The LEGO® Festival Experience
- ClientMerlin Entertainments
- Services
- IndustryThemed Entertainment & Attractions
- ProjectLego Festival
- LocationWindsor, Denmark, Germany, Florida, New York, California and South Korea
We partnered with LEGOLAND® and Merlin Entertainment to create a global festival experience that reignited the joy of play and inspired families to build, explore, and connect together.
A Global Celebration of Play
The LEGO® Festival Experience was a first-of-its-kind, global celebration of play, delivered simultaneously across seven LEGOLAND® Resorts in five countries. Conceived to address the global decline in free, creative play among children, the six-week inaugural festival invited families to explore, imagine, and build together, turning each park into a playground of creativity and joy.
01
The Brief
Uniting Families Through Play, Worldwide
In 2025, 2Heads partnered with LEGO®, LEGOLAND®, and Merlin Magic Making to deliver the first-ever LEGO® Festival Experience, a multi-country, multi-park celebration designed to reignite the power of play.
Taking place simultaneously across seven LEGOLAND® Resorts in five countries, the festival united families in a connected series of interactive, character-led play zones, epic brick-builds, and captivating stage shows.
Over six weekends and culminating on World Play Day, we created a campaign that was scalable and unforgettable, engaging millions worldwide through physical experiences, social amplification, and an emotional pledge to bring play back into children’s daily lives.
In 2025, 2Heads partnered with LEGO®, LEGOLAND®, and Merlin Magic Making to deliver the first-ever LEGO® Festival Experience, a multi-country, multi-park celebration designed to reignite the power of play.
Taking place simultaneously across seven LEGOLAND® Resorts in five countries, the festival united families in a connected series of interactive, character-led play zones, epic brick-builds, and captivating stage shows.
Over six weekends and culminating on World Play Day, we created a campaign that was scalable and unforgettable, engaging millions worldwide through physical experiences, social amplification, and an emotional pledge to bring play back into children’s daily lives.
The Objectives
- Position LEGO® internationally as a global leader in play.
- Reinforce LEGOLAND® as the ultimate place to play.
- Unite seven international parks under one coherent creative campaign
- Address the decline in play among children, encouraging spontaneous creativity and family connection.
- Design an experience that drives both on-site engagement and post-visit continuation of play.
02
The Challenge
Bringing Play Back to Life
Modern life is squeezing out playtime. One in three children now spend less than three hours a week playing, less than the time most adults spend scrolling their phones in a day. Academic demands, safety concerns, and the lure of screens have created what we call a “play deficit.”
Modern life is squeezing out playtime. One in three children now spend less than three hours a week playing, less than the time most adults spend scrolling their phones in a day. Academic demands, safety concerns, and the lure of screens have created what we call a “play deficit.”
Our challenge was to reverse that trend, delivering an experience that was:
- Immersive enough to hold a child’s attention all day.
- Scalable across multiple continents and park layouts.
- Inclusive for all ages, abilities, and play preferences.
- With clear proof of impact beyond the park gates.
We identified that to truly shift perceptions and behaviour, we needed to:
- Make play a shared mission; something families would pledge to do together.
- Create a global festival identity that could flex for different markets but feel unmistakably LEGO® everywhere.
- Build narratives around character hosts to help children emotionally connect with each zone.
- Use gamification and reward mechanics to keep families exploring and interacting.
Our core strategic throughline: “Play is limitless and together, we can build more of it.
03The Process
The Guest Journey
At the Play Pact Hub, guests collected their lanyard and event guide – the golden ticket to a full day of adventures. Across five themed zones, we challenged visitors to complete unique brick-build activities each earning their respective zone stamp, with a final celebration awaiting those who finished them all. Photogenic “I ♥ Play” moments, tailored to each park’s local culture, encouraged sharing under the #LEGOfestival hashtag, while a grand opening and farewell of waving flags and the festival song ensured every child started the day and left feeling celebrated.
The Zones
Each festival zone unlocked a different way to play. Families could build and imagine in the Creative Zone, rock out together in the Music Zone, dance and move in the Dance Zone, dive into LEGO® Fortnite in the Gaming Zone, and unwind in the Chill Out Zone with sensory builds and DUPLO® shows each one hosted by a cast of unforgettable LEGO® characters.
Brick-Build Spectacle
Across the festival, families co-created spectacular LEGO® builds that brought each zone to life. This included the Fantastical City in the Creative Zone, backstage band builds in Music, the Mosaic Festival Portrait in Dance, Nana Village island and the Sushi Brick Bar from the LEGO® Fortnite crossover in our Gaming Zone, and the calming Build and Bloom botanical creations alongside DUPLO® play in the Chill Out Zone.
Stage Shows & Live Performances
Across the parks, live shows took centre stage across all 5 zones. Working with the talented team at MMM to deliver their engaging and energetic vision for each show was electric and this echoed on the faces of guests of all ages.
The Play Pact
The festival’s unique mechanic invited guests to pledge to play by collecting stamps across all five zones, with every completed card unlocking a park day donation to children who might not otherwise have access. At the Play Pact Hub, a giant buzzer added each completion to a live global tally, building a sense of collective achievement. By blending personal fun with meaningful social impact, the mechanic made the festival both emotionally resonant and highly shareable.
04
Solution
Play in Action
The LEGO® Festival not only captured imaginations on-site but also delivered measurable impact at scale. From participation and engagement to global reach, production, and long-term legacy, the results spoke for themselves:
The LEGO® Festival not only captured imaginations on-site but also delivered measurable impact at scale. From participation and engagement to global reach, production, and long-term legacy, the results spoke for themselves:
Engagement & Participation
- 75,000 Play Pacts completed
- 925 Festival hours of play recorded worldwide on-site across the campaign duration.
Scale & Reach
- 7 LEGOLAND® Resorts, 5 countries, 50 days of activation.
- 11,000,000+ social impressions.
- YouTube views: 10.9M
- Instagram impressions: 9.8M
Production & Logistics
- 3,784 unique graphics designed.
- 4.3 miles of bunting, 735 flags
- 10.5 miles scaffolding, 78 tons of ballast required
Legacy Impact
- Delivered proof that play can be a driver for social good.
- Created a scalable, repeatable global festival model for LEGO® and LEGOLAND®.
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