Legoland comes to Central Florida for 2011

Central Florida will be home to the world's largest Legoland by the end of 2011 announces the Merlin Entertainments Group earlier this year.

The park, which is planned on the former site of Cypress Gardens, is expected to include between 40 and 50 main attractions. In addition to Lego's signature attractions - such as child-friendly rides and giant Lego brick models - some of Cypress Gardens' top draws are expected to stick around. The historical gardens will stay intact, according to Merlin's Chief Executive.

Officials hailed the capital investment - which Governor Charlie Crist said would be hundreds of millions of dollars and the fact that the park will create more than a 1,000 jobs.

Merlin said it scouted a number of locations in the Orlando Area, but eventually chose the out-of-the-way Polk County spot because of the value of its existing infrastructure. Renovating a pre-existing theme park, instead of building from scratch, will help Merlin shave years off the development timeline, allowing it to get the park up and running in less than 2 years. Eventually they hope to turn Legoland Florida into a resort with an on-site hotel.

It is not the only themepark Lego has opened in the US with Legoland California being the first.

Projections for visitors are rumoured to be between 1.5 million and 2 million people a year.