LEGOLAND-indoor park Brussels

[VikingsAf]

Wasn't entirely sure if it deserved an entirely new thread, but before LEGOLAND Charleroi, there will be coming a small LEGOLAND park in DOCKS Brussels Shopping center. This 'Park' will be maintained and exploited by Merlin.

The parc will contain a 4D cinema, videogames, VR-experiences and a small train. The area will span 3100m²

The article mentions though that it will be first of it's kind, but probably not last (that's why I tought it might deserve it's own thread)

Eerste Belgisch LEGO-pretpark in Brussels shoppingcenter

In Docks Bruxsel opent over een jaar het eerste Belgische Lego-attractiepark. Daarmee hoopt het winkelcentrum de nodige extra klanten te lokken. Docks maakte vorig jaar verlies.

www.tijd.be

Edit: Translated article https://www.brusselstimes.com/news/business/173089/lego-fun-park-will-come-to-docks-bruxsel/

 

[Matt N]

That sounds suspiciously similar to a Legoland Discovery Centre to me, which there are absolutely loads of; the UK alone has a fair few, off the top of my head.

But the fact that the article says it will be “the first of its kind” suggests that it won’t be an LDC… interesting.

 

[JoshC.]

Belgium has been a place of interest for Merlin for a while, and adding in midway attractions to Brussels has been in the works for several years now. It's nice to see that the idea is finally developing. Despite the issues that the 'Docks Bruxsel' location has because of Covid, it's a very sustainable location and has lots of potential for things like the Merlin attractions (and I know this because I did some research on the Docks at one point or another..).

I believe this has been planned to be a Legoland Discovery Centre. It's possible they may be reimagining the concept slight, hence the 'first of its kind' claim. It's also possible that because it's different / has different things to existing LDCs they're just stretching that claim in that sense.


I'm more intrigued by the fact that the LDC is going ahead as well as the main Lego theme park. They're suggesting that the LDC will attract people from a 2 hour drive away, and Charleroi is only an hour drive from Brussels. That leaves a pretty big overlap in market, as presumably a main park will have a similar (if not, bigger) catchment area.
Suggests to me that Legoland Charleroi will have a focus on attracting French tourists in particular. Which I guess makes sense actually, given that the French-Belgian border near there is rather theme park lite.

So yes, certainly an interesting development in a wider sense. Will be interesting to see how, if at all, it differs from current LDCs.