Legoland Billund was the first Legoland park and it also happens to be the best one.
Located in Denmark next to the original Lego factory, this park features the usually great
architecture and family rides, but this one also mixes in some more thrilling attractions to appeal
to older guests. So in this review, I’ll tell you everything you need to know about this park.
In the 1940s, Lego began manufacturing the iconic plastic brick in Billund that would define the
company. Legos are extremely popular, especially amongst kids. They allow the user to express
their creativity in a fun and colorful way. By the 1960s, the Lego Factory was attracting
roughly 20,000 tourists annually. The company realized there was an
opportunity to do more with the brand. So in 1968, they opened a theme prak just down
the road from their factory named Legoland Billund. The park was an instant success.
It was so successful that Lego tried to open additional park. The second one opened in
Sierksdorf, Germany, but it lasted for just 3 years before being sold and renamed Hansa Park.
Lego tried expanding their brand again in the 1990s. They converted a former safari
park in England into Legoland Windsor in 1996 and they opened Legoland California in 1999.
Then they opened Legoland Deutschland in 2002. After taking a financial loss in 2005,
the Lego Group sold their parks to Merlin. The Legoland brand has exploded ever since. Merlin
has opened 7 additional theme parks and has 5 more under construction.
Legoland is now widely considered one of the premier family theme park brands in the world.
I think Legoland Billund is the chain’s flagship park. Some of their other properties cover more
land, but Billund is arguably the densest park, as it’s jam-packed with colorful displays and
rides. And you can also pair your visit with the unique Lego House, which is filled with museums
and interactive exhibits dedicated to Legos. This is a must for diehard Lego fans and it’s roughly
a half mile from the park. You can actually walk between them or take a shuttle bus.
Legoland Billund’s location is super convenient. It’s roughly 1.5 miles from the Billund Airport.
It’s so close, that you can actually walk between the two, but I’d recommend the shuttle bus that
takes all of 4 minutes instead. These buses can also be used in conjunction with trains
to get between Legoland and Copenhagen. If you arrive by car, you’ll have multiple
parking lots to choose from. The most convenient is P1. It’s right across the street from the main
entrance and no more than a 2-3 minute walk. Arrive early if you want this lot.
All of Legolands lots cost the same, which was 60 Danish Krone or $8 USD as of 2022.
Despite being better than the US Legolands, the Billund location is far more affordable. Admission
cost 400 Danish Krone or $54 USD in 2022. The US Legoland parks cost nearly $90 for comparison.
The park looks very similar to the other Legolands in that it looks fantastic.
Guests are greeted by a giant entry archway and then you’ll find a variety of themed
lands inside the park. Each has its own unique feel. And all of them feature colorful displays,
inspired by or actually built by Legos. This place really is a kid’s dream come true, but anyone
who is a fan of theming can appreciate all the little details that went into this park. And the
park also has some nice landscaping in spots along with all the fantastical figures and structures.
The cheery atmosphere is further enhanced by the park staff. They are very friendly. You
want that at any theme park, but it’s especially critical at a park aimed more towards children.
I’m going to break this park down land by land. But first, I’ll give
some generalizations about the ride offerings. Legoland Billund has the strong mix of gentle
rides you’d expect from the chain. This park has plenty of quality dark rides spread across the
park that can be enjoyed by all. Then each land has a few designated kiddie rides, playgrounds,
or building areas for young kids. But this park also has some true thrill rides that can invert
you over a dozen times. Can being the key word. The experiences are smartly customizable depending
on your tastes. I think that was a brilliant move to make them approachable for all.
Moving onto the lands, let’s start with the heart and soul of any Legoland park- Miniland.
This is a well-landscaped walkthrough area home to some of the best Lego models in the world.
You pass famous landmarks recreated with Legos. Not only are they highly detailed, but some even
have some animation. This entire area is an attraction in itself and is not to be missed.
You can also find two great observation rides here. Legotop the park’s tallest
attraction. It’s a 12 story observation tower offering spectacular views of Miniland,
the rest of the park, and the surrounding area. Alternatively, you can take the Monorail for a
more intimate tour of the front half of the park. Imagination Zone doesn’t have a real theme to it.
The Legoland Hotel runs along this area and you have two notable attractions. One is Lego
Atlantis, which is a giant aquarium. The other is Lego Studios, which is a decent 4-D theater.
