Eric's Germany Journal, Legoland
Friday, September 5, 2003
Legoland is an easy trip from Ulm, 20
minutes by train and 10 minutes by bus.
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| Legoland. |
Legoland
Legoland Deutschland is a lot like any US amusement park, with attractions such
as the water ride below. There are some exceptions. One, there are a lot of
Lego pieces, as in the woman below. Two, the food is different, of course.
There are some common things like pizza and cake, but there are also
Schnitzel, Wurst, and Schupfnudeln. Three, a few of the
attractions might not do well in the United States. I'll get to that later.
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| Water ride. |
Feeding the Tauben. |
Lego train. |
Animals
There are a lot of animals made of Lego pieces around the park.
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| Dinosaur. |
Hippopotamus. |
Leopard. |
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| Lizard. |
Owls. |
Flamingos and elephant. |
Places
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| Lego Ponte di Rialto. |
Real Ponte di Rialto. |
In the center of the park, there are scenes from various places in Europe.
Somehow seeing Venezia (which I have visited) in Lego pieces was amusing while
seeing Berlin (which I have not visited) was not.
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| Lego Piazza San Marco. |
Real Piazza San Marco. |
I wish I had photographs that matched viewpoints more closely. Some of the
details match well, although I think they have not captured Piazza San
Marco as well as some other places.
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| Lego Venezia. |
I do not have a photograph to match the scene at the left, but it did capture
for me the feeling of a typical Venezia view.
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| Lego Neuschwanstein Castle. |
Real Neuschwanstein Castle. |
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| Real Marienbrücke. |
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| Lego Marienbrücke. |
Above is Neuschwanstein Castle, and to the right is the bridge near the castle.
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| Lego Römerberg. |
Real Römerberg. |
Lego Römerberg. |
My photograph of the real Römerberg is taken from the opposite direction of the
two above photographs of the Lego Römerberg, but you can match up the fountain
in the left image and the red tower in the right image.
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| Lego Berlin street. |
Lego Berlin traffic. |
Lego Flughafen München. I will be there in 12 days! |
In the Lego Venezia, the boats move, and, in the Berlin street scene above, the
Straßenbahn is moving on tracks. In the middle scene, the truck is
moving and turning, and it is not on tracks. There are no visible restraints,
so something else is guiding it, and pretty well—the movement is smooth.
In the airport, some of the planes taxi and turn, also without restraints, and
some have working propellors.
Things
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| Self-pedaled roller coaster. |
Driving area. |
So, I looked around park and went on some of the rides, including the water
ride and a roller coaster.
To the right are two attractions that I did not try and that might not catch on
in the US. The first is a self-propelled roller coaster. The cars have to be
pedaled. The climbs and drops are pretty mild, and it takes work. The second is
a driving area where kids stay in their lanes, stop at intersections, and wait
for other drivers. If they are going to insist on realism, there should be
traffic jams.
Near the self-propelled roller coaster is a self-powered drop tower—two
people sit on a bench attached to the side of a rotating tower. They pull on a
rope to raise the bench. When they reach the top, they let go to enjoy the
drop. I think the the rope winds onto a spring-loaded reel, so you do not have
to lift your own weight, and the drop is less than free-fall.
Another attraction is Gold Search. For €3, they give you a sieve and a
pan, and you pan for "gold" in sand in their running stream. The "gold" looked
like some sort of black metal. When you collect enough, you turn it in, they
weigh it, and they give you a medal if you have enough. I do recall seeing
something like that at some park in the US, but not for a long time.
A fossil-hunt attraction appeared to be similar to the Gold Search, but I did
not investigate what you have to find or what the reward is.
© Copyright 2003 by
Eric Postpischil.
