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    Will Legoland Have a Leg Up on the Competition in Florida?

    By Maxine Nelson | Yahoo! Contributor Network – Sun, Oct 16, 2011
    This story comes from the Yahoo! Contributor Network, where individuals publish their unique perspectives on some of the world’s most popular websites.
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    COMMENTARY | As if Florida needs another tourist attraction to compete against behemoth attractions such as Disney World and Sea World in Orlando and Busch Gardens in Tampa that have been around for decades.

    Opening day of the fifth and largest Legoland was Saturday, to standing room only. The park is located in Winter Haven at the original site of Cypress Gardens, which opened in 1936. This was a garden attraction featuring beautiful native plants and trees amongst ladies dressed as Southern Belles as you were entertained by a dazzling water ski show. Back then Cypress Gardens' demographics was 55 years old and older. Now Legoland Florida has taken over with its unique Lego constructions geared strictly for families with children ages 2 to 12.

    Cypress Gardens could no longer compete with the ever-growing and ever-changing Florida tourism, so after Sept. 11, 2001, it closed. A few years later it reopened, but once again fell short on expectations. Now the question remains: Will Legoland be able to survive? Cypress Gardens was one of Florida's oldest attractions with its famous ski shows. 1980s girl group the Go-Go's paid tribute to the Cypress Gardens water skiers in one of their music videos.

    Why open a new attraction when there is a very troubling economy? High unemployment, foreclosures, rising gas prices overwhelm most of us. The last thing on most people's mind right now is to visit a new attraction with tickets prices starting at $75 for adults, including children ages 13 and older. Younger children ages 3 to 12 and seniors 60 and older pay $65. Those prices are for real.

    Yes, ticket prices for Disney World and other attractions are extremely costly, but many of them have decades of experience to accommodate adults and children successfully. The original Legoland opened in 1992 in Denmark. There are others in Europe such as England and Germany. California is the first to open in the U.S. in 1999. It's taken 12 years for another Legoland to open in another state.

    What was amazing during Legoland's opening day was it disorganization. They ran out of food and what little was left was extremely expensive. Legoland Florida could learn a thing it two from Disney World with its crowd control. The lines were very long for some of its amusement rides. Only time will tell if Legoland survives or falls short in our troubling economy or even a prosperous one.

     

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