Legoland facing a rollercoaster ride as it launches in China

Times

06-07-2025

The history of Shanghai was written by the world-shattering events of the 19th and 20th centuries: the opium wars, the explosion of global trade, Japanese invasions, the rise of the Communist Party.
Now the city hopes small, plastic bricks are the future.
Legoland this weekend opened its first theme park in China and the consortium of companies behind it are holding their breath that both history and timing are on their side.
Plans for the park were first announced in 2017, when the Chinese economy was booming — Shanghai had ambitions to be a new centre of global finance and theme parks were a growing hit with the public.
Since then the coronavirus pandemic has laid waste to tourism figures and the Chinese economy has, at best, made an uncertain recovery.
The park's pre-opening tester days have also received mixed reviews.
'Given the current consumption climate, Legoland may need to adjust its ticket pricing and product offerings to better align with market demand,' Southern Metropolis Daily, one of southern China's leading papers, concluded in its review.
However, Ji Yujia, a Lego fan who was there on the opening day, said: 'My first impression is that it's a good recreation, like a real fairyland of Lego.' The park was built with 85 million Lego bricks.
Chinese middle-class consumer spending, which many international companies have seen as the driver of not only local but national economic growth in recent years, has shuddered to a halt after a collapse in house prices, into which so many have plunged their life savings.
The International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (IAAPA), the industry association, recently downgraded its forecast for growth in the Chinese market for the coming years.
The developers will also be aware that teething problems at the Legoland Korea Resort, which opened three years ago, led to a debt default by the company's local partners, which briefly sent panic through the country's financial system. Work on two other planned Legoland parks in China, in Shenzhen and Sichuan, is under way but has been delayed.
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In China, so many locally owned theme parks have opened in the last 15 years that four in ten turned no profit, according to figures released last year.
Nevertheless, international brands have fared better and the IAAPA said that its reduced projected growth in the numbers of Chinese families seeking out rollercoasters still represented raw numbers that were 'very strong' by world standards.
Fiona Eastwood, chief executive of the UK-based Merlin Entertainments, the company that operates the world's Legoland parks, said the Chinese market for theme parks was the second largest in the world.
The market is also underserved by international giants like Disneyland and the film studio-themed entertainment centres, though Merlin also operates other overseas brands in China, including Madame Tussauds and Peppa Pig World of Play.
'Our deep understanding of the Chinese consumer and our experience of operating in China for over a decade has allowed us to create Legoland Shanghai as the ultimate theme park and hotel destination,' Eastwood told The Times.
Shanghai could hardly be a better location. Sixty million people live within 60 miles of Shanghai, and thanks to the country's investment in new roads and railways, at least a third of a billion people live within three hours' travel time of the city by road or rail.
The city is also trying to build a reputation as a tourist destination, but for a city of its size — 25 million — it faces something of a quandary.
Too large, industrial and urban to be physically attractive, it faces the additional ideological problem that as a creation largely of the British empire, its historic buildings — those that have not been demolished — are a reminder of an uncomfortable past. Theme parks have the virtue of being almost entirely without political sensibilities.
Meanwhile, the government is trying to encourage more consumer spending in the face of slowing economic growth, and the parks represent a manageable, one-off cost for families who want to give their children a one-day break from endless homework.
Shopping has been a mainstay, but the luxury international brand stores for which the city briefly became famous, have lost their lustre post-covid.
Louis Vuitton is this month also launching its latest development: a shop, design museum and restaurant all enclosed in one building designed as a ship — just as other luxury companies like Prada and Gucci are closing stores.
For Legoland, some of the advance indicators have suggested good news — the district in which the park has been built, Putuo, has reported a surge in advance hotel bookings.
However, Legoland's success will ultimately come down to how much money Chinese parents want to spend on their children.
Online comments from those who have been on pre-opening tours have said that even in China, where young adults remain obsessed with cartoon characters well into their twenties, Legoland lacks appeal. As one tartly observed: 'Maybe this is better suited for hardcore Lego fans.'