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.

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.

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.)