Legoland Malaysia expects a million visitors in first year

JOHOR BARU: Legoland Malaysia is projecting its nearly-completed theme park to attract a million visitors during its first year of operation.

Its general manager Siegfried Boerst said the theme park will be officially opened in the second quarter of this year.

"We are looking at more than one million visitors for the first 12 months of operation, and we hope it increases all the time," he told reporters after the unveiling of Legoland Malaysia's dragon mascot made entirely of Lego bricks called "Ollie The Dragon" at Thistle Hotel here on Friday.

The model took 50-man hours to build from approximately 10,000 Lego bricks.

Boerst said construction of the RM700 million theme park is progressing well despite the rainy season affecting Johor, adding he is confident it will be completed on time.

Legoland Malaysia, he said, is planning public relations activities in Malaysia and several other East Asian countries including Singapore and Indonesia leading up to the theme park's official opening, adding it is also developing Johor as a tourist destination.

On the annual pass ticket sales, he said Legoland Malaysia is happy with the response, with its counters selling more than 300 passes daily, with Malaysians making up 80 per cent of the buyers, although the operator is hoping to attract more Singaporean buyers.

"We have registered several thousand annual pass sales, and we intend to keep it open for a few more weeks," he said.

The annual passes, sold at a discounted price of RM195 (adult) and RM150 (children), are valid right into the end of 2013.

Tickets are available online through the AirAsia RedTix and Legoland Malaysia websites.

Legoland Malaysia, the world's sixth Legoland and Asia's first, is located in Iskandar Malaysia and will feature more than 40 interactive rides, shows and attractions when it opens.

Other Legoland theme parks across the world are in Denmark, the UK, Germany and Florida and California in the US.

By Bernama