10 Areas to Build a Memory at LEGOLAND Discovery Center Philadelphia

This is a guest post written by Debra Wallace.

We were provided with tickets to the Legoland Discovery Center Philadelphia to make this article possible.

When Adam Forman and his two friends recently walked into the LEGOLAND Discovery Center Philadelphia, they were instantly dazzled by the colorful building blocks that take shape throughout the indoor theme park located in the Plymouth Meeting Mall. The children, all from Suburban Philadelphia, were there to celebrate LEGOLAND Discovery Center’s first birthday, and explore new exhibits, including a LEGO Arctic World.

“I had such a great time, I will definitely tell my friends at school to go there,” said 12-year-old Adam. “I look forward to going back, soon.”

In honor of the “Ultimate First Celebration, held on Wednesday, April 4, the festivities included the unveiling of  a giant LEGO birthday cake, free cupcakes for the guests, and a festive balloon drop. While LEGOLAND Discovery Center is geared to families with children ages 3 to 10, those who are a few years older and children with special needs can still enjoy a great day out at Legoland Discovery Center in Philadelphia.

Adam’s two friends, Lindsay Kasner, 12, and her brother Aidan, 13, who enjoy building LEGOS at home, joined him for the First Birthday celebration at the LEGOLAND Discovery Center. “I really liked the interactive ride, and building your own LEGOS that you could race was cool. I loved that the City of Philadelphia was interactive, and the Arctic World was great. I came to be with my friend, Adam, and I am really glad that I did.” Her brother, Aidan, enjoyed making a LEGO car and racing it, and walking around seeing all of the LEGO scenery. “I would recommend it to my younger friends,” said the seventh-grader. “I like building superheroes and Justice LEGOS.”

10 Areas to build a family memory at the LEGOLAND Discovery Center Philadelphia

There are 10 fun family LEGO-themed play areas inside the LEGOLAND Discovery Center Philadelphia.

• The NEW LEGO Arctic World, complete with never-before-seen digital build table, themed big build activities, and photo-ops with the seven-foot-tall LEGO polar bear. This new exhibit is based on the “LEGO City: Arctic Base Camp,” play set, and is the first-of-its-kind at LEGOLAND Discovery Centers in North America. The digital interactive build table will bring the frozen tundra to life with sound and light theming and will encourage builders to search for arctic animals and hidden gems while creating their own magical world with LEGO. Each creation will unlock additional features including terrain changes and avalanches. Artic Adventure will be available for guests to enjoy throughout 2018 and into early 2019.

• MINILAND Philadelphia includes Philadelphia landmarks made from nearly 1.5 million LEGO bricks. We were wowed seeing Lincoln Financial Field, City Hall, Boat House Row, Philadelphia museums, and more all built with LEGO bricks. In some MINILAND Philadelphia areas we could push buttons to activate movements of LEGO figures like construction workers, football players, and musicians. If you hang out in MINILAND long enough you can watch the sunset over Philadelphia and the fireworks over the city.

• Take an interactive and exciting LEGO-themed ride, the Imagination Express.

• Train to be a Ninago ninja at the Lego Ninjago Training Camp. Test your reaction time. Race through the laser maze. Pose with a Ninjago.

• Climb a multilevel pirate ship in the Pirate’s Adventure Climb Island. Should your children tire of climbing the structures and crawling through the tunnels, they can build their own pirate flag or poster.

• Take a Lego Master Builder class and learn from the masters about how to build the most fantastic creations.

• Watch as your favorite LEGO characters come to life in the Lego Studios 4D Cinema. When we visited there were 3 shows to choose from. Each show was about 12 minutes with shows spaced out about 20 minutes apart. The shows are 4D. Be prepared to feel heat during fires, see strobe lights flash, and get a little damp from the occasional rain storm splash.

• Get building with the thousands of LEGO bricks in themed build and play areas where kids’ imaginations can run wild with the endless possibilities that LEGO play offers such as the LEGO friends exhibit, the Lego Ninjago Training Camp, Pirate’s Adventure Climb Island.

• Build and test your Lego creations. Can your Lego building withstand an earthquake? Who in your group can assemble the fastest race car?

• Slide between building in the Duplo Park, an area for the youngest of builders who love their Legos.

The indoor play park has lockers, a coffee shop/snack bar, a LEGOLAND store, special photo opportunities and more.

Take a virtual tour of the LEGOLAND Discovery Center Philadelphia.

Watch our video of the Legoland Discovery Center Philadelphia to get an inside look of what it’s like.

View more of our Legoland Philadelphia photos in this Facebook photo album.

More about the LEGOLAND Discovery Center Philadelphia

Michael Taylor, the General Manager of LEGOLAND Discovery Center Philadelphia, was excited to share all of the new developments since the grand opening which took place on April 6, 2017.

You have been open a year. What has been going on?

Michael Taylor: It is diverse everything that we do. So guests come once and come back, often. We keep it new. People are really enjoying this site. We have a large number of annual pass members who are always commenting on the positive new events and exhibits. We have our new Artic Adventure area, Ninjago Days, Star Wars Days, brick or treat for Halloween, new 4D movies, and Bricktacular, which runs from Thanksgiving until the end of the years.

Please tell me about the new Artic Adventure Exhibit.
MT: We have a seven-foot polar bear, and it took 183,000 bricks to put it together. In the room we have built tables with digital screens and instructional videos. So we are focused on “playful learning.” There are tons of “build tables” throughout the scenes. If this does well, we may add more of these to the various areas.

My friends and I enjoyed building a LEGO chicken last time we were here in the instructional workshop. Talk about the classes.
MT: Every month we have a mini-build and it is always something different. Our annual pass holders want to do the new build, so we keep it a different experience every time you come.

Who is the key demographic?
MT:  The target age is 3-10, but children 12 or even 14 enjoy it, especially if they have a younger friend or sibling with them. I have a one-year-old daughter, Josie. Josie loves our site, especially the LEGO Duplo area, with all of the soft play bricks. My three-year-old daughter, Olivia, even had her third birthday party here. We didn’t know how popular we would be as a birthday party destination, but we are.

What positive benefit did you not expect from LEGOS and LEGOLAND Discover Center?
MT: With the playful learning, a lot of young children don’t have all of their skills. So we are teaching them to share. This is a great learning tool for the children and the parents. We want parents to build with children.

What else do you see going on?
MT: We see some frequent guests who are parents who get a little down time or work time with our wifi, while their children are building here. The children are not sitting in front of a TV or electronic device, and that is nice to see. I had one mom tell me she works from here once a week while her child builds, and I thought that was really nice.

LEGOLAND Discovery Center Philadelphia

Since LEGOLAND Discovery Center is geared for children, all adults must be accompanied by a child (aged 17 and under) to visit the attraction, with the exception of the specialty Adult Nights that are held.

LEGOLAND Discovery Center is located at: 500 W. Germantown Pike, Plymouth Meeting, PA. 19462. For more information please visit the website:  legolanddiscoverycenter.com or call 208-513-1429.

Win Tickets! We are giving away tickets to the Legoland Discovery Center.

To join our group field trip to the Legoland Discovery Tickets for $14 a ticket (a crazy awesome discount) visit our Field Trip page here.