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LEGOland coming to Central Florida?

I’m all about keeping Central Florida as the premier theme park vacation destination in the world. So I think it’s a terrific idea if LEGO wants to build one of their themeparks here. That’s the rumor that was just posted on Screamscape.

The not-so-great part of that rumor was that they were looking at the old Cypress Gardens as the possible location. As good as that location may seem with the historic gardens and water-skiing attraction plus a water park already in operation, the distance and back roads access cancels all that out. Even as a pretty decent amusement park Cypress Gardens was never able to attract the tourist market and there is no reason to think that even a Disney operated park could. So Blackstone, no matter what your surveys say, just say no.

That said, there are a number of very decent locations that are much more central to the established tourist cooridors. Yes, they will cost more, which will mean more debt to start (always a risky proposition), but lots of customers and some debt is better than little debt and no customers. Plus the current economic market might find sellers who are interested in more creative deals right now.

For instance, in Kissimmee, there is a plot of land just past the Old Town attraction on Hwy-192 that’s already zoned for a theme park. There are 100 acres of developable land and easy access from Hwy192 at the top and I-4 at the bottom of the property. The current owner wants a huge price because he wants to include the non-developable acres in the price, however, he might be willing to negotiate more today.

One more thing to ask. Just build it before my kid is too old to play with LEGOs. Thanks!

15 thoughts on “LEGOland coming to Central Florida?”

  1. I agree with Josh! Winter Haven with it’s chain of lakes has the potential to be amazing. If you’ve never been, Cypress gardens is truly special.

    1. Very true, but their parks seem to be aimed at the younger age market. I think as soon as you hit teenage years, legoland starts to appeal that little bit less.

  2. With the proper marketing, Winter Haven could be a fabulous location. The Cypress Gardens location could very easily work. It is a lovely location that both parents and children would enjoy. Lego Land can stand alone and as a mother of young children, I prefer that to the multitude of choices at Disney World.

  3. From what I’ve seen of Winter Haven and have heard from the relatives that live there…it desperately needs jobs and an economic boost. But I agree that it would be hard to draw tourists away from Disney and Universal.

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  5. JeffG beat me to it, but your son will never be :too old to play with LEGOs.” I’m in my 30s now & I still play with them. :)

  6. “the distance and back roads access cancels all that out” I live minutes from Cypress Gardens and it is only 50 minutes from my driveway to the parking lots of all of the major attractions in Orlando and Tampa. I don’t consider Highway 27 or Cypress Gardens Blvd. back roads.

  7. Debbie, please don’t take offense, but there are parts of 27 that are pretty much stop and go from stop light to stop light and not the most beautiful of scenery with store fronts that haven’t seen fresh coats of paint in many years. And true, if you make all the greens and don’t hit any traffic you can make it from the Magic Kingdom to Cypress Gardens in around 50 minutes. Unfortunately for the average tourist that’s twice as long as they’re willing to commit to and for the average Disney tourist, who these days doesn’t even have a car, it might as well be Niagara Falls. They’re just not going to get there without chartering some sort of flight.

    I haven’t even gotten to the terrible parking situation, the mis-management by the parks previous owners that left a bad taste in many guest’s mouths, and the fact that all the attractions are now gone.

    I’m sure there are prescriptions for all these maladies, but I haven’t seen any company seriously commit to implementing them. For the money they need to spend to fix them, they might as well build where the Tourists already are.

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  9. Nooooooo !!! DONT build by cypress gardens really i have talked to a lot of people and NONE of them would go there if it where in that location , i have lived in fl 23 years i live close to old town and honestly that is the best place to put it . judging on the amount of people that come threw 192 every year and that would def be the best in making money also because locals and tourist you have the both of them … even by splended china is good , but again cypress gardens is a BIG NONO i would go to legoland all the time if it were on 192 i would never go if it were in cypress sorry for the run on sentences everyone

  10. I live 20 minutes from Cypress. With that being said the roads that are considered major are with in 30 minutes from the park. That includes highway 27, state rd 60 and I4. as for for finding or getting to the park it is really an easy thing to do. I truly believe that with the right people coming into the park it could be great. We do have a lot of children in the area. I know i would drive an hour or so to take my child to a themed park that is targeted to her age group. Their arent to many around that is designed that way. So that being said I think it could be a good thing.

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