{"id":143573,"date":"2026-02-04T17:02:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T17:02:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/143573\/"},"modified":"2026-02-04T17:02:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T17:02:13","slug":"first-look-galacticoaster-at-legoland-florida","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/143573\/","title":{"rendered":"First look: Galacticoaster at Legoland Florida"},"content":{"rendered":"

WINTER HAVEN \u2013 Final preparations are being made inside and outside Galacticoaster<\/a>, Florida\u2019s newest roller coaster, which is set to open at Legoland Florida<\/a> theme park this month.<\/p>\n

Space-themed Lego<\/a> models \u2014 rotating ride vehicles that are customized by passengers and a next-generation animatronic named Biff Dipper \u2014 are prominent parts of the indoor coaster.<\/p>\n

Near the entrance is a brick-by-brick and way-bigger-than-life model of Lego set 918, a spaceship introduced in 1979.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s \u201ca classic ship, but it\u2019s got some extra flourishes that you only really find in the Legoland park,\u201d says Rosie Brailsford, senior project director for Merlin Magic Making, the creative arm of Merlin Entertainments<\/a>.<\/p>\n

About four years ago, Brailsford was instructed to work with Lego Group to develop an attraction that would work on a global platform, she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have a line, kind of from the \u201970s and various different iterations of that, which is what you will find in Lego Galaxy,\u201d she says. \u201cSo, it\u2019s kind of a merge of past and present and opportunity for future iterations as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brailsford guided the Orlando Sentinel on an exclusive walk-through \u2014 no riding yet \u2014 of the attraction, which opens to the public Feb. 27.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

An upsided minifigure is one of the aliens that greets Legoland Florida visitors to Lego Galaxy area and Galacticoaster. The new indoor roller coaster opens Feb. 27. (Dewayne Bevil\/Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The exterior of Galacticoaster includes a re-creationg of actual Lego playsets with space themes. The coaster opens at Legoland Florida on Feb. 27. (Dewayne Bevil\/Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The exterior of Galacticoaster includes a re-creation of actual Lego playsets with space themes. The coaster opens at Legoland Florida on Feb. 27. (Dewayne Bevil\/Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n

\"Legoland<\/p>\n

Legoland Florida is preparing to unwrap an indoor roller coaster. Its entrance includes upsized Lego minifigures and structures based on toy sets. Galacticoaster opens to the public Feb. 27. (Dewayne Bevil\/Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A Lego space flower appears to blossom in the play area of Galacticoaster, an indoor coaster opening at Legoland Florida theme park on Feb. 27. (Dewayne Bevil\/Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n

\"Alien<\/p>\n

Alien Tourist, an upsided minifigure, stands in the courtyard as a photo opportunity for Legoland Florida visitors. The park’s Galacticoaster is scheduled to open to the public on Feb. 27. (Dewayne Bevil\/Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n

\"Biff<\/p>\n

Biff Dipper, a next-generation animatronic for Legoland Florida, greets theme park visitors as part of the queue for the new Galacticoaster. The ride opens to the public Feb. 27. (Dewayne Bevil\/Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n

\"Rosie<\/p>\n

Rosie Brailsford, senior project director for Merlin Magic Making, tours visitors through the queue for Galacticoaster, an indoor coaster opening at Legoland Florida on Feb. 27. (Dewayne Bevil\/Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n

\"Posters<\/p>\n

Posters in one room of the queue for the new Galacticoaster show off digital options for the ride vehicle. The attraction opens to the public Feb. 27. (Dewayne Bevil\/Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The first lobby of the new Galacticoaster includes Lego spaceship models, some of which are discontinued and difficult to find. The indoor roller coaster opens to the public Feb. 27. (Dewayne Bevil\/Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The spinning ride vehicles for Galacticoaster include a lap bar that comes down over the heads of passengers. Visitors access the cars via a moving sidewalk. (Dewayne Bevil\/Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n

Show Caption<\/p>\n

1 of 11<\/p>\n

An upsided minifigure is one of the aliens that greets Legoland Florida visitors to Lego Galaxy area and Galacticoaster. The new indoor roller coaster opens Feb. 27. (Dewayne Bevil\/Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n

Expand<\/a>
\nWhat\u2019s outside<\/p>\n

The new coaster is on the site of the Flying School ride that was closed in August 2023<\/a>. The exterior queue looks down at the park\u2019s Driving School<\/a> attraction. There are two entrances, including one from Legoland\u2019s water park.<\/p>\n

The spaceship is surrounded by Lego characters, including photo opportunities. The Alien Tourist figure \u2014 outfitted in a floral shirt, red shorts, aqua hat and big old-school camera \u2014 takes snaps of a green and antennaed alien family. A Duplo<\/a> play area dubbed Tot Spot and designed for the youngest visitors, includes a Lego Shuttle. (A shade structure is being added.) Nearby are large Lego space flowers and a robot dog.<\/p>\n

Early on, potential riders meet Capt. Olivia on screen.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s welcoming you to the Lego Galaxy, telling you about a little snippet of the mission that you\u2019re going to go on,\u201d Brailsford says.<\/p>\n

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A large screen televises a 10-minute loop of details about what\u2019s coming up.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are little moments of backstory here, so that if you are milling around in the land, you\u2019ve already started to absorb in your subconscious what\u2019s going on,\u201d Brailsford says.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s going on? In the Galacticoaster universe, they are bracing for \u201cthe asteroid of probable destruction.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"BiffBiff Dipper, a next-generation animatronic for Legoland Florida, greets theme park visitors as part of the queue for the new Galacticoaster. The ride opens to the public Feb. 27. (Dewayne Bevil\/Orlando Sentinel)
\nWhat\u2019s inside<\/p>\n

