smallest pub in Britain, and Stonehenge, with Scotland including Edinburgh Castle, Royal Mile, Eilean Donan, Jedburgh Abbey, Blair Atholl and Loch Ness and Wales featuring a rugby pitch and a typical Welsh village street while the National Anthem is played. Other countries featured include Sweden, France, Italy and the Netherlands.
During 2001, an audio tour was introduced, but removed at the end of the season. In 2009, Lego versions of the Top Gear presenters Richard Hammond, Jeremy Clarkson, James May and The Stig were introduced near the racetrack in Miniland, standing around a Caterham model.[24] Since 2009, The Doctor from Doctor Who, along with his relevant current assistant, K9, the Tardis and enemies including Davros and the Daleks, have been added. Others featured include Yoda, Andy and Lou characters from Little Britain, Boris Johnson, Gordon Brown and H.M. The Queen.
Duplo Land, previously Explore Land and Duplo Gardens, is aimed at younger children, with attractions including boat based fairy tale ride Fairy Tale Brook, controllable mock helicopters Chopper Squadron, Duplo Playground play area, children's water play area Waterworks, short narrow-gage railway Duplo Train and regular puppet shows in the Duplo Theatre, previously 'Willow Stage'.
Other attractions include two nine-hole minigolf courses operate as Mole-in-One Golf for an additional charge and two 100m water slides for Extreme Team Challenge originally named X-treme Challenge.[25]
The shop in this area is Cuddles Corner, which sells stuffed toys and clothing.
Traffic is themed around transport. Driving School is for children 6 to 13 years old and sponsored by Fiat, and L-Drivers is for children aged 3 to 5 years old, both of which are where children can drive a Lego car around a track complete with traffic lights and road signs to gain a mock license. Boating School lets guests of all ages take control of boats around a course of waterways, Balloon School lets visitors take a 40 ft (12 m) ride into the sky in a mock hot air balloon and Fire Academy lets groups of 2-4 board a 'fire engine' vehicle, which they must power to a mock-up of a burning building to pump water cannons before returning to the start.
LEGO City, previously My Town, is a mock-up of a small Lego town. The town includes LEGO City Harbour, where live stunt shows are performed at intervals throughout the day, with the show currently showing being Pirates Of Skeleton Bay. The city also includes Orient Expedition, which is a train ride around Lego City, Traffic and Adventure Land, with Lego safari animals along the track, Digger Challenge, sponsored by JCB, which offers guests the chance to operate a mock hydraulic digger, and also console gaming area Xbox Gaming Zone.
The shop in this area is Brick Brothers Souvenir Co, which sells a range of Lego souvenirs.
Land of the Vikings is situated behind the Hill Train. The main attraction is the Viking's River Splash, a river rapids ride built by ABC Rides with nine-seat rafts, interactive water features, the 'Troll Wash', where buckets of water are emptied from the top of a four metre high bridge across the water channel and two Lego dragons, blue representing ice and red representing fire. Longboat Invader is a swinging, spinning 'Rocking Tug' boat ride by Zamperla. Finally, there is Loki's Labyrinth, a Viking themed hedge maze and Spinning Spider, a spinning teacups style ride with a spider theme previously part of Wild Woods.
The Kingdom of the Pharaohs contains "Laser Raiders", an interactive dark ride through an Egyptian tomb where visitors shoot targets to gain points, with characters based on the Johnny Thunder series, which previously featured in the stunt show. The ride is similar to Lost Kingdom Adventure in Legoland California and is based in the former circus tent, which was rethemed to a desert facade with a 6m high pharaoh made of 200,000 Lego bricks. There is also Scarab Bouncers, a Zamperla Jumping Star ride which has two drop towers of around 15 feet (4.6 m), similar to Beetle Bounce at Legoland California. From the former Brickadilly's Fairground, three rides were rethemed as part of the land, with The Ferris Wheel re-named Aero Nomad, Chair-o-Plane re-named Thunder Blazer and the Carousel re-named Desert Chase.
