LEGO activities in Singapore this June hols

For Singaporeans and tourists to our sunny island:

LEGO Disney store re-opens

I spent one of my happiest holidays in Disney World, so looking at the pics gave me a good vibe. Wish I can go and see the new store, but I’ll have to make do with some pics unfortunately…

The Lego Imagination Center in Downtown Disney has quietly reopened after closing in February and temporarily relocating to Island Charter’s former location. One of the original retailers at Downtown Disney that opened in 2001, the store was renovated and now reflects much more Disney flavor, especially outside. “As this store is over 10 years old, we felt it was time for a complete refresh and redesign,” said Amanda Santoro, spokeswoman at Lego Systems Inc.

The changes include:

• New Disney-themed outdoor scenes featuring characters such as Buzz Lightyear and Woody with RC; Belle in minifigure style, the Beast, Lumiere and Cogsworth; and Prince Phillip in minifigure style, his horse Samson, and Maleficent as a dragon.
• Indoor suspended scene featuring Aladdin and Jasmine in minifigure style, the Genie and the magic carpet.
• A relocated and bigger Pick a Brick wall.
• A new upper level with play areas.
• A new outside play area with a racing feature.
• Digital Box, an interactive kiosk that enables shoppers to see an assembled product on a screen.

The store will hold grand reopening events on Memorial Day weekend. “We’re doing a large scale community build – building the Lego Store mascot Brickley – and Disney is fully involved in the planning,” Santoro said.

More here: http://retail.ocregister.com/2012/05/16/lego-store-shows-off-remodel-at-downtown-disney/71734/

And here: http://ocresort.ocregister.com/2012/05/16/remodeled-lego-store-reopens-at-downtown-disney/112968/

LEGOLAND Malaysia Opening on 15 Sep 2012, Hotel in 2014

Stumbled upon the roadshow at Vivocity (a shopping centre in Singapore) and found out that LEGOLAND Malaysia is having its’ grand opening on 15 September 2012. And, there’ll be a LEGOLAND Hotel too. You’ll have to wait longer to stay in the hotel tho, cos work has only just started and the hotel is slated for opening in 2014.

Roadshow Information

LEGOLAND Malaysia has just announced the official park single-day tickets which are priced at a special introductory offer of RM96 (S$40) for adults and RM70(S$29) for kids.  These single-day tickets are available from the LEGOLAND Malaysia Road Show (25th – 29th April 2012) which starts today at Vivocity in Singapore.

You can also pop by to have a look at what I presume to be the model of the LEGOLAND Hotel. 🙂

If you can’t make it for this roadshow, don’t worry there are a few others planned.  You can check the schedule here: http://www.legoland.com.my/Plan/Roadshows/ 

News of the theme park

According to news reports, LEGOLAND Malaysia General Manager Siegfried Boerst said the RM700 million theme park on a 76-acre land in Iskandar Malaysia, Johor, was 75 per cent complete. He said that last month, the contractors began work on theming the park, and next month they would begin installing the 50 million Lego bricks and models.

Boerst said over 35,000 annual passes had been sold and 60 per cent of the buyers were Malaysians, and about 30% from Singapore. The annual passes, priced at RM195 per adult and RM150 per child, are valid until end of 2013. “The official park single-day tickets will go on sale online later this month and these tickets will be priced at a special introductory offer of RM96 for adults and RM70 for kids,” he said.

It is the second after Legoland Billund park, Denmark, to house the Observation Tower, where visitors are lifted up 41 metres for an excellent view of the Legoland theme park as the tower revolves to make a complete circle in 50 seconds. It’ll also have LEGOLAND Water Park suitable for kids from 2 to 12.

News of the hotel

Merlin Entertainments Groups has signed a management agreement with LL Themed Hotel Sdn Bhd to develop and build the LEGOLAND Hotel in Nusajaya, Johor, the first in Southeast Asia and the fourth in the world.  LL Themed is a 51-49 joint venture company between Destination Resorts and Hotels Sdn Bhd (DRH) with Iskandar Harta Holdings Sdn Bhd.

DRH Managing Director Nadziruddin Basri said: “We at DRH are focused in bringing new, innovative attractions to Malaysia’s leisure and tourism offerings and to make Malaysia a destination of choice for both local and international travellers.”

LEGOLAND Malaysia General Manager Siegfried Boerst said the hotel was the first to be designed from a child’s eye view and was scheduled to open for operations in the first half of 2014.
Read more: Legoland Hotel to be built in Nusajaya http://www.btimes.com.my/Current_News/BTIMES/articles/20120424132955/Article/index_html#ixzz1t3lHTPoB

Read more: Legoland Malaysia to open on Sept 15 http://www.btimes.com.my/Current_News/BTIMES/articles/20120425155004/Article/index_html#ixzz1t3kdU800

Annual passes to LEGOLAND Malaysia

I got mine… have you?  Figured even if I just use the tickets twice, it’s worth getting the annual pass.

The tickets have been on sale in Singapore at SISTIC for some time now (read: AsiaOne news).  I had to wait for the Lady Gaga concern queues to disappear 1st though.  According to this NST report, 7,000 annual passes have been sold with Singaporeans accounting for 35% of sales.

Do hope the new LEGOLAND will be fun!  At least, bring in exclusives earlier so that we don’t have to wait MONTHS for them to arrive in Singapore… worried about pricing tho, cos the LEGO set prices are even more exorbitant in Malaysia than in Singapore.

LINK to LEGOLAND Malaysia: http://www.legoland.com.my/