Legoland California Resort is a theme park in Carlsbad, California, United States, about north of San Diego. Opening on March 20, 1999, it was the first Legoland park to open outside of Europe. It has over 60 rides, shows, and attractions, plus a water park, an aquarium and two hotels. The park is currently owned by Merlin Entertainments, which took a controlling interest in 2005. The second park in the United States is Legoland Florida, which opened in 2011. A third park, Legoland New York, opened in May 2021.
Resort The Legoland California Resort currently encompasses: The original park (opened in March 1999) A Lego-themed Sea Life Aquarium (opened in August 2008), the first Sea Life in the United States A Lego-themed water park (opened in May 2010) A Lego Chima expansion to the water park (opened in 2014)
The resort site includes two hotels: Legoland Resort Hotel (250 rooms, opened in April 2013) The first floor has rooms based on Kingdoms, Ninjago, Friends, and Duplo. The second floor has rooms based on Pirates and City. The third floor has rooms based on Adventure. Legoland Castle Hotel (250 rooms, opened in April 2018)
History Lego opened the first Legoland theme park in Billund, Denmark in 1968, followed by a second park in Windsor, England in 1996. The Carlsbad park was the third to open, in March 1999. At the time, Lego was considering an additional United States Legoland to be located somewhere on the east coast. When the park opened, there were eight themed areas. Starting at the entrance (at the central southern part of the park) and proceeding clockwise, they were:
The Beginning (park entrance and gift shop) Village Green (including Playtown for toddlers) The Ridge Fun Town The Garden Miniland (including The Lake in the center of the park) Castle Hill Imagination Zone LEGO Galaxy
By 2002, Village Green and The Ridge had been combined into an area called Explore Village and the Aquazone and LEGO Technic Test Track rides had been installed at Imagination Zone. The fourth Legoland, built in Germany, opened in 2002. Dino Island and Coastersaurus opened in April 2004; the park also added Fun Town Fire Academy, a Florida-themed Miniland area, and the Block of Fame for its fifth anniversary.
Legoland California installed the first KUKA RoboCoaster in the United States in 2005. However, the weak retail toy market led to the sale of the four Legoland theme parks in July 2005 for $456 million to Blackstone Capital Partners, a private equity firm based in the United States. Blackstone had previously purchased Merlin in May 2005, which owned the Sea Life and London Dungeon; the two assets were combined as Merlin Entertainments, with Lego taking a 30% ownership share in the combined Merlin Entertainments. Collectively, the four theme parks had approximately 5 million visitors per year at the time.
Under Merlin, Legoland California would add Pirate Shores (2006), a Las Vegas-themed Miniland area (2007), the Egyptian explorer-themed Land of Adventure (2008), and the Legoland Water Park (2010). In 2009, Merlin requested permission to develop an onsite Lego-themed hotel in the existing parking lot; permission was granted in October and plans for the 250-room hotel were announced in 2011, making the site a resort in 2013. The first fictional Miniland area, themed with scenes from the six (at the time) Star Wars movies and the Clone Wars television series, opened in March 2011. The water park was expanded in 2014 with a Chima-themed area. A second 250-room hotel with a castle theme was added in 2018.
Attendance at Legoland California reached 2.5 million visitors in 2013 and nearly 3 million by 2015, nearly double the attendance of Legoland Florida. More than $20 million was spent per year on sales tax on food and merchandise. The park employed more than 2200 workers in total: 600 full-time, nearly 500 part-time, and more than 1100 seasonal.
In mid-March 2020, in line with other Legoland parks, the park was indefinitely shut down because of the COVID-19 pandemic and reopened on April 1, 2021.
Theme park
Dino Valley (formerly Explorer Island)
Dino Valley is a section with themes of dinosaurs and exploration. It contains a large sand area where children may dig for "fossils" and the Gerstlauer-built Coastersaurus mini steel roller coaster, a close copy of the Legoland Germany junior coaster Drachenjagd, with a ride duration of approximately 2 minutes. It was installed in 2004 by Ride Entertainment Group, who handles all of Gerstlauer's operations in the Western Hemisphere.
Explorer Island was previously named Dino Island. When the Village Green/Explore Village area was taken over by Heartlake City, the Fairy Tale Brook boat ride and Safari Trek on-rail driving ride (originally a walking trail showing life-size African animals built with LEGO bricks) were counted as part of the renamed Explorer Island. These rides date back to the opening of the park.
Explorer Island was rethemed and renamed "Dino Valley" and opened on March 22nd, 2024.
Attraction Added Manufacturer Image Description Coastersaurus 2004 Gerstlauer Gerstlauer Junior Coaster, installed in 2004. Explorer River Quest 2024 Intamin Boat ride featuring large-scale LEGO models of various Dinosaurs. DUPLO® Little Dino Trail 2024 On-rail driving ride featuring life-size DUPLO dinosaurs.
The LEGO Movie World (formerly LEGO Friends Heartlake City and DUPLO Village)
The Heartlake City section, which opened on May 21, 2015, is based on the Lego Friends brand marketed to girls. The area features Heartlake Fountain, a water play area; Friends Forever Stage, where musical performances occur; Heartlake Stables, a play area and building zone; and Mia's Riding Camp, a carousel.
