With the theme park season drawing to a close in many countries and people forced to stay home again, we thought we’d bring you a brand new article series. Expect regular updates from myself as we explore one of the most beautiful, cultural and historical regions of Europe: Scandinavia!
We’ll be taking you from Norway across to Finland, through Sweden and then down to Denmark. We’ll be providing you with detailed insights and top tips into the theme parks each of these countries has to offer. We will also be diving into which rollercoasters and attractions you aren’t going to want to miss out on. So grab a cup of coffee, a slice of cake and enjoy!
– In the past, many of our images have been posted, featured, and shared on forums, social media platforms and websites around the web. We work hard to provide the coverage that we do, and we encourage our audience to share our content and use our images, BUT ONLY IF proper credit is given to thecoasterkings.com Thank you! We would like to also thank Joeri Dewitte @theme_park_roadtrip for helping to provide images from Legoland Billund for this article. –
Welcome back to our Scandinavian series for our 9th installment! We hope you have enjoyed reading along with us and discovering what Scandinavia has to offer. If you are only just joining us, we find ourselves in the lovely little town of Billund in central Denmark and visiting one of the biggest franchises out there. Today I (Emma) have taken the reigns to explore another one of Denmark’s popular parks, Legoland Billund.
We have really enjoyed reading James’s Scandinavian series and we couldn’t miss out on talking about Legoland Billund Resort. If you haven’t already read the series you can find them here on the website. Read all about some fantastic parks throughout the most beautiful Scandinavia.
Two years ago I got the chance to visit Billund in Denmark. The main reason for our visit is that Billund is the home and birthplace of Lego! Any big fan of Lego cannot miss out on a trip to Billund. In this blog we will talk all about Legoland Billund Resort, The Lego House and some awesome other Lego things we found!
Billund is a little town in central Denmark, known famously for the home of Lego. With its huge amount of history it’s not surprising that it’s the second most visited place in Denmark after its capital Copenhagen. If you have plenty of time you can walk around the town, see the historical birthplace of Lego and if you’re like me, peek in the windows of Lego Headquarters!
We decided to visit for the weekend and found a very reasonably priced AirBnb for a few nights. There are quite a few in the area and also the Legoland Hotel if you wish to stay there. We had originally decided to visit for The Lego House which had opened earlier that year, but we couldn’t visit without going to the Theme Park too. Flights to and from Billund for us from London Stansted were very affordable, with our return flight only costing £9! With an early morning flight available and a late evening return flight visiting in a day is easily manageable. It is also good to know that both Legoland and The Lego House are within walking distance from the airport, making this a simple and cheap trip to make.
We started our weekend at The Lego House and were totally blown away! From start to finish there was nothing to fault with this beautifully built and totally Lego-tastic adventure.
The Lego House is a completely immersive experience like no other. Allowing kids and big kids like me, to play with Lego for hours and to discover the true meaning of the imagination. Not only do you build things, you spend time learning about the ethos of the company and what Lego truly means. Submerging yourself (yes you can actually dive into the pool of Lego!) into 25 million bricks and many different experience zones you can easily lose yourself to the brick! The four experience zones are colour coded and each have a unique theme with many activities.
Red Zone
Imagine a giant waterfall of LEGO bricks. An ocean of colours. What would you build? In the Red Zone, creativity hooks up with play and imagination. Create a unique masterpiece with the endless amounts of LEGO bricks.
The Duplo Lego Waterfall which you can infact swim in (behind Homer)
Yellow Zone
Can a fish have arms? Or wheels? In the Yellow Zone, you’re the boss. Build a LEGO sea animal and let it loose in the aquarium. Or build a LEGO flower and plant it in the meadow. You can also design a clumsy insect, and let it dance through the jungle.
Green Zone
Do you want to be the hero in your own movie? Then drop by the Green Zone and shoot this year’s blockbuster. You can also explore our LEGO worlds and discover hidden stories. Or how about building your own unique LEGO minifigure and splashing it across a magazine cover?
Blue Zone
Have you ever tried freeing mammoths from the ice with intelligent robots on an Arctic expedition? Probably not. But it sounds pretty cool, right? You can also build your own race car and test it on the track. Or be a city architect for a day.
In every zone there are staff on hand, who are just incredible. They know a large variety of languages and just stunned me with their intelligence and knowledge of all things Lego. They are there to talk and encourage play and interaction with the Lego available. Even as adults they were keen to to find out where we had travelled from and to let us know about all the activities on offer for that day.
In the centre of the building is the Tree of life, designed In house, like many of the other builds. It stands from the bottom of the building to the top! The tree is covered in tiny mini-figure scenes with so many things to see at every level of the house.
The whole house is totally explorable, the rooftops have play grounds and glass floors to view the Lego below you! The roof looks like a giant piece of Lego and you can see Legoland Billund Resort in the distance.
We were lucky to have dinner in their Lego Restaurant Mini Chef, another experience you should not miss. You order by building your meal from coloured Lego bricks, a little challenge for children and adults alike. Your food is then prepared by the Lego chefs and delivered by coaster (similar to The Rollercoaster Restaurant at Alton Towers) for you to collect!
