Subject:
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Visit to LEGO Imagination Center; Old KSC LEGO display
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.general
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Date:
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Mon, 23 Aug 1999 21:54:29 GMT
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Viewed:
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2843 times
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On Friday, accompanied by my 7 year old son and (ambivalent) wife, I
made my first trip to the LEGO Imagination Center located at Disney
Marketplace. We've lived just north of Orlando, Florida for over 3
years now and visited the Disney environs on many occasions, but I never
realized that a LEGO Imagination Center was there until recently.
I came out of my Dark Ages less than a year ago, and LEGO has
mushroomed into our lives. To be sure, my son had DUPLO when he was
young and had a handful of LEGO sets, but it was never the *passion*
that it is now. We now have 126 sets and 26,000 pieces (not counting
garage sale purchases). So, to realize that a LEGO Imagination Center
was only a 45 minute drive away was exciting!
We got there in the early evening and took a quick look at a couple
of the outdoor models on display and the play area. A few sprinkles
were in the air, so we decided to go into the store and let the weather
pass.
The store is, obviously, stocked chock full of LEGO sets.
Interspersed with the sets are dioramas which generally incorporate the
sets which sit on the adjacent shelves. The diorams are enclosed in ~5'
diameter plexiglass tubes, and most are integrated into the wall so as
to be viewable from both inside and outside the store. For the most
part, I was unimpressed with the overall look of the dioramas, but my
son enjoyed them. More impressive was seeing huge stacks of the
Mindstorms Robotic Invention System sets. <g>
One notable exception to the general opinion of the dioramas was a
display underneath the front of a checkout counter. I might have missed
it, since it sits below knee height and is under a generous counter
overhang with lots of distractions at counter level, but my son easily
spotted it. There, in full glorious gray and with a length of
approximately 7-8', was a very nice rendition of the Death Star trench
from Star Wars.
There are also a number of items not found in catalogs which are
emblazoned with the LEGO logo or associated images: pencils, coffee
mugs (with first names), birthday party supplies, and other stuff I
don't remember.
Since this is in a high tourist traffic venue the LEGO set pricing is
skewed from normal S@H and local store prices. Most of the small stuff
was higher, while most of the large stuff (over $30) was less than S@H
price. It's not worth a trip hoping to save money on the large sets,
because by the time 7% tax is added on it's pocket change less than the
S@H prices, and it costs more in gasoline than gets saved. It's main
advantage over S@H is for an item that the regular stores just don't
carry that you *need now* (ie. *need now* = always).
In the end, I bought 4 train sets: 4565 - Freight & Crane Railway,
4556 - Train Station, 4557 - Freight Loading Station, 4533 - Train Track
Snow Remover (don't really need 4533 in Florida, but hey, it's LEGO!);
and a Town Accessories pack (less than S@H).
We spent some more time in the play area building a car to race down
the 2' wide track they have there, then took another quick look at the
models on display. I'd have lingered longer, but 7 year olds need
their sleep and my wife was way past bored.
Another trip is in order, during the day, sans wife! <g>
-----
The other exciting LEGO thing happened was back in October 1996 when
we visited Kennedy Space Center. They had a large LEGO play room set up
with master models on display related to the U.S. space program. I'm
ashamed to say I don't remember any details of the models. On a recent
weekend at Cocoa Beach we went back to KSC, and I had hoped to take some
nice pictures, but it wasn't there. I asked about it and was told the
display was part of a traveling LEGO exhibit and was only at KSC for
about 6 months. I am glad I saw it back then, but it would have been
nice to see it again now that my Dark Ages are over.
I'll have to check through the photos & video from that trip to see
if any of it got caught on film. Perhaps the friend we took with us has
some pictures.
Does anybody know where this display is now or other locations it
traveled to? Has anybody else seen it?
Brian
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