Well, this is the piece de resistance.
There’s a Factory Tour in the park that’s open to everyone… And then there is the special VIP factory tour where you get to go behind-the-scenes to another side of the factory.
First, I got to go to Renate’s secret office. (It’s not really secret so much, as it is just not open to the public.)
She gave me a Happy Birthday button! (Part of the reason I took this humongous, extravagant trip in June is as a big birthday celebration (which was just an excuse , since my birthday’s in June).
She has pictures up everywhere of multiple people who’ve visited her throughout the years. She also has special Lego figurines and such that people have sent her after becoming her friend during the tour.
She starts by letting me feel the original pure Lego material – what will eventually become Legos. Did you imagine that maybe it was a putty of some kind? I did. And I was wrong. It’s a bunch of tiny pellets! But they are really cool and soft in their own kind of weird hard way. (I know it doesn’t make sense. You gotta go play with them. They are rad.
(Actually, Renate let me take a glove-full home. So, you can come over and play with them if you can’t get to Legoland.)
So, she told me a bit about Legos and the history and her friends. And then we got to go to the Factory place. Oooooh! 🙂
She was able to stop certain parts of the machine and slow things down so that I could see how Legos are made (with wildly different temperatures in different compartments on the same machine!).
She sweetly, calmly explained all the little details as I kept trying to figure out various things I saw go by.
Then she even let me take some fresh Lego pieces!
As we stopped back through her office, she gave me all kinds of little goodies! And then, on your way out, you get your name engraved in a Lego! (What?!)
It was preeeetty dope.
10/10 Would hiiiighly recommend! 🙂