Duplo Land functions as the park’s kiddie land with a series of colorful transportation rides.
Ninjago World feels pretty identical to the ones found at the US parks.
The centerpiece is a giant dojo housing Ninjago the Ride. This is one of my favorite shooting
rides out there. Firing projectiles with hand motions makes me feel like a superhero…and
unlike Web Slingers the screen isn’t utter chaos.
Legordo Town is my favorite area from a theming perspective. A lot of parks have done a wild west
area, but this is the first time I’ve seen one from Lego. It has the usual architecture
and golden brown colors, but the infusion of Lego breathes new life into this theme.
This land is home to Flying Eagle, a Zierer family coaster that was cloned for Runaway Tram
at Morey’s Piers. This ride is pretty fun. It has some nice landscaping, it’s immaculately smooth,
and some of the turns offer some force. You also have Lego Canoe, which is a
well-themed log flume. You travel through a mountain and go past a few Lego sets. Then you
also have a drop. It’s not particularly tall nor intense, as the ride is more about the visuals.
The other major ride in this area doesn’t really fit in with the rest of the land.
That would be Ghost- the Haunted House. But the ride otherwise looks amazing both from the creepy
exterior and all the details inside. This ride features a fun and spooky queue line with some
haunted scenes and even a mirror maze. All this leads to a small indoor drop tower. It’s fine for
kids, but I was shocked how short the cycle was. Knight’s Kingdom is a medieval themed area.
The area’s focal point is a castle, which houses the station for Dragen.
This is a unique Mack powered coaster capable of running two trains. The ride has a solid dark ride
section at the start like the chain’s other Dragon coasters, but the outdoor section on this one is
much milder. That part feels like a junior coaster, albeit a well-landscaped one.
This area is also home to Vikings River Splash, a quirky Intamin river rapids ride.
This one doesn’t have many rapids, but it is plussed by a variety of figures. And the course
has some mild thrills, as there are two abrupt dips that offer speed boosts and a fun finale. You
have a swift elevator lift followed by a ramp, and whoever goes backwards will get soaked.
Pirate Land is a swashbuckling good time with all the ships and water. Pirates Splash Battle
brings a lot of energy to the land as riders and guests engage in a soaking water fight.
But the land’s best ride is Piratbade. Parts of it are outdoors. Parts of it are indoors
and there are some scenes that feel like a Lego version of Pirates of the Caribbean.
Adventure Land has an exploration vibe with some jungle and ruin themed attractions.
X-treme Racers is the area’s biggest ride. This Mack wild mouse coaster features a sizable drop at
the start for the genre, but the rest of the ride is heavily trimmed, neutering the usually strong
laterals. It does make it less intense, which makes sense for the park’s primary audience.
Jungle Racers is one of those Zierer water whips. It’s a neat
sensation skimming across the water and I wish more of these rides were around.
Temple is a fine shooting dark ride. What few sets it has look good. The problem is that this
ride is over in a flash. It’s among the shortest of its kind out there. The targets all work,
but the guns have a bit of a learning curve since the laser deactivates whenever you fire.
Last but not least, you have Fire Brigade. This is a Legoland staple.
It’s a fun race to see who can propel their car and extinguish the fire first.
I don’t think it fits in with the rest of the land, but the ride itself is good.
Lego Movie World is an over-the-top and outlandish land with all sorts of references to the popular
film. There are two rides of note here. Emmet’s Flying Adventure- Masters of Flight
is a flying theater. These rides usually offer peaceful and scenic tours of landmarks, but this
one is an acid trip. It’s sensory overload as you chaotically move through crowded scenes.
I still enjoy the ride, but I prefer the more traditional flying theaters.
Apocalypseburg Sky Battle is a Technical Park flat ride where guests can use the
paddles- if they choose- to invert their vehicle. If you get the motion down,
you can get some nice hangtime over the top and rapid flips towards the bottom.
Moving onto Polar Land, which is understandably arctic themed, you have another similarly
crazy ride in Ice Pilots School. This is a quintet of Kuka robot arms placed indoors.
Before you board, you can select a level 1 to 5 with 1 being the tamest and 5 being the craziest.
You then can select specific maneuvers for your arm to perform. If you go with Level 5, you get
1 minute of consecutive mayhem and I’m pretty sure I spent more time inverted than upright. I
got a delightful mix of hangtime and more forceful flips when I was launched forwards or backwards.