The shop in this area is The Bazaar in the tent, which sells souvenirs and Lego products with an Egyptian theme, as well as 3D crystal.
Pirates Landing features log flume Pirate Falls - Dynamite Drench, which includes a Pirate themed storyline and models around Blackbeard and also an on-ride photography opportunity.Pirates Training Camp is a three-storey labyrinth of walkways, scramble nets and chutes, with interactive elements and clues to follow with a mystery to solve. The final attraction is Jolly Rocker, a giant pirate ship that swings 18 meters high, relocated from Heide Park. Visitors can also do Panning For Gold for an extra charge, with gold exchanged for a medal, and the area also includes a restaurant, Crossed Ribs BBQ.
Knights' Kingdom features The Dragon roller coaster constructed by WGH Transportation.,[4] which starts inside the castle-shaped building, passing Lego tableaux, before travelling outside through a rollercoaster track at speeds of around 30 mph (48 km/h). As a complement to The Dragon, The Dragon's Apprentice is a smaller rollercoaster for younger children and Enchanted Forest is a walk-through nature trail surrounded with many naturalistic Lego Creations. Dino Dipper, a MACK 'Old Train' ride, featuring a loop of cars travelling at high speeds over bumps, was relocated to the area from Adventure Land and renamed Knight's Quest.
The shop in this area is Turret Shop, which sells a large range of Lego products with medieval themes.
Adventure Land is situated around a lake at the bottom of the park. The main attraction is Atlantis Submarine Voyage by Sealife, which features "submarine" vehicles used to travel through the 1 million litre tank to view marine exhibits and a Lego recreation of the lost city of Atlantis, which is guarded by live sharks, as well as touch pools and other interactive areas located after the main ride element of the 1,230m2 indoor attraction.[26] The area also includes Wave Surfer, where riders swing round on a gondola suspended over water to avoid water jets activated by spectators and Dino Safari,which is a car ride featuring Lego model dinosaurs. For an extra charge, visitors can go on the seven metre Climbing Wall.
The site of former ride Jungle Coaster, a MACK Wild Mouse style rollercoaster, themed to Lego Technic over 400 metres of track to a height of 16 metres at a top speed of 60 km/h (37 mph),[25] is currently the building site for the new hotel to open in 2012, after the ride was relocated to Legoland Florida, which will open in October 2011. The hotel will be LEGO themed, with a restaurant, bar and pool.
In 2009, Merlin Entertainments announced it was planning to spend £30 million on Legoland over the next 5 to 10 years, with plans to build new rides, the in-progress Lego-themed hotel, opening in 2012, and a Sea-Life Centre, opened in 2011, as part of efforts to make Legoland a resort, with enough rides to sustain 2 or 3 day visits.[27]
For the 2008 season, the Q-Bot queueing system was introduced.[28] For a per-person fee, the system provided a small pager-like device per party to "reserve" places in queues virtually, allowing guests to use their queuing time elsewhere in the park. The initial contract between Q-Bot developers Lo-Q was for 1 year from April 8, 2008.,[28] but was extended for 2009 and on March 26, 2010, it was extended for a further 3 years.
By road, Legoland Windsor can be reached by M25, signed from the M3 at junction 3 and M4 at junction 4 and located on the B3022 (Winkfield Road). By coach, Green Line Coaches operate the 702 coach service from London's Victoria Coach Station and Golden Tours operate daily. A shuttle bus, service 200 and 191 from First Berkshire & The Thames Valley, runs from Windsor's town centre. Also, Windsor itself is served by rail at Windsor and Eton Riverside and Windsor and Eton Central, which are a short walk from the connecting shuttle service.
Legoland Windsor typically opens from March to November, with closures on some Tuesdays and Wednesdays in May, September and October. The park's opening time varies between 9.30am and 10am and closing time varies between 5pm and 8pm, with 9pm for special events. All times vary in accordance with the UK school and public holidays, with longer hours during the summer months and weekends.
Legoland Windsor runs a variety of special events throughout the year. A number now run annually, with several additional one-off events. Regular events are as follows:
Since opening in 1996, the park has won a number of awards:
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