Archive for July, 2010

Legoland Florida: Bricks & Blocks

July 29, 2010

Powerpoint Slide About Legoland Florida

In some parts of the world, Legoland theme parks are more popular than Disney. Now, with Leogland Florida replacing the old Cypress Gardens in Polk County, things could get interesting as they go head-to-head with Disney World. 

Of course, Legoland California is only 65 miles from Disneyland in Anaheim.  However, Disneyland is just south of the huge Los Angeles market while Legoland California is just north of the large San Diego market. What will happen when Legoland Florida opens only 29 miles from the Disney World entrance where both theme parks compete directly for the same pool of tourists. 

To get a head start, Polk County invited the new marketing team of Legoland Florida to meet with representatives of the vacation rental home industry. Mrs. LanceAround and I took Number One Daughter to gather information for the guests of our vacation rental home company. 

Kim and Todd at the Polk Outpost

Kim Isemann, the Director of Sales & Marketing and Todd Andrus, the Sales Manager for Legoland, FL announced that they would be opening Fall 2011. I couldn’t help but point out that Universal just had a lot of bad PR for announcing the new Harry Potter Land would open Spring 2010 and then it opened on June 18th, just two days before Spring ended!  They assured us that Fall did not mean they would open on December 18th. 

Perhaps the most notable piece of information about Legoland is that the park is intentionally developed for children ages 2 to 12. Everything is designed and built from the vantage point of the child. Although other theme parks are very attractive to this age group, Legoland is unique in their vision that everything in the park will be geared towards these ages. 

While most theme parks have areas referred to as “lands” or “countries,” Legoland has areas referred to as “blocks.” This is consistent with the theme of the actual Lego toy pieces, which are correctly referred to as “bricks.” Even the nametags that Kim and Todd were wearing were designed from the popular Lego brick. 

Legoland Florida will become the 5th Legoland park, joining those near San Diego, CA; Gunzburg, Germany; London, England and the first theme park built in 1968 near the original Lego factory in Billund, Denmark. 

There will be over 50 rides and shows on 150 acres in Florida’s newest theme park. It will be the largest Legoland. For those nostalgic about Cypress Gardens’ world renown mansion, ski show and gardens, Legoland is pleased to announce that they have been preserved and will remain largely intact. 

Stay tuned to LanceAroundOrlando for more details as they emerge.

Posted in Legoland | 3 Comments »

Back to Work

July 27, 2010

What do Africa and India Have in Common? Food???

July is a very busy month for the lodging industry in Orlando.  Because of this, it has been a month since my last post.

In addition to the usual summer vacation crowd and the July 4th holiday, it is estimated that over 600 different sports teams converge on Orlando in July.  These include basketball, baseball, softball, volleyball and other tournaments.  These events are held in various venues around the Orlando area, such as Disney’s ESPN’s Wide World of Sports, Kissimmee’s Heritage Park complex and Polk County’s new sports complex.

Our vacation rental home business has been extremely busy this July.  As a result, I have not had the opportunity to make any posts.  Don’t worry, I have been gathering information and taking lots of photos.  Starting this week, I will be going back to my normal posting convention of two to three posts per week.

There’s a lot I want to tell you about…

–Mrs. LanceAround and I met with the sales and marketing team for the new Legoland that will replace the old Cypress Gardens theme park.

–We discovered an interesting restaurant that serves only raw food and no sushi. (Yes, you read that right!)

–Have you heard about the new Sesame Street Safari in one of the nearby theme parks? Stay tuned, we’ll tell you all about it.

–What do Africa and India have in common?  Apparently food, as we found out when we dined in a wonderful new restaurant that combines African and Indian flavors. You won’t want to miss this one.

–A new tethered balloon ride soars guests above Disney World property.

–Michael Jackson is back at EPCOT. (In a video show, of course.)

–Ever put on two socks that don’t match? There’s actually a store inside Disney World that intentionally sells socks that don’t match.

As you can see, there’s lots to talk about, so stayed tuned in to LanceAroundOrlando. In fact, please use the button on the right column to subscribe to automatic updates via email.

Finally, to those of you who wrote me during the past month concerned that I have not done any posts I want to thank you, sincerely, for your concern and apologize, profusely, for letting you down.

July is over soon and it’s time for LanceAroundOrlando to get back to work!

You’ll see several new posts shortly, I promise.

LanceAround

Posted in My Muses | 6 Comments »