Anyone who knows the all-too-familiar pain of a bare foot stepping on a Lego block that was hiding in the carpet, rejoice! On March 27, the new Legoland Discovery Center—one of the few such attractions in the world—will open its doors in Yonkers’ Ridge Hill. There, you’ll find hands-on activity areas where kids can build their own Lego creations, a “4D” movie theater with 100 seats, two family-friendly rides, and Miniland, which re-creates landmark locations from Westchester and New York City in Lego form. “This is the first Legoland Discovery Center in the Northeast,” says General Manager Chris Mines. “We recommend that families plan to spend two to three hours when they come here. Kids are going to love things like building skyscrapers, and then putting them on our ‘earthquake plates’ to see if they’d hold up.” A lot of time, money (about $12 million), and primary-colored bricks went into building the attraction. Here, a by-the-numbers look.
10 Number of Legoland Discovery Centers worldwide. Of those, only five are in the United States; the Ridge Hill location is the first one on the East Coast.
11 Number of finalists in “Brick Factor Master Model Builder competition,” a Lego building contest with a prize of a full-time, salaried job at Legoland. Mike Tocidlowski of Putnam County was chosen based on his re-creation of a dirt bike. (And you thought you were talented because you could build a Lego house!)
50+ Number of models in Miniland, including Lyndhurst and Grand Central Terminal.
100 Number of employees, aka people who can brag that they get paid to play with Lego blocks all day.
32,300 Number of square feet the Legoland Discovery Center takes up in Ridge Hill. The Whole Foods Market there, by comparison, is 44,000 square feet.
3 million+ Total number of bricks used in the exhibits, sculptures, and activity areas—and you don’t have to clean up a single one of them.
