Pupletts in Sweden: Legoland - 19-Mar Part 4

After the entrance came Miniland. It could already be seen spread out beyond the square and it looked impressive! Over 20 million Lego bricks were used to create the models of many iconic locations in Amsterdam, USA, Denmark, Germany, Norway, Scotland, Sweden and the imaginary Lego town of Lilleby (Littletown).

There were also a few scenic rides which I'll detail after the main Miniland section :

Monorail - a scenic ride through the middle of legoland
Mini-Boats - a short cruise through some of World Landmarks
Lego Train - A train ride around Miniland
Lego Top - A rotating ride to the top of a 36m high tower, giving a good view of the park
Caterpillar - A fast rotating ride
Lego Safari - A kids ride through a Lego animal park
Frog Hopper - A kids tower drop ride
SEAT Traffic School - A driving school for kids (extra cost)

Miniland was huge and we took over 270 photos. It was incredibly hard to sort through all the photos and work out what showed what area. In the end I pieced together a map from photos taken from the LegoTop ride and a few sweeping shots and then walked through Legoland on Google Maps to compare areas and try to map them out.

It's pretty sketchy, but here's the scratch map showing what sections are where. You may need to scroll your screen to see it all:

Composite Map of Miniland

The kids loved Miniland, although the were eager to get on the rides. They took one of the cameras while Kris and I had one each.

We mostly just ran around wow-ing at all of the scenes, but for the sake of clarity I'll split this section into the areas:

Amsterdam
This section displays some of the main features of Amsterdam, including the clock tower:

Panoramic Shot of Amsterdam

Amsterdam

Lego Clock Tower (Montelbaanstoren)

It looks pretty close to this picture of the actual clock tower I found online:

Actual Clock Tower (Montelbaanstoren)

Denmark:
There are quite a few of the key sights of Denmark at Billund, including some that we had seen on previous trips:

Amalienborg:
This the Royal residence in Copenhagen. This model is 7.5m in diameter and used 900,000 Lego bricks and 40,000 Lego windows!


One of our photos of a wing of Amalienborg when we visited in December 2015

Lego model of that same wing

Lego Amalienborg

The Statue

Billund Airport
Billund Airport is located just next to Legoland and often we heard planes taking over and zooming overhead. Many of the international guest to Legoland will be coming via Billund Airport, so it's only natural that Legoland has a large model of it. There is a automated demonstration of a De-icing system for aircraft.

Looking down the runways - Plane in foreground is being de-iced

Control Tower

Hot Air Balloon

Aircraft show

Billund Airport

Brædstrup

Brædstrup was a former Railway town in Denmark that now has turned to generating solar power using solar panels on roofs and also a thermal collector producing hot water.

Railway in Brædstrup

Brædstrup

There are a lot of moving vehicles in Miniland - there are trains running on the tracks, buses and cars moving and plenty of boats, rafts and sea-planes. There's also lots of hidden surprises - Kris captured these shots of a boat moving around in the Brædstrup area:

Boat under the bridge including some canoeists

The paddle boat passes a raft

Overview of the water area in Brædstrup

Copenhagen Harbour and Nyhavn (New Harbour):
There are two main Copenhagen Harbour displays, both the main harbour and the Nyhavn area. We visited Nyhavn on our first trip to Copenhagen and it was amazing how close the lego version looked. The full model used 3.5 million Lego bricks:

The real Nyhavn buildings

Lego Nyhavn

Panoramic Shot of Nyhavn

The tour boat dock at the end of the harbour

The corner of the harbour

Copenhagen Harbour

Statue

Copenhagen Harbour

The Royal Greeting Area in Copenhagen Harbour

The real Area from our visit to Copenhagen

The busy harbour

Esjberg

Esjberg is a harbour in Denmark with a large train station

Esjberg Train Station

Esjberg

They also included the Nybro Gas Treatment plant that lowers gas pressure to prepare to send to homes

Nybro Gas Treatment Plant

Fredensborg Palace
Fredensborg Palace was the palace that we saw the Queen of Denmark leave from on our castle tour. The model has 264 windows - the north and south ground floor windows use 218 Lego elements each.

