A new high tech ride at Legoland, California. What's going on. I'm rich Demiro. This is Rich on Tech, and I am here at Legolands, California, on the scene of a brand new ride that is just about to open. It's called Lego City Deep Sea Adventure submarine ride, and it's pretty cool. I just got a behind the scenes tour and here to talk about it with me is Julia Strada. She heads up pr for all of North America for Merlin Entertainments. By the way, that's entertainments with an S.
It is Merlin Entertainments Plurals, the large attractions operator in the world, second largest in the United States. We have more than one hundred and twenty attractions now in twenty four different countries and four continents.
Okay, so you have Lego Land. What else do you guys do?
Yeah, we have Legoland Parks, Lego Land, Discovery Centers, Sea Life, aquariums and dungeons, Madame Tussau, the London Eye, and then in Europe there's Alton Towers, Thorpe Park, Gardland. I mean, we're everywhere, so.
London I too. Okay, so tell me about Lego City Deep Sea Adventure submarine and we just got a little tour. So basically, tell me the premise of this ride.
I am so excited about this ride for many reasons. One is the first of it's kind of North America. We actually pride ourselves in being the first for everybody. Right, So we come to Lego in California. You're the first to drive a car. So the kid's first car ride, it's their first boat ride, it's their first roller coaster, it's their first time down a water slide, and this will be their first trip on a submarine. I mean, how many kids can say they've been on a real submarine.
So families will go into the submarine. You boord in and as you get into the sub you go underwater and it's three hundred thousand, three hundred thousand gallon tank. And inside this tank you'll see more than two thousand real live sharks and tropical fish and rays. And as you're underwater, you're looking for Lego treasure.
That's what really struck me is the amount of fish in this exhibit. And right now, I hear you only have about half of what you're eventually going.
To have, right, so we're slowly acclimating a man. I mean, this is the first time we've done this, so Marie Collins, who is our curator for Sea Life Aquariums, fortunately has some experience in this kind of thing. We do have this ride and three of our other parks in Dubai and the UK and in Japan they don't have the Lego City element, so there's a lot of first to ours, which is really exciting. We have the Lego City element.
We have the talking minifigure. As you're in the pre show, so you're looking at this minifigure and as a kid, imagine this. You play with the dolls, you play with toys, and you pretend that they're talking to you, but this one really is talking. There's a projector that goes on his face and is talking to the kids, giving them instructions on how they bore the ride.
Yeah, it kind of reminds me of almost like the Lego movies where you see the little minifigures come to life and that's it's the first time you've ever done that technology. Okay, so we saw the ride. I think people are really gonna you almost get immersed in this world of this deep sea adventure because there's so many amazing lights in there. The subs are big. The fish, I mean, I really just can't believe how amazing the fish are. The colors and the types you have in there.
I mean from big giant sharks that are going to get bigger to little tiny fish. Yeah.
And these subs, I mean, these are twenty two thousand pounds. They're not messing around here. These are real subs. So as you get in and you're boarding, you're using these interactive touch pads which are high tech and they're correlated so that everywhere along the route that the submarine is going, we know where the treasure is. And as you're going through, kids are looking for gems, they're looking for pearls, they're looking for swords, they're looking for all different kinds of treasure.
And as they see it, they touch it on the touch screen. If it's correct, a little diver or lego diver will be like, yes, thank you are great. If they're just you know, button happy, and they're just pushing things like crazy, which some kids do. My kids, Uh huh,
so I've heard so then it'll tell you. It'll say, you know, sorry, try again, or wait till later, or maybe look a little harder, and the really the cool thing that I love is that you're really getting a unique experience every time you ride, depending on where your seat is and where you're positioned in the submarine when you board, you're going to see something different every time.
Let's back out a little bit Lego Land Parks in general for someone that has not been We first took our kids here when they were like, I think three, It really is geared towards kids' ages. What and kind of what's the theme here? Like what I mean, we know the theme is Lego, but kind of what do you try to do here? That's different?
