Billund 2016

A gorgeous weekend in September saw 18 of us making the journey to LEGO’s Holy Grail.  For some it was a return visit and for others their first but for all ‘Brickshire at Billund 2016’ was an experience to remember. 

Most of us squeezed into a couple of chalets at Lalandia, a marvellous holiday camp neatly situated on the edge of Billund.  A visit to the renowned bakery, a wander around the town on the Saturday and a fun-filled day making use of the park’s facilities on Sunday preceded a couple of memorably convivial evenings.

The main event however, was the visit to LEGO HQ on the Monday.  Full of excitement we gathered at the employee shop to make a few purchases before proceeding to the factory.  A peek at an early moulding machine was followed by the factory tour.  A couple of hours later a party of very impressed AFOLs emerged chattering excitedly about the sound of the granulate whooshing along pipelines, the moulding room and how they’d wanted to pick up the piece of random LEGO that had fallen out of a bin and finally the Indiana Jones type warehouse full of robots collecting elements for who knows what. 

Then it was on to lunch; excellent food in the company of the hospitable LEGO CE team and a welcome break between the activity of the morning and the further attractions of the Ideas House and Vault.  Here we had the opportunity to admire some of those original sets that we had as children (that was if we weren’t coveting the ones we’d ‘missed out’ on in later life) and see the development of toys created by LEGO since its inception in the early 30s.  Whilst wandering about in and soaking up the atmosphere of the Ideas House we sneakily took the opportunity to have an impromptu committee ‘meeting’ in Ole Kirk’s office.  The final element of the trip was a fascinating presentation on the designing and development of the new Ideas House.  Many of us will be making a return journey to see it!