New LEGOLAND Florida Preview

Membership has its privileges. The grand opening of the new LEGOLAND Florida theme park in Winter Haven, FL does not officially launch until October 15, 2011, but my family got a sneak preview of this LEGO wonderland. American Automobile Association members received discounted early admission tickets for this rainy weekend. Inclement weather did not stop the family from enjoying all the sights and sounds of LEGOLAND Florida.



Some assembly is required for this life size Ford Explorer SUV made out of 380,000 LEGO bricks. Ford Motor Company made a large impression for young future drivers in the "Ford Driving School" of LEGO CITY with miniature cars for kids with an authentic race track.



This is dedication. Through wind and rain my son rides the "Royal Joust" in LEGO KINGDOMS with a smile. My umbrella almost blew away covering my damp Canon EOS Rebel T3i paired with the Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS lens, but I captured the moment.



Bright lights, Big LEGO City! MiniLand is at the center of LEGOLAND Florida. Detailed replicas of Florida destinations such as South Beach in Miami, FL to the Kennedy Space Center with an authentic NASA Space Shuttle on its launching pad. I do not want to forget the Tampa, FL downtown skyline and the iconic San Francisco, CA Golden Gate Bridge in all its glory. Bring an extra battery and memory card for your camera because this place is non stop photo moments.



Who does not love DIY LEGO Robots? The IMAGINATION ZONE has interactive build and test activities for the young ones. If LEGO Robots are not your fancy, you can construct your own LEGO Racers and compete with other worthy challengers on the race track.



My seven month old baby daughter Serena has not much to do in this big kid planet but taste her toys. We are looking forward to the soon to be toddler days of our youngest. We purchased the Annual LEGO Membership for the family so we can come back and enjoy the toddler friendly DUPLO VILLAGE. Catered for the kids under 3 years old, the DUPLO VILLAGE has kiddie rides and interactive play areas for the little ones.



Big kids like me want to play as well in this LEGO wonderland. Taking photographs and HD DSLR video all day of my family takes a toll on my "little kid at heart" mentality. LEGOLAND Florida has big kid roller coasters such as the "COASTERSAURUS" in LAND OF ADVENTURE and "TEST TRACK" in LEGO TECHNIC to sooth my wild side.



The family enjoyed this very brief and wet preview of LEGOLAND Florida this past weekend. The torrential rain deterred us from some rides and attractions including the historic botanical Cypress Gardens. Luckily we have the LEGOLAND annual membership pass to comeback to enjoy the rained out Pirates' Cove Live Water Ski Show and the ISLAND IN THE SKY ride. Well, Rome was not built in a day and we have the year to play and eat Granny's Apple Fries at LEGOLAND Florida.



This is a 1080p video shot with the Canon EOS Rebel T3i/600D paired with the Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS lens at 29.97fps. Edited with Final Cut Pro and used Compressor to get a 1.3gb h264 video file. I also used the Canon E-1 Movie Plugin to transcode to AppleProRes422. For audio, I used the Sennheiser MKE400 shotgun microphone.



You can view more pictures and video in my New LEGOLAND Florida Preview Gallery.



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UPDATE: Sunny days bring a better and updated LEGOLAND Florida Experience 2011. Check out my latest post on grand opening weekend of LEGOLAND Florida in Winter Haven, FL.