Lego Discovery Center opens

Lego lovers, start your bright yellow engines and head for Chicago. That's the site of first Lego Discovery Center to open in the United States. The attraction is modeled after the flagship center in Berlin, Germany, which drew half a million visitors in its first year of operation.

The first American indoor Legoland Discovery Center will open July 25th at the Streets of Woodfield shopping center across the street from Woodfield Mall in Chicago.

The 30,000-square-foot two-story center is modeled after the Lego Discovery Centre in Berlin, Germany. UK-based Merlin Entertainment, the developer of both the Berlin and Chicago centers, reports the Berlin center attracted 500,000 visitors in its first year of operation.

Designed for families with children ages 2 to 12, the Legoland Discovery Center will include a Lego factory, 4-D Lego movie, a model workshop a Lego-themed dragon ride, a build-and-test area and birthday party rooms. The center will also include a miniature Chicago skyline with building replicas made from Lego bricks, including the Sears Tower, Lake Point Tower, Water Tower, John Hancock Center, the Chicago Theatre, the Chicago Cultural Center, Navy Pier, the Wrigley Building and the Fourth Presbyterian Church. The center will be open 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. every day except Christmas.

We hope to visit the Center in the near future and to give you a first-hand report.