By Rick West

On Monday, November 30th, Theme Park Adventure made a trek south to the beautiful community of Carlsbad, California.  The destination: Legoland California Resort.  Not only was it the first time we've been to a Holiday Season kickoff at the theme park... it marked the first time TPA had ever been to Legoland!  About time, right?

Not only was this our first trip to Legoland, it was Theme Park Adventure's first exposure to a Merlin Entertainments property.  That's not the gist of this story - but rest assured TPA's just begun with this amazing theme park.  Let's just say that we spent the entire day at Legoland and were completely impressed with every aspect of its operations, from the friendliness of the staff and stunning cleanliness of the park to the quality of food and theming of the rides and surroundings. 

On to the business at hand for now... the kickoff of Legoland's 2009 Holiday Season with the lighting of the world's largest Lego Christmas tree!

As the crowd swelled in front of the park's 30' Lego Christmas tree, the popular children's' group, The Jumpitz, entertained with song and dance as the ceremony crept even closer.  To me, the Jumpitz look like an American copy of The Wiggles, which is such a powerhouse franchise, I can't imagine any other group even going there, but what do I know - the kids ate it up, and that's what was important!

Once the ceremony got underway, it was hosted by the Toy Soldier from Legoland's Holiday show "Let it Snow".  He introduced Legoland California Resort General Manager Peter Ronchetti, who welcomed everyone and spoke briefly about Legoland's 10th Anniversary, the park's newest attractions and things to come next year and beyond, including Legoland Waterpark, which will open Memorial Day 2010 on five acres at the resort.

Joining the festivities was Carol Horvitz, chief development officer for Ronald McDonald House Charities of Southern California, who was on hand (along with many children/families that have been assisted by the charity) to thank Legoland for its on-going support.  In one of the most heart-warming moments of the evening, Ronchetti presented Horvitz with a grand bit of holiday cheer - a check from Legoland California in the amount of $10,000.00.

Actors Tori Spelling and Dean McDermott were scheduled to participate in the event, but unfortunately, Tori was sick, so the couple had to cancel; we were disappointed - heck, I was disappointed, as reality shows are one of my guilty pleasures and I have watched their show Tori & Dean... they seem like really nice people, and it would have been great fun to meet them.

In their place were actor Rich Sommer (Mad Men, The Devil Wears Prada) and model/actress Ali Landry (Spotlight to Nightlight and former Miss USA), who engaged the crowd nicely and each spoke about how cool it was to be part of the Legoland celebration and tree lighting ceremony.

Every kid in the place freaked when Santa himself made his way to the stage and proceeded to light the Christmas tree.  In addition to the tree lighting up, large bursts of pyro lit up the lagoon in the background and snow fell in a flurry unlike we've ever seen at any other park before!  It was a SoCal whiteout, and everyone loved it!

It was a wonderful ceremony that capped a perfect day at Legoland for us and we are so thrilled to have finally started a partnership with our new friends down south!

And for those wondering (you know who you are)... here are the Legoland Christmas tree stats: It's made of more than 240,000 forest green Duplo bricks and is decorated with more than 240 Lego ornaments!

The only question we have left is, who's gonna take all of that apart and put it away after Christmas?!?

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