LEGO Inside Tour 2014

Daragh

Great thread, sounds like a really well packed tour, I bet our are enjoying every minute. How many people are on the tour?

leemcg

Numbers are increasing year on year.

Last year there were 3 tours of 25 people. This year there are 4 tours of 30-35 (and they all sold out in 4 minutes!)

Ours has 34.

rgp

My son and I are on the Tour ...21-23 May... Super excited! Really looking forward to it as well as meeting everyone! !! Sounds amazing !!

husky96

rgp, I'll be there the same time with my wife and son. We are definitely looking forward to the trip and these posts are just whetting my appetite. Can't wait!

leemcg

I won't spoil any surprises for you, but sitting here in my room trying to get ready for check out, I'd make one recommendation: pay for more bags on your plane!

I think I'm going to empty the boxes and have loose inner bags in my luggage!

tsi

leemcg said:

I won't spoil any surprises for you, (...)

you don't have to... the part list of the "Inside Tour Set 2014" #4000014 is online on LEGOs server since (at least) yesterday.

Plell

*text deleted by Admin - please let's not spoil the surprise by blabbing, people....*

LostInTranslation

I know that information about the Inside Tour set is out there, but perhaps we could refrain from discussing the set here so as not to ruin the surprise for people on later tours like @rpg and @husky96‌, as @leemcg was careful not to do?

CCC

leemcg said:

Last year there were 3 tours of 25 people. This year there are 4 tours of 30-35 (and they all sold out in 4 minutes!)

Ours has 34.

It is probably hard to compare if you weren't there last year, but does it feel diluted at all, with extra people?

leemcg said:

I'd make one recommendation: pay for more bags on your plane!

I think I'm going to empty the boxes and have loose inner bags in my luggage!

Do they still do the free shipping of a couple of boxes for you? I thought I read about it, probably on Dr Dave's blog.

Lego_Star

^^^^^^^
I wonder how many groups of 2 missed out on the tour in the 4th minute? Was someone booked in the 35th place but unable to go?

On a separate note I wonder if gear such as T shirts are sold in the staff shop in adult sizes?

mk2

Wow - sold out in 4 minutes - feel really lucky to be on June 10-13 tour, registered at 12:02. After Huw's review last year and these posts really looking forward to it

drdavewatford

CCC said:

Do they still do the free shipping of a couple of boxes for you? I thought I read about it, probably on Dr Dave's blog.

You remember correctly - they shipped a huge amount of stuff back home for me for free.

GoldJono

^ sadly it's only one box this year but it is pretty large. It adds a significant amount of behind the scenes admin work for people in the staff shop and with the increasing numbers something had to give and I think it is pretty good compromise as more people have the chance to enjoy this fantastic experience. Only problem is the post office in Billund only seems to be open whilst the tour activities are happening. I concur with leemcg that paying for extra bags is extremely worthwhile and also if you can, stay for the Friday night as well.

Gooker1

Can someone post a link on what the 2014 set is? I'm not going and would love to know. :)

Huw

http://brickset.com/sets/4000014-1/{Will-be-revealed-in-July}

leemcg

Wow! What a great experience. And I met some great people. Exclusive set is lovely, I keep looking at it, but there was so much else. It's literally non-stop once the programme kicks off.

Luckily I found that my second bag (the gift Lego one) was so very large it had space in. Felt like I needed to pop back into the park to buy a couple of boxes of minifigs and a couple of mini land family sets. (So I did :-)

I am now at the airport and a bit sad that it's over, but I can say that the whole experience was brilliant, fascinating and worth every penny. There's plenty to it apart from the exclusive set.

As to numbers, I think the other tours will be 30, but there was a family on ours who'd won the VIP competition. It didn't feel cramped - they had extra helpers, more designers and split us into 2 groups for some of the tours.

And the organiser gave us some more details: it sold out in 4mins 37 secs. Not enough time for them to open the champagne to celebrate the start of the process!

Good work to birthday 'boy' @GoldJono on getting the Lego House set signed by everybody for FairyBricks.

Lee

husky96

@GoldJono‌ @leemcg Will a large set like the Sandcrawler or Sydney Opera House fit in the allowed box? They gave dimensions as to the size of the box, so I'm pessimistic large sets can be purchased at the store? Thanks!

