Credit: Seth Kubersky
Within the world of Central Florida’s theme parks — which should theoretically cater to every demographic — the term “family-friendly” is too often associated with attractions whose ambitions are as limited as their height requirements. Legoland is looking to alter that perception by launching their most expensive indoor experience ever, so I drove down to Winter Haven last week to learn if their new Galacticoaster achieves high-earth orbit, or remains grounded on the pad.
At a total budget of $94 million between the sibling versions installed at Legoland Florida and California, Galacticoaster is the biggest investment yet in North America for Merlin Entertainment, and the largest project so far for project director Tom Storer, who was celebrating his eighth anniversary with Merlin Magic Making during the ride’s media preview.
“It’s been about three and a half years from that first spark [of development], and we knew we needed to do something special,” says Storer. “Our creative team came together and partnered with Lego to come up with the Space concept, and just kind of ran with it from there.”
Located in the far back corner of Legoland Florida, on a plot of land near the entrance to the water park that once held the painfully janky Flying School inverted roller coaster, the Galacticoaster and surrounding play structures are all themed to the classic 1970s Lego Space playsets fondly remembered from Gen X childhoods. After basing recent rides on modern franchises like Ninjago and The Lego Movie, “this is the first time we were kind of combining everything to appeal to all generations,” Merlin public relations director Julie Estrada told me, “so it’s been fun, watching guests go through the line and [say], ‘I had this space buggy when I was 7 years old.’”
Before embarking on their adventure, guests experience two preshows, which are the clearest evidence that Legoland is aiming to up their ante in attraction design. The first one features Biff Dipper, an animatronic astronaut who’s 25 times the scale of a standard Lego minifigure. He smoothly swivels on his heel and swings his arms, using nine different mechanical functions as he and his friends on surrounding screens fill in potential pilots on the attraction’s plot: A colorful asteroid is on a collision course with Earth, and only you can lead a swarm of Separators (the tools that master model builders use to break bricks apart) to stop an adorable armageddon.
In order to accomplish your goal, you’ll need a sweet-looking spaceship, which is where the second preshow comes in. Grouped in teams of four, you’re handed an RFID slap bracelet and directed to a slick vertical touchscreen where Biff helps you select customized parts to apply to your cosmic craft — including a dragon tail, hamburger wings or flowering fins, along with more conventional nose cones and rocket thrusters. After emerging from the second preshow, stepping on the boarding station’s conveyor belt, and being secured by the four-passenger vehicles’ roomy overhead lap restraints, riders get to see a live image of themselves superimposed into the ship they just designed. Storer calls this effect (designed by 2Heads) “the real ‘wow’ moment of the ride.”
Credit: Seth Kubersky
Following that video effect, passengers blast into the main portion of the ride with a reasonably vigorous launch, finding themselves gliding through a darkened warehouse surrounded by twinkling starlight and static oversized toys. These physical props, enhanced with some animated projections, give a value-engineered “No, we have Cosmic Rewind at home” vibe, but they fly by too swiftly for their relative simplicity to be immersion-breaking. About halfway through the course, the cars unlock from facing forward and begin controlled rotations, letting riders briefly experience several exhilarating “drifting” moments that — despite a top speed of only 40 mph — almost approximate elements of EPCOT’s superb Guardians of the Galaxy spinning coaster, and arguably surpass the sensations of Epic Universe’s underwhelming Curse of the Werewolf.
Unfortunately, just as Galacticoaster was starting to blast beyond my modest expectations, we arrived at the final break run, which is placed exactly where the grand finale would have started in a properly paced track layout. As a coaster enthusiast, I found the abrupt ending tragically anticlimactic; for my money, I would have scaled back the preshows (which last several times longer than the actual ride does) and expanded the track by another 20 seconds. However, for the 5- to 12-year-old demographic that Legoland attractions are explicitly designed to please, Galacticoaster probably delivers the proper “pink-knuckle” level of intensity that Estrada says they’re aiming for. I also appreciate Galacticoaster’s efforts at accessibility beyond the low 36-inch minimum height, including full ADA access and available sensory headphones.
If you’re eager to journey where no brick has gone before, Legoland currently has some attractive discounts for Florida residents. However, bear in mind that, as with any rocket launch, it’s all in the timing. During my preview, glitches forced me to wait almost 100 minutes for my first ride, and over 30 for my second. I’d say the attraction is worth enduring about a 20-minute queue, so you may want to delay until the opening-month hype dies down and the technical bugs die off. Just don’t wait too long to go, because Legoland’s other interactive dark rides are currently in dire need of basic maintenance, and you’ll want to see Biff while he’s still buff, before he’s busted.
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