Legoland California facts for kids

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LEGOLAND California Resort
Attractions

Legoland California main entrance
Location	Legoland California Resort, Carlsbad, California, United States
Coordinates	33°7′36″N 117°18′40″W / 33.12667°N 117.31111°W / 33.12667; -117.31111
Status	Operating
Opened	March 20, 1999; 26 years ago (1999-03-20)
Owner	Merlin Entertainments
General manager	Kurt Stocks
Theme	Lego toys and childhood amusement
Operating season	Year-round
Attendance	1.4 million (2004)
Area	128 acres (52 ha)
Total	more than 60 rides
Roller coasters	4
Water rides	8

Legoland California Resort is a super fun theme park, a miniature park with tiny cities, and an aquarium filled with sea creatures. It's all based on the awesome Lego toy brand! You can find it in Carlsbad, California.

This park first opened its doors on March 20, 1999. It was the third Legoland park ever built, and the very first one outside of Europe. Today, the park is owned by a company called Merlin Entertainments. They took over in 2005. Another Legoland park in the United States, Legoland Florida, opened later in 2011.

What's at Legoland California?
- How Legoland California Started
Fun Areas in the Park
Sea Life Aquarium
Water Park
FIRST Lego League
Images for kids
See also

What's at Legoland California?

The Legoland California Resort is more than just one park! It includes:

The main Legoland theme park, which opened in March 1999.
A cool Lego-themed Sea Life Aquarium. This opened in August 2008 and was the first Sea Life in the USA!
A splashy Lego-themed water park, which opened in May 2010.
- This water park got an exciting Chima area added in 2014.

You can even stay right at the resort! There are two Lego-themed hotels:

The Legoland Resort Hotel, with 250 rooms, opened in April 2013.
The Legoland Castle Hotel, also with 250 rooms, opened in April 2018.

How Legoland California Started

The very first Legoland theme park opened in Billund, Denmark in 1968. Then came a second park in Windsor, England in 1996. The Carlsbad park was the third one to open.

When Legoland California first opened in 1999, it had eight themed areas. These areas have changed a bit over the years. Some of the original areas included The Beginning (the entrance), Fun Town, Miniland, and Castle Hill.

In 2004, the park added Dino Island and the Coastersaurus ride. They also added the Fun Town Fire Academy where you could pretend to be a firefighter!

In 2005, the Legoland parks were sold to a company called Merlin Entertainments. Lego still owns a part of Merlin Entertainments. This change helped the parks grow even more!

Under Merlin's ownership, Legoland California added many new things:

Pirate Shores in 2006.
A Las Vegas-themed area in Miniland in 2007.
The Egyptian-themed Land of Adventure in 2008.
The huge Legoland Water Park in 2010.

In 2011, a special Star Wars Miniland area opened. It showed scenes from the Star Wars movies and the Clone Wars TV show, all made from Lego bricks! The water park got bigger in 2014 with a Chima-themed area. A second hotel, the Castle Hotel, was added in 2018.

More and more people visited Legoland California over the years. By 2015, nearly 3 million people visited each year!

However, in March 2020, the park had to close for a while because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Fun Areas in the Park

Explorer Island

Explorer Island has a mini steel roller coaster called Coastersaurus. It's a fun ride that lasts about 2 minutes. This area used to be called Dino Island.

You can also find two older rides here:

Fairy Tale Brook: A boat ride where you see large Lego models of fairy tale characters like Snow White.
Safari Trek: An on-rail ride where you drive past life-size Lego models of African animals.

Attraction	Added	Manufacturer	Description
Coastersaurus	2004	Gerstlauer	A fun junior roller coaster.
Fairy Tale Brook	1999		A boat ride with large Lego models of fairy tale characters.
Safari Trek	1999		An on-rail driving ride with life-size Lego animals.

LEGO Friends Heartlake City

The Heartlake City area opened in May 2015. It's based on the LEGO Friends toys. Here you can find:

Heartlake Fountain: A water play area.
Friends Forever Stage: Where you can watch musical shows.
Heartlake Stables: A play area and building zone.
Mia's Riding Camp: A carousel ride.

This area used to be called Duplo Village. In 2019, Heartlake City was removed and replaced with a new Lego Movie themed area.

DUPLO Fun Town

DUPLO Fun Town is a special area where younger kids can pretend to be adults. They can drive cars, steer boats, or even fight fires!