GoldJono

Tips for future participants (lessons learned)

1) Pay for excess baggage. (You will need it!)
2) If you can, Try to arrive early on the Tuesday, so you have time to get settled into to the Legoland Hotel, walk around the park at your leisure and try all the rides.
3) In the staff store, if you see something you like that you aren't 100% certain wether you have it or not, don't think about it just buy it! (Why oh why didn't I buy that polybag 30187-1: Fast Car)
4) When given pieces of paper, read the information very very carefully. ( I mean, how could I make exactly same mistake twice in 2 years?)
5) Take a rain coat.
6) The post office in Billund has limited opening hours 1300-1700 Monday to Friday, international postage is very expensive, they only take Danish krone or Danish cards (I had to run to the cash machine (autoteller) at 16:40), the pot office is located in SuperBrugsen in Billund (which is the supermarket next to the site of the lego house) and research the prices as there are some large increases in price at certain thresholds.
7) Don't reveal the set details online until all tours are complete. Same applies to the Lego group, it was an improvement over last year, here's hoping they will get it completely right next year.
8) Pack lightly for the tour, but remember to take a rain coat.
9) The Lego House set is not sold in the Legoland park.
10) The Lego House is sold in the Legoland Hotel although they sell out quite quickly, although it is restocked daily.
10) If you can, take up the option to stay the Friday night, last time I left on the Friday evening and being able to relax after the tour is so much better and well worth the extra cost which is small compared to the total cost of the tour.
10) Most importantly enjoy yourself.
11) Take full wet weather gear, I got caught in the rain at the middle of the park and my pants (for those in the UK read trousers) were soaked through.

General tips for those flying home from Billund airport. The Lego store there has 20% off Danish prices on all things and they stock some large lego exclusive sets. There are almost always have feature offers with 50% off Danish prices of select lego sets, when I was in Billund March, one of the feature sets was the current technic crane. The lego store at Billund airport does not stock the Lego House Set.

@leemcg did miss anything?

Lego_Star

^ @GoldJono A suggestion regarding 8) and 11). Buy a couple of cheap disposable poncho's. Semichem have a two pack for a pound. Take up minimal space, as effective as a raincoat and you can throw them away when you are done. Also great for minimising how wet you get on rides with water elements. For walking around in the pouring rain you might get a little wet from the knees down but they fit in a pocket. Used this trick many a time for theme parks and to pack less luggage for trips away.

Assuming it was today, Happy Birthday!

GoldJono

@husky96‌ the box is large enough to fit 2 sets the size of the Death Star or Sydney opera house. The Sandcrawler wasn't available in the store during our tour it and wasn't on the shelves in legoland shop. That may change for later tours, I think the staff store stock lags behind the retail release.

husky96

@goldjono Great feedback and my wife probably doesn't want to hear that the box can fit 2 large sets! Was the LEGO house available in the staff store as well as Legoland hotel?

GoldJono

^^ I must need to catch up on sleep I have 3 no. 10s. Ok 4th no. 10. Try to resist the temptation to buy sets in legoland before visiting the staff shop, you will get the opportunity to go back to the legoland shop. The only exceptions to this would be minifigures and legoland exclusives.

leemcg

^^ no! less stuff at lego staff store than Legoland in general. Designers told us that it can be 2-3 months to get things in staff shop.

Benny's spaceship was at legoland, not in staff store for instance.

leemcg

^^^^^ they do provide disposable Legoland-branded ponchos. I can only presume that @GoldJono‌ didn't take one because he had a raincoat. Mine kept me pretty dry in the torrential downpour today.

kennywest

Hello all. I am new here and was on the Inside Tour together with @leemcg‌ and @GoldJono‌ (I'm the one with the Technic Go-Cart). I got to meet both of you, so I guess this could serve as an ideal place to keep meeting each other online :)

Seems this thread has a very accurate description of what the tour is about. But even with this description, there are a lot of blanks that we won't be filling out, so other people that are on the other tours this year (or new tours next year), can be as surprised as I was, 3 days long.

If you've seen the movie "Charlie and the Choclate Factory", well, that's exactly what the tour is (from my point of view). Except for the fact that kids don't end up squeezed in some tube or turning purple :)

Unfortunately the 2014 Inside Tour set already leaked, somewhere on the Internet. I'm not going to tell you where you can find it. It only contains a description of what it is. No foto's.
I find this very unfortunate for the people that still need to visit the tour and that's what I also wrote in a comment.