Real Fredensborg Palace from our Denmark visit

Legoland Fredensborg Palace

Danish Royal Family outside the palace

Top down view of the palace from the Legotop

Nybjerg Watermill
The Nyberg Watermill is located near Billund and was built in 1548. The Lego model used 55,000 bricks.

Nyjberg Watermill

Ribe
Ribe is the oldest city in Denmark (founded approx 700 AD). The model used 553,000 Lego Bricks.

Ribe Church

Ribe

Schackenborg Manor and Denmark countryside
This is a large manor house near the Danish German border, built between 1661 and 1664. The model used 190,000 Lego bricks.

Schackenborg Manor House

Lego tourists reading signs about the manor house

Danish countryside in the Schackenborg area

Close up of Schackenborg Manor

Windmill in the Schackenborg area

Church in the Schackenborg area

Skagen
Skagen is the northernmost tip of Denmark. This model shows the harbours and also the famous lighthouses of the area - we visited Skagen at the end of this trip, you'll be able to see the wooden lever lighthouse and the beaches in our later photos:

Skagen

Skagen Shipyards

Germany:
The German display focussed on the Rhine and surrounding areas. 2.5 million blocks were used to make the models. It would have taken a single experienced model maker more than 12 years to build it all.

One of the buildings in Germany

Railway tunnel in Germany

Dusseldorf

Dusseldorf and German area

Dusseldorf

Panoramic view of the Rhine and Dusseldorf

Mosel
The Reichsburg Castle stands on the cliff in Cochem. The nearby buildings are from the Mosel towns of Edgier-Eller and Bellstein.

Reichsburg Castle

Neuschwanstein Castle
This castle was built by King Ludwig II of Bavaria in the alps of Southern Germany between 1869 and 1886. The model was made of 236,000 Lego bricks.

Neuschwanstein Castle

Scharnebeck
This is a lift that raises and lowers ships 38 meters to and from the Elbe-Seiten Canal.

Scharnebeck Lift

Train Station outside Scharnebeck

Scharnebeck

Tegernsee
Tegernsee is an alpine area on the border of Germany and Austria. The houses shown are from the towns of Bad Wiessee and Rottach-Egern.

Tegernsee

Tegernesee

The Rhine
This exhibit shows the Rhine including the Castle Phalz which is built on a midstream Island.

The Rhine

Castle Phalz

The Rhine

Leerstetten Lock
The lock is used for transit on the Main-Danube Canal. Water is pumped back and forth between reservoirs and the lock to save and recycle water.

Letterstetten Lock

The Lock

The Wolfsburg Volkswagen Factory
This is a model of one of the largest single-site car factory in the world, the building is 1.5km long in real life.

The factory

Lilleby (Littletown)
This was the first Lego Miniland area created. An imaginary village based on many small Danish villages in the early 1900s. It is made of 433,000 bricks.

Lilleby

Milky Way - Milk Farm
This was a fictional MIlk farm showing how milk gets from the farm to consumers

Milky Way

Milk Factory

Norway - Bergen
Bergen was founded in 1070 and included the fortress of Bergenhus which was build in the middle ages. The model also includes the Mariakirken chuch, the oldest building in Bergen. It was made from 319,000 bricks.

Bergen

Begenhus castle

Panoramic view of Bergen

Bergen - Bergenhus Castle

Mariakirken chuch

Scotland
The Scotland model was quite small but had a very cool castle. The model shows north of Edinurgh include Eilean Donan Castle in the west highlands.

Scotland

Eilean Donan Castle

It isn't Scotland without whiskey

Sweden - The Göta Canal
The Göta Canal was built between 1810 and 1832 and stretches 190km from Lake Vänern to the Baltic. It has a total of 58 locks and rises 91.5m above sea level. This model used 483,000 bricks.