Lego Land Parks are really different because they are really geared towards two to twelve year olds and their families. So we will never go for the teenagers, will never going to be the crazy roller coasters. In fact, all of our roller coasters are called pink knuckle roller coasters. So when you're gripping tight, you're not gripping so hard that your knuckles turn white and you're scared. You're just a little bit excited, a little bit enticed, and you're
thrilled about riding again. And that's what we want to make them do. And want to come back again and try different things. It's very lego based, obviously, but it's very interactive and immersive, and it's designed for the families to do things together. We have more than sixty rides, shows and attractions. So not only do you have roller coasters, you have driving school where you kids get in these cars and you're learning how to drive. You're learning the
rules of the road. And it's not like some other theme parks where there are tracks that you have to follow and you keeps you on, keeps you going straight or back and forth. You're you're really driving. You're their pedal is, their foot is controlling the pedal. If they stop, they stop, If they go, they go. And it's great to see the excitement on their faces when they're handed their driver's license at the end of the ride.
That actually surprised me about that ride the first time I took my kid on it. Okay, so do you think that guests, I mean, all theme park rides have sort of had a little bit of like tech magic in them, I think for a long time. Do you think that nowadays guests kind of expect that from theme park rides?
I think so. I think you have to merge with the times. I mean, I have teenagers and they're constantly teaching me new things on their phones and with everything else. And with this ride, it's really the benchmark of the industry because I'm excited to see when guests ride because there's really nothing to compare it to. There are other submarines out rides out there, but none of them have
live animals. None of them have the immediate experience and the up close and personal feeling that these kids are going to get when they see, you know, a c ray with a five foot wingspan. The cool thing about this too, is that they become explorers along the way. So there's three different levels. I believe it's beginners, Masters or intermediate, and the Masters. So as they're going through, they can kind of we go to a different degree.
So it tracks the percentage of how many treasures you found along the way and gives you a title at the end. So you may have been a beginner the first time through, and then another time you may be a master, and it kind of gives them a challenge. And everyone likes a game, and everyone likes to be a little competitive.
Okay, so if it's someone's visiting Lego Land for the first time. Give me some secrets or tips that they should You know, something they should look out for in the park, or something that's musty or something they must eat. Give me some of those.
Okay, absolutely, So first and foremost, go online ahead of time and look ahead of time. Know what plan it out with the kids. Know what they want to do and what they don't want to do, because there's nothing worse than when you get here and everyone's staring at a map, going well, what is this and what is that?
Research and know what it is. Know what your kid is too, what they can ride ahead of time, so you don't go up to a ride that's for someone of a higher, bigger height than they can't get on. The other one is, especially at Lego Land parks, we have these minifigures on our name badge is if you go up to an MC, which is a Model Citizen, which is what all our employees are called, if you go up to them and say you want to trade your minifigure, I have to give you my minifigure. You're what, yes,
in trade for another one. So I try not to wear my favorite ones out here because I've gotten swapped a few times, and it's kind of a bummer when you lose your favorite one, but it's one of our rules. So we actually have trading stations along the route all throughout the park that kids can go build their own and then they can go and trade with EMC's.
Wow, and what's the musty food here in the park? What I have to get to eat?
Okay, So Granny Apple fries are instant favorite. They take green apples and they lightly batter them with them little powdered dusted sugar and cinnamon, and then they bake them and they fry them and then they dip them in a vanilla whipped cream sauce. It's a dream. And the other one, which is actually my favorite, is in Ninjago World.
We have these Bowe buns and they make these great sandwiches with pork and then there's the steam the smokehouse up at the top with ribs and we just started out a couple of years ago and they're amazing.
All right. Julia Strada of Merlin Entertainment, thanks so much for joining me. So when can folks actually get on the Lego City Deep Sea Adventure Submarine ride?
July seconds we're doing our ribbon cutting. We're actually doing it with Los Angeles and San Diego chapters of the Ronald McDonald House Charities, bringing some of the kids up here and presenting them with an eighty thousand dollars check.
Awesome. All right, there you have it. If you want to learn more about Lego City Deep Sea Adventure Submarine Ride, can go to my website rich on tech dot tv. You could see some of my behind the scenes pictures, stuff that you probably won't be able to see ever again because it's under construction right now and in three days it's all going to be done forever. So go check that out. Thanks so much for listening. If you like what I'm doing here with the podcast, definitely rate
and review it in Apple Podcasts. I'm Rich Damiro. I'll talk to you real soon.