GoldJono

^ @kennywest it was good to meet you. Having been on the Inside tour twice now, it is so much nicer when the set is a complete surprise. I appreciate those not on the tour will want to find out, but surely grown-up people can wait a couple of months to find out. If this information is correct, the only thing it demonstrates is the person who posted such information on another site is not trust worthy. I for one would not believe anything this individual says, I certainly wouldn't buy anything from them or trade with them. I really don't understand the motivation for doing such a thing, at best the individual has been a little thoughtless, at worst plain spiteful.

tom4086

@GoldJono‌

"the only thing it demonstrates is the person who posted such information on another site is not trust worthy. I for one would not believe anything this individual says, I certainly wouldn't buy anything from them or trade with them"

I think that's a little harsh. You must remember, the only information about this set is the information released from Lego themselves. All this "untrustworthy" person has done is post it on their site. Its hardly fair to accuse them of not being believable when their source is Lego.

If Lego really wanted to keep this set secret, they wouldn't have made such information available. Its no one elses fault.

GoldJono

@tom4086‌ I accept my comments were a little harsh and I apologise for that, I could have chosen my words more kindly, although this is something I feel very strongly about. For a lot of people the tour is very expensive and a once in a lifetime experience. I think, it is fair to say they have been a little inconsiderate towards the people who they will share the tour with later on in the year. I have it on very good authority that Lego wanted the details to remain a secret (well as much as possible) until after the final tour.

leemcg

Hi @kennywest‌ Good to see you here. I was actually going to make the point that one of the most interesting things I learnt from the tour was the large numbers of people who are on Brickset without posting. Almost all the AFOLs on the tour told me that they were members of Brickset but didn't post much, or at all. Always worth bearing in mind.

Pitfall69

Pardon my ignorance, but how much is the tour and what does the tour consist of?

1265

aboutus.lego.com/en-us/lego-group/programs-and-visits/lego-inside-tour

Besides what's been posted here, Huw provided great insight from last year's tour:
brickset.com/article/6692/review-lego-inside-tour-part-1
brickset.com/article/6699/review-lego-inside-tour-part-2
brickset.com/article/6710/review-lego-inside-tour-part-3

GoldJono

@Pitfall69‌ the price is 13000dkk. When you factor in travel costs (depending where you are traveling from), spending money and additional nights expect that figure double.

One other benefit that I just noticed with the tour was that I lost almost 2 kilos in weight over past week, there's a lot of walking on the tour, this is is in-spite of being fed like kings. Although I did go to the hotel gym, I also did a lot of additional walking, into Billund a few times and from the airport to the Legoland Hotel (20-25 minutes maybe). I got some great photos of a plane coming into land over my head. Perhaps this could be the thing that swings it when trying to convince your wife or partner of the value of the tour.

kennywest

Indeed, quite expensive. Although I must say you don't _have_ to spend a lot of money in the staff shop. The winner of the building challenge for example spent way below the average that was spent in the staff shop, he only bought a few sets there.
This tour was on my "bucket list" and for most people (including me I guess), this is a one time opportunity, so it's worth every penny.

@GoldJono‌ , given the fact that you attended the tour twice now, would you consider attending it again next year? (or trying to attend :) )

GoldJono

@kennywest‌ I'm certain I will try to attend the tour at some point in the future, I've promised to take my nephew who's also a massive lego fan, he won't be old enough for a few more years and even then I would probably wait until he was nine or ten so that he gets the most out of it. When I have kids, I would take definitely take them assuming they like lego. I'd love to go again next year, but I will have a few large expenses over the next year, a new house with a large attic, basement, outbuilding or space to build a lego studio. I probably also need to think about changing my car soon.

Pitfall69

No offense to TLG and Lego itself; I can take a family of 4 to Walt Disney World Resorts for a week for less money than going on this Lego tour.

Better yet, I would rather buy $1,500 in Lego sets and build all week sitting at home sipping beer.

Pitfall69

Let the Pitfall beating commence!!! ;)

CapnRex101

^ Not from me, you make a fair point.

But I still desperately want to go... :o)

Shib

I think it's a fair comment, it does cost a lot, but look how few people get to do it compared to going to Disneyland, the premium is for the privilege. I'd love to go but not a chance of affording it or getting tickets.

