Miniland is biggest LEGOLAND Florida highlight despite a small sounding name

Despite the newly-opened LEGOLAND Florida being based on those tiny colorful bricks millions of kids have grown up playing with, biggest hit in the LEGO theme park lies within its miniatures made on a large scale. Miniland is located near the center of LEGOLAND Florida and features famous sights from cities from around the United States painstakingly recreated by talented LEGO model makers.

From Washington DC to New York and Hollywood to Las Vegas, Miniland includes landmarks such as the Statue of Liberty, the White House, the fountains of the Mirage hotel, and Grauman’s Chinese Theater. And new for LEGOLAND Florida, at least a third of Miniland is devoted to the state of Florida itself, with areas including Miami Beach, Key West, Tampa, Daytona Speedway, Kennedy Space Center, and beyond. For the first time ever, LEGO builders have also created a historical area for this Miniland, never before seen in any other LEGOLAND theme park worldwide. It’s centered around the world of pirates, a subject all too familiar for Central Florida theme park regulars.

But Miniland is not only home to famous buildings. It’s the details found in and around these buildings that could have guests spending hours, if not days, in this one area of LEGOLAND Florida alone, spotting each vignette featuring tiny LEGO-made characters. Some are getting married, while others lounge poolside. Vehicles maneuver down many of the Miniland streets, giving life to the miniature-filled area.

But words can’t possibly describe all that Miniland offers, which is why we brought along plenty of cameras to try to capture the sense of being immersed into this highly-detailed LEGO world. It took 17 minutes for me to circle all of Miniland once, at a casual pace, recording video of the journey around – and that’s without stopping to get a closer look at any of the individual scenes or locations. The video below offers a good starting point to get a sense of the amazing achievement in LEGO building that has been created for LEGOLAND Florida.

Video: Full tour of Miniland at LEGOLAND Florida

But there’s so much more to Miniland than what was shown in that overview video. Over the course of two days during LEGOLAND Florida’s grand opening weekend, our three photographers, myself included, set out to capture some of the most interesting, amusing, and impressive details within Miniland. The result is more than 400 photos, still not even coming close to showing everything in the area, but certainly offering a good look around.

I’ve highlighted a few of my personal favorite sights below, separated into each Miniland area, followed by a complete slideshow of all of our photos. But for the best view, I recommend a visit to LEGOLAND Florida, if only to see Miniland. Spending a few hours in this area, coupled with riding a handful of rides, would be worth the price of admission to the new theme park for any big LEGO fan.

Don’t believe me? Check out some of the details found throughout Miniland and keep in mind that other than grass, trees, streets, and water, everything you see below is made from individual LEGO bricks. If you’ve ever assembled a LEGO kit, you know just how long it takes.