Block Party
It’s been 40 years since the first Legoland opened in Denmark – showing it has strong foundations for a place that’s made largely of plastic. Writer and childhood Lego fan David Atkinson flew there to see if the iconic toy building bricks still capture the imagination IT WAS THE summer of 1968 and many people around the world were clambering [...]
It’s been 40 years since the first Legoland opened in Denmark – showing it has strong
foundations for a place that’s made largely of plastic. Writer and childhood Lego fan
David Atkinson flew there to see if the iconic toy building bricks still capture the imagination
IT WAS THE summer of 1968 and
many people around the world
were clambering for a social
revolution. Meanwhile, in Billund, a
remote corner of western Denmark,
Godtfred Kirk Christiansen was
starting his own radical enterprise
– one involving brightly coloured
plastic bricks. On 7 June, 1968, he
opened the doors of Legoland for the first time
Lego is one of the world’s favourite toys,
with seven Lego boxes now sold every
second. With Legoland Billund celebrating
its 40th anniversary this year, and the Lego
toy celebrating its 50th birthday, the park
is planning a series of events this summer
(see box, p61) to mark these milestones.
There are three other Legoland theme
parks around the world, namely Windsor,
UK [+44 (0)1753 626 111; www.legoland.co.uk],
Günzburg, Germany and San Diego,
California, with a further park in the USA
currently under discussion. But the company
doesn’t want the world to forget where Lego
comes from. That’s why Denmark will be the
hub for the anniversary events.
Lego was founded in Denmark in 1932
when Ole Kirk Christiansen, a carpenter,
started making wooden toys. He named
them Lego, a contraction of the Danish leg
godt, meaning ‘play well’. He was unaware
at the time that, coincidentally, the Latin
meaning of the word is ‘I put together’.
Ole and his son Godtfred started
producing plastic toy bricks after the end
of World War II. They first hit the market
in 1949 and were named Lego: Automatic
Binding Bricks. The company underwent
exponential growth during the 1950s and
1960s, with Godtfred’s children becoming
international stars from being featured
playing with Lego on the front cover of
all the boxes. Godtfred had developed the
brick design, for which he wisely took out
patents. He then created the Billund park
to showcase his work.
Today, Lego is owned by Ole’s grandson
Kjeld. It has three manufacturing plants, in
Denmark, the Czech Republic and Mexico,
and is on sale in more than 130 different
countries. The 2,400 different Lego brick
shapes are produced under strict controls,
whereby any brick not within a thousandth
of a millimetre to the correct size is rejected,
ensuring that all of the bricks can be
correctly connected.
For an exclusive preview of the
anniversary celebrations, I travel to the
small town of Billund, which is dominated
by the sprawling grey-brick Lego complex,
to learn the secrets behind its enduring
popularity. My base for the weekend is the
Legoland Hotel – a comfortable, no-frills
place with private access to Legoland.
alt="Miniland is a cluster of miniature famous places from around the world, like Bergen and Nyhavn in Copenhagen, all built from Lego">
The hotel caters for two distinct
groups: families visiting the park and
businesspeople attending one of Lego’s
Business & Bricks team-building events.
With a captive audience, prices are
accordingly high, but the hotel is a Lego
fan’s dream with striking brick models
throughout – from a Lego pianist in the
bar to a giant Lego Darth Vader standing
guard over reception. The standard rooms
are functional, but Lego devotees will no
doubt splash out on one of the 12 rooms
themed around knights, princesses and
pirates, which feature Lego models, en-suite
bathrooms and bunk beds for children.
At dinner that night, I chat with some
of the other families staying at the hotel.
Eight-year-old Kento came all the way
from Yokohama, Japan, to soak up the Lego
experience. “We’re staying just two nights
but it’s worth the journey as Kento loves
his Lego,” explains his mother, Hiroko. “He
plays with it every day.”
Closer to home, the Sturrock family,
who hail from the East Midlands, are taking
a long-weekend break with their two
young sons, aged seven and nine.
“I first came here when I was a little girl
and I wanted to bring my boys here to
experience it for themselves,” says their
mother, Alison.
After a night in a ‘pirate’ room with a
Lego parrot watching over my bed, I head
out the next morning to explore the park.
At 140,000 sq m and featuring 58 million
bricks, it’s a huge complex, divided into
sections for different age groups, including
Duplo Land for toddlers, LegoRedo Town
with its wild west theme for pre-teens,
and Adventure Land with its adventure
playground for older children. There are
theme park rides, such as a log flume and
racing cars, although most are suitable only
for kids aged seven and up.
My favourite section is Miniland, featuring
model village-style Lego takes on famous
sights from around the world. Here, a rural
scene from Japan, replete with Mount Fuji,
has been built entirely from Lego bricks. It
sits, rather incongruously, between scale
Lego models of Bergen and Copenhagen’s
Nyhavn district. The towering model of
Mount Rushmore, featuring the iconic faces
of four American presidents carved into a
South Dakota rockface, is the park’s pièce de
résistance – it is constructed from over 1.5
million bricks and has survived since 1974.
