Legoland Florida
By James | Last updated September 20, 2024
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LEGOLAND Florida is located in Winter Haven, on the site of the former Cypress Gardens Adventure Park, roughly halfway between Orlando and Tampa.
It opened on October 15, 2011, and has around 50 rides, shows, and attractions set in over 150 acres, making it a full-day experience. LEGOLAND Florida is very much a family fun park packed with LEGO brick-inspired models and rides, including three roller coasters. Many of the rides, shows, and attractions are based upon other LEGOLAND parks.
LEGOLAND is a brand aimed at the younger family. It offers rides, shows, and attractions that appeal to kids between the ages of 2 and 12 and families with young kids. The park is heavy on education, with a host of attractions providing an educational element. You will not find any white-knuckle rides like you might see at Universal Studios or Busch Gardens, but there are still some rides to get the adrenaline pumping.
Even before LEGOLAND opened, they started selling tickets, and until the end of April 2011 (the date was then extended), LEGOLAND Florida was offering promotional ticket deals.

LEGOLAND Florida Overview
The park is divided into interconnected themed “lands” that incorporate rides, shows, and attractions based on the LEGO and DUPLO brands, as well as other licensed products.
LEGOLAND has built on Cypress Gardens’ existing infrastructure, saving some of the original buildings and rides (including some of the roller coasters) and branding them with LEGO.
They have also retained part of the original historical botanical gardens that made Cypress Gardens so famous in the past, as well as the ski show.
LEGOLAND Florida hosts events throughout the year for the 2 to 12-year-old age group.
The existing water park at Cypress Gardens, Splash Island Water Park, has been re-themed as a second LEGOLAND Water Park, which opened in the summer of 2012. Note that it operates a seasonal calendar.
Like Disney’s Hollywood Studios, LEGOLAND also has Star Wars events, such as LEGO Star Wars Days.

Shuttle Bus Service
Driving time from Orlando (Walt Disney World/International Drive area) is approximately 45 minutes, but for those without a car or who don’t fancy the drive, LEGOLAND offers a shuttle bus service.
The shuttle bus departs daily from ICON Orlando 360 on International Drive. A round-trip fare is $5 per person plus tax. Reservations are required.
LEGOLAND Resort Hotels
LEGOLAND opened its first hotel, the 152-room LEGOLAND Hotel, in 2015. It features brightly colored Lego-inspired rooms themed on Pirates, Adventure, Kingdom, LEGO® Friends, and THE LEGO® MOVIE™.
In March 2016, they announced plans to build a second resort. The new village-style lakefront resort, LEGOLAND Beach Retreat, opened in mid-2017. It features 83 single-story duplexes offering 166 separate accommodation units, each sleeping up to 5 guests. Theming is bright and colorful, with a LEGO lighthouse, a themed pool, a play area, and a buffet-style restaurant. The units are located on the edge of nearby Lake Dexter, with complimentary transport to the theme park.
A third hotel, the LEGOLAND Pirate Island Hotel, is currently under construction and themed on pirates. It is scheduled to open in the spring of 2020.
For 2016, LEGOLAND also introduced a summer Ninjago fireworks show called LEGOLAND Night Lights. It ran every Saturday and Sunday between June 18 and July 31, when the park stayed open late.
Other LEGOLAND Parks
LEGOLAND Florida is the second LEGOLAND theme park in North America, the first opening in Carlsbad, California, in 1999. It is LEGOLAND’s largest theme park to date, and a third park is now planned for Goshen in New York State, which is due to open in 2020.
There are also three LEGOLAND parks in Europe: the first in Billund, Denmark (the home of Lego), the second in Windsor, England, and the third in Günzburg, Germany.
Another park opened at Nusajaya in Malaysia in 2012. Plans to open a LEGOLAND park as part of Dubailand in 2011 were delayed following the serious economic downturn in Dubai, but it finally opened in late 2016 as part of Dubai Parks and Resorts. The mega-theme park complex consists of Motiongate Dubai, LEGOLAND Dubai, Bollywood Parks Dubai, and Riverland Dubai.
An eighth park, LEGOLAND Japan, opened in 2017 in the Kinjofuto area, Nagoya.
The tenth park, LEGOLAND Korea Park, opened in 2022. It is situated on the island of Hajungdo in Chuncheon, about one hour east of the capital, Seoul.
LEGOLAND is now part of the Merlin Entertainment Group, which is the second largest entertainment group in the world after Disney, with twelve other theme parks in the United States as well as several other attractions in Europe, including LEGOLAND Discovery Centers, Madame Tussauds, Sea Life, The London Eye, Alton Towers, Thorpe Park, and Warwick Castle.
The Merlin group has also developed ICON Orlando 360 on International Drive, which includes a SeaLife Aquarium, a Madame Tussauds waxworks attraction, and the ICON Orlando Eye, a large observation wheel like the London Eye.
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