There's a Legoland

Well, my daughters twisted my arm and dragged me to Legoland Deutschland this past weekend.  It was a celebration for surviving their first week of school in Germany.  I had no idea there was such a thing as Legoland.  Really, a park full of nothing but Lego stuff?  I'm in. 

Just about everything, except the toilets, is made from Legos.  The park has roller coasters, rides, and many places to play Legos.  I don't have a favorite place. I have many.  First, there was the Lego Fabrik (factory).  They had small scale machines producing Lego Blocks.  My family always makes fun of me for watching "How it's Made" on TV.  They were living an episode of How it's Made and didn't even know it. 

This is the machine that stamps ink on the Lego pieces.  What a fantastic opportunity to train my daughters in the finer points of pneumatic valves and PLC controllers.  I was on my game.  I'm glad my wife took this photograph from behind.  If you could see their faces, there was a glazed look kind of like I used to have in English class conjugationing verbs.  I think one of my daughter's eyes disappeared into the back of her head for a brief moment.

This is the injection molding machine the Legos are made in.  Raw material comes in and is injected into the mold.  Ok, I'm seeing the same glazed look on your face too.  I'll stop.

The best part of the Lego Fabrik is the Lego store at the end.  Bins and Bins of Legos.  Go ahead and take it in.

My memory is a bit fuzzy after this moment.  100g for 9€.  I don't care what that translates to in dollars, give me a bag.  For about 10 minutes, I didn't have a family or a job or bills to pay.  I had to build the spaceship I built with my Legos as a kid.  Good thing my wife was there to watch the kids.  I was able to make several upgrades to my childhood spaceship design including additional firepower (added 4 new laser cannons).  After all, my first design was prior to my engineering degree.

They had a kids' driving school complete with a 1/2-hour class learning street signs and a drivers test (in a Lego car).  My daughters passed the test, of course.

We couldn't quite figure out what this Lego dude was doing perched above the driving course.  We thought perhaps he was holding a sniper rifle for those straying too far off course.

Here's a typical lunch.  Just thought you might want to see it.

There was a large exhibit of cities from around the world, all made with Legos.  It was pretty impressive.  There were trains, cars, cranes, helicoptors all moving within the exhibit.  I promised my wife I'd take her to Venice during this European trip.  I can check that one off the list now.

 They just had random Lego things throughout the park.  This guy was sporting a lit cigarette.

Here is a stocking stuffer idea.  A one foot tall R2 for the low low price of $220.

We went back on Sunday to see some of the things we did not get to see the first day.  We went into a building where you could build cars.  They had a time trial track where you could race your car and record the speed and track time.  Game on little German kids.  Smoked 'em.  If you know any of the random German kids racing their cars that day, please don't tell them the secret.  I happened to notice that the track starting line was based on the position of the front tires, and the optical sensor at the finish line was low to catch the front tire.  I just added about 12 inches of Lego parts extending in front of the front tires and low to the track to catch the finish line sensor before the front tires, essentially giving me a 1-foot head start.  I'm not sure if 2.95 seconds is a track record, but I wouldn't be surprised.  Sorry, no photos.  I have to keep some things a secret.  They also had a spot where you could build a house and test the structure under earthquake conditions. 

I think my kids may have had a good time at Legoland too.