August 17, 2024 at 3:32 pm After picking up the car in Gothenburg, we set off on a road trip across Europe. As I mentioned in my last post, we bought the car in December 2011 through Volvo's international delivery program, but because it was winter we only made it as far as Copenhagen. This time, after a quick stop in Copenhagen for dinner, we continued on to Odense, Denmark, where we stayed overnight. The next morning we took a short drive to Billund and the original Legoland park.
For Lego fans, Billund is Mecca. The Legoland here is the original theme park that spawned other Legoland parks around the world. We've visited Legoland parks in California, Florida, and Windsor, and as expected, there are many similarities between the original park and its descendants. Legoland Billund's layout is similar to Florida and California, and its long and narrow design means there are several dead ends that can be difficult to navigate if you're not a regular park visitor. The park's Miniland is located near the main entrance and focuses on European destinations, but also includes some American locations, and has a separate exhibit featuring skyscrapers from around the world.
One of the most striking differences I noticed about this Miniland was the level of complexity of the animation in the exhibits. While the other Minilands we visited had impressive animated scenes, the ones here were incredible, with one scene showing a LEGO boat actually methodically sailing through a series of locks.
Scale-wise, Miniland in Billund is not much bigger than the Legolands we’ve visited so far, but the detail in the exhibits is on another level.
Speaking of another level, the amount of LEGO detail and decoration goes beyond what you'll find at other Legoland parks. From the signs to the buildings to the landscaping, there's LEGO everywhere. Like other Legoland parks, there are lots of intricate LEGO sculptures and displays, especially near the rides and in the queues for attractions, but if you look closely, you'll find LEGO literally everywhere, in places you least expect it.
In terms of attractions, LEGOLAND Billund has several rides that can be found in other parks around the world. However, one of the most popular rides, Driving School, is actually an attraction that costs an additional $12 per person in Denmark. While this may be the park's way of managing the popularity of an attraction with very limited capacity, it seems a bit excessive to charge kids extra for an attraction that represents a rite of passage for young people. The Traffic School course is very detailed, but it doesn't seem all that different from other versions of the attraction that we've seen in other LEGOLAND parks.
It was a day that looked like it would be pretty busy when we arrived, so we headed straight to Polarland, which is at the back of the park (we rode Ninjago The Ride on the way there, very similar to the other version we rode). Polarland has the two most adult rides in the park. The first is Polar Explorer, a Ziller drop track coaster with a very long snowmobile themed train. This coaster opened the same year as Verbolten at Busch Gardens Williamsburg, and was the second coaster in the world with a vertical drop track (after Th13teen at Alton Towers). The ride starts with a standard lift hill that goes up just over 60 feet, but despite a tame top speed of 40 mph, it still takes a fair bit of force as the train makes a sharp turn around the mountain where the drop track is located in the center of the layout (and is hidden from view). I thought Polar X-plorer was pretty good, and I think it would be more of a challenge for the younger crowd at Legoland. However, while this coaster is probably the most thrilling in the park, it won't excite anyone who's been on a lot of coasters.
Next to Polar X-plorer is a hangar-like structure that houses more adult-oriented attractions. Ice Pilots School is a Kuka arm attraction where guests can program their own ride sequence, incorporating as many (or as few) crazy moves as possible within the ride cycle time. Similar to the Sum of all Thrills that previously ran at EPCOT, guests are guided by touch screens to choose from a series of different moves grouped by intensity. If you just want to rock back and forth slowly for a few minutes, you can of course do that here, but if you prefer something more intense, there are various options to flip upside down as many times as you want in the roughly two-minute ride cycle. There are only six Kuka arms here, so capacity for Ice Pilots School is quite limited. That's why we wanted to go early in the day.
Another adult-oriented attraction we experienced was the Apocalypseburg Sky Battle, located in the Lego Movie World section of the park.
This is a flat ride where guests board individual planes and can move the wings back and forth to flip their seats. Unlike a similar version of this attraction we rode in Liseberg, the one we rode here has supports that allow the seats to tilt and rotate slightly, making it easier to produce inversions. This was a fun flat ride, but due to wait times of over 30 minutes throughout the day, we were only able to spin the attraction once.
