Why, yes, I love being a kid — and so does my wife. Legoland, like plenty of other theme parks around the world, enables you to do just that. One part action rides, and two part decorations incorporating perhaps millions of Lego bricks meant there’s an ample balance of walking around and being thrown around. Opened on September 15, 2012, it’s the first Legoland in Asia, a short trip from Singapore, and gives you another reason to make southern Malaysia worth visiting.
The first major section puts anything you’ve ever built with Legos to shame. Scale replicas come complete with lights, moving buses or ships, and (if shot correctly) might confuse you into thinking they were the real thing. 50 million bricks take some time to put together, of course — and unless I’ve overlooked something about the bricks, it requires a human to do it.
Kuala Lumpur’s grand train station, by the way, is close to the Islamic Arts Museum. Constructed in 1910, the train station is still used today, although it’s not exactly a tourist draw on its own.
Speaking of humans, don’t be too surprised by the staff offering to take your picture and have it printed for you. Unless you feel like paying inflated prices for prints, remember there are plenty of other trigger-happy folks are around to push a button on your behalf, after all.
Lego pirates! Oh, the stories you can make… Keep your eyes peeled for the ships that move through the water and all the little scenes set up around the diorama.
Photo op! Get your picture with Einstein’s Lego incarnation. In case you were curious, all Lego sculptures seem to have been super-glued in place — no picking off a ‘souvenir’ without a good deal of effort.
One of the first rides we came across — much like a ‘Mouse Trap’ or mouse track sort of ride, its compact nature held true to the category. Most of the rides had a tenuous connection (at best) with Lego building or bricks, but they make for some great action for the younger generation.
Just across the sidewalk, a water ride that jet-skis you around in a circle. The Lego in this case plays a decorative role — in fact, a couple of buttons along the perimeter let people shoot off a small water cannon.
Not every element is made from Lego, naturally — the plastic bricks do have their limits — but the various areas of the park have the facades to match. Enter the Dragon, one of the few roller coasters that had enough twists and turns to make it worth riding again.
Not exactly sure what’s going on here, but a fun diversion nonetheless.
When it comes time to eat, theme parks are known for having a fair number of choices. Prices are somewhat inflated — a late lunch set of pepperoni pizza, soup of the day, and a soda is 28 ringgit (about $9 USD) — but manageable. Elsewhere in the park, a bottle of water is 2.50 ringgit (a little under a dollar), and a bottle of Coke is 5 ringgit ($1.60 USD).
In case it wasn’t clear from the other pictures, yes, these are your regular Lego bricks being used across the board. Some are presumably rarer than others, but fun stuff like this little elephant are made up of nothing more than the sort of pieces you probably played with at home.
But what about the rides? Most of them are aimed squarely at the target market — that is, the one has more time to play with Legos in the first place. We were the aberrations on our trip — perhaps some of the only adults there that weren’t accompanying children. That said, the aforementioned Dragon was easily the fastest and best. Dragon’s Apprentice, while nearby, went through its comparatively tiny set of loops twice in order to create a full ride. It’s perfect for the young kids that want a real ride but don’t meet the height /age requirements (the Apprentice requires 120 cm and being 6 years old to ride alone; the Dragon requires being 8 years old to ride without an adult).
One element to expect in a tropical country is the occasional thunderstorm. You can’t change the weather, unfortunately, and it’s for safety that the outdoor rides close when lightning is around. In a full day of walking around, this was the only ride adults were allowed on that we didn’t get to. Instead, get in line for the 4D Lego Studios show — it’s one of the best places in the park to wait out a passing storm.
This, of course, is the other — the Lego Academy, complete with more than enough Duplo-style blocks to build your own tower. The green grid add in an additional challenge — turn the knob and push the button to start the earthquake machine. Not pictured, but in the same building are the ramps to build and race your own Lego cars.
A two-part adventure — teams of two to four moves their ‘vehicles’ in a push-car style, then pump from a fire hydrant to put out the fire. Push-car the vehicles again and be the first team back to win.
This is technically daytrippable from Kuala Lumpur (which we did), but I wouldn’t recommend it unless you’re keen on getting up early (e.g. before 8am) and getting back to KL after midnight. Instead, combine this with the Seribuat Archipelago or the Endau-Rompin National Park and make it a multi-day trip.
Name: Legoland Malaysia
Address: 7 Jalan Legoland, Bandar Medini, Nusajaya Malaysia, Nusajaya, Johor, Malaysia (GPS: 1.425457,103.628104)
Directions: Unfortunately, this is one place that has no easy public transportation option. From Kuala Lumpur, get to the shiny new bus terminal at Bandir Tasik Selatan station (Sri Petaling line, Seremban line, or the KLIA Transit line) and take a bus for Johor Bahru. Buses leave frequently, and take about 4–4 1/2 hours.
Once in Johor Bahru, you can wait for a shuttle bus from JB Sentral — they leave once an hour on weekends and once every 1 1/2 hours on weekdays. See the bus schedule here for details. If you’ve arrived at JB Sentral from Kuala Lumpur, this is the easiest and cheapest way, but takes the longest. A taxi is more than happy to take you, naturally — be reminded that taxis are supposed to be metered, though I wouldn’t be surprised if a flat fee is quoted by most taxis in the area.
Hours: Open 10am-8pm all weekends and most in-season weekdays; open 10am-6pm on the off-season weekdays; closed a small number of Wednesdays.
Admission: If you purchase online, 112 Malaysian ringgit for adult tickets and 88 ringgit for children. If you walk-up at Legoland itself, expect to pay 140 ringgit for adults and 110 ringgit for children.
Phone: +607–597–8888
Website: www.legoland.com.my