Attraction	Added	Manufacturer	Description
DUPLO Playtown	1999		A playground for young children.
Legoland Express	1999		A small train ride that goes through Playtown.
Driving School	1999		Kids aged 6 to 13 drive Lego cars on a track with traffic lights. It teaches safe driving!
Volvo Junior Driving School	1999		Younger kids (3 to 5 years) drive Lego cars on a simpler track.
Police and Fire Academy	2004		Teams race hand-pumped trucks to put out a "fire" or catch "robbers."
Sky Patrol	1999		A Lego helicopter ride that goes up and down and spins.
Skipper School	1999		A boat ride where you steer your own Lego boat through a winding water course.
Kid Power Towers	1999	Heege	A tower ride where you pull yourself up with a rope.
Adventurer's Club	1999		A walk-through attraction with scenes like ancient Egypt and a rainforest.
LEGO Factory Tour	1999		A walk-through tour that shows how Lego models are made.
LEGO Clubhouse	1999		A room where you can build your own Lego models.

Miniland USA

A Lego man using the toilet in Legoland California's Grand Central Station model.

Miniland USA is a special area with tiny versions of famous places from around the United States. These models are built at a 1:20 scale, meaning they are 20 times smaller than the real thing! It took over 20 million Lego bricks to build everything here.

The Coast Cruise boat ride takes you through the lake in the middle of Miniland. This lake is quite big, covering about 1.73 acres.

Miniland also has the Model Shop. This is where Legoland's expert builders design and create new Lego models. You can even watch them working through a large window! Sometimes, the builders hide funny little scenes in the models, like a Lego man using the toilet in the Grand Central Station model.

The Star Wars-themed Miniland was very popular. It had a life-size Lego X-wing starfighter and a huge Death Star model. Scenes from the Star Wars: The Force Awakens movie were added in 2017, including a 16-foot-long Lego Star Destroyer! Sadly, Star Wars Miniland closed permanently on January 6, 2020.

Attraction	Added	Manufacturer	Description
Coast Cruise	1999	Morgan Manufacturing	An 8-minute boat ride where you see many famous landmarks from around the world, like the Sydney Opera House and the Eiffel Tower.
New England	1999		Shows a New England harbor and buildings.
Las Vegas	2007		Shows the famous Las Vegas strip with its hotels.
Washington, DC	1999		Shows the National Mall with monuments like the U.S. Capitol.
Block of Fame	2004		A walkway with Lego busts (heads) of famous people.
Model Shop	1999		A viewing area where you can watch Lego model builders at work.
New Orleans	1999		Shows New Orleans and its waterways.
New York	1999		Shows Manhattan Island with models of Central Park and Times Square.
San Francisco	1999		Shows San Francisco with models like the Golden Gate Bridge.
Southern California	1999		Shows Southern California with models like the TCL Chinese Theatre.
Star Wars Miniland	2011-2020		Showed scenes from seven Star Wars movies. (Now closed)

Castle Hill

Castle Hill is a medieval castle-themed area. It has two roller coasters and a cool wooden playground for younger kids.

In 2018, a new ride called LEGO City: Deep Sea Adventure opened here. It's a submarine ride that takes you through an aquarium with Lego decorations and real sea animals!

Attraction	Added	Manufacturer	Description
The Dragon	1999	Vekoma	A family roller coaster that starts with a dark ride through a castle.
The Hideaways	1999		A large wooden playground with slides and rope ladders, great for younger children.
Knight's Tournament	2005-2019	KUKA	A robotic arm ride where you can choose how intense your ride is. (Now closed)
LEGO City: Deep Sea Adventure	2018	Mack Rides	A submarine ride through an aquarium with Lego models and 2,000 live animals.
The Royal Joust	1999		A rocking horse ride where you sit on fiberglass horses that rock back and forth.

Imagination Zone

In the Imagination Zone, you can find exciting rides and creative play areas.

Technic Coaster: A wild mouse roller coaster.
Bionicle Blaster: A spinning teacup-style ride.
Aquazone Wave Racers: A water carousel ride.

You can also build and race Lego cars at Build 'n Test. Or, you can play Lego PC games at the XBOX Family Gamespace. If you like robots, you can learn to program them in Mindstorms.

The LEGO Show Place theater shows awesome 4-D films. These movies have special effects like wind, water, and even smells! New movies are added often, like The LEGO® Movie™ 4D A New Adventure and LEGO® NINJAGO® - Master of the 4th Dimension.