The front lobby features a large blocky version of the Lego Galaxy logo, which is a bit interplanetary and a bit NASA meatball. Below it are actual assembled Lego models on display, some of which are vintage and difficult to find, Brailsford says.<\/p>\n

A series of halls and customized posters lead to a big Briefing Room with animatronic Biff Dipper, the chief engineer. He\u2019s about 4 feet tall and standing on an elevated platform. His arms, legs and head move, and his face is animated below the visor of his space helmet. He greets future riders \u2014 there can be as many as 80 people in the room \u2014 and explains the goal. It\u2019s us versus the asteroid.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost of our minifigures in our Legoland are static, smooth minifigures. \u2026 Biff is essentially next generation of how we want to do that on a show basis,\u201d Brailsford says. They partnered with Engineered Arts<\/a> of Cornwall, United Kingdom, to create this figure, which sports 45 facial animations, Legoland says.<\/p>\n

Merlin is \u201cworking really closely with Lego to make sure all of that motion that they do is true to how a minifigure would move, and we\u2019re not just making them do random things,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

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Other on-screen characters give ride instructions and advance the storyline of how to deal with that asteroid. Plans A and B (one involving a giant net) were flops, and they need help with Plan C. It involves \u201cseparator swarms.\u201d<\/p>\n

The room includes interesting visuals such as a blueprint for vehicle options and a sign that reads \u201cInterested in time travel? Meet here last Monday, 2 p.m.\u201d<\/p>\n

From here, Biff sends riders into a room where ride vehicle options are selected. Riders pick design features for wings, tail, nose and such. The choices range from practical to fanciful \u2014 add-ons such as hamburger wings and disco balls. The console allows 15 seconds for each selection, and then the total look is uploaded onto an RFID-enabled bracelet. There are more than 600 possible combinations.<\/p>\n

The idea, we\u2019re told, is to make the spacecraft \u201cso awesome that it grabs the separators\u2019 attention like nothing else.\u201d Also, don\u2019t let them catch you.<\/p>\n

Next stop: the Galacticoaster loading bay.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe spinning ride vehicles for Galacticoaster include a lap bar that comes down over the heads of passengers. Visitors access the cars via a moving sidewalk. (Dewayne Bevil\/Orlando Sentinel)
\nThe ride stuff<\/p>\n

Passengers navigate a moving sidewalk to the in-real-life vehicles, which seat four passengers across and have lap bars that lower from overhead.<\/p>\n

The ride moves into an airlock space, and there \u201cyou\u2019ll see yourself in your awesome creation,\u201d Brailsford says. You\u2019ll linger for about 10 seconds, \u201cthen you will launch, up to 40 miles an hour, off on your adventure,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd you have your kind of save-the-day moment on the ride.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Sentinel walk-through did not include a ride-through. Brailsford said the experience is smooth and the launch makes it punchy, probably more intense than the Dragon coaster<\/a>, its Legoland Florida sister attraction. The height requirement is 36 inches for riders accompanied by an adult. Unaccompanied visitors must be at least 48 inches tall.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not like terrifying or anything, but being indoors, we do feel like they\u2019ll get a little bit more of that thrill factor as well,\u201d she says. \u201cBecause it\u2019s dark, you don\u2019t necessarily quite know where you\u2019re going.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe first lobby of the new Galacticoaster includes Lego spaceship models, some of which are discontinued and difficult to find. The indoor roller coaster opens to the public Feb. 27. (Dewayne Bevil\/Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n

The spinning is programmed, she said. \u201cIt\u2019s not like a free spinning.\u201d<\/p>\n

Legoland\u2019s website says to expect \u201cSpecial effects, synchronized lighting and surprise appearances from classic Lego Space characters.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ride time is about 1 minute and 30 seconds, and, per theme park tradition, the exit is through the gift shop (official name: Orbital Outpost).<\/p>\n

Another Galacticoaster is under construction that\u2019s set to open March 6 at Legoland California<\/a>, and, in theory, there could be more. There are also Legoland theme parks in New York, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Germany, Malaysia, Dubai, Japan, South Korea and China.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have, like, a base story and land concept that we can adjust and tweak if we were to roll a version of it out,\u201d Brailsford says. \u201cIt might not necessarily be this ride. It might be a different ride with another story from the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Email me at dbevil@orlandosentinel.com<\/a>. BlueSky: @themeparksdb. Threads account: @dbevil. X account: @themeparks. Subscribe to the Theme Park Rangers newsletter at orlandosentinel.com\/newsletters<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WINTER HAVEN \u2013 Final preparations are being made inside and outside Galacticoaster, Florida\u2019s newest roller coaster, which is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":143574,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[558,104,28,29,114,19041,266,115,139,141,140,14291,109,2411,106,1316,107],"class_list":{"0":"post-143573","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-orlando","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-florida","11":"tag-florida-news","12":"tag-latest-headlines","13":"tag-legoland","14":"tag-local-news","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-orlando","17":"tag-orlando-headlines","18":"tag-orlando-news","19":"tag-parenting-and-family","20":"tag-social","21":"tag-theme-parks","22":"tag-things-to-do","23":"tag-tourism","24":"tag-travel"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=143573"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143573\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/143574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}