As the company expands, Lego now
changes around 30% of its product range
each year and all Lego employees must sign
a confidentiality agreement when they join
the company to keep secret the products
under development in the labs.
“Lego is such a creative material. It
appeals to all ages, from Duplo for toddlers
to Technic for teenagers,” explains Kurt
Bolding Kristensen, manager of Miniland
projects at Legoland, as we talk in the
hotel bar later that day. “You can build
with Lego for hours. The only limit is your
imagination.” Even in the age of the Xbox, it
seems that Lego has a timeless appeal that
continues to win it new generations of fans.
I wrap up my visit with a behind-thescenes
peek inside the Lego Ideas House.
Normally only open to Lego employees,
it houses early models, such as wooden
monkeys on bikes, early packaging and
black-and-white adverts from the 1950s.
I finish my tour following the development
of Lego through the ages. Suddenly, I come
face-to-face with a Lego Technic tractor set
– the same one my parents gave me as a
Christmas present when I was 10.
“Everyone played with Lego as kids and
when they come to the exhibition and see
their old toys, you see it in their eyes,” says
Ideas House creator and Lego historian
Kirsten Stadelhofer. “We may grow up, but
Lego is something that we always carry
with us in our hearts.” sections for different age groups, including
Duplo Land for toddlers, LegoRedo Town
with its wild west theme for pre-teens,
and Adventure Land with its adventure
playground for older children. There are
theme park rides, such as a log flume and
racing cars, although most are suitable only
for kids aged seven and up.
My favourite section is Miniland, featuring
model village-style Lego takes on famous
sights from around the world. Here, a rural
scene from Japan, replete with Mount Fuji,
has been built entirely from Lego bricks. It
sits, rather incongruously, between scale
Lego models of Bergen and Copenhagen’s
Nyhavn district. The towering model of
Mount Rushmore, featuring the iconic faces
of four American presidents carved into a
South Dakota rockface, is the park’s pièce de
résistance – it is constructed from over 1.5
million bricks and has survived since 1974.
As the company expands, Lego now
changes around 30% of its product range
each year and all Lego employees must sign
a confidentiality agreement when they join
the company to keep secret the products
under development in the labs.
“Lego is such a creative material. It
appeals to all ages, from Duplo for toddlers
to Technic for teenagers,” explains Kurt
Bolding Kristensen, manager of Miniland
projects at Legoland, as we talk in the
hotel bar later that day. “You can build
with Lego for hours. The only limit is your
imagination.” Even in the age of the Xbox, it
seems that Lego has a timeless appeal that
continues to win it new generations of fans.
I wrap up my visit with a behind-thescenes
peek inside the Lego Ideas House.
Normally only open to Lego employees,
it houses early models, such as wooden
monkeys on bikes, early packaging and
black-and-white adverts from the 1950s.
I finish my tour following the development
of Lego through the ages. Suddenly, I come
face-to-face with a Lego Technic tractor set
– the same one my parents gave me as a
Christmas present when I was 10.
“Everyone played with Lego as kids and
when they come to the exhibition and see
their old toys, you see it in their eyes,” says
Ideas House creator and Lego historian
Kirsten Stadelhofer. “We may grow up, but
Lego is something that we always carry
with us in our hearts.”
New For 2008 Plus Anniversary Eventsts
This year, pirates are the major theme
at Legoland Billund. The Pirate Lagoon,
featuring a water ride called Pirate
Splash Battle, and Pirate Water Falls, a
new water-themed playground, are the
major new attractions for the summer.
Special 40th anniversary events are
being held throughout July, with wild
west theme nights happening every
Thursday until 7 August. An open-air
birthday concert for families, featuring
Danish bands and celebrities, is being
staged on 23 August. Entertainment is
laid on every weekend, with a series
of family variety shows each Saturday
throughout September. Events will
draw to a close with an end-of-season
fireworks display on 26 October.
alt="The young and not so young enjoy the Dragon ride at Legoland Billund">
Getting And Staying There
Legoland Billund is a two to threehour
drive from Copenhagen. Train
connections from Copenhagen arrive
at Kolding and Vejle, from where buses
run to the park and take around 45
minutes. Or fly direct to Esbjerg:
Billund is about an hour’s drive away by
car, or by bus via Grindsted.
For more information about travel in
Denmark see www.visitdenmark.com.
Hotel Legoland has single rooms for
one adult and one child for 1,875 Danish
Kroner (approx £198), or doubles for
two adults and two children for 2,750,
DKK, (approx £290); ‘pirate’, ‘knight’ and
‘princess’ rooms cost 3,675DKK (approx
£386). These high-season prices (till 17
August) are on a B&B basis and include
a two-day pass to the park. (Please note
that these prices may be subject to change.)
