By Emma Longo, Edited by Hunter Drake
It’s here, folks! The LEGOLAND New York Resort in Goshen, Orange County is scheduled to open in the summer of 2021!
Things to Know
The coronavirus pandemic has proven to be difficult for both small and large businesses, but LEGOLAND will be opening this year while following coronavirus restrictions and New York State safety policies.
The park will operate at 33% capacity, according to Matt Burman, the park’s Public Relations Manager. Additionally, temperature checks will be conducted upon park admittance, and anyone with a temperature of 100.4 degrees or above will not be allowed in the park.
“We are pursuing a phased opening model, which means we will gradually open areas of our theme park and increase guest capacity along with it,” said Stephanie Johnston, the Divisional Director for the resort.
The employees, or “Model Citizens”, of the park are hard at work to ensure safe, socially-distant and fun festivities for future visitors of the park. The park expects around 10,000 guests per day to visit post pandemic.
Tickets will cost $85 per person over 13 years of age and $75 for those under 13 years of age. A hotel with 210 rooms will be located adjacent to the park for overnight guests.
The Park is Huge
The park has been in progress since 2017 and cost $600 million to build, according to Burman. More than 40 million LEGO bricks have been used to construct the figures at the park.
BRAD the dinosaur (which stands for Big Red Awesome Dinosaur), for instance, is composed of 182,000 LEGO bricks. He is 12.8 feet tall and has steel rods inside him to hold his body in place.
Including BRAD, the resort will have 18,000 different LEGO models throughout it including other dinosaurs, creatures, and LEGO models, shared Burman. One section of the park- known as Miniland- will contain various mini iconic landmarks such as the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building.
“These [employees] have been hard at work bringing LEGOLAND New York to life,” said Johnston.
The Park Will Have a New Ride
Apart from the physical elements of building the park, bringing LEGOLAND to life required innovation and creativity for such a vivid, colorful place. Andy Marvin, Creative Lead for the park, said that one of the rides will be unique to the resort.
“Professor Brick’s Factory Adventure Ride will use facial recognition technology to create a digital mini-figure of the rider… There will be ways for guests to interact with their digital mini-figure during the ride,” Marvin said.
Inside, the ride is set up like a workshop with lots of smoke, lights, and sirens. However, most of the information on the ride will mostly be a surprise. What Marvin did explain, though, was that he thought he thought that facial recognition would bring an element of personalization and individualization to LEGOLAND’s visitors.
By summer, visitors will be able to visit the park safely , over its vast location, and be able to experience cutting-edge technology.
“We are so excited to invite people in to see how brick-tastic LEGOLAND is,” said Burman.
