LEGO Inside Tour 2015: I was there and I'm telling you everything (Part 1)

Before any entry into the matter, I would like to point out that this report on the progress of the LEGO Inside Tour 2015 is only my opinion and it is only my opinion on my experience. Each participant will probably have a different opinion on the subject and that's fine.

That being said, it is important to set the context for this "pilgrimage to the land of LEGO": This is not an invitation, those who wish to participate in the Lego inside tour pay their share and finance the costs out of their own pockets. And that changes everything. By paying the price requested by LEGO to have the right to participate in this "unique experience that allows us to discover the LEGO company from the inside", the participant becomes a client who pays for a service. And when I am a client, I am demanding above all that to have the right to participate in this Inside Tour, I had to organize myself to be in front of my computer on the day of the opening of registrations and hysterically reload the page to access the form before the Tour "Sold Out", which happened in less than five minutes this year.

Le Lego inside tour in figures, it looks like this: 14500 DKK (Around 2000 €) to be paid in order to be able to participate, 1450 VIP points credited to your account, 4 sessions are organized in 2015, 35 people per session, around 250 € in plane tickets, 2 and a half days of activities, presentation and various and varied visits and 4 very friendly permanent guides around the group.

You might as well tell you right away, if you have internet you have already been able to discover on Youtube most of the "secrets of LEGO" that we are promised to reveal to us: Visit of the factory (to see in video at this address), visit of the LEGO Idea House (see video at this address), Video on the birth of the brand (see video at this address).

In the € 2000 package, you pay for 3 hotel nights with breakfast included. The rooms at the LEGOland Hotel are nothing fancy but they are spacious and clean, and you have a direct view of the adjoining amusement park (Photo below). If you book in this season, these "Kids House Rooms"are billed at DKK 1510 (€ 202) per night.

As for meals, for the entire stay, dinner on the day of arrival and lunch the next day are not included. It's mean, but we make do with it. Regarding the quality of the food offered during the stay, it is correct and you have the choice (It is buffet at all meals). Concretely, you pay for 4 meals.

In the starter package you also buy an SSeason Pass for the LEGOland park worth 629 DKK (85 €). It is valid during the current year and even gives you the right to many advantages in addition to access to the park (see at this address).

During your stay, you have a few hours of freedom during which you can enjoy the park. This is not Disneyland, the attractions are mainly intended for very young children and the maintenance of Miniland, the space gathering the LEGO models, leaves something to be desired: The models are faded, some animations are broken down and the frequent bad weather does not exist. do not help matters.

In my group, the profiles were very different: Families with their children, adults who came alone or as a couple, a few AFOLs, sellers on Bricklink from Asia or tourists who had integrated this Inside Tour in their vacation program in Europe.

Useful precision, the program of Lego inside tour is based on a very precise schedule that must be followed to the letter. As in an organized tourist trip, the group travels by bus, supervised by its guides who speed up the pace if necessary, who confiscate your phones and cameras as soon as you enter a "sensitive" place, and who ask you to finish your lunch quickly because yet another presentation awaits you. As with FRAM, except that here you sign an NDA (Non Disclosure Agreement) which forbids you to talk about anything you have seen or heard. A bit useless, I did not see much that is not known to all ...

Speaking of presentations, you spend a lot of time sitting in a room watching videos and slides Powerpoint, listening to a guy in marketing talk to you about the success of LEGO, or another guy telling you about all the good LEGO is doing in Africa, etc ... The rare question-and-answer sessions are often interrupted because it must take the bus to go elsewhere.

I will come back in the second part to the different stages of the stay, explaining why they were, from my point of view, interesting, boring or superfluous. But I can already confirm that during the entire stay, the only real "unique" moment is meeting a dozen designers who take the time to discuss with you and who even if they obviously cannot answer all your questions for the reasons you imagine, are sufficiently available for the exchange to be interesting. These designers are not AFOLs, they are people with a wide variety of professional backgrounds who work at LEGO and design products for a large toy manufacturer. The nuance is important.

The frame is set, and theInside Tour can start. We are even promised to be able to meet Jørgen Vig Knudstorp, the CEO of the group ...

to be continued...