Next to Apocalypseburg Sky Battle is Emmet's Flying Adventure – Masters of Flight, a flying theater attraction similar to Soarin'. As with most non-Disney attractions of this type, guests line up for seats on one of the theater's three levels, where the seats don't lift up into the theater, but rather the ride simply rotates them towards the giant screen. The movie is clear but in Danish, so a little hard to understand if you don't know the language.
The final adult attraction we experienced was “Ghost – The Haunted House.”
The attraction starts with an elaborate walk-through section. By pointing a handrail-mounted flashlight at different targets, you can trigger effects in various haunted-themed LEGO displays. For a walk-through attraction, it's very well done with plenty to see and do, but at the end of the walk-through section of the attraction, there is actually a ride. The ride is a drop ride system that flies guests up and down a wall-mounted track. This ride is all about surprises, lulling guests into a sense of relief as the show unfolds in the middle of the room, only to be catapulted upwards and pulled back to the floor when they least expect it. The ride itself probably doesn't go over 30 feet, but it is a lot of fun.
We also made sure to check out the Pirate Boat, which is basically a Lego recreation of Pirates of the Caribbean, and while some parts seem straight out of Disneyland, it's always fun to see Lego add their own unique touch to a classic theme park ride.
We also tried out some classic Legoland attractions like Jungle Racer (a flat spinning airboat ride) and The Temple (a shooting gallery dark ride).
However, due to how busy the park was, we didn't have time to experience The Dragon, Wild Eagle (the kiddie coaster) or Xtreme Racer (the Wild Mouse coaster), and we also had reservations for other Lego-themed attractions at Legoland in Billund.
Lego house
In downtown Billund you'll find the Lego House, which is like a Lego museum.
The LEGO House has an interesting architectural style that is incorporated into the sets that can only be purchased in the gift shop and exclusive sets that are only available here. However, while we were definitely interested in the exclusive sets available at the LEGO House, our main reason for coming here was to have dinner at the Mini Chef restaurant. LEGOLAND Billund has some great themed restaurants, but the Mini Chef at the LEGO House is one of the most unique themed restaurants in the world. Reservations are highly recommended. Since we only had one day to spend in Billund, we wanted to make the most of our time at the theme park, so we made reservations a few weeks in advance. Once you are seated, you will notice two giant robots near the kitchen. Their names are Robert and Roberta, and they will serve you your food when it is ready. This is a bit like the concept of roller coaster restaurants around the world, where your order is prepared in a kitchen behind the scenes, then slid down a truck in an ingeniously designed LEGO-shaped container, which is then pushed into a pick-up bay by a robot server.
But the theme here goes beyond just how the food is served. At Mini Chef, guests order using Legos. Each table is equipped with a bag of colored Lego pieces that represent different menu items. Guests can choose one piece of each color to represent a different part of their meal (protein, starch, vegetable, side), and the shapes of the pieces correspond to the different menu items. Instead of ordering from a server, they take a specially designed tray from the tabletop ordering unit (which looks a bit like a diner's jukebox) and attach the Lego piece that matches their order to the tray. They then slide the tray into the unit, and their order appears on a screen.
If your order is correct, you confirm it with the touch of a button and the Mini Chef gets to work preparing your food. It's great fun and you get to take home some LEGO pieces when you're done. If you order a kid's meal (which is the adult meal minus one side), you get an exclusive Mini Chef minifigure. Of course, there are loads of LEGOs in boxes around the dining room to play with while you wait for your food and you'll marvel at the LEGO creations all over the restaurant. The Mini Chef is so ingenious, right down to the containers your meal is served in, and if you're still hungry, a human staff member will bring you an extra side (sadly, only one serving of protein).
The food was pretty good, but dining at Mini Chef isn't necessarily about the quality of the food, it's about the experience, so if you're visiting Legoland Billund, this Lego-themed experience outside the park is definitely not to be missed.
Next stop: Efteling
Previously – Liseberg
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