By Simon Lane (Managing Director, Legoland Windsor Resort).

The Chairman welcomed Simon Lane, a former Director of Windsor Racecourse for five years, who was now the Divisional Director at Legoland and Ingrid Fernandes(Strategic Development Director) to the meeting. 

Simon Lane thanked the Forum for the invite and opportunity to attend the meeting.  Members were given a short Legoland update presentation.  The Divisional Director at Legoland explained that Legoland played a big and influential part in the wider community. It was noted that Simon Lane had been in his role at Legoland for seven months. 

Members were informed that Legoland had been founded in 1932 and that last year Lego had been voted the most powerful brand in the world, overtaking Ferrari.  Legoland was noted to have approximately 14,000 employees and was the world’s number one toy. 

Simon Lane went onto explain that Merlin Entertainment was Legolands parent company with 116 attractions in 23 countries.  It was noted that Legoland had six parks with a further three currently being developed in Dubai, Japan and South Korea).  It was also noted that there were six resort theme parks with 104 midway attractions. 

Members were informed that Merlin Entertainment had six growth drivers which were:

• Pro-active investing capital investment back in.
• Strategic synergies.
• Resort positioning.
• Midway rollout.
• New Legoland developments.
• Strategic acquisitions.

It was noted that the first Legoland park had been opened in 1968 in Finland, 1996 in Windsor, 1999 in California and 2002 in Germany.  Members were shown a short video about Legoland. 

Simon Lane went into explain that Legoland wanted to be the ultimate short-break destination which was aimed at 2 – 12 year olds.  It was noted that Legoland Windsor consisted of eleven lands including a castle themed extension of 62 bedrooms which would be open on the 1 July 2017.  Members were informed that the hotel would show 4D movies in the movie theatre and had a model of the Death Star which had been constructed from 500,000 lego bricks

Members were informed that Legoland operated 211 days per year and had just fewer than 2,000 employees.  Simon Lane went onto explain that Miniland was the heart of the park and could be entered 30 minutes before the park opened if staying in the on-site hotel. 

It was noted that in the future Legoland planned to work with Merlin Entertainment to align with the Borough Local Plan and Neighbourhood Plan.  Members were informed that the parent company, Merlin Entertainment, expected a 20% pure profit return on capital invested. 

In the ensuing discussion the following points were noted:

Ø  That Legoland sold conference packages, held prom nights but planned to reduce down that type of business to concentrate more on the entertainment aspect of the business.  It was hoped that the number of operating days would be expanded over the next few years. 

Ø  Legoland strategy was to even out the peaks and troughs in their business in order to help local traffic levels and improve their customer experience. 

Ø  That Legoland planned to open a reduced offering at Christmas but include Christmas offerings instead.  It was noted that Legoland was looking to introduce weather-proof attractions so they can attract customers all year round. 

Ø  That Legoland did not tend to get much resistance from local people / local businesses when looking to set up new parks abroad as it increases employment (by approximately 2,000 jobs) and helps make the area a destination.