New Legoland for Shenzhen

[Gavin]

Following in the footsteps of Universal and Shanghai Disney Resort, Legoland – in the southeastern tech hub of Shenzhen – is the latest amusement park offering for Chinese domestic tourists.

Construction of the 580,000 square metre (6.2 million sq ft) park, the biggest of China’s four Legolands, began in late August on the scenic Dapeng Peninsula on the eastern edge of Shenzhen.

The resort, which has a price tag of more than US$1 billion, is expected to be completed in 2024 and lure more than 2 million tourists in the first year and 20 million yuan in tax revenue over the first five, according to a government report. More than 3000 jobs will be created by the development.

“17 million people live in Shenzhen, but they don’t have many entertainment options other than a Happy Valley and a Window of the World, which were both built decades ago,” Zhou Rongqiang, a local driver, excitedly told the South China Morning Post.

The Shenzhen Legoland resort will fill a gap in Guangdong province’s domestic travel market, and increase the number of operators in luxury resorts and travel-related activities like scuba diving and fishing, said Guan Wenlu, who operates a tour agency headquartered in Shenzhen.

“It will put the city on the map of China’s high-end holiday destinations,” Guan said. Though it will be a boost to the regional economy, Legoland is still a novelty piece in
China’s domestic tourism market, which is underdeveloped with limited infrastructure when compared to more sophisticated industries overseas, analysts say.

Source Article

I really haven't been keeping up with China's theme park construction (or any for that matter) since there's zero prospect of going at the moment, so I did a quick search to see how legitimate it was, and it's all official. There was a launch ceremony in the summer, so it's possibly not quite under construction yet (or maybe it is?), so I'll shove it in here for now.

There's also a press release on Merlin's page claiming it as the world's biggest Legoland resort. They're also claiming that "the LEGOLAND Shenzhen Resort will be the first international IP-based family entertainment theme park resort in the Greater Bay Area", ignoring the fact that Hong Kong Disneyland exists. They're up to their usual marketing tricks, so who knows whether the "biggest" claim is actually true.

Merlin Press Release

Anyway. Yay?

I'm not a fan of Legoland. I know I'm not the target market, but even with that in mind, I find that they don't offer much for the silly prices they often charge. Having said that, I'm sure there'll be the usual Dragon/Mini Dragon combo, so, you know, creds an' that. It will be day-trip material from here once we stop acting like North Korea and start letting people in and out.

It's also potentially a good thing to have another major brand in the area. Hopefully it will shake things up a bit with OCT, who currently have a monopoly on parks in Shenzhen and have let them stagnate a bit.

 

[roomraider]

Source Article

I really haven't been keeping up with China's theme park construction (or any for that matter) since there's zero prospect of going at the moment, so I did a quick search to see how legitimate it was, and it's all official. There was a launch ceremony in the summer, so it's not quite under construction yet (or maybe it is?), but it's close enough that I'll shove it in here.

There's also a press release on Merlin's page claiming it as the world's biggest Legoland resort. They're also claiming that "the LEGOLAND® Shenzhen Resort will be the first international IP-based family entertainment theme park resort in the Greater Bay Area", ignoring the fact that Hong Kong Disneyland exists. They're up to their usual marketing tricks, so who knows whether the "biggest" claim is actually true.

Merlin Press Release

Anyway. Yay?

I'm not a fan of Legoland. I know I'm not the target market, but even with that in mind, I find that they don't offer much for the silly prices they often charge. Having said that, I'm sure there'll be the usual Dragon/Mini Dragon combo, so, you know, creds an' that. It will be day-trip material from here once we stop acting like North Korea and start letting people in and out.

It's also potentially a good thing to have another major brand in the area. Hopefully it will shake things up a bit with OCT, who currently have a monopoly on parks in Shenzhen and have let them stagnate a bit.

Indeed this is one I've been following closely and was planning on setting up a construction topic when I got off this damn boat.

There's 3 big Legoland projects on the go in China. Sichuan which has a topic in the construction forum is the furthest forwards it seems and this park is functionally identical. Then there's Shanghai which is a little smaller and cuts some of the attractions.

As can be seen here the park plan shows the same (B&M?) junior invert and the unknown launched coaster that we see on the Sichuan Park. As well as the Dragon combo we usually see.



Same as Sichuan this park has a site reserved for a future park and a water park as well

Site clearing seems to be complete already so probably won't be long before we see vertical construction

 

[TPoseOnTantrum]

Current look at the site (think it’s ok to move to a park construction thread like the other two Chinese Legolands);


Source

 

[ricky coasters]

Wow! I like how it's surrounded by the forest and the water... kind of like OCT East and I bet it must be nearby cuz it's in Shenzhen, that lil area also could be perfect for a manmade beach if they wanted to! Do ya'll know if its nearby?

Also on the part that says "Future Theme Park" do ya'll think they want to make like a second gate like Disney and Universal does it? Maybe it could be themed to Ninjago because I bet that fits well in Asia AND because theres already rides themed to that, or maybe to LEGO Technic or one of those IP's LEGO owns... who knows, maybe they do like Florida and make it something that doesn't even gotta do with LEGO and make it Peppa Pig themed (jk last one was a joke, i don't think Peppa is popular in China but something unrelated could fit since it did in Flo-rida)

 

[Lukas D]

Merlin CEO Scott O'Neil visited the site recently. A closer look at the map (source via source) shows two rides for this project being cancelled. These include what appears in plans as an "airport ride" flat ride in the Mythica area of the theme park and a "Super Spin Splash Ride" in the water park whose layout looks like a Mack Twist'n'Splash.

 

[Lukas D]

This is from Merlin's recently released 2022 Annual Report (page 4):

We continue to pursue opportunities to expand our brands, formats and
geographic diversification. We are working with partners to develop three
LEGOLAND resorts in China over the next five years in Shanghai, Shenzhen,
and Sichuan province.

Source

So basically, the Chinese parks have been pushed back from 2023 to 2025 and now to 2028.