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Looks Like it Will Be LEGOLAND!!

Posted by Bob Gernert on January 20, 2010 at 1:40 pm

In what may be the biggest announcement of the new century for Winter Haven and Polk County tourism, Merlin Entertainments will announce tomorrow, January 21, they will open their second U.S. Legoland Park here in Winter Haven on the Cypress Gardens property. Merlin operates Legoland California which has been named the #1 Children’s Park in that state for the past six years.

The confirmation is being attributed by area media to an email sent to Polk County Commissioners. The memo mentions several key points:

1. LEGOLAND Florida will be the fifth LEGOLAND attraction worldwide (California, Denmark , England , and Germany ).

2. Merlin is the second largest attraction company in the world, second only to Disney.

3. Merlin’s massive research in the area already indicated that the LEGOLAND brand already has high recognition and a 90% intention to visit by families in their target market.

4. LEGOLAND, CA, is the fastest growing theme park in the U.S., realizing an astounding 6% growth in 2009. The park was also recognized by Amusement Today as the country’s best theme park for children for the sixth consecutive year.

While there will be significant employment at the park during its reconstruction and transformation, the long term vision will see significant employment on an annual basis. This will return Polk and Winter Haven to solid tourism destination status complementing our other tourism venues such as Bok Tower Gardens and Fantasy of Flight.

We enthusiastically welcome Merlin Entertainments and salute the hard work of everyone involved locally in helping to make all the pieces fall into place (pun very much intended)!

We will present further information following tomorrow’s news conference.

Merlin Entertainments is a young and dynamic organization, it currently operates 50-plus attractions and four hotels anually, which welcomes more than 30 million visitors in 12 differrent countries across three continents – Europe, North America and Asia – and employ more than 13,000 staff.

From its headquarters in Poole, Dorset, the Merlin Entertainments Group today operates an international network of attractions, among them many of the world’s best known brand names…Madame Tussauds, The Dungeons, Alton Towers, LEGOLAND, SEA LIFE, Gardaland, the London Eye and others.

The Screamscape Blog actually uncovered land transfer documents that led to the discovery of Merlin Entertainments’ purchase of Cypress Gardens. We have added information collected from Google Alerts.

See other entries filed in: City of Winter Haven, Commercial Developments, Cypress Gardens, Economic Development, Employment Opportunity, Parks and Green Space, Success Stories, Tourism