Heartlake City replaced Duplo Village, which included a set of musical fountains and water features collectively called the "Water Works". A temporary installation of the sets from The Lego Movie opened in 2014 at Duplo Village.
"DUPLO Playtown", a play area for little kids, and "LEGOLAND Express", a mini locomotive ride through the Playtown used to be in the Duplo Village/Heartlake City area. When Heartlake City opened, "DUPLO Playtown" and "LEGOLAND Express" became part of the nearby area, Fun Town. On May 9, 2019, DUPLO Playtown reopened in the queue of the Kid Power Tower. In that same year, Heartlake City was removed and replaced with a Lego Movie themed area in 2021.
In spring 2020, LEGOLAND California Resort was scheduled to open their biggest addition in the history of the park, The Lego Movie World. The opening was delayed until May 27, 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The area features Emmet's Flying Adventure – Masters of Flight, a flying theatre attraction (similar to Soarin' at EPCOT and Disney California Adventure). Unlike Florida and Billund, this version will include two theatres rather than one. This area will also feature Unikitty's Disco Drop, a drop attraction where riders seated in four pairs raise, drop, and spin around a pole. It features two towers. There is also a carousel called Queen Watevra's Carousel, from LEGO Friends Heartlake City. Additionally, there is also a build area, Build Watevra You Wa'Na Build, and small playground, Benny's Playship, with two tall twisty slides that look like a rocket. There is also a splash pad with fountains, a convenience store, three dining locations, Everything is Ramen (a ramen quick service location), Cloud Cuckoo Crêpes (a crêpe stand), and Benny's Rocket Fuel (basic food stand with popcorn and pretzels).
Attractions: Emmet's Flying Adventure Unikitty's Disco Drop! Queen Waterva's Carousel Emmet's Super Suite Benny's Playship Build Waterva You Wa'Na Build
Fun Town
Fun Town is a role-playing amusement area where guests simulate adult skills or professional identities, such as driving cars, steering boats, or fighting fires.
Attraction Added Manufacturer Image Description DUPLO Playtown 1999 Playground for young children Legoland Express 1999 Small train ride within Playtown Driving School 1999 SB International Children aged 6 to 13 years drive self-propelled Lego cars on a closed circuit featuring multiple intersections, two way traffic and traffic signals. It is designed to promote safe driving and skills. Volvo became the sponsor shortly after the park's 5th anniversary in 2004. Junior Driving School 1999 SB International Children aged 3 to 5 years drive similar self-propelled Lego cars on a simple oval. Skipper School 1999 SB International Self-propelled boat-ride that travels a winding water course Kid Power Towers 1999 Heege Tower ride where riders pull themselves up the ride with a rope Adventurer's Club 1999 Walk-through attraction with scenes such as ancient Egypt, a rainforest, and the arctic LEGO Factory Tour 1999 Walk-through attraction that teaches young children how LEGO models are made Rebuild the World 1999 A room where you can build your own LEGO models with occasional classes teaching children techniques on building LEGO models
LEGO Galaxy
LEGO Galaxy is a space-themed land featuring several rides, with the most notable being Galacticoaster, an indoor family coaster. The land was first opened at Legoland Florida on February 27, 2026, before opening to the public at California on March 6. Galaxy replaced most of Fun Town, with the old Driving School being replaced by Galacticoaster; the driving school was relocated to the former site of Police & Fire Academy. With that came the addition of another new ride, the G-Force Test Facility, which replaced the old Junior Driving School. The only ride that was not a new addition is Launch and Land, which was previously known as Sky Patrol.
Attraction Added Manufacturer Image Description Galacticoaster 2026ART Engineering Indoor family coaster where guests are able to design their ship, with several combinations possible. Ride vehicles can reach a top speed of 40 mph. First indoor coaster at the park since opening. G-Force Test Facility 2026 Spinning ride where riders are elevated, tilted, and twisted around, simulating forces felt by astronauts in space.Launch and Land2026 Space-themed helicopter ride where guests are able to go up and down in the air and spin in place.
Miniland USA
Miniland USA is a 1:20 scale model miniature park featuring prominent architecture and symbols from seven areas in the United States. Certain models are visible throughout the Legoland park. It was constructed over the course of three years using more than 20 million LEGO bricks. The Coast Cruise ride, which departs from Miniland USA, travels through the lake in the center of Legoland. The lake covers .
Miniland includes the Model Shop, the main design and building office for Legoland's US parks. A large viewing window allows guests to watch master model builders working on new models. Repairs and refurbishment of existing models are also conducted in the Model Shop.
Certain model builders have inserted incongruous scenes into the Miniland vignettes, including a businessman mooning the presidential motorcade and a man using the toilet in the Grand Central Station model. Miniland officials insist all such scenes are incorporated with full management knowledge and approval.
The Star Wars-themed Miniland was expanded with a life-size model of an X-wing starfighter, on display in 2013. A large-scale model of the Death Star was added in 2015, along with a recreation of the trench run scene from the climax of Episode IV. Scenes from The Force Awakens were added in 2017, including what was billed as the longest LEGO model for Star Wars Miniland, a long Resurgent-class Star Destroyer Finalizer.
On January 6, 2020, Star Wars Miniland was permanently closed.