New LEGOLAND® Windsor Resort Hotel signals continued expansion for Merlin Entertainments Group

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Details

Category: Hotel

Created on Friday, 16 March 2012 15:00

The new hotel, a £25m investment for Merlin, delivers a highly creative, fun and interactive LEGO® experience for both families and corporate guests. 150 family bedrooms, imaginatively and skilfully themed Pirate, Kingdom or Adventure, will thrill the leisure guest whilst the LEGO® Suite, a state-of-the art conference and team building facility, means the LEGOLAND® Windsor Resort Hotel is a striking example of fun and function, offering a unique leisure and business environment.

This March also sees a major new alliance between LEGO® and Lucas Films, with the launch of the UK’s only LEGO® Star Wars™ Miniland Experience at the LEGOLAND® Windsor Resort recreating seven of the most famous scenes from the classic Star Wars™ films including a scene from the animated series: Star Wars: The Clone Wars™ using around 1.5 million LEGO® bricks.

The development of the LEGOLAND Parks, including adding hotels and second gate attractions to turn them into short break resorts, is a key part of Merlin’s dynamic growth strategy. By the end of this year there will be six LEGOLAND Resorts operating around the globe as the latest opens in Malaysia. The company is also looking at several other potential LEGOLAND projects including in Japan and South Korea.

This follows the very successful opening of LEGOLAND Florida at the end of 2011 and later this year a Water Park will also be added there whilst a hotel is planned for California in 2013. Equally successful is the midway brand Merlin developed based around the LEGO brick – LEGOLAND® Discovery Centres (LDC). A very interactive two/three hour indoor attraction there are currently five LDC’s around the World with three more scheduled to open in 2012 in the USA and Japan.

At the LEGOLAND® Windsor Resort Hotel a team of 45 skilled LEGO® model makers using millions of individual bricks have created over 1,600 hand crafted models, working with the Merlin Magic Makings design team to bring LEGO® alive throughout the hotel with an extraordinary level of detail – and hidden surprises for guests.

From a roaring 100 kilo, six-metre wide, smoke-breathing dragon guarding the main entrance, a wall of 6,000 mini figures lined up behind check-in, an interactive LEGO® cityscape in the Skyline bar, pirate maps and treasure trails coded within rooms, whoopee cushions embedded within carpets or LEGO® waiters with toppling plates, this hotel takes brand theming to a new level. Leisure and corporate pre-bookings hit target two weeks ahead of opening, ‘Captain Brickbeard’ premium pirate bedrooms are already sold out virtually through Easter, the hotel has taken its first ‘all hotel and park’ booking and the telephone has started to ring for themed weddings.