LEGO Inside Tour 2015: I was there and I'm telling you everything (Part 3)

Continuation and end of my report on Lego inside tour 2015.

We are therefore Friday, the last day of the trip, and after a presentation PowerPoint to the glory of the group Merlin Entertainments who has been managing LEGOland parks since 2005, our guides invite us to participate in a promising "Backstage tour"from Billund Park.

It is ultimately the least interesting activity of the Tour : There is not much to see Backstage. We walk among the maintenance and cleaning shops where a few employees are busy before entering through a back door into the dark scenes of a attraction similar to the one based on the franchise. Pirates of the Caribbean of Disneyland Paris.

In a few minutes, we come out without really having seen much. Then, we take the direction of the workshop in which the elements of the Miniland of the park. We see the designers gluing the parts of the characters and vehicles, we ask a few questions and return to the park for a group visit of the Miniland in question.

This area of ​​the park dedicated to mini-constructions is rather pleasant to visit but one should not be too demanding on the maintenance and the freshness of certain sets, especially those which have been present for many years. The weather is doing their job and the varnish which should in principle limit breakage does not seem very effective ... The space dedicated to the Star Wars universe, installed in 2011, is in fair condition.

Return to the hotel in the early afternoon for the closing ceremony of the Tour. We are warmly thanked for coming, we are presented with the exclusive set edited for the occasion and the designer Steen Sig Andersen, a very friendly and approachable character, patiently signs the box for each participant.

End of Tour.

As for the memories that each participant can bring back from Billund, the booty is rather meager: A few minifigs which serve as visiting cards for the various interlocutors met, a few bricks distributed at the exit of the factory and a pair of goodies offered by designers during their presentation. The designers of the Bionicle range for their part had planned a rather nice limited edition souvenir (which is not in the photo below).

So, should we spend 2000 € plus costs for this Lego inside tour ? The answer depends on what you hope to find there: If you're an AFOL who regularly keeps up to date with LEGO news, you can keep your money. As currently organized, this Tour is aimed more at the consumer who loves the brand and who wants to have fun than a die-hard fan who already knows everything about LEGO and who will have the impression that all the content already existing and available on the web is brought out to him .

The current program is too focused on the history and functioning of the company and not enough on the design and manufacture of the products. The only really interesting moment was meeting the designers. The rest is almost only marketing in the service of the prestige of the brand.
Make a Selfie in the entrance hall of the brand's headquarters will be enough to satiate some, I need a little more to find my account.

What LEGO does not seem to have understood is that the people who pay to come are already committed to the cause and that it is not worth trying to convince them that LEGO is a company that wants the good of the people. children, who respect the environment, who do good all over the world, etc ...

I know that many participants will be much more indulgent than I when it comes to the interest of the content of the Tour, but everything I'm telling you here, I also mentioned it on the spot as well as in the satisfaction questionnaire that we were given at the end of this Inside Tour, just to be consistent with myself. This feedback should in principle be used to adapt the content of the Tour to best meet the expectations of participants. But the diversity of the profiles of the participants present necessarily makes this exercise difficult, it is impossible to satisfy everyone.

I remain convinced that the main interest of this type of Tour for an AFOL, it is the possibility of meeting "in real life" and without intermediary all those who are at the origin of the products that we buy and love. This is already partially the case, but these very interesting meetings are too short and are interspersed between laborious presentations and visits of little interest. I am also really disappointed not to have been able to discover the process of manufacturing and printing minifigs when the schedule largely permitted.

The only viable solution, in my opinion, would be to offer two types ofInside Tours : One for AFOLs, really focused on the design and manufacture of products and a second more general aimed at customers who want to know more about the brand and who have the means to afford this type of trip.

This is what I could tell you about my participation in this Lego inside tour 2015. I come back both happy to have been able to meet those who imagine the products that I like (or that I like less) and disappointed with some of the content offered. It was almost "Awesome", but not totally.

Once again, thanks to Kim for EEC Team for giving us time, and to Camila, Abdallah, Regina and Astrid, our chaperones, for their welcome, their friendliness, their attentive ear to our criticisms and their patience.

 Do not hesitate to ask your questions in the comments.