Legoland Florida Planning Significant Expansion

© Google Maps

Legoland Florida appears to have expansion on their mind, at least according to new reports about a major expansion that they are planning.  Both the Orlando Sentinel and Attractions Magazine have published reports that the park has submitted planning documents that show the park would like to clear 4.5 acres of their parking lot to build a new themed area.

It is not clear at this point what the area would be themed to, though in the application the plan is referred to as Project Venus.  Parks use code words in planning documents often, knowing that they will eventually end up in the public eye, and it may not actually be tied to the land's theme.

The submission shows that the new area would be located at the front of the park in an area of the parking lot currently separated from the main park by both backstage areas and a road. 

 © Legoland Florida

There looks to be several new rides and attractions on the plans, seen above.  There's several small flat rides, a large building, a small roller coaster and some sort of track ride, to name some.  There is also a dining area, what looks like a small stage, and a pretty big play structure as well.

© Google Maps

The part I can't wrap my head around is how this will connect to the main theme park.  Here is an aerial of the park with a snip of the blueprints put on them.  I noticed that (the two red stripes) the plans read "Theme Park Entry" at this spot, and you can see on the plans (green stripe) it says "Exit Portal."  Unless the park make some additional major changes, the entrance to this addition is from a bus loop roadway, and the exit drops you right into the parking lot, which they spent a ton on to cover in solar panels.  And, that bus loop roadway is definitely shown as staying in the plans.  Also for reference, immediately to the left of the expansion is a large backstage area, with the theme park's entrance far up in the left corner.

That leaves me wondering, could this not be a new land for the theme park at all, instead some sort of stand alone attraction?  The number of rides and attractions in the plans does seem like more than double what the park has added in the past, so it does seem like a big project.  Or perhaps some sort of exclusive area for hotel guests, as they now have three different overnight options for the resort?  The news articles state that the park says they'll say more next year, so we shall see.