Legoland in Somerville builds on the fun using virtual reality
You are speeding down a racetrack, desperately trying to avoid your competitors, explosions, falling rocks and a cacophony of other obstacles, and cross the finish line first.
But this is no ordinary race. Your competitors are a ragtag group consisting of pirates, mummies and a wizard.
Also, everything is Lego, and you’re in virtual reality.
Beginning today, Legoland Discovery Center Boston will open its newest attraction, an immersive virtual reality Lego ride, complete with moving seats.
“It’s an action adventure. There’s explosions and excitement and falling rocks and all kinds of stuff, but you get to sit comfortably in one of our pods as you experience it,” said Joe Botsch, operations manager at the Legoland in Somerville. “Our guests are going to be able to simulate entering a Lego world where they’re going on an exciting race surrounded by Lego Minifigures and Lego characters.”
The Somerville location is the first discovery center to get the new attraction, Botsch said. The virtual ride is adapted from a version in the full-sized Legoland theme parks that put VR headsets on rollercoaster riders.
Botsch said kids may be leaving the tactile world of Lego for a few minutes, but the hope is they will walk out inspired to be even more creative with what they build.
“We’re hoping that as soon as they come out, they’re going to see all these things they didn’t think could be built out of brick and go and build it themselves,” Botsch said. “It takes the fantasies that kids play out in their heads when they’re building with their Lego sets at home, when they’re imagining be- ing their Minifigure, when they’re imagining being in this world.”