{"id":209029,"date":"2026-03-07T13:54:49","date_gmt":"2026-03-07T13:54:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/209029\/"},"modified":"2026-03-07T13:54:49","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T13:54:49","slug":"legoland-opens-the-new-lego-galaxy-and-its-most-thrilling-coaster-yet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/209029\/","title":{"rendered":"Legoland opens the new Lego Galaxy and its most thrilling coaster yet"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Legoland is growing up. <\/p>\n

The Carlsbad theme park will on Friday open Lego Galaxy, a new 2.4-acre themed land that will feature its most adult-focused attraction yet in the Galacticoaster. An indoor, space-themed thrill ride, Galacticoaster is brief but impressionable, a spinning race through a darkened landscape to save a Lego-infused galaxy from an \u201casteroid of probable destruction.\u201d <\/p>\n

At 40 mph, it\u2019s the park\u2019s fastest ride, but coming in at about 60 seconds and focusing on banking and turning means it still has full family appeal. Expect it to serve as an introductory, big kid coaster for many. It\u2019s infused with lighthearted humor \u2014 floating farmers and barnyard animals cruise among the stars \u2014 lending it a rather relaxed atmosphere for a save-the-world, fast-paced attraction. In other words, it\u2019s sleek, it\u2019s hurried and it\u2019s cutesy. <\/p>\n

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Share via Close extra sharing options <\/p>\n

\u201cMy favorite is the surfing alien,\u201d says Tom Storer, North American project director for Merlin Magic Making, the creative team behind Lego experiences. \u201cShe\u2019s my favorite thing to see in there. It\u2019s right after the blast. It will sneak up on you.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Galacticoaster is the centerpiece of Lego Galaxy, which also includes two smaller outdoor attractions, a vintage-style shoot-\u2019em-up video game and a play area for little ones. Its part of a $90-million investment in Legoland\u2019s California and Florida parks on behalf of parent Merlin Entertainment (an identical Galacticoaster can be found in Lego\u2019s Florida park). Lego Galaxy hopes to draw visitors \u2014 and perhaps new audiences \u2014 by focusing on slicker, more modern technology and injecting in the park the sort of excitable ride more commonly found at Legoland\u2019s Southern California competitors. <\/p>\n

Storer, for instance, isn\u2019t shy about the Galacticoaster\u2019s inspiration. <\/p>\n

1 <\/p>\n

\"Visitors <\/p>\n

2 <\/p>\n

\"L.A. <\/p>\n

3 <\/p>\n

\"Two <\/p>\n

1. Visitors wait to ride the Galacticoaster. 2. Los Angeles residents Veronica and Eloy Navarro with their children Zoe, 10, left, and Levi, 9, right, ride the Galacticoaster. 3. San Diego residents Yesenia Auer, 38, left, with her cousin Kelly Luquin, 34, right, and Luquin\u2019s sons Emiliano and Leo, from left, are all smiles after riding the new indoor coaster. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is the space roller coaster of 2026? Space Mountain is a classic from back in the day,\u201d he says, referring to the Disneyland Resort staple<\/a> launched in 1977. \u201cBut this is kind of the new way.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is faster and brighter than Space Mountain, as the Galacticoaster is heavily populated with twinkling stars, planetary projections and many a Lego brick creation. But while Space Mountain tops off at about 32 mph, it likely still has Galacticoaster beat in the intensity factor due to its lift hill, sudden dips, jolting turns and near pitch-black darkness. No matter, says Storer, as here the objective was to place guests in a welcoming adventure with plenty to look at. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you think of outer space, you instantly think of stars and planets,\u201d Storer says. \u201cWe have a really cool digital planet and we have stars everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Galacticoaster sits four per car, loading attendees parallel in a row via a moving platform. Once seated and locked in, it nearly immediately takes off, jetting riders into a darkened hallway with white lights before injecting them into a Lego galaxy. Lego aficionados or those who grew up with the sets will likely spy many an allusion to past toys. In the ride\u2019s queue, for instance, guests in line will walk past a wall that features a timeline of many a Lego space set. Action comes fast, but surrounds guests, as the coaster cars rotate around a hurtling asteroid. <\/p>\n

\"Visitors <\/p>\n

Visitors wait in line to ride the new indoor coaster designed for families.<\/p>\n

