Hey everyone, Blake here! I’m back with another post for my website, The Virtual Reviewer, where I review my experiences with virtual reality and tech around the country. This time, I brought my family – wife Patty and kids John (14) and Jen (12) – to check out the newly renovated Lego Discovery Center at Phipps Plaza Mall in Atlanta. We’re all big Lego fans in my house, so I was excited to see their $5 million makeover and the new VR elements they added.
The website promises the “ultimate indoor Lego playground” with millions of bricks, rides, a 4D cinema, and more fun for ages 3-10. I’ll admit my kids are a bit old for some of it, but since I’m just an overgrown kid at heart, I thought we’d have a blast no matter what. Read on to see if this lived up to the hype or if stepping on tiny plastic bricks yet again made me regret this little family outing!
As a quick intro for anyone unfamiliar, there used to be a Legoland Discovery Center here, but after 10 years, they shut down for renovations last fall, reopening just recently as the new Lego Discovery Center Atlanta. This is actually one of only 3 in the country, the others in Boston and DC, to get multi-million dollar upgrades and debut new high-tech attractions. So we basically got first dibs on the new spaceship builder, race tracks, Duplo playground, and more that I’ll describe later.
Miniland Atlanta
Immediately upon entering, we spotted bins of Lego heads, torsos, legs, and hair to build your own mini figure to carry around. The kids had fun customizing theirs, though I insisted on holding them so they didn’t get lost! Then we entered the impressive Miniland Atlanta section with tiny Lego versions of local landmarks like Ponce City Market, the King and Queen Towers, Zoo Atlanta, and even Stone Mountain.
The kids enjoyed pointing out places they recognized, and I’ll admit it was cool seeing mini Lego sculptures of the city we call home. They had little buttons you could push to make things light up or play music too, like the Ferris wheel at Piedmont Park spinning slowly as cheesy carnival music blared. Sure it’s a little kitschy, but my daughter Jen got some great giggles out of the figures on the SkyView Atlanta Ferris wheel bobbing their heads to the beat.
Kingdom Quest Ride and 4D Cinema
No indoor play place would be complete without a cheesy kid-sized ride, so our next stop was the medieval-themed Kingdom Quest. This is an existing ride they updated, where your family piles into a 4-seat carriage and trundles slowly along a track, firing laser guns at spider, troll, and dragon targets to rack up points and “save” the princess.
The guns vibrated when you hit something, which satisfied the kids’ video game instincts, though, at times, this whole contraption shuddered and glitched enough to make me worry it might shake apart! The story didn’t make much sense either, some knight babbling at you while glittery princess animatronics danced in the background. My wife joked it was like a weird medieval Chuck E Cheese robot show.
Still, it’s one of those silly kiddie rides that’s amusing for a few minutes. Just don’t expect much logic or coordination. In our first round, John scored zero points while I racked up over 2500 blasting away. The second time, I apparently forgot to hit the trigger as Jen loudly crowed her victory, so consistency is clearly not their goal here.
Right nearby was the 4D cinema, which mainly seemed like an excuse to spray you in the face and call it an “experience.” We donned our VR goggles and 3D glasses to watch a frenetic 12-minute Lego movie, less of a plot and more just throwing random stuff at the screen for the kids to ooh and aah over.
Yes, the splash zone warnings were apt as bubbles, spray, and even Legos appeared to fly out at us in sync with the film. One minute we were dodging banana peels in a race car, and next, we were floating through space or watching fireworks from the back of a dragon. My wife ended up with wet glasses while Jen squealed every time the water misted her face. It’s entertaining for kids but a bit loud and disorienting. Oh, and the seats were uncomfortable too – by minute 10, my back was killing me!
New Attractions: Spaceship Builder and Racetracks
Finally, the main events we came for — the new high-tech attractions! First up was Spaceship Build & Scan, which is exactly what it sounds like. Grab Lego pieces off the wall, build yourself a sweet rocket ship, and then scan it into a nearby computer. Suddenly, your physical ship appears onscreen flying around space! They had a huge digital backdrop screening real NASA space footage with a joystick so you could fly your ship around through the cosmos.
The kids argued a bit over whose turn it was to control our wonky, slightly lopsided craft but eventually compromised by taking turns. Watching our ridiculous little rainbow ship careening hilariously across the face of the moon gave us some giggles. You can also trigger thrusters to do loops and spins, which my wife was WAY too enthusiastic about, nearly crashing us into an asteroid at one point!
