Legoland Florida
Legoland Florida Resort is a vacation destination in Winter Haven, Florida featuring a theme park, water park and on-site accommodations. It opened as Legoland Florida on October 15, 2011, and later rebranded itself Legoland Florida Resort with the opening of Legoland Hotel in May 2015. The park encompasses, making it the second-largest Legoland park after Legoland Windsor in the UK. Built on the site of the former Cypress Gardens theme park, Legoland preserved the botanical gardens and re-themed the water park and select attractions and venues to reflect various Lego brands.
Designed for families with children ages 2 to 12, the resort has more than fifty rides, shows, attractions, restaurants, and shops, plus a botanical garden and water park. The 152-room Legoland Hotel opened May 15, 2015, followed by Legoland Beach Retreat on April 7, 2017, which has 166 rooms in 83 freestanding bungalows designed to resemble giant Lego sets.
History
On January 15, 2010, Merlin Entertainments declared its intention to build a Legoland theme park on the site of the former Cypress Gardens theme park, which permanently ceased operations in 2009. Six days later, a news conference was held with Florida Governor Charlie Crist and park officials. The story broke a day before the press conference after an email between public officials was obtained by a local newspaper; the sale price was $22.3 million.After a relatively short construction period, Legoland Florida opened on Saturday, October 15, 2011. The former Splash Island water park reopened as Legoland Water Park on May 26, 2012.
The park expanded by adding more lands such as The World of Chima, Heartlake City, and Lego Ninjago World as well as expanding itself as a resort. On November 21, 2013, LEGOLAND Florida announced they would be adding their first onsite hotel, the LEGOLAND Hotel. It opened to the public on May 15, 2015. A second resort, LEGOLAND Beach Retreat, was announced March 15, 2016 as part of a major expansion effort and it opened on April 7, 2017, approximately east of the theme park, on the western shore of Lake Dexter. The most recent development was the announcement of the world's first theme park area themed with The Lego Movie, which opened on March 27, 2019.
Park layout & attractions
More than fifty rides, shows, and attractions are featured in the park based on those at other Legoland parks. The Jungle Coaster ride from Legoland Windsor was moved to the park and renamed Lego Technic Test Track.Cypress Gardens' botanical park was preserved as part of the park. Also surviving is a vast Banyan tree that was planted as a seedling in a five-gallon bucket in 1939. In addition, four attractions originally from Cypress Gardens were renovated and renamed: the Triple Hurricane wooden rollercoaster was renamed to Coastersaurus, the Okeechobee Rampage family coaster was renamed to The Dragon, and Swamp Thing, a Vekoma family inverted coaster, was renamed to Flying School. The Starliner coaster, formerly built for the Miracle Strip Amusement Park in Panama City in 1963 before being moved to Cypress Gardens in 2004, was dismantled for sale. The Island in the Sky observation tower was also retained and operated from 2011 until it was closed in 2017.
The Splash Island Waterpark at the north end of the site was renamed to the Legoland Florida Water Park and requires an additional admission ticket purchase. Admission to the Water Park requires purchase of an admission ticket to the theme park.
The theme park has fourteen sections:
The Beginning
The Beginning features no attractions, but it has the park's main gift shops, restaurants, and administrative facilities. The Legoland Hotel is located just outside the park's entrance.Fun Town
Heartlake City
Miniland USA
Duplo Valley
Lego Kingdoms
| Attraction | Added | Image | Description |
| The Dragon | October 15, 2011 | A steel family coaster manufactured by Vekoma which featured an indoor dark ride portion. Originally called Okeechobee Rampage and located at a different place within the park. During construction of LEGOLAND Florida, the track was extended to include the dark ride segment and was put alongside the perimeter of the park. | |
| The Royal Joust | October 15, 2011 | A simulated 'joust' attraction where children ride Lego-themed horses through medieval scenes. | |
| Merlin's Challenge | October 15, 2011 | A mini Himalaya flat ride with a LEGO model of Merlin as the centerpiece. | |
| The Forestmen's Hideout | October 15, 2011 | Large multi-level wooden playground designed for younger children, a structure with slides, rope ladders, and bridges. |
Land of Adventure
Lego Ninjago World
The Lego Movie World
The area occupied by The Lego Movie World was previously themed as The World of Chima.| Attraction | added | Image | Description |
| The Lego Movie: Masters of Flight | March 27, 2019 | Flying theatre attraction where guests join Master Builders on a Triple Decker Flying Couch transporting riders all over The Lego Movie universe. | |
| Unikitty's Disco Drop | March 27, 2019 | Tower ride. Drops, spins and bounces to the heights of Cloud Cuckoo land. | |
| Battle of Bricksburg | March 27, 2019 | Help defend Bricksburg by spraying down the DUPLO® alien invaders. Beware, you will get wet! Retained from The World of Chima and renamed from The Quest for Chi Splash Battle, which opened in 2013. |
Lego City
Lego Technic
| Attraction | Added | Manufacturer | Image | Description |
| AQUAZONE Wave Racers | October 15, 2011 | Zierer | A dual water carousel where guests spin out over the water while off-riders try to blast water cannons in the ride's pond. | |
| The Great Lego Race | October 15, 2011 March 23, 2018 | Mack Rides | A large wild mouse coaster with a VR experience. Replaced Project X, the Florida version of Lego Technic Test Track. Operated at Legoland Windsor as Jungle Coaster from 2004-2009. | |
| Technicycle | October 15, 2011 | Zamperla | A pedal-powered spinning machine that propels riders into the air. |
Imagination Zone
Pirates' Cove
Cypress Gardens
Legoland Florida fully reopened the original botanical gardens from the former Cypress Gardens park in March 2014. The gardens were the initial attraction at the site, which first opened in 1936. After the theme park reopened as Legoland Florida, the Oriental Gardens and Florida Pool within Cypress Gardens remained closed while repairs and landscaping were performed. The Florida Pool, named for its shape, was originally built for the 1953 film Easy to Love, starring Esther Williams.The gardens are owned by Polk County and were listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in April 2014.