I won’t give too much away about the inside of the Lego House as it is truly magical and worth a visit if you can make it one day!
Our next stop was Legoland Billund Resort!
Opened in 1968, Legoland Billund is the first of the eight Legoland Parks to open in the world. With Billund being the home of the brick and the headquarters for Lego it is a true piece of history for Lego lovers. Bringing in over 15 million guests a year the park has many attractions and the famous miniland featured at all subsequent Legoland parks. With buildings and monuments from all over the world, no matter where you are from you will see something you recognise.
Featuring some of the same rides from Windsor such as The Dragon rollercoaster in their Knights Kingdom themed area and Lego Ninjago the Ride! Both of these are similar if not completely the same but always worth riding regardless.
One of the park’s main attractions is Viking River Splash an Intamin Rapids Ride with a unique water lift which I had never seen before back in 2018! This ride is awesome fun and is a highlight of the park. The water lift gives the ride a completely unexpected feel and wow factor as it transported you up to the next level.
There a quite a few water rides at the Billund resort, I particularly enjoyed the Pirate Boats! The attention to detail never lacks in Legoland Parks and each time you ride or visit you see something you missed before.
In Polar Land there are two attractions that I was especially looking forward to, the Polar X-plorer coaster and the Ice Pilot School robocoaster. Polar X-plorer is a steel coaster built by Zierer and their first model to feature a freefall drop track section. It is great family coaster themed to polar exploration, taking you on board a snowmobile into the arctic and falling through the ice. I wasn’t aware of the freefall section until I was actually on the ride; it’s a great element and a huge boost to the story on this coaster.
I had only learnt about Ice Pilot School when I arrived at the ride. Being inside a hanger it’s hard to tell what’s actually going on inside. Once inside you get to basically program your own ride experience, choosing the speed and specific movements that the robot arm will do. You choose all your movements which are loaded onto a card to be given to the ride operator. It’s a bit crazy and I chose all the fastest and spinning options for the full effect, so came off feeling a little queasy but it was worth it. You can also watch from the viewing platform inside the hanger if you’re not a brave test pilot!
The great thing about the Legoland resorts is their attention to detail; every corner is pack with Lego! From animals to trees, to full on scenes practically all their entire ride theming is all made and designed by Lego. The park is just so colourful and enjoyable to walk around! I really love to visit Legoland Windsor in the UK so getting a chance to come to Billund and see where the idea was first laid out was really a dream come true.
Like most of their parks we enjoyed a variety of rides that we were familiar with. One of my favourites is their interactive dark ride known in Billund as The Temple. A classic shooting game filled with an Egyptian theme, travelling through the spider’s lair, battling mummies and the treasure room! These types of rides are always one of my tops to ride, mainly because I am super competitive and well who doesn’t love to shoot at Lego mummies!
At a lot of Merlin Parks now you will find a small Sealife aquarium, which is featured at Legoland Billund. I love Sealife as it’s a great added bonus to your trip and is included in your ticket price! Inside the aquarium you will find all sorts of sea creatures including a shark tank section. Inside the tanks they have used Lego to decorate and theme the areas too!
In Adventure Land you can also ride X-treme Racers, a wild mouse ride design by Mack Rides. Themed around Lego Technic, racers reach speeds of up to 60kmh/37mph and follow a traditional wild mouse ride experience. Like most of the park the ride is aimed at families but it is definitely one of the more thrilling rides.
Taking a walk through Miniland and back towards the entrance you can take a ride on the Legotop, a spinning viewing tower. This gives you some great views of the park and over towards The Lego House. There are also a lot of smaller rides aimed at children throughout the park including the Duplo area and various shows. I really enjoyed Ghost -The Haunted House walk-through as it was family friendly and again I didn’t know what to expect, so when I arrived at the end and saw the surprise drop tower it was a hidden extra!
It is also worth talking about the last roller coaster, The Flying Eagle. This Zierer family coaster was not finished when I made my trip but I have heard it is enjoyable and at least is another credit to gain from this wonderful park.
Due to open in 2021 is Legoland’s newest themed area, The Lego Movie World! If you haven’t seen the movies yet I suggest you go and enjoy them (after finishing this article of course!) This newly themed area is packed with fun new rides including Emmet’s Flying Adventure – Scandinavia’s first flying theatre! Apocalypseburg Sky Battle – an interactive plane ride, Unikitty’s Disco Drop – a kid’s drop tower, as well as a new play area. It may be primarily aimed at kids but I think everything looks awesome!
Overall my trip to Billund was fantastic, as a keen Lego enthusiast you really couldn’t go wrong with a trip to where it all began. From a roller coaster enthusiast point of view it is a great little park with four extra credits. However, unless you love Lego or are already taking a trip to Denmark it is may be a little small for the average coaster enthusiast. Saying this I would like to return one day and revisit both the park and the Lego house and have another one of their amazing hot dogs!
I hope you enjoyed reading all about my time In Billund, Denmark! Next up, it’s back to James, who is taking us to one of his last destinations on this Scandinavian tour, Bakken! Thanks for reading!