Just beware this ride’s capacity and I have a whole review going into more detail.
This land is also home to the park’s final coaster in Polar X-plorer, and I think it’s the best
coaster at a Legoland park. This Zierer creation offers some force on the turns and a pinch of
airtime on the speed hills. And the entire layout takes place in and around a mountain. You have a
surprise I won’t spoil here- see my review if you want that- plus some fun visuals including the
penguin exhibit you pass on the brake run. And if you aren’t into coasters,
you can still see the penguins alone at the adjacent Penguin Bay viewing area.
Legoland Billund attracts over 2 million guests annually and if you visit during the summer
months, expect the park to be busy daily. Midways will feel pretty jammed, but crowds are dispersed
pretty evenly across the main attractions. So while no one ride will consistently post
an hour plus wait, it’s not uncommon for the adult rides to post 30-45 minute waits across the board.
Staff members do a good job loading and checking the restraints quickly, but some
rides just have inherently low capacities. If you’re a coaster enthusiast visiting
exclusively for the credits, I would arrive at Legoland for opening. You should be able to make a
quick lap before crowds hit their peak. Start with Flying Eagle since this Zierer coaster only runs
one train and gives two laps. This ride’s queue is often spilling onto the midway open until close.
I would then hit Dragen, X-treme Racers, and Polar X-plorer in that order since each is
further into the park. While I don’t recommend making Legoland a credit run, I know some do it.
If you care about more than just the coasters, I recommend giving yourself a full day so you don’t
have to rush. And I could see die-hard Lego fans and kids wanting to spend two days here,
especially since this park doesn’t have the longest hours. The park closes by 6
pm somedays and the rides always close an hour before the official closing time.
With a full day, I would still prioritize Flying Eagle first. I would then make a b-line back
to Ice Pilots School. The latter has downright awful capacity. It can accommodate a max of 10
riders at a time. I would then knockout anything else in the back-half of the park such as Polar
X-plorer and the rides in Adventure Land and Lego Movie World before crowds get back there.
If you want to maximize your visit, you can purchase the Reserve and Ride skip-the-line
pass. I opted for this since I only had a half day before flying home. It is pricey,
costing between 299 and 749 Danish Krone or $40-$100 USD depending on the tier. The higher
levels cut the return times down significantly. The system worked on most of the park’s
major rides and when your time was called, you’d board almost instantly.
I did have one issue though. This is an electronic system using a website similar to the ones used at
Six Flags and other Merlin parks. However, my reservations would not go through over data.
Worse, it chewed through my data allowance in no time trying to process the reservations.
Legoland Billund does have free wifi, but the signal is inconsistent towards the back of the
park. I had to keep heading towards the front of the park to have a strong enough connection
to reserve a ride. I’m guessing locals don’t have this issue, but watch out if
you’re a foreigner reliant on wifi like me. With just a half day, I didn’t try any meals,
especially since they had very long lines. I didn’t see two of the usual
Legoland staples in apple fries and the pizza and pasta buffet though.
If you want the most immersive Legoland experience, you can opt to stay at one of their
on-site hotels. Both the Legoland Hotel and Castle Hotel are located across the street from the park.
These hotels can be pricey in summer- costing 3000 Krone or $400 per night,
but you can get them for a quarter of that price if you find an off-peak weekday. And while I’ve
never stayed there, they look to maintain the same colorful aesthetic and theme of the main park.
So do I recommend Legoland Billund? If you have kids, absolutely. This is easily the best park
in Denmark for children. The abundance of family-friendly rides combined with all the
Lego theming and exhibits makes this place spectacular for that demographic. Legoland
parks always seem to be a hit with kids, and this one was a tier above the others I’ve visited.
As an adult, this was easily my favorite Legoland. This park supplemented the usual offerings with
some one-of-a-kind attractions and the occasional dark ride. There were several rides I wanted to
experience multiple times. I can’t say the same for a lot of the other Legoland parks.
So those are my thoughts on Legoland Billund. What are your thoughts on
the original Legoland park? Do you agree it’s the best one in the chain? Let me
know down in the comments. If you enjoyed this review, I’d appreciate it if you gave
this video a like and you considered subscribing since there will be a lot
more roller coaster and amusement park videos here at Canobie Coaster. Thanks for watching!