GoldJono

@Pitfall69‌ I don't think they would take any offence at that statement, they aren't trying to compete with Disney with the tour, they leave that to Merlin Entertainment who run the Legoland resorts. I would actually agree that for most families Disney would be the better option when compared to the tour. Everyone who goes on the tour has an amazing time, it is expensive but I am sure anyone who has been fortunate enough to go on the tour would agree that the experience represents good value for money.

Lego_Star

I could be wrong here but I thought the price of the tour was equivalent or close to the cost of a hotel room in Legoland, Billund, plus the cost of meals for the duration of the tour. It was my understanding that Lego weren't making a lot of profit on the tour, if any.

I considered all the lovely tour activities, behind the scenes info and giveaways associated as a rather special bonus to a visit to the home of Lego.

adiemc

leemcg said:

Hi @kennywest‌ Good to see you here. I was actually going to make the point that one of the most interesting things I learnt from the tour was the large numbers of people who are on Brickset without posting. Almost all the AFOLs on the tour told me that they were members of Brickset but didn't post much, or at all. Always worth bearing in mind.

@leemcg I'm one of those people. It was good to meet you, @goldjono, @kennywest and everyone else who took part.

One thing I would like to add to the information already provided is that there is a free of charge luggage weighing scale at Billund airport located near the check in desks. Very useful for seeing if all the extra stuff you will no doubt have bought/been given has tipped you over your baggage weight limit!

legogregors

^^does Lego make a bundle off couples staying in the same room or was there a discount for the second person? Also, were any of the tour dates cheaper to get flights for from the US or any city/connection/airline significantly lower? Now they all seem to be 1,200-1,600USD.

This is way out of my league either way but I am curious.

1265

legogregors said:

^^does Lego make a bundle off couples staying in the same room or was there a discount for the second person? Also, were any of the tour dates cheaper to get flights for from the US or any city/connection/airline significantly lower? Now they all seem to be 1,200-1,600USD.

This is way out of my league either way but I am curious.

From their site, "DKK 13,000 per person for all ages." Sounds like Lego makes a killing from multiple folks staying in the same room. Oh well.....it's known before purchasing the tour so I guess it doesn't matter to those who purchase the tour package.

Mauricio

Hey folks,

I was also on the first tour. As the others said, a wonderful experience!

I plan to post photos from the trip on Flickr, and that would necessarily contain spoilers, and I would certainly include a notice to that effect. Any objections to me doing that before the final tour?

Gooker1

Not frome me since I am not going. I think for those that are going, they will stay away from your photog review

Mauricio

Regarding cost and profit for LEGO, this did not strike me as a profit-making endeavor for them. It is worth noting that they have 2-3 employees who spend much of their time planning and organizing this tour, and the designers spend non-trivial time during the tour, so you can't just look at hotel and food.

On the other hand... they made a lot of money when we went to the employee store. =) The group of 35 participants collectively spent about $18,000 in an hour. Of course, that is with a major discount, but still impressive.

A note on the employee store discount: for US folks, it turns out to be a good deal for the larger sets and some of the series like Creator, but smaller items and series like Friends they were roughly the same price as the US retail price, if not more. Of course, for anyone from outside the US, it is a no-brainer... fill that box!

LegobrandonCP

Can't wait for the day I can check this off of my bucket list.

GoldJono

@Mauricio good to meet you on the tour. Personally I would prefer if you waited until after the final tour, it's not really that far away. In the meantime you could post on our groups share point site.

Basta

I would love to take the family on this tour, and hopefully if it is still offered in 4 or 5 years I will get too.

The cost is a big hurdle though, I'm looking at close $15K for a decent (3+ weeks) trip to Europe from Australia and then would need to add another $7500 for the tour & by the sounds of it a fair chunk of (Lego) spending money.

The only worrying thing is if the tour is currently selling out in 4.5 minutes, I could imagine that changes may occur. Hopefully just adding more tours & not a reduction in what you get to do on the tour.

Mauricio

@GoldJono, fair enough... I thought the tours ran through the summer. It will probably take that long to pull together all the photos.

Good thing that there is no tour in July. It sounds like July is very busy at the hotel and park, and would take away from the fun.

I can't quite match the Brickset names with the tour participants... can you PM the names to me if you know them? Thanks.