The three of us took a short flight from Copenhagen to Billund, about 40 minutes. SAS even handed out a small Lego toy for my son to play with on the way. We landed and walked through the airport. It had many large Lego sculptures in it, including a huge sphere hanging from the ceiling. It was a nice day, so we walked the 3 miles from the airport to the park. We were not the only ones doing it either.
After we entered the park, we boarded the LegoTop to get a view and read the map. This is one of those spinning observation platforms, like the tower at Hersheypark. But either it was badly placed or the park grew in the wrong direction. You could not see much of the newer rides.
The first thing that caught my son’s eye was the Traffic School. At this attraction, kids are taught the international road signs and then given time to drive around in little electric cars that look like they were made of Legos 1to practice what they learned. Now just imagine trying to do this in Europe, with all the different languages. Each kid had to pick out a flag made out of Legos to show the instructor what language they understood. They handed my son a British flag, but he went back to the box and searched for an Old Glory. I could not have been prouder! It was funny watching the UK kids keep swerving to the wrong side of the road. The course also has two traffic circles. Since we live in New Jersey, it was great that he learned how to drive these. If you want, your kid can get a picture EU drivers license.
We then went to Legoredo Town, designed to be the Old West. One thing we noticed was that dogs were allowed in the park. There were Lego water bowls all around for their convenience. We went on the Canoe Ride. Just imagine Splash Mountain without the story. They have many animals, cacti and even fake skeletons all made out of Lego. The one thing that they did have at the end of the ride was a person with a mop drying off all the seats. Did you ever see that on a US log flume?
In the middle of the park, there is Knights Kingdom and Pirate Land. We rode the Pirate Boats which is a simple ride that takes you past many scenes of pirates. Think of it as a poor man’s Pirates of the Caribbean. It’s dark but definitely not scary, but it’s still amazing how they make all these sculptures out of Legos. The people at the boarding station were in costume and very animated, chasing people with a fake sword. That part was pretty cool. Knights Kingdom has a baby roller coaster called the DRAGON. The first part of the ride is inside a castle. You coast by all sorts of castle scenes made out of Legos, including treasure rooms and dungeons. Then the ride accelerates and you are shot outside for a basic coaster ride. This was the ride where we waited the longest and were most disappointed.
In Adventure Land, there are two cool rides. The first is the X-treme Racers. This is a Wild Maus coaster where the cars are shaped like the Racer toys. This is the ride my son kept wanting to go on. I think we did it 4 or 5 times. This is a very good coaster, even with a little airtime on one of the drops. The other ride in this area was the Water Splash. This was little air boats attached to a circular platform. As you spin around, you control how far you boat sticks out to the side. It allows you to maximize or minimize the amount of water spray that hits you as you go around. The ride is a great way to cool off.
Far away on the other side of the park, there is a building that looks like a warehouse. Inside you will find Power Builder, which is unlike any ride I have been on before. Think of one of those robotic factory arms with a roller coaster seat on the end of it. But first, and this is the most important part, you get a smart card and are pointed at a kiosk. You get to program the moves that this arm will do! It asks you for the height of the tallest person on the ride, do you want it easy or rough, and what 8 movements you would like the arm to do and in what order. You can have it shake you, flip you upside down, spin, swirl all over the place. My son did not want to go upside down, but my girlfriend picked that. This was so cool! The ride is short, less than a minute, but I haven’t seen anything like it. I hope some of the parks in the US start getting these rides. It’s a great thrill for a space limited venue, like Morey’s Piers inWildwood.
Also in this area, there is the Lego version of a ball pit. In the pit, rubber Duplo blocks are piled in there. The area is shaded and I assume that it is for younger guests to wait until there older siblings have done the Power Builder ride. This is a great photo opportunity. Get pictures of yourself lying among all these rubber bricks. It will look the way you always imagined it would if you had the Legos you always wanted.
To get out of the rain, we headed inside the Legoland Hotel. This is right in the park. It has a Lego and Toy Museum with many historic toys in it. They also have game areas where computers and Playstations are running Lego software. This is right near Imagination Zone. The best thing there is the Mindstorms Center. Kids can build robots and racecars. They even have a track that can be used for racing the cars. Think of it as the Lego Pinewood Derby.
Lego Studios is in this section of the park and we caught the last showing of the Lego Racers 4D movie. My girlfriend and I used this to catch a quick catnap, but my son thought it was cool even without any dialogue.
All the famous scale models were in the Miniland section. There is a boat ride past replicas of famous structures, including the Capitol, Statue of Liberty and Taj Mahal. Imagine It’s a Small World without the annoying music. They also have models of many European towns; including Copenhagen which I could show my son some of the sights we saw earlier on the trip. This is also a small train made to look like it was built with Legos and a monorail that looks like it was made of the larger Duplo blocks.
Without crowds, you can easily do the park in one day. When we were there in August, the schools in Denmark were already back in session. Otherwise, it may be worth staying at the Legoland Hotel. No hotel in Disney is close enough to roll out of bed and be in the park.
The park is really geared for kids 11 and younger with plenty of playground structures for which my son was too old. Other than Power Builder, there are no thrill rides. I guess we need to go out to California to see how that park compares, but I would not mind going back.
"It was funny watching the UK kids keep swerving to the wrong side of the road."
Yeah, but they do that at Legoland Windsor, too. Those cars are seriously hard to keep under control. It's hard enough actually fitting in the car at all - trying to use the accelerator and brake pedals while making sure you don't bash your knee on the steering wheel is virtually impossible. But nonetheless, it's a great ride for all ages.
P.S. It's Lego or Lego bricks, not Legos (eurrgh! Legos?)
I understand all the Legoland parks are up for sale. Wonder what the status is at present.
