Legoland’s Land of Adventure Opens

We’ve written about this before, but on March 10, 2008 Legoland California officially opened their newest theme section: The Land of Adventure.

A real live camel staring at his own LEGO image, a dancing snake charmer and a 16-foot tall LEGO Pharaoh weren’t the only surprises at LEGOLAND California today as the family theme park unveiled Land of Adventure. The brand new area opens just in time for spring break with four new attractions including the park’s first-ever dark ride, Lost Kingdom Adventure.

“Taking such a popular LEGO series and making it into an interactive area for families with children 2 to 12 has been an incredible experience,” says Master Model Designer Bill Vollbrecht who was a lead designer of the new area. “I am honored to have worked with the Merlin Entertainments Creative Team from beginning to end transporting guests into 1920s Egypt.” Vollbrecht even studied Egyptian history and hieroglyphics to make Land of Adventure more authentic, entertaining and educational.

Lego would also like to remind everyone that this is only part of it’s planned $20 million in improvement this year. The “two-story 36,000 square foot” Sea Life Aquarium will open in July. We are seriously looking forward to checking this new zone out and are guessing that this alone would be a great reason to visit the park, if you (like us) haven’t been there since New Year’s 2007. Follow the jump for the entire press release.

LEGOLANDÒ California Launches Land of Adventure
Area transports guests to 1920s Egypt with four new attractions

CARLSBAD, Calif. (March 10, 2008) – A real live camel staring at his own LEGOÒ image, a dancing snake charmer and a 16-foot tall LEGO Pharaoh weren’t the only surprises at LEGOLANDÒ California today as the family theme park unveiled Land of Adventure. The brand new area opens just in time for spring break with four new attractions including the park’s first-ever dark ride, Lost Kingdom Adventure.

The LEGO Pharaoh made of more than 300,000 bricks was unveiled under a cloud of smoke after Johnny Thunder officially declared Land of Adventure open to all adventurers. Johnny Thunder, the most popular LEGO mini-figure, is the hero of the Adventurer’s product line on which the new area is based.

“Taking such a popular LEGO series and making it into an interactive area for families with children 2 to 12 has been an incredible experience,” says Master Model Designer Bill Vollbrecht who was a lead designer of the new area. “I am honored to have worked with the Merlin Entertainments Creative Team from beginning to end transporting guests into 1920s Egypt.” Vollbrecht even studied Egyptian history and hieroglyphics to make Land of Adventure more authentic, entertaining and educational.

In Lost Kingdom Adventure, guests board all-terrain roadsters and explore ancient temple ruins aiming laser blasters at targets along the way. For every target hit, guests receive points and are brought closer to finding the evil Sam Sinister, saving Pippin Reed and ultimately discovering a room full of LEGO treasure. Brave riders encounter ten different scenes along the journey including a spider’s lair, professor’s lab, mummy relics and a performing skeleton band.

Adjacent to the hidden ruins, a different adventure awaits with rides Cargo Ace and Beetle Bounce. Cargo Ace helps imaginations soar as children become pilots boarding one of eight prop-planes flying up to six feet into the air. Beetle Bounce boosts children to even bigger heights – nearly 15 feet to be exact – as they are launched up one of two obelisks nearly touching the gigantic LEGO beetles above them. At Pharaoh’s Revenge, children and parents launch thousands of foam balls at targets and each other using vacuums and cannons within the two-story structure.

“This is only the third time we have opened a completely new area here at LEGOLAND California. With the addition of three new rides being introduced in Land of Adventure today, we have more than doubled the amount of rides since we opened in 1999,” says President and General Manager John Jakobsen. “Land of Adventure symbolizes the essence of LEGOLAND California very well. It has something for every member of the family, is extremely interactive and has 75 new LEGO models created out of nearly half a million LEGO bricks.”

Land of Adventure is just one part of a $20 million dollar investment by Merlin Entertainments into LEGOLAND California Resort this year. North America’s first SEA LIFE Aquarium, geared specifically to educate children on creatures under the sea, opens July 2008 adjacent to LEGOLAND California. The two-story 36,000 square foot aquarium is a separate admission.

Merlin Entertainments acquired all four LEGOLAND Parks in 2005 and has since become the largest attractions operator in Europe and ranks second worldwide with 52 attractions.