For many theme parks that note it, Pride month is a retail opportunity. Parks signal their welcoming of the LGBT+ guests by opening their cash registers to the community's dollars, offering a range of rainbow-splashed merchandise, food, and beverages for sale during June.
Heck, only in the past year or so have some parks (notably Disney) publicly declared the connection between all that limited-edition rainbow merch and the LGBT+ community, having slid by with a - sorry to say it - "don't ask, don't tell" mentality about the rainbows in the past.
With that connection being made now, moving beyond the retail sales, the next logical step for parks' appeal to the community would be programming entertainment and limited-time attractions for Pride month, much like what Disneyland has done with its Celebrate Soulfully events to reach out and include the Black community, and other parks in Southern California have done with Lunar New Year for the many Asian communities in the region.
The Legoland parks now are taking that next step - and they are doing it in the heart of their theme parks. Legoland has created a nationwide Pride parade of more than 1,530 Lego minifigs that stretches a total of nearly 100 feet long from locations in the three Legoland theme parks in the United States through seven Lego Discovery Centers from coast to coast.
In the theme parks, Legoland New York's Pride parade takes place in front of the park's Miniland reproduction of the Stonewall Inn - the birthplace of the modern fight for LGBT+ rights in the United States. At Legoland California, the parade passes in front of the Painted Ladies homes in the San Francisco section of that park's Miniland, since San Francisco has a long association with welcoming LGBT+ people and their allies. And at Legoland Florida, the Pride parade takes place... in the New York section of their Miniland.
So many jokes just want to write themselves there.
More than 250,000 Lego elements were used in crafting Legoland's celebration of Pride across the United States, according to the company. For tickets to the Legoland theme parks and many Legoland Discovery Centers, please visit our authorized travel partner's Attractions Discounts page.
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