Legoland is Dubailand’s latest building block

The head of the group that owns the child-friendly theme park is bullish about Legoland’s success and rejects any concerns that might be raised about an oversupply of attractions at Dubailand.

‘Legoland is a perfect compliment to Dubailand because it fills a niche that has yet to be addressed by the development’s other theme parks’, says Nick Varney, CEO of Merlin Entertainment Group.

Merlin is the second largest visitor attraction operator in the world, with a range of offerings that includes Madame Tussauds, Sea Life, The London Eye, and London Dungeon.

Younger audience

Legoland Dubailand, which was announced at the Arabian Travel Market, will be a three million square-foot park featuring more than 40 interactive rides, shows and attractions geared towards families with young children. It will cost Dhs912m ($248.5) to build.

The park will be similar to the four existing Legoland parks located in Denmark, Germany, the UK and California.

'The unique thing about Legoland theme parks is that they offer creative play and hands-on learning,’ explains Varney. ‘Our park is geared towards kids between the ages of two and 12, and we give them the opportunity to immerse themselves in the Lego toy brand.'

The park, which is scheduled to open in 2011, will offer lots of animation and themed activities, where kids can pretend to be knights and firemen. Huge Lego models of famous buildings will be on display and kids – along with their parents – can try their hand at building their own skyscrapers.

A rival to Disney

Legoland has achieved great success at its other locations, attracting six million visitors overall last year. ‘It’s probably the one brand that can rival Disney, because it offers so much interactivity,’ says Varney.

Indeed, Legoland’s interactivity and its younger market make it a perfect fit for Dubailand as the rest of the development has few attractions targeted to this group, he argues.

Legoland has proven that it can compete with other major theme parks, as it has shown in California, where it rubs shoulders with Sea World and Disney. And Varney has no fear that the sheer number of theme parks in Dubailand will prevent it from being successful.

‘Dubailand is an unprecedented collection of theme parks,’ he says. ‘Its critical mass will make it a success, similar to the model that was pioneered in Orlando.’

The volume of attractions will gradually encourage visitors to stay longer, as has been the case at Euro Disney. ‘Many families have kids from different age groups, which means they might spend one day at Legoland and one at Universal,’ Varney says. 'I can’t tell you what our share of visitors will be, but it will be significant.'

In a sign that Dubailand is perhaps close to finalising its grand plans, Varney thinks that Legoland may be the last major theme park to be announced for the development: ‘I can’t confirm that but I think ours might be the last. At least for the first phase.’

Commenting on Dubai’s rapid growth and its super-sized plans for the future, Varney said, ‘There is nothing that has ever happened like this in the world. You really need to come here and see it first-hand to appreciate it.’

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