Legoland Florida

Old news, perhaps, but I saw this in last Sunday's travel section of the Chicago Tribune. (It takes me a while to find the time to read the Sunday paper, so I don't see stuff like this till late...)

Legoland Florida plans on opening its gates in late 2011. Merlin Entertainment purchased the Cypress Gardens theme park for the reported amount of 22 million dollars. The park is a 145 acre property, and is located about 1 hour southwest of Orlando and Disney World. (The article says it's about 40 miles from WDW.)

They are apparently aiming at kids ages 2 to 12, and this will be the fifth Legoland in the world, and the largest, with around 50 rides, shows and attractions. The article also states that they're going to do a multi-million dollar expansion of this property, and turn it into a multi-day resort, promising to add hotels and attractions from its other holdings. (Those holdings include Sea Life aquariums and Madame Tussauds wax museums.)

22 million doesn't sound out of this world for a 145 acre chunk of real estate, presumably with some infrastructure in place for the Legoland park, but then again, I don't know what Florida real estate is worth these days. (I know it's depressed.) I also don't know much about the town of Winter Haven, which is where this is located.

I tried to find the article online, but found this longer more detailed article instead.

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