Legoland Water Park
The Legoland Water Park was initially constructed as "Splash Island", which debuted in 2005 with five rides within Cypress Gardens. Splash Island was the only water park in Polk County when it opened. After Merlin Entertainments purchased the Cypress Gardens site, Splash Island was reworked with Lego themes replacing the original Polynesian-themed attractions. The Legoland Water Park also added a sixth attraction, a toddler water play area named Duplo Splash Safari, which featured slides and fountains in a shallow pool. The initial extra cost for admission to the water park was $12 for ages 4 and up, aimed at visitors spending a second day at Legoland.| Attraction | Added | Image | Description |
| Lego Wave Pool | May 26, 2012 | A gentle wave pool; formerly known as Kowabunga Bay at Splash Island. | |
| Twin Chasers | May 26, 2012 | Two long tube water slides; formerly known as Tonga Tubes at Splash Island. | |
| Splash Out | May 26, 2012 | Three body slides each with a drop; formerly known as VooDoo Plunge at Splash Island. | |
| Joker Soaker | May 26, 2012 | Children's water play area; formerly known as Polynesian Adventure at Splash Island. | |
| Build-A-Raft River | May 26, 2012 | A long lazy river with interactive inner tubes that had a baseplate on which riders could stack floating Lego bricks. Formerly known as Paradise River at Splash Island. | |
| Duplo Splash Safari | May 26, 2012 | Toddler's water play area; this area was the only one newly constructed for the Legoland Water Park. |
Former Attractions
The following are individual attractions that have closed formerly operated throughout the park's history:| Attraction | Section | Added | Removed | Image | Description |
| Cragger's Swamp | The World of Chima | An interactive water play area. | |||
| Fresh from Florida Greenhouse | Fun Town | 2012 | 2015 | A conservatory where guest could walk through and be educated on foods made in the state of Florida. The conservatory was demolished and replaced along with some of the mansion's grounds with the Heartlake City section. | |
| Island in the Sky | The Beginning | October 15, 2011 | 2017 | A rotating platform ride that provided a 360° view of the park that opened with the park. After standing dormant throughout 2017 on January 25, 2018, LEGOLAND Florida officially announced its closure due to the age of the attraction | |
| Junior Fire Academy | Duplo Village | A small roundabout where children could control a fire truck and attempt to douse fires, similar to the Rescue Academy attraction across the park. | |||
| Lego Factory Tour | Fun Town | October 15, 2011 | 2014 | A walk-through attraction that taught visitors how a Lego brick was made. The building also shared space with the model shop, where visitors could peer in seeing the park's master builder's build the models for not only LEGOLAND Florida but for the LEGOLAND parks and discovery centers around the world. The walk-through attraction closed around 2014 to expand the model shop. The model shop was then moved off-site to a larger facility and space eventually became a store housing a "Pick a Brick" wall as well as discounted sets. | |
| Quest for Chi | The World of Chima | A splash battle attraction manufactured by Mack Rides | |||
| Speedorz Arena | The World of Chima | An interactive LEGO play station where children raced their Speedorz creations. |
only one section of the park has closed while another has been rethemed:
;The World of Chima
The World of Chima was a section based on Lego's Legends of Chima sets and was sponsored by Cartoon Network throughout the area's lifespan. The area opened on July 3, 2013 and was the park's first new land. It was closed on May 29, 2017 and will be replaced by The LEGO Movie World.
;Duplo Village
Duplo Village originally opened with the park on October 15, 2011. On October 3, 2013 it was announced that the area would be enhanced and rethemed as Duplo Valley. One attraction would be removed while the others were re-themed.