It was an opportunity for me to get an invite to a site visit and do preview for them. what more if the invitation is for some task of international company. The opportunity came when I receive an email from Millenium Associates for a site visit to LEGOLAND® Malaysia at Nusajaya, in Iskandar Malaysia Johor. The first visit was done on 30th March 2012 and the latest on 25th April 2012. The first visit I had the pleasure of being together with two prominent blogger who blogs at placesandfoods.com and another one malaysiaasia.com. We took off from Subang Skypark on an early flight and return in the evening.
The last visit was on Airasia when we had the experience of plane being delayed before takeoff and when all passengers was already on board. Then we came to know that Sultan Ibrahim International Airport, in Senai was closed due to bad weather. It was actually due to visibility problem that can pose landing threats to aircraft. However we arrived just in time for the Media Briefing by the General Manager, Mr Siegfried Boerst, whom I met on both visits.
The main purpose of the briefing was to announce the official Grand Opening Date of the first such theme park in Asia and the sixth in the world. Inspired by Asia’s love affair with all thing LEGO®, the 76 acres theme park will cater for kids from 2 to 12 years of age who can enjoy more than 40 rides and attractions, from roller coasters to race cars as well as family-focused interactive shows.
In his speech Mr Siegfried said, “Our official opening date has been something we’ve had a lot of enquiries from the public on since the park broke ground in December 2009. I’m pleased to announce that due to the hard work of all of our contractors we will now be opening LEGOLAND Malaysia ahead of schedule by a number of months. We hope that with today’s news families and tour operators will begin planning their trips to visit us and we look forward to giving you an experience like no other in Asia. Rather appropriately we will be opening the day before Malaysia Day which happens to be a long weekend!”
As on our second visit, the park was already almost 75% finished with most of the rides and infrastructure installed. Theming of the park was done by the contractor last month in May, installing of the 50 million LEGO® bricks and model into the park.
When the park opens it doors, special discounted passes will be available
During the briefing, Mr Boerst also announced that the official park single-day tickets will go on sale online later in May. It will be priced at a special introductory offer of RM96 (SGD40) for adults and RM70 (SGD29) for kids.
Prior to the opening date, these single-day tickets will be available from the LEGOLAND Malaysia Road Show tour which starts on 25th April 2012 at Vivo City in Singapore. Tickets will also be available in Johor every weekend from 2pm to 7pm at the Iskandar Malaysia Information Centre (IMIC) in Danga Bay.
The 30% discount will be for a limited period only, so avid LEGOLAND fans are advised to keep a close eye on the LEGOLAND Malaysia website www.LEGOLAND.com.my for announcements.
Annual passes too will still remain available through SISTIC & RedTix eventhough over 35,000 passes have been sold across the region since its launch in December 2011. Watch out for the roadshows organised by LEGOLAND Malaysia where you can purchase your special single-day ticket and enjoy the excitement when they are still fresh from the oven.
During the Media Briefing, LEGOLAND Malaysia announced that they had signed a management agreement to build LEGOLAND® Hotel next to the park and is expected to be open in early 2014. The opening of the hotel can further help creating an integrated destination resort experience for families, allowing them to spend longer quality time together while exploring and enjoying the LEGOLAND Malaysia offerings and the region.
Kids in most parts of Asia has been growing with LEGO® bricks and LEGOLAND Malaysia is creating this relevency whereby in a modern, fast-paced world which is dominated by digital gadgets, LEGOLAND Malaysia offers unique opportunities for families to bond and gives them the ability to impart valuable and meaningful lessons and life skills, which are becoming more and more precious.
What separates LEGOLAND Malaysia from the crowd is interactivity and participation, to stimulate the
imagination and creativity of our children. The sheer excitement of the experience is bound to have
infectious results and allow kids to share the values with their friends and peers.
The values that LEGOLAND espouse: Imagination, creativity, fun, learning, care and quality represent the holistic attributes that park goers will experience.
Merlin entertainment first signed the management agreement with Iskandar Investment Board in December 2008 and ground-breaking started in December 2009. In December 2011, the first steelworks structure that is the LEGO TECHNIC TEST TRACKS was unveiled and discounted Annual Passes went on sale in through Redtix in January 2012.
And on 25th April 2012, to the Media from Malaysia and Singapore and bloggers present, The General Manager proudly announced the……………
Photos of the visit HERE.
Read also my posting HERE and HERE