A while back we talked about how Legoland California had joined in with George Lucas to create a new mini land for their park. You can find our preview article here. But Thursday marked the grand opening of the new 1400 square foot area and Star Wars fans are thrilled. While oddly placed within an area that is more known for its reality, than its fantasy, it sort of shows the series in a new light as if it is the future that could be.
The entire project sets out to chronicle the most memorable locations, scenes and characters from the six movies and the Clone Wars animated series. Guests will start on one side of the timeline and travel through the history of the series, enjoying some of their favorite memories, such as R2D2 and C3PO ducking storm troopers at Mos Eisley, the Ewok Celebration on Endor, and the Battle of Hoth which wouldn’t be complete with well modeled rebel turrets and Imperial Walkers.
Most of the models were built to 1:20 scale to fit in the area, although some, like the more popular characters, were built much larger to show the detail that they wished to present and give the visitors a sense of awe and wonder. Unfortunately designers say that the Death Star would have been too large to put in there. Not sure if they were kidding or not, but it was something that fans will no doubt wonder about its exclusion.
The amount of work and resources that went into the area is breathtaking. Ever 1.5 million Lego bricks were used and an untold amount of man hours. Just the Millenium Falcon alone, certainly one of the highlights, took 143 hours, 19000 bricks, and sits at a whopping six foot.
Star Wars Mini Land will remain a permanent part of the Legoland park. Similar areas are set to open in Denmark and in Germany this summer. We aren’t sure if the new Legoland in Florida, which is opening very soon, will include it, but since Orlando hosts a lot of Star Wars events, it’s possible.