Next up was the Build Adventures zone, the other brand-new section. Here, you construct Lego vehicles and then send them zooming down three different themed ramp tracks — space, jungle ruin, or firefighters. My son loves anything with wheels or engines so he was completely absorbed in designing cars to test on the loop-de-loops and curves of each route. I helped add stabilizer fins and rotors to one of his spaceship cars, though he scolded me when they immediately fell off on the first run, ha!
Meanwhile, my daughter occupied herself on the playground equipment interspersed throughout the area, with bridges, tunnels, climbing walls, and net ladders joining the different build tables. She got tired of it quickly, though once the boys descended into a full-on Lego racing competition, trash-talking whose car was faster or could handle more spins and flips on the tracks. Things got slightly heated at one point when John accused me of sabotaging his vehicle after it crashed spectacularly off the jungle track. Hey, I maintain my innocence there! Clearly, his shoddy engineering was at fault.
Duplo Park Toddler Zone
At this point, we were all getting pretty hungry, so we considered wrapping things up. But first, we made a pit stop at the Duplo Park toddler area for my wife to rest her feet while the kids expended the last of their energy. This whole section is new as part of the renovation – previously, it was a kiddie ride, but now features a toned-down playground for little Lego fans ages 2-5.
Big colorful Duplo blocks are stacked up to build with, along with oversized bricks forming dinosaurs and giraffes to climb on. A neat toddler carousel with ride-on dinos sits in the middle, which my wife had to gently pry my daughter off of when it came time to leave. She also enjoyed playing peekaboo in a little Duplo house while my son and I constructed a tower for her to gleefully knock down.
I appreciated them designing a space suited to preschoolers since some of the other high-action attractions understandably left my daughter feeling overwhelmed or left out due to height restrictions. Here, she could bop around with the bigger foam Lego pieces without fear of a bigger kid trampling her! There’s also plenty of seating for parents to take a breather, with nice views of the playground through the glass walls. This a smart way to give toddlers their own Lego domain while parents relax, knowing they’re safely contained.
Cafe Food Options
Before leaving, we fueled up at the onsite Lego Cafe, which luckily also got an upgrade with this renovation. Gone are the days of boring basic kid food like chicken fingers and fries – now you can get snacks like fruit cups or Uncrustable sandwiches, plus improved pizza, nachos, and cookies. Not Michelin-star dining by any means, but it’s nice to have some healthier options versus the standard junk food most places like this normally offer.
They’ve also added vegetarian and allergy-conscious alternatives, showing their commitment to accommodating all kids. And for parents seeking a liquid boost to survive all that energy, you can get Starbucks coffee as well! I will say that the prices are still inflated due to the captive audience, but that’s true of any attraction’s food venue. At least, now there are affordable choices so you can feed the whole family without breaking the bank.
Conclusion
So, at the end of the day, did the Discovery Center live up to the hype? I’d say so, for the most part. As an avid Lego fan, both the high-tech new attractions and old favorites like the Kingdom Quest ride brought me enough nostalgic childhood joy to outweigh the negatives. Sure, my back hurt after the uncomfortable 4D theater, and some areas, like the toddler Duplo Zone didn’t thrill my older kids. The snacks were overpriced, though admittedly better quality than expected.
But creating our mini-figures, battling dragons and spiders on Kingdom Quest, constructing sweet rockets at the Spaceship Builder, and then catapulting them through space…that inner 10-year-old in me loved every minute. My teens even got pretty engrossed in building and racing Lego cars downstairs, despite pretending at first that they were “too mature” for this. And I know my wife enjoyed sipping coffee while my daughter played happily in her own toddler haven, with no fear of bigger kids trampling her fun.
Some downsides beyond what I already mentioned — yes you WILL step on stray Lego pieces, so wear shoes! Also, plan for a packed place on weekends or holidays – strollers and wheelchairs cramming the narrow walkways meant frequent traffic jams during our visit. Weekdays are better if you can swing it. Expect overstimulation too – multiple giant Lego sculptures, neon lights, and interactive games vying for attention everywhere you look. Great for hyper kids, but not so much for easily overwhelmed ones.
Yet overall, I can’t complain much. As far as indoor play places go, this is top-notch. We’ll definitely be back to the Lego Discovery Center when they install new attractions or seasonal features, which they seem committed to doing. Because, like me, this place clearly knows playing with Legos has no age limit when you’re still a kid at heart!