Pieces are coming together for Europe’s fifth Legloand theme park to be built in Belgium.
Our parks are already in Denmark, Germany, Italy and the UK.
On Tuesday, August 30, Merlin Entertainments Group signed an agreement with Belgian authorities on plans to build a new park, expected to be the seventh Legoland in the world.
The company will build a theme park on a disused industrial site in Gosselies near Charleroi Airport, about an hour’s train ride south of Brussels.
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A Ninjago-themed room at Legoland Billund. PA Photo/Legoland.
The site was used by global company Caterpillar to manufacture heavy construction equipment.
The 70-hectare park is set to open in 2027 and, if plans aren’t blocked, will be larger than the 61-hectare resort in the London suburb of Windsor.
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Board the Duplo Express at Legoland Billund. PA Photo/Warren Christmas.
Charleroi has a further 20 hectares set aside for future expansion and development.
A direct Ryanair flight from Dublin to Charleroi makes the newest park within easy reach for Lego fans in Ireland. Aer Lingus flies to Brussels Airport, which is about an hour away.
There are also direct Eurostar flights from London to Brussels and direct flights to Charleroi from UK airports such as Edinburgh, Liverpool and Manchester.
The project is expected to cost around €400 million/€463 million and may include a hotel on the site.
It is believed that the new site could be the missing piece for Lego fans living in France, Belgium and Holland.
John Jacobsen, chief operating officer of the Legoland Resorts Group in Marlin, described the new park as “another one laid out to bring a potential Legoland Resort to the many Lego fans in Wallonia, Benelux and northern France. described as two exciting “building blocks”.
Wallonia’s economy minister Willy Borsas said the new park is expected to create around 1,000 new jobs in the region and “restore our industrial wasteland”.
Legoland Billund in Denmark first opened in 1968. Legoland Windsor opened in 1996, Legoland Gunzburg in Germany in 2002 and Legoland Water Park in Gardaland, Italy in 2021.
In the US, Legoland Florida has been open since 2011, and another park opened last year in New York.