Attraction	Added	Manufacturer	Description
Technic Coaster	2001	Mack Rides	A wild mouse roller coaster with single cars.
Bionicle Blaster	2003	Mack	A Bionicle-themed spinning teacup ride.
Aquazone Wave Racers	2000	Heege/Zierer	A dual water carousel ride.
LEGO Show Place	1999		A 4D theater that shows different movies.
XBOX Family Gamespace			An area where you can play Lego games on Xbox consoles.
LEGO Mindstorms			Classes that teach you how to use Mindstorms robots.
DUPLO Play	1999		An indoor play area for small children with DUPLO bricks.
Build & Test	1999		A Lego play area where you can build cars and race them.

Pirate Shores

Pirate Shores is a splashy area with water rides and attractions. It was added to the park in 2006.

Attraction	Added	Manufacturer	Description
Captain Cranky's Challenge	2007		A ride with a pirate ship that sways and spins.
Pirate Reef	2012	Hopkins Rides	A "shoot the chutes" water ride with water cannons and a Lego building area.
Soak n' Sail	2006		A large water playground.
Splash Battle	2006	Preston & Barbieri	A water ride where you spray other riders and people off-ride with water cannons.
Swabbie's Deck	2006		A small water play area for little children.

Land of Adventure

This section is designed to look like Egypt in the 1920s. It's inspired by the LEGO Adventurers toy line. Land of Adventure opened in March 2008.

Attraction	Added	Manufacturer	Description
Beetle Bounce	2008		Guests bounce nearly 15 feet high, almost touching giant beetles above.
Cargo Ace	2008	Zamperla	Guests ride in planes that fly six feet into the air.
Dune Raiders	2009		A tall slide.
Lost Kingdom Adventure	2008	Sally	Guests ride in a car and use laser guns to blast targets and find treasure.
Pharaoh's Revenge	2008		Guests fire soft foam balls at targets and each other.

LEGO Ninjago World

The Lego Ninjago World opened in May 2016. This area has the amazing Ninjago: The Ride. This ride is special because you control it with your hand motions! It's considered one of the best interactive theme park rides.

The Lego Movie World

In Spring 2020, Legoland California Resort was planning to open its biggest new area ever: THE LEGO MOVIE WORLD. This area will have Emmet's Flying Adventure, which is a flying theater ride. It will also have Unikitty's Disco Drop, a mini drop tower ride for kids. The opening of this new world was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sea Life Aquarium

The lost city of Atlantis in the Sea Life Aquarium in Carlsbad, California

The first Sea Life Aquarium in North America opened at Legoland California in 2008. It's a two-story aquarium with a 35-foot-long walk-through tunnel. You'll see lots of Lego models inside the tanks with the real fish and sea creatures!

Water Park

The first feature that users encounter when entering the Legoland Water Park is the Aquatune hydraulophone, an underwater pipe organ. The hydraulophone is the centerpiece of a series of interactive exhibits on either side of it that teach other elements of flow, such as water tables, and small water laboratory-like spaces where participants can explore hydraulophonic-like action (blocking water jets to create head, pressure, etc.), and also construct dams from Lego bricks.

This is a separate water park area within Legoland California. It opened on May 28, 2010. You need an extra ticket to get into the water park.

It was the first Legoland park to have its own water park! In 2014, a cool Legends of Chima-themed area was added to the water park.

Attraction	Added	Area	Description
Build-A-Raft River	2010	LEGOLAND Water Park	A lazy river where you can build foam Lego bricks onto your inner tube.
DUPLO Splash Safari	2010	LEGOLAND Water Park	A kids' area with small water slides.
Imagination Station	2010	LEGOLAND Water Park	An interactive play area.
Joker Soaker	2010	LEGOLAND Water Park	A tower that dumps water onto guests below.
Orange Rush	2010	LEGOLAND Water Park	A large raft water slide.
Splash Out	2010	LEGOLAND Water Park	A body slide.
Splash Zoo	2011	LEGOLAND Water Park	A kids' area.
Twin Chasers	2010	LEGOLAND Water Park	Two body slides.
Pirate Reef	2012	LEGOLAND Water Park	A water ride that you can enter from both Pirate Shores and the Water Park.
Cragger's Swamp	2014	LEGO CHIMA Water Park	An interactive water playground.
Eglor's Build-A-Boat	2014	LEGO CHIMA Water Park	A Lego building area where you make small boats to float in a creek.
Lion Temple Wave Pool	2014	LEGO CHIMA Water Park	A wave pool with a 30-foot "floating" Mount Cavora.
Speedorz Arena	2014	LEGO CHIMA Water Park	An interactive play area where you can race your Speedorz.

FIRST Lego League

Every December, Legoland hosts the FIRST Lego League Southern California Regional Championships. This is a competition where teams of kids use Lego robots to solve challenges! The winning teams go on to compete in National or World Championships.