While it twists from side to side, which has drawn light comparisons to Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind<\/a> at Walt Disney World\u2019s Epcot, with some referring to this as sort of a starter version of that more powerful coaster, it\u2019s a smooth and relatively unobtrusive twisting. Those prone to motion sickness \u2014 and I am one of them \u2014 likely need not be too concerned here. <\/p>\n

While Legoland has other coasters, many are known as what Storer refers to as \u201cpink knuckle\u201d coasters, slang for safe for kids and families. Galacticoaster, with a minimum height requirement of 36 inches, certainly is as well, but the creative executive hopes it falls somewhere between the pink and white knuckle level of force, the latter term reserved for the most thrilling of coasters.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re known for having \u2018pink knuckle\u2019 coaster, where it\u2019s not too scary,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of, \u2018My first coaster.\u2019 This is family-friendly. We\u2019d never do anything that\u2019s not family-friendly. We want to make sure our guests from 5 to 12 have lots to do, but it\u2019s a little more punchy and has that cool launch with a space blast-off feel.\u201d<\/p>\n

Theme park aficionados will be keen to know that this is the first attraction in the park to feature an animatronic figure. The character of Biff Dipper, an engineer, will be found in the ride\u2019s preshow, familiarizing guests with the story of the asteroid that spells impending doom. Stout and slightly gruff, Dipper has a digital face that can approximate more than 40 expressions. The animatronic, says Storer, was an important investment for the park, as Legoland in Lego Galaxy was cognizant of guests becoming bored in what will surely be one of the park\u2019s longest lines this upcoming spring and summer season. <\/p>\n

There are interactive elements throughout Lego Galaxy. In the Galacticoaster, for instance, riders will build a virtual approximation of a spaceship from a touchscreen, selecting options for wings, cannons and more. Some are militant. Others look like burgers or rainbows. There are 625 variations, and the creation will then appear at the start and finish of the attraction, injected into the ride\u2019s projectors via a guest wristband. Legoland officials like to refer to Galacticoaster as a 10-minute experience, a time that takes in the preshow with the Dippper figure as well as the construction of the spacecraft. <\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

The character of Biff Dipper is Legoland\u2019s first animatronic figure. Dipper is in the preshow of the Galacticoaster.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere in Lego Galaxy, there\u2019s a full video game-like experience called the Rocket Assembly Bay. Here, guests will first build their own spaceship, and then have it scanned into the game for a cooperative shoot-\u2019em-up. Rocket Assembly Bay is good fun, and rewarding even, to see a virtual scan of a hand-built ship injected into the game, this despite that fact that the play experience is largely a modern update of old coin-op \u201cAsteroids.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s something about the simplicity of some of the things that have been done,\u201d Storer says. <\/p>\n

Two other core attractions dot the land. The G-Force Test Facility is a spinner that\u2019s pitched as an astronaut training experience. Guests with a minimum height of 40\u201d will be elevated off the ground via vehicles situated on rotating arms. There\u2019s plenty of swinging and rotating action in this more standard amusement park-like creation, although Storer notes that riders won\u2019t experience any actual G-forces. Still, here\u2019s one that those with a propensity to motion sickness may want to take a pass on.<\/p>\n

Lego Galaxy is rounded out with a play area and the preschool-focused ride Launch & Land. For those with a minimum height of 34 inches, this is a casual, patient experience, one in which seated guests will gently lift off into the air for a slightly elevated view of the land. Nominally designed as a spaceport, Lego aliens and spaceships populate the area. Press a button near one of the ships, and initiate, for instance, an engine test. <\/p>\n

But don\u2019t expect anything too serious. The Galacticoaster, after all, has a farting space cow. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Legoland is growing up. The Carlsbad theme park will on Friday open Lego Galaxy, a new 2.4-acre themed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":209030,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[69827,96311,96309,96306,4080,5993,48,52,51,74884,47,50,49,96313,96310,96308,1833,57032,96312,2850,96307],"class_list":["post-209029","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-asteroid","tag-coaster-car","tag-excitable-ride","tag-galacticoaster","tag-guest","tag-instance","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-legoland","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-minimum-height-requirement","tag-new-land","tag-new-lego-galaxy","tag-park","tag-space-mountain","tag-spaceship","tag-star","tag-tom-storer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209029","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209029"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209029\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/209030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}