Legoland Discover Center builds an early, avid fan base
MILPITAS >> After a year-plus delay due to COVID-19 restrictions, the Legoland Discovery Center Bay Area finally celebrated its grand opening on June 14, and to quote a certain movie theme song, “everything is awesome.”
“I love this place,” said Morgan Hill 9-year-old Danielle Bergot, proudly showing off a tiny car she made of shiny plastic bricks. “I like to build things from my imagination, so I hope I can come here a lot.”
Ground was broken on the 31,000-square-foot indoor playground at Great Mall in Milpitas in September 2019, with a planned April 2020 opening. But the pandemic intervened, forcing the attraction to remain dormant. On June 14, there were plenty of smiles mixed with a palpable sense of relief.
“This is especially gratifying,” said General Manager James Judy, who was joined by city dignitaries from Milpitas and San Jose in a morning ribbon-cutting ceremony that included a big pair of blue and gold scissors made of Legos, of course. “To see it go from bare walls to actually having people in the attraction is a long overdue thrill.”
While the delay was frustrating, Judy believes the timing proved fruitful, considering that California reopened the same week and most limitations and restrictions were gone.
“We offer a place where kids can go and actually play and create with their hands, along with their families,” he said. “They don’t have to sit as a spectator or
be stuck in their backyard or in their room all day.”
Legoland Discovery Center Bay Area, not to be confused with Legoland amusement parks, is a wonderland geared toward young children and their families. The first of its kind in California, it offers a range of educational and interactive experiences, including themed build stations, master classes, an Imagination Express train ride, a 4D cinema, laser maze, piratethemed climbing fort, special party rooms for birthdays and other celebrations, a cafe and Lego retail shop.
The centerpiece of it all is Miniland, a sprawling layout featuring downsized replicas of iconic Bay Area structures, including the Golden Gate Bridge, Winchester Mystery House, Oracle Park, Levi’s Stadium, UC Berkeley’s Campanile, Stanford’s Hoover Tower, Alcatraz and more.
According to Discovery Center officials, Miniland was created from more than 1.5 million Lego pieces by four dozen model builders, who spent more than 7,150 hours laboring over it. Adding to the fun are a few interactive elements that had at least one person expressing fist-pumping exuberance when he managed to sink a couple of tiny basketballs in a hoop at the Warriors’ Chase Center model.
Sam Suksiri, a Milpitas resident who won a competition last year to become the venue’s master model builder, did his best to explain why Lego bricks, which he calls his “fidget cubes,” have cast a spell over so many people around the globe.
“What’s cool is that people see the finished stuff, and they think that’s amazing. They’re blown away by how a bunch of little squares and triangles can somehow turn into a Millennium Falcon,” he said. “But for kids, big and little, the magic is in the handson building. You build something one way, and it’s kind of there. But then you can pull it apart and try again and again to make it even better. You can have different drafts.”
Jeremiah Diaz, 11, couldn’t agree more. With his fingers buried in a pile of bricks, he said his family holds weekly Lego-building competitions at his Milpitas home, and he and mom already have plans to visit the Legoland Discovery Center several more times this summer.
“It’s so awesome,” he said. “It has a lot of unique elements to it.”
But does Jeremiah ever bug his mom by leaving his Lego toys all over the floor at home?
“I try not to,” he said. “But it’s hard.”
For tickets and information, go to www.legolanddiscoverycenter.